A Clown Ballet Cabaret Brings Whimsical Dancing Clowns to Aurora

In the dreamworld of A Clown Ballet Cabaret, a ballerina slips away from tradition and tumbles into the arms of clowns who coax her toward mischief, freedom and laughter. For creator Lavi McConaughey, the surreal story mirrors a personal escape: years of ballet’s rigid discipline giving way to the anarchic joy of burlesque and clowning.

“A Clown Ballet Cabaret is the story of my journey as a dancer,” says McConaughey, better known by her stage name, The Lavender Sleaze. “The story of A Clown Ballet Cabaret is about this aspiring ballerina who is really beaten down by the world of dance because of the rigidity and pressure. This is her journey of falling into this fever dream and meeting the clown archetypes that kind of pull her out of this rigid thinking and make her fall in love with the art of movement again in her own authentic way.” 

That parallel between performer and performance forms the beating heart of A Clown Ballet Cabaret, which will be restaged on Monday, October 27, at the People’s Building in Aurora following its debut at the 2025 Denver Fringe Festival in June. The show traces the tale of a ballerina navigating perfectionism, only to fall into a whimsical dreamworld populated by clowns who push her toward self-expression.

“The dance world really did suppress the artist in me because ballet is such a rigid art form,” McConaughey admits. “I pushed it away, and then in my later years, I found the world of clowning and the world of burlesque, and they really reignited this joy for dance in me again that I tried to put in the show.” Fusing ballet, tap, tango, clowning and burlesque, the production promises to be as visually eclectic as it is emotionally resonant.

The idea for A Clown Ballet Cabaret had been simmering in McConaughey’s mind for nearly a year before she found the right opportunity to bring it to life. That opportunity came with the 2025 Denver Fringe Festival, where the show debuted at the Bug Theatre earlier this year. 

“Fringe was a really, really great experience,” she says. “I love the whole idea behind Fringe. I think it’s a great opportunity for artists to get their work out. Because it only has to be an hour-long show and the fifteen-minute setup and teardown time, it feels very attainable. So it’s like, ‘Okay, we’ve got to go into this with a very structured container,’ and that really helped me feel confident in producing this show.”

The result was a performance that resonated deeply with audiences, many of whom, especially dancers, saw themselves reflected in its exploration of rigidity and release. “People’s reactions to the piece felt so validating, especially because this is a part of me and who I am,” McConaughey says. “I think a lot of artists suffer from this trope of rigidity and perfectionism, and so breaking down that barrier can feel really empowering.”

If the Denver Fringe run was a promising beginning, then the People’s Building staging is the show’s next step in growth. McConaughey and her partner Juice, who together form the duo behind Lavender Juice Productions, are expanding the work with new elements and performers. 

“We are reworking it a little bit,” McConaughey says. “There’s a bit more audience participation, which is exciting, because that’s a big part of clowning that felt really hard to show at the Bug.”

The October production will feature three new dancers — Aubrey Aronson, Frenchy Mymy and Daize Eleicee — alongside musicians Ella Wren on accordion and Caroline Krantz on fiddle. The creative team has also added an antagonist to embody the ballerina’s inner critic, the voice that insists she remain “perfect” and “small.” Each additional performer has contributed original material, enriching the narrative and ensuring that the show continues to evolve collaboratively.

McConaughey herself won’t play the ballerina. That role belongs to Katya Scott, a longtime Lavender Juice collaborator who portrays the prima ballerina at the story’s center. Instead, McConaughey appears in her clown-burlesque persona, performing an act in her pleasers, “which are stripper heels.” 

“I do an act representing the fear of evolving,” McConaughey says. “The fear of trying new things, and how that fear feels really big at first, and then it gets smaller, and it gets silly, and it gets fun, and you rest into it. But I did not want to be the main character of my own show, which is why I hired someone else.”

Looking ahead, McConaughey already has two dates booked for A Clown Ballet Cabaret in 2026 at the Clock Tower Cabaret on February 27 and March 27, with dreams of expanding the production further.

“I would love to really produce it,” she says. “I’d like to get an investor to put some money into it so that we can tour it, upgrade costumes, pay more dancers, get a bigger cast and get a technical producer.”

For now, though, the focus is on Aurora. With new performers, fresh narrative depth and an expanded staging, McConaughey sees the People’s Building performance as a chance to connect with a wider audience while refining the show.

“The show is very whimsical and silly,” she says. “It’s very digestible. The costumes and energy are really playful. I feel like if you’re somebody who likes to laugh, you’re going to have a good time. Creating this show has really embodied the storyline itself, because our cast has created such a loving, supportive container, which often doesn’t exist. It’s really important for me and for Lavender Juice to create a really supportive and loving container for dancers to be able to collaborate and express their art and bring in their own ideas. The show really reflects that.”

A Clown Ballet Cabaret is at 7 p.m. Monday, October 27, at the People’s Building, 9995 East Colfax Avenue, Aurora. Tickets are $34.42. Learn more at thepeoplesbuilding.com.