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!
Portland Ballet’s a Victorian Nutcracker returns to the stage this holiday season. A Victorian Nutcracker is a retelling of the classic story of a young girl’s Christmas Eve dream, brought on by the curious gift of a nutcracker, in which she travels to the Sugar Plum Fairy’s Land of the Sweets. This version, with characters pulled directly from Portland’s past, is sure to please audience members of all ages.
Portland Ballet’s a Victorian Nutcracker returns to the stage this holiday season. A Victorian Nutcracker is a retelling of the classic story of a young girl’s Christmas Eve dream, brought on by the curious gift of a nutcracker, in which she travels to the Sugar Plum Fairy’s Land of the Sweets. This version, with characters pulled directly from Portland’s past, is sure to please audience members of all ages.
Portland Ballet opens its season with Giselle, a story of love and betrayal, life and death, vengeance and forgiveness. Follow the story, as passionately told by the dancers of Portland Ballet, of the peasant girl, Giselle, as she falls in love with the nobleman, Albrecht, whose betrayal condemns her to the unearthly realm of the Wilis. This beloved romantic ballet, set to music by Adam, has withstood the test of time as one of ballet’s predominant works to showcase the power of storytelling through ballet.
Portland Ballet opens its season with Giselle, a story of love and betrayal, life and death, vengeance and forgiveness. Follow the story, as passionately told by the dancers of Portland Ballet, of the peasant girl, Giselle, as she falls in love with the nobleman, Albrecht, whose betrayal condemns her to the unearthly realm of the Wilis. This beloved romantic ballet, set to music by Adam, has withstood the test of time as one of ballet’s predominant works to showcase the power of storytelling through ballet.
La Esmerelda is based on the story more commonly known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and is set to beautiful music by Cesare Pugni. It gives us great joy to not only share this ballet with our students, but also introduce our audience to all that it takes to bring a performance of live ballet to life.
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!
Portland Ballet opens its season on a haunting note with Tales by Poe, inspired by the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Previously created for the company in 2015, the production will be revived at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center.
Artistic Director Nell Shipman has transformed Poe’s Berenice, Tell Tale Heart, and Masque of the Red Death into ballets — Whether you know the original stories or not, this production will put you in the mood for the most haunting time of the year!
Highlights from Ballet’s Best! This spectacular end-of-season production will feature our favorite sections from Napoli, a vibrant ballet depicting Neapolitan street life, choreographed by Danish ballet master August Bournonville; the famous love story Romeo and Juliet; and Don Quixote, a ballet based on Miguel de Cervantes’ classic novel, full of Spanish flavor and flair.
This innovative program mixes performance, lecture, and demonstration in order to educate people about the performing arts and everything that goes into a production. This year, we are excited to present the story of Don Quixote — one of the most famous (and fun!) productions in ballet repertoire, loosely based on Miguel de Cervantes’ classic novel.
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.
Our goal is to give patrons a greater appreciation of all the work that goes into creating a performance in the hope that we can build a stronger connection between our audiences and art form!
The spooky story of the serial killer who haunted the streets of London in the 19th century aligns perfectly with the weeks leading up to Halloween! Previously performed in 2013 and 2014 in front of sold-out crowds, Artistic Director and choreographer Nell Shipman will add 30 minutes of choreography to ‘Jack’ this year, making it a full-length ballet.
