This is part of IndyFringe 2022, Aug. 18-Sept. 4 (individual performance times vary) in downtown Indianapolis. Details and tickets at IndyFringe.org.

By John Lyle Belden

Indianapolis Ballet returns to the Fringe to showcase its talent in this year’s edition of “Beyond Ballet.”

We get the traditional ballet in pieces like “Bartok Sonata,” “Miroirs” (opening and closing with a dancer tableau), and the exquisite “Le Corsaire Pas de Deux” featuring Yoshiko Kamikusa and Humberto Rivera Blanco. In “Diamante,” classic ballet meets contemporary composition, dancing to Karl Jenkins’ “Palladio” – music you might hear in the background of a TV show or commercial that needs something intense and serious.

For the “beyond” your expectations, we get “Smile” by Charlie Chaplin, with Ahna Lipchik’s charming portrayal of Chaplin’s famous Tramp character, working with Kamikusa and Blanco in a graceful meet-cute. For the big finish, we get “Summer at the Fringe,” a salute to disco diva Donna Summer with routines to four of her hits – some truly “Hot Stuff” right up to the “Last Dance.”

Choreography is by Kristin Young Toner, Lipchik, Victoria Lyras (who also did costumes), and William Robinson (the dancer in the program photo). Other company members include Nicholas Bentz, Colette Blake, Reece Conrad, Haley Desjarlais, Eli Diersing, Brigid Duffin, Jane Gordon, Jacqueline Hodek, Scholar Idjagboro, Journie Kalous, Kaci King, Jessica LeBlanc, Sierra Levin, Maria Jose Esquivel Losada, Robert Mack, Abigail Marten, Grace McCutcheon, Lucy Merz, Jessica Miller, Ada Perruzi, Katie Pilone, Amanda Piroue, and Macyn Malana Vogt.

For a great sampler of professional ballet at a Fringe festival price, see Indianapolis Ballet “Beyond Ballet” in the Basile Auditorium at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25 (today as we post this); noon Sunday, Aug. 28; 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1; and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 4.