This innovative program mixes dance performance with demonstration to illuminate all that goes into a performing arts production! Illustrated this year through the comedic story ballet La Fille Mal Gardée, audiences will discover the tale of Lise—as she tries to outsmart her meddling mother. Presented by Artistic Director Nell Shipman and the dancers of Portland School of Ballet, Building Ballets walks audience members of all ages through the processes of creating and performing a ballet.
Fun fact: La Fille Mal Gardée is French for “The Wayward Daughter”!
RUN TIME: 45 minutes, with no intermission.
Join Portland Ballet as it follows Alice down the rabbit hole for its premiere of Adventures in Wonderland. Drawing upon the classic by Lewis Carrol, the peculiar world of Wonderland is brought vividly to life through the art of ballet and a curious cast of beloved characters. A new ballet choreographed by Artistic Director, Nell Shipman—don’t miss this enigmatic production created for audiences of all ages!
Join Portland Ballet as it follows Alice down the rabbit hole for its premiere of Adventures in Wonderland. Drawing upon the classic by Lewis Carrol, the peculiar world of Wonderland is brought vividly to life through the art of ballet and a curious cast of beloved characters. A new ballet choreographed by Artistic Director, Nell Shipman—don’t miss this enigmatic production created for audiences of all ages!
Portland School of Ballet’s Year End Showcase features students in Pre-Ballet up through PSB’s Pre-Professional Division. The performance will include classwork demonstrations by each level to showcase the progression from the earliest years of training through the most advanced. The second Act of our Showcase will include a reprise of Don Quixote from our Building Ballets series without the lecture/demonstration aspect. Audience members will be able to enjoy the students of PSB performing an abridged version of this classical ballet.
A choreographic collaboration between Artistic Director, Nell Shipman, and Annie Kloppenberg, Associate Professor of Dance at Colby College, takes as its inspiration Maine’s landscape, history, and lighthouses as portals to explore our relationship to the land, water, wayfinding, and navigation in an original contemporary ballet.
The performance features an expanded Portland Ballet Company with dancers from Colby, who have joined the company for the month of January to develop this work and an original score by composer Caitlin Scholl, created and performed in collaboration with Colby student musicians.
The collaboration between Shipman, whose work has been called “refined and engrossing” (Portland Press Herald) and Kloppenberg, “a choreographer of nuances” (Boston Globe), will yield a richly layered work that treats Maine as history and home.
Portland School of Ballet’s Year End Showcase features students in Pre-Ballet up through PSB’s Pre-Professional Division. The performance will include classwork demonstrations by each level to showcase the progression from the earliest years of training through the most advanced. The second Act of our Showcase will include a reprise of The Sleeping Beauty from our Building Ballets series without the lecture/demonstration aspect. Audience members will be able to enjoy the students of PSB performing an abridged version of this classical ballet.
Following the story of the classic fairy tale, The Sleeping Beauty tells the chronicle of Princess Aurora and the unfortunate curse placed upon her by the evil Carabosse – in which pricking her finger on a spindle causes Aurora to fall into a hundred year’s sleep. With the help of good fairies and Prince Florimund, Aurora is awakened and her wedding to the young Prince is celebrated by all. This innovative program mixes dance performance, lecture, and demonstration to educate children and adults alike about everything that goes into a performing arts production. Presented by Artistic Director Nell Shipman and the dancers of the Portland School of Ballet, Building Ballets will walk the audience through the process of creating and performing a ballet. This show will feature an abridged version of The Sleeping Beauty and include a behind the scenes look at choreography, set design, lighting, and more!
RUN TIME: 60 minutes (no intermission)
Portland School of Ballet’s Year End Showcase features students in Pre-Ballet up through PSB’s Pre-Professional Division. The performance will include classwork demonstrations by each level and choreography outside of the classical ballet genre. The second Act of our Showcase will include a reprise of Coppélia from our Building Ballets series without the lecture/demonstration aspect. Audience members will be able to enjoy the students of PSB performing an abridged version of this classical ballet.
Portland Ballet’s season closes with Nell Shipman’s Sylvia. Based on Greek mythology, Sylvia tells the story of how the mild shepherd Aminta wins the heart of the huntress nymph Sylvia with the divine help of Eros and Diana. This premiere of a dynamic new work by Artistic Director Nell Shipman set to the rousing music of Delibes, will inspire and delight audiences of all ages.
This March, we will be bringing our audiences Portland School of Ballet’s version of the first act of the comedic story ballet Coppélia. This ballet tells the tale of the young couple Swanhilda and Franz and their trouble with the town’s eccentric toy maker, Dr. Coppélius, and is set to beautiful music by Leo Delibes. It gives us great joy to be able to not only share this ballet with our students, but also introduce them to the feeling of being a part of such an important and beautiful part of ballet and its history.
This innovative program mixes dance performance, lecture, and demonstration to educate children and adults alike about everything that goes into a performing arts production. Presented by Artistic Director Nell Shipman and the dancers of the Portland School of Ballet, Building Ballets will walk the audience through the process of creating and performing a ballet. This will include choreography, set design, lighting, and more!
