Dante Today

Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

  • Submit a Citing
  • Map
  • Links
  • Bibliography
  • User’s Guide
  • Teaching Resources
  • About

James Sewell Ballet, Inferno (2014)

May 27, 2014 By Professor Elizabeth Coggeshall

ballet james sewell inferno

“Dante’s Inferno is the ­ultimate midlife crisis story.

“The Italian poet’s 14th-century epic confronts the dangerous path toward personal ruin but also rails against piety and greed in a fiery commentary, still relevant today, on the corrupting forces within religion, business and politics.

“On Friday night, James Sewell Ballet flung open the gates of hell and let its depraved denizens run wild at the Cowles Center. Who knows how Dante might have envisioned his poem brought to life, but this interpretation captures its disquieting spirit.” [ . . . ]

“There are clever moments including the descent into hell via New York City subway with damned souls as straphangers, a barb against resident Ayn Rand (‘nobody likes her’) and the swirling dances of those doomed to an eternity living out their lusts (this is an R-rated show by the way).”   –Caroline Palmer, “James Sewell Ballet’s Inferno,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 28, 2014

Contributed by Iris McComb (Bowdoin ’14)

Categories: Performing Arts
Tagged with: 2014, Hell, Humor, Inferno, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Reviews, Theater

Frequent Tags

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 700th anniversary Abandon All Hope Album Art Albums America American Politics Art Artists Beatrice Blogs Books California Circles of Hell Comics Covid-19 Dark Wood Divine Comedy England Fiction Films Florence France Games Gates of Hell Gustave Doré Heavy Metal Hell History Humor Illustrations Inferno Internet Italian Italy Journalism Journeys Literary Criticism Literature Love Metal Music New York New York City Non-Fiction Novels Paintings Paolo and Francesca Paradise Paradiso Performance Art Poetry Politics Purgatorio Purgatory Religion Restaurants Reviews Rock Science Fiction Sculptures Social Media Spirituality Technology Television Tenth Circle Theater Translations United Kingdom United States Universities Video Games Virgil

ALL TAGS »

Image Mosaic

Recent Dante Citings

  • Kat Mustatea, Ambivaland (2023)
  • Hozier, Unreal Unearth (2023 album)
  • Brenda Clough, “Clio’s Scroll” (2023)
  • Arcade Fire, “End of the Empire IV” (2022)
  • The Volcano Store, Castle Crashers Video Game (2008)
  • Paterson (2016 film)
  • Mark Vernon on Dante for El Exquisito (May 2023)

Categories

  • Consumer Goods (196)
  • Digital Media (151)
  • Dining & Leisure (108)
  • Image Mosaic (100)
  • Music (246)
  • Odds & Ends (91)
  • Performing Arts (367)
  • Places (134)
  • Uncategorized (1)
  • Visual Art & Architecture (427)
  • Written Word (873)

Submit a Sighting

All submissions will be considered for posting. Bibliographic references and scholarly essays are also welcome for consideration.

How to Cite

Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.

Creative

© 2006-2023 Dante Today