Salt Lake Magazine | Adam Sklute Takes His Final Bow
Every fall, the artistic directors behind Utah’s most treasured cultural institutions step forward and make their case — not with tidy mission statements but with the season itself: This is what’s worth your time. This is what they believe will move you. We asked five directors to share the production they’re most excited about this year, the show they’d recommend to a first-time audience member, and whether a common theme or artistic vision emerged as they carefully shaped the season ahead.
In Utah arts circles, the news is still sinking in that Adam Sklute will take his final bow at Ballet West after two decades as artistic director. Since arriving in 2007, Sklute has reshaped Ballet West into a company with unmistakable national ambition — one equally comfortable delivering pristine classical repertory and crowd-pleasing theatrical spectacle.
Along the way, he opened the studio doors wider than most ballet leaders would dare, even inviting reality television cameras behind the scenes for several seasons, turning the famously insular art form into unexpectedly addictive viewing.
That balancing act is on full display in his farewell season, which feels intentionally personal: part retrospective, part victory lap, part curtain call.
“This season is a big celebration of all the different aspects of what I’ve brought here,” Sklute says. “If you go to the entire season, you will get a sense of the entire scope.”