Season Announcement
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Ballet Palm Beach
(formerly Florida Classical Ballet Theatre)
Announces its 2013-2014 Season!
Season Highlights Include:
The Curtain Rises
The Nutcracker
Romeo & Juliet
Don Quixote
Tales My Mother Told
Palm Beach Gardens, FL – Artistic Director, Colleen Smith, founded Florida Classical Ballet Theatre (FCBT) a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in 2001 to give local artists and dance students the opportunity to perform in full-length ballet productions. Now in its 13th season, Smith changed FCBT’s name to Ballet Palm Beach. “The name Ballet Palm Beach better aligns our growing ballet company with who we are and the community we serve,” says Colleen Smith. The mission of Ballet Palm Beach is to preserve the art of ballet, impact young lives through the discipline of dance, and enrich the community through the beauty of ballet. This season the dance company is sure to follow its mission with an exciting and diverse repertoire that is “Dance. Inspired.” In addition to five main-stage performances at The Eissey Campus Theatre the company is committed to community outreach through partnerships with the Palm Beach County Library System, Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County, and public school systems. They will be performing “Ballet By The Book” as part of the “Families Reading Together” program at Palm Beach County library branches and at the National Family Literacy Day Celebration. In addition the company will perform at The Kravis Center and The Eissey Campus Theatre for children from Palm Beach County Public School Systems.
Opening night with Ballet Palm Beach will be Friday, October 25 at 7:30pm with The Curtain Rises. Four works, all unique to Ballet Palm Beach, come together in this soulful program. The Heavens Declare, set to music by Edgar Meyer; Three Tangos to music by Astor Piazzolla; In the Mood, set to Glenn Miller’s big band hits, and the premiere of Colleen Smith’s Simple Symphony, set to Benjamin Britten’s infectious work by the same name. Celebrate the start of the season with Ballet Palm Beach!
Ballet Palm Beach dances into the holiday season on Thanksgiving weekend with the company’s tradition of The Nutcracker. Underscored by Tchaikovsky’s magical music, the beloved ballet tells a story of a little girl named Clara who receives a gift of a Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. From treacherous mice, a blustery snowstorm, to the Land of the Sweets, The Nutcracker is the perfect way to ring in the holiday season and introduce children to the beauty of ballet.
Over Valentine’s weekend, Ballet Palm Beach performs Shakespeare’s most romantic tale, Romeo and Juliet. Set against the backdrop of Verona, Italy and underscored by Prokofiev’s instantly recognizable music, the senses will be heightened as audiences hear the tragedy through the music and watch the story unfold through dance artistry. With first love, family feuds, sword fighting and great tragedy, this ballet dates back to the 1930’s and continues to be popular with audiences of all ages.
On April 4th and 5th the company performs the whimsically funny and time-honored classical ballet Don Quixote with music by Minkus. The ballet is based on part of Cervantes’ epic satire Don Quixote, which is regarded as the first true modern novel. The plot of this comedic ballet centers on Don Quixote mistaking the beautiful but feisty Kitri for his Dulcinea, and that is just the start of the confusion.
Celebrate Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11, 2014, with Ballet Palm Beach’s final performance of the season. Tales My Mother Told Me is a mixed repertoire program with dances inspired by stories from our childhood. The ballet will be at 4:00pm on Mother’s Day – a perfect way to spend the time with Mom!