Ventana Ballet & Austin Camerata present Flower Shop

Ventana Ballet and Austin Camerata are bringing Flower Shop to East Side Performing Arts (ESPA) on Thursday, September 17, as part of a six-night run that spans September 10–12 and 17–19. It's a brand-new contemporary ballet set in a flower shop that hides a secret speakeasy behind a red door, and it's performed in ESPA's intimate black-box theater in East Austin. The audience sits just feet away from the dancers and the live strings and piano.

The choreography is by AJ Garcia-Rameau, who also serves as Ventana Ballet's executive artistic director. He describes the piece as being about simplicity and gratitude, a reminder to slow down and "smell the roses." The music is an original piano quartet by American composer Michael Alec Rose, performed live by Austin Camerata. Camerata's artistic director, Daniel Kopp, is returning to Rose's work, having played it with the company before for the 2022 premiere of BEAUTIFUL WORLD at KMFA.

Both groups have deep roots in the local scene. Ventana Ballet, which Garcia-Rameau founded, is in its eighth season in Austin. Austin Camerata was founded in 2016 and has grown into one of central Texas's leading chamber-music ensembles. Seeing them together in a black box, with the music happening right there in the room, puts the whole thing on a smaller, more personal scale than a traditional stage.

Doors and the cocktail lounge open at 6:15 PM, and the performance starts at 7 PM, with a 15-minute intermission and a post-show reception at 9 PM. Tickets are $50 for VIP front-row seats in the yellow zone, $40 for VIP bar-height stools in the green zone, and $30 for general admission seats in the blue zone, plus sales tax and the ticketing platform fee.