Marie Antoinette: Vampire Queen of Versailles, the latest world premiere ballet choreographed by Ballet Austin Artistic Director Stephen Mills, began with a question: What if one of history’s most misunderstood women reclaimed her story—not as a victim of circumstance, but as a figure of supernatural power, desire, and consequence?
“I’ve always been drawn to 18th-century France and the French Revolution,” says Mills. “I have an enduring affection for old-world French sensibilities—the elegance, the lavishness, and the growing sense of danger in an empire on its way toward collapse.
“I’ve also always had a fondness for darker things, so reimagining Marie Antoinette as a vampire didn’t just feel like a natural evolution—it felt like a foregone conclusion.
“Marie Antoinette: Vampire Queen of Versailles is the third work created through the Butler New Choreography Endowment, following Grimm Tales and Poe / A Tale of Madness. It’s another full-length story ballet, and one I’m incredibly proud of.
“I’ve been fascinated by Marie Antoinette for as long as I can remember. It’s striking how the French Revolution and the fall of the monarchy have been laid at her feet for centuries. In many ways, Antoinette became the scapegoat for the failures of the men around her—yet she endures as an iconic figure, immortalized in film, in literature, and in our collective imagination.
This story is less about reimagining history and more about creating agency—The chance to contemplate what might happen when a young woman, denied control over her own destiny, finally claims it by any means necessary.
“Vampire culture has lived alongside us for hundreds of years. Vampires are often portrayed as decadent and indulgent creatures of the night, driven by an insatiable thirst for power and control. Turning Marie Antoinette into a vampire allowed me to explore those themes through her story—and to deepen them in unexpected ways.
“As I worked, I felt deeply connected to her narrative, even choosing to name the central vampire ‘De Maret,’ a surname from a very distant branch of my own French ancestry. I couldn’t resist the connection. In the end, that small personal detail became a reminder of what I love most about storytelling through dance: the way history, myth, and imagination can collide onstage and become something newly alive.
This article first appeared in Ballet Austin’s Marie Antoinette: Vampire Queen of Versailles magazine. It is published here courtesy of Ballet Austin.
Marie Antoinette: Vampire Queen of Versailles will be performed at Austin’s The Long Center for the Performing Arts from March 27–29. Click here to learn more or read the entire magazine >>
Featured Image: Photo by Paul Michael Bloodgood & Virtigo Pictures.
