Bounce: The Basketball Opera

Ardea Arts

Based on "The Flight of Icarus," BOUNCE combines opera, hip-hop, R&B, gospel music, and classical vocal techniques with the percussive beats of a basketball being dribbled and the squeaks of basketball shoes to tell the story of a high school basketball player bound for stardom, but who is shot during a street game. BOUNCE examines what it takes for him to come back from the tragedy and trauma to soar again and regain his full self. BOUNCE tackles the School-to-prison pipeline, Equity in education, and what it takes to come back from tragedy and trauma.

BOUNCE melds genres and defies stereotypes, synthesizing the full palette of American music from Rap and Hip-Hop to Jazz, EDM, and Gospel, with the percussive beat of basketballs and operatic high notes. BOUNCE tackles the School-to-prison pipeline, Equity in education, and what it takes to come back from the tragedy and trauma of gun violence. 

Performed on a basketball court, BOUNCE is a reimagining of what is possible, an opera for today’s world.