Nashville Ballet Announces 2010/2011 25th Anniversary Season

Nashville Ballet celebrates its 25th Anniversary and announces the 2010/2011 season. Packed with crowd pleasers, the Ballet will offer some of the most requested ballets for a full year of favorites. This season will also see the addition of a special family performance, Peter and the Wolf, a production created specifically for a younger ballet audience. Nashville Ballet will be offering all evening performances at 7:30 p.m., with the exception of Nashville's Nutcracker which will be performed at 7:00 p.m. Artistic Director/CEO Paul Vasterling states, "The entire season shows the versatility and technical skills of our dancers, skills that we have been defining and refining in past seasons. The Company Brings a new energy to the classical Swan Lake this fall and easily transforms to a very contemporary style later in the season."

Nashville Ballet began when a small group of advanced dance students from the Dancer's Studio which formed to create the Young Dancers Concert Group in 1981, and two and a half years later, flourished into a regional company known as Nashville City Ballet. With the support of local members of the community, the professional company was officially inaugurated in 1986 as Nashville Ballet. Dallas Wilt, chairman of Axis Accounting Systems, LLC, and a former dancer in the Young Dancer's Concert Group reflects, " I cannot believe it has been 25 years since our small regional dance troupe became a professional ballet company, the talent that has passed through its doors have rendered Nashville the home of one of the premier companies in the world. Every show I see exceeds the last, and, though my body can no longer do the moves (25 years is a long time after all!), my heart still leaps every time the curtain rises."

A 25th Anniversary Season Preview for subscribers at Chappy's on Church launched the upcoming season. The Ballet is working on locating past dancers and school alumni to include in additional activities. Special promotions and community events are in the planning stages to mark the 25th celebration.

Swan Lake, Oct 29-31, 2010 Polk Theater in TPAC
The 25th Anniversary Season opens with world's best-known classical ballet, Swan Lake. Featuring a full cast of exceptional dancers, beautiful sets and choreography, the ballet is accompanied by The Nashville Symphony, performing Tchaikovsky's enduring score. For more than a century, Swan Lake has engaged audiences and inspired new generations of dancers, who are challenged by the ballet's technical demands and the ability to express all the human emotions, hope to despair, terror to tenderness, and melancholy to ecstasy.
Friday, October 29, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 30, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 31, 2010, 2:00 p.m.

Nashville's Nutcracker, Dec 10-12, 17-19, 2010 Jackson Hall in TPAC
December brings nostalgia for simpler, happy times and Nashville's Nutcracker is just the ticket for your family's holiday tradition. The timeless story unchanged, but with a slight twist, as the Ballet is set in Nashville during the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Full of Tennessee history, sparkling costumes, scenery, and the beautiful music of Tchaikovsky, performed by the Nashville Symphony, Vasterling's distinct interpretation of Nutcracker makes the holidays! Over 200 youth cast members join the professional dancers to present one of the top three attended productions in Nashville.

Friday, December 10, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 11, 2010, 2:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 12, 2010, 2:00 p.m.
Friday, December 17, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 18, 2010, 2:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 19, 2010, 2:00 p.m.

Director's Choice, Feb 11- 13, 2011 Polk Theater in TPAC
Valentine's Weekend provides the backdrop for our winter repertoire series, Director's Choice. A selection of a few of Vasterling's favorite ballets with distinctive personalities will be presented. First, Postcards from the Boys, choreographed by Sarah Slipper, was inspired by the music of Darrell Scott and Guy Clark, and the plight of the homeless, set to a jazzy score with visually enthralling elements, and second, Satto, a sensual adaptation of an Asian legend about the wind god and a leaf, that is both hypnotic and erotic.
Friday, February 11, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, February 12, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, February 13, 2011, 2:00 p.m.

Peter and the Wolf, Polk Theater at TPAC
In addition, a special family performance, Peter and the Wolf, will be offered at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, February, 12, 2011, Brave young Peter mistakenly leaves his grandfather's garden gate open, and unleashes an adventure as he goes to rescue the duck who slipped out. Prokofiev's whimsical score introduces the instruments in the orchestra through this delightful ballet.
Saturday, February 12, 2011, 2:00 p.m.

Carmina Burana, April 29-May1, 2011 Jackson Hall at TPAC
The "Bravos" were overwhelming when Vasterling's 2009 production of Carmina Burana debuted, and the Ballet will present an encore performance for the finale of our 25th season. This ballet is larger than life with Nashville Ballet, The Nashville Symphony, The Nashville Symphony Chorus, The Nashville Children's Choir, and guest vocalists, all joining forces to present the family-friendly Carmina Burana! The dancers are front and center with the chorus raised up above the stage and the symphony spills along the sides of the stage for an avalanche of pure sound and motion. German composer Carl Orff set these irreverent poems to music in 1936 and this popular score continues to live on through countless television commercials, film scores, and concert performances around the globe. The lyrics and movement portray life's pleasures, love, spring, and the uncertainty of the fates. Based on Latin verses written by German monks who lived in the foothills of the Bavarian mountains, this music remains one of the most popular classic pieces today. Salvatore Aiello's sensual The Afternoon of a Faun, set to the music of Claude Debussy, will open this performance.

Friday, April 29, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 30, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 1, 2011, 2:00 p.m.

Subscription Information
Subscriptions are now available and can be purchased as a 4 Ballet package, 3 Ballet package, 2 Ballet package, or a flex package (six flex vouchers which can be redeemed for any performance). Packages range in price from $39 for a 2 Ballet package up to $246 for a 4 Ballet package. Subscribers can select their choice of ballets and performance dates within their packages for greatest convenience and preference. For more information about subscription packages or to order a subscription online, please visit www.nashvilleballet.com, email subscriptions@nashvilleballet.com or call 615-297-2966, extension 10.

Nashville Ballet, a federally registered 501(c)(3) organization, is the largest professional ballet company in Tennessee. Nashville Ballet presents a diverse repertoire of classical ballet and contemporary works by acclaimed choreographers, including original works by Artistic Director Paul Vasterling. Nashville Ballet and the affiliated Second Company NB2 (a pre-professional training company) serve over 70,000 adults and children annually through performances and community engagement initiatives. Our curriculum-based community engagement program brings dance education to elementary, middle, and high schools as well as community centers, public libraries, and colleges, covering a 15-county region throughout Middle Tennessee. Dance students, ages three and up, receive superior ballet instruction from a world class faculty at School of Nashville Ballet.

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