Today we’d like to introduce you to Mr. Chung Lin and Enrica Tseng.
Established in 2009 as a 501(c)3 non-profit dance company, Ballet Frontier is dedicated to providing a powerful cultural experience, encompassing an organic mix of artistic quality, talent, and world-class choreography. Ballet Frontier is committed to bringing ballet to all audiences throughout North Texas with annual performances. Each season includes productions of The Nutcracker, classical and contemporary works in the fall and February, and large-scale classical works in April. Special performances and programs are offered to local schools and are essential to Ballet Frontier’s commitment to community outreach.
Ballet Frontier was founded by Artistic Director Chung-Lin Tseng and Artistic Advisor Enrica Tseng, who danced professionally all over the world with Universal Ballet before finding their way to Fort Worth to dance with Texas Ballet Theater in 1998. Both had incredible careers as dancing principals and featured roles in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, and more. In September 2005, Mrs. Enrica Tseng and Mr. Chung-Lin Tseng opened the Ballet Center of Fort Worth, where they pass on their talents, passion, and artistry to future generations of dancers. As their school began to grow, the Tsengs decided to form a professional ballet company that would nurture young pre-professional dancers while they worked alongside professional dancers in large-scale classical ballet productions. Since its inception, Ballet Frontier has grown to include 20 professional dancers, performed for thousands of audience members across the state, and strives to bring the joy of dance to diverse audiences throughout North Texas.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Running a ballet company is often full of challenges, but this past year with the pandemic has been especially difficult. That said, we try and look forward and do the best with what we have. This year, while so many companies were unable to reopen and perform, Ballet Frontier decided to be as safe as possible and perform the only professional production of The Nutcracker this Christmas. We made it our mission to keep everyone as safe and healthy as possible by cleaning the floors and ballet barres constantly, dancers and audience members wore masks and had their temperatures checked, and we made social distancing a priority by cutting our audience capacity to 25%. With hard work and perseverance, Ballet Frontier was able to safely perform four shows of The Nutcracker this December. We are firm believers in always pushing forward in order to bring the beautiful art of ballet to North Texas.
With this in mind, we were able to rehearse and perform two sold-out shows of Swan Lake this past February. Since the nature of ballet is a live performance, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a huge challenge to navigate. It has forced many ballet companies to re-examine how we engage with our audiences. In addition to masked live performances, Ballet Frontier also offered virtual options for our performances of The Nutcracker and did outreach performances over ZOOM for local schools and hospitals. All anyone can do is try their best in any given situation, and that’s exactly what we did this year. We hope that by bringing ballet back to the stage and into people’s homes, we could provide a little glimmer of hope during this difficult time. We are so excited to bring La Sylphide to the stage this April 17 & 18 and hope to bring a little joy as we enter spring!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
Ballet Frontier is a professional ballet company based in Fort Worth, Texas. We strive to create and produce large-scale classical ballet works with our professional company dancers and incorporating young students in our shows to encourage and cultivate a love for ballet and the fine arts. Our shows include productions like Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, La Sylphide, and The Sleeping Beauty. In addition to these classical works, we also strive to produce innovative new works from world-class choreographers, including works by our Artistic Director, Chung-Lin Tseng, Jay Kim, and Lee Wei Chao. We are a smaller company compared to a lot of regional companies, but we have a passion and drive to bring diverse ballet audiences across the state. We have performed in Granbury, Waco, Keller, Dallas, and Fort Worth. It is our goal to make ballet accessible to people of all backgrounds across North Texas. This goal is what makes us different than many companies that exist to serve their current city.
Pricing:
- Tickets range from $25-$45
Contact Info:
- Email: balletfrontier@gmail.com
- Website: balletfrontier.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balletfrontier/?hl=eninstagram.c
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ballet.frontier/
Image Credits
Photos by: Todd Wakefield, Colin Woolums, Chung Lin and Enrica Tseng
