DDC's latest production spotlights actress/inventor Hedy Lamarr

Better get your tickets now. They are going fast.

Gadsden’s own Downtown Dance Conservatory — which has performed ballets all over the country and internationally — is going to be at home May 19-21.

They will be performing “Hedy Lamarr: An American Muse,” written by Artistic Director Linze Rickles McRae, at Gadsden State Community College’s Wallace Hall Fine Arts Center, 1001 George Wallace Drive.

It’s the third ballet McRae has written about women who have made a difference in society and perhaps are little known today.

DDC staged the original production of “Zelda: An American Muse” in 2017 as the first in the American Muse series. It was set in the 1920s and focused on the life of Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of famous novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The troupe in 2018 performed “For Freda Kahlo,” a tribute to the Mexican visual artist, during the Alabama Dance Showcase in Birmingham.

The new story in the series will follow the same themes of recognizing a lost voice in history and highlighting a vivid era of American history.

So, who is Hedy Lamarr? She was an actress in the 1940s, but is also responsible for inventing the technology we now use as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. She immigrated to the United States and aided the U.S. government, using her technology to help defeat the Nazis in World War II.

“She wasn’t just a pretty face; she had a brilliant mind,” McRae said.

This original production will also highlight American culture of the 1940s and many iconic women from the era, McRae said.

“I love to trace back to the origins of things,” McRae has said, describing the process of finding her muse.

“Where did this legend come from? Why did this fairy tale change? I like blending modern stories with their classic counterpart, turning them on their edge and using what’s relevant in today’s culture as compared to what was originally written,” she said.

Her idea for the current ballet had an interesting start. She was at a family funeral, and someone said she looked like Lamarr. She started doing some research and became fascinated with the actress/inventor’s life.

Lamarr, born Hedwig Eva Kiesler in Austria in 1914, took up a love for science and engineering as a young girl. At age 5, she took apart clocks and toys and put them back together.

As she grew up, she began to find a love for film and theater, and eventually immigrated to the U.S., finding herself in Hollywood surrounded by the glamour of the late 1930s. Her name drew much attention as she starred in major films like “Algiers,” “White Cargo” and “Samson and Delilah.”

Although she died in 2000, Lamarr was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014 for the development of frequency hopping technology. She is now recognized as “the mother of Wi-Fi” and other wireless communications like GPS and Bluetooth. Her technology is now used every single day, and she is just beginning to receive credit.

The upcoming ballet will feature DDC’s upper school and principal soloists, with members of the lower school (made up of about 400 students) performing alongside.

Performances will be held at 6 p.m. May 19 and 20, and there will be a matinee at 2 p.m. May 21. Tickets are $18 to $20 each and are available at http://www.wallacehall.org/tickets.html. Children 2 and under get in free.

Housed in the Hardin Center, the DDC has been the heart of the local classical ballet community for more than 20 years. The organization has collaborated, staged and hosted many productions from New York to Italy, Spain, Paris, London and Scotland.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Downtown Dance Conservatory pays tribute to Hedy Lamarr