Alabama Ballet Presents Blue Suede Shoes

Dennis Nahat’s Blue Suede Shoes, a full-length ballet danced to 36 master recordings of Elvis Presley songs, combines classical dance with classic rock. The rock-and-roll ballet, with a good helping of jazz, follows three friends over almost twenty years, starting with high school in the 1950s (when they are first seen wearing their blue suede shoes). The scene evolves to the Hot Dog Drive-in, through graduation, into army life, then lonely streets and a disco concluding with a gold record finale. We meet Long Tall Sally and the Big Boss Man along the way, as the three young men roll through an age of innocence, the social changes of the 1960s, and into disco of the 1970s. The 90-minute ballet has 16 sets and 280 costumes, all designed by Bob Mackie.