After 50 years of supporting the performing arts, the Lexington Ballet Company is ready to take the leap into a new era.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — You can call it a cool concept. A South Florida organization is using refrigerators to combat food insecurity in local communities.

Eric Trope is someone I met by chance when we both happened to be visiting our friend Caroline Beach in Dresden at the same time several years ago. I had a blast getting to know him (despite even sharing a terrifying experience encountering a neo-nazi on on a tram late one night) and just clicking with him as the three of us were complete goofballs together.

Ballet Des Moines has hired Eric Trope to be its next artistic director, starting July 1. He’ll replace Tom Mattingly, who stepped smoothly into the role four years ago and will continue on for three more as a resident choreographer.

Originally called the Arabian Dance, [Trope's] “Coffee” is... definitely enticing and sensual and, as delivered by Jin and Jonathan Philbert, was one of the program’s highlights.

In addition, for the 2021 festival a “Choreo Challenge” was designed around “music that was interesting and rigorous, but very danceable by Timo Andres.” Judges chose two winners: Eric Trope, a dancer with Miami City Ballet, and Abdul Latif, a choreographer from New York City.

“This show is called ‘Local Legacy,’ so I guess that’s why I got roped in,” Sollee said. “Because I’m local and I’m slowly becoming legacy. We are teaming up for a set of my original songs that will have brand new choreography set by (Lexington Ballet artistic director) Eric Trope.

Eric premiered Quiet Music at Shut Up and Dance 2022 on April 30th featuring So Jung Shin and Alex Babayev of the Philadelphia Ballet

Eric Trope is a freelance choreographer, ballet dancer, and repetiteur. His latest work was seen at the Nantucket Atheneum Dance Festival in July 2022. In 2019, Eric's work was presented at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts as part of the finale of the prestigious Mainly Mozart Festival.

Trope, who comes from a family of activists, started helping out with the organization however he could. But when Buddy System began getting some local press, requests ballooned, and he jumped on board to help run a much more complicated operation.