BALLET AUSTIN NEWS
Welcome to Ballet Austin News! This page serves as an online resource for accessing media releases, mentions, and more news about Ballet Austin.
For more information and media inquiries, please contact Ballet Austin’s Marketing and Communications Manager, Sarah Pace.
Links to external news and more.
MEDIA RELEASES
BALLET AUSTIN WELCOMES WORLD PREMIERE OF STEPHEN MILLS’ POE / A TALE OF MADNESS MARCH 22-24
March 13, 2024
AUSTIN, Texas – Experience the intrigue, mystery, and horror of Edgar Allan Poe’s life and his most enduring works in the World Premiere of Stephen Mills’ POE / A Tale of Madness (POE). Commissioned through the generosity of the Butler New Choreography Endowment, this hauntingly beautiful ballet explores the tragic life and macabre works of American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe. Featuring a newly commissioned symphonic score by Graham Reynolds, performed live by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, join Ballet Austin March 22-24 for three performances of this gripping new ballet at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
BALLET AUSTIN CELEBRATES VALENTINE’S WEEKEND WITH A BOLD TRIO OF DANCE WORKS
January 30, 2024
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin treats audiences to TRIAD: Three Bold Dances this Valentine’s Weekend, February 16-18. Enjoy George Balanchine’s neoclassical ballet, Concerto Barocco, Amy Seiwert’s contemporary dance work, Renaissance, and the exciting, fun-filled WORLD PREMIERE of Artistic Director Stephen Mills’ BUBBLEGUM! This decadent collection includes three performances at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
BALLET AUSTIN’S “GET FIT 2024!” SUNDAY, JANUARY 14TH – JOIN BALLET AUSTIN FOR THE 15TH ANNUAL DAY OF FREE FITNESS & PILATES CLASSES
January 1, 2024
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin’s Butler Center for Dance & Fitness (BCDF) welcomes Central Texas to its downtown studios on Sunday, January 14 for Get Fit 2024!, a day of FREE Fitness and Pilates. With 43 different classes offered throughout the day, participants enjoy complimentary classes taught by Ballet Austin’s highly trained professional teaching staff. Ballet Austin invites everyone to join in the celebration of health and well-being to promote a healthier New Year and to Get Fit!
EXPERIENCE THE SIGHTS, SOUNDS, & MAGIC OF THE HOLIDAYS WITH BALLET AUSTIN’S 61ST ANNUAL PRODUCTION OF THE NUTCRACKER
October 1, 2023
AUSTIN, Texas – Celebrate the magic of the holiday season with Ballet Austin’s 61st Annual Production of The Nutcracker. Featuring sparkling costumes, twinkling sets, and live accompaniment of Tchaikovsky’s enchanting score by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Austin’s longest-running live performance remains a Central Texas holiday tradition perfect for the whole family. The Nutcracker includes 15 performances December 2-23 at the Long Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets for all performances are on sale now, with prices starting at just $15. Following last year’s record-breaking attendance, tickets for this year’s performances are expected to go FAST.
BALLET AUSTIN’S COME DANCE 2023! FREE EVENT SUNDAY, AUGUST 27TH
August 8, 2023
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin’s award-winning Butler Center for Dance & Fitness (BCDF) invites the community to its downtown location for the 16th annual COME DANCE event, a day of FREE dance on Sunday, August 27. The fun-filled event offers 30 different dance classes throughout the day led by Ballet Austin’s exceptional professional teaching staff. Since 2008, COME DANCE has reached over 26,000 attendees, all eager to discover the joy of dance. COME DANCE 2023 invites everyone to try out our variety of classes and to enjoy time in our welcoming and energetic community.
STEPHEN MILLS’ HAMLET OPENS BALLET AUSTIN’S 2023/24 SEASON
August 7, 2023
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin opens the 2023/24 Season with an exploration of revenge, betrayal, and love in Stephen Mills’ Hamlet. An award-winning work set to the richly textured music of American composer Philip Glass, Stephen Mills’ critically acclaimed ballet is a bold rendition of Shakespeare’s timeless tale. Featuring innovative sets, Giorgio Armani-inspired costumes, and Mills’ mesmerizing choreography, Stephen Mills’ Hamlet takes to the stage of the Long Center for the Performing Arts for three performances September 15-17. Tickets for all three performances are on sale now.
NEW PILATES REFORMER STUDIO GRAND OPENING MONDAY, JUNE 26TH
June 12, 2023
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin announces the Grand Opening of a new state-of-the-art Pilates Reformer Studio in Shalom Austin’s Dell Jewish Community Center (JCC), located at 7300 Hart Lane, on Monday, June 26. Ballet Austin and the Dell JCC will host an official ribbon-cutting ceremony that day at 11:00 a.m., followed by a meet and greet with Ballet Austin staff and Pilates instructors as well as FREE introductory Pilates Reformer classes throughout the day.
BALLET AUSTIN ANNOUNCES 2023/24 SEASON
April 21, 2023
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin announces their upcoming 2023/24 season, featuring five spectacular productions. The season opens with an exploration of passion, deceit, and revenge in Stephen Mills’ Hamlet. Celebrate the magic of the holiday season in December with the 61st Annual Production of The Nutcracker. Valentine’s Day weekend treats audiences to TRIAD: Three Bold Dances, featuring George Balanchine’s neoclassical Concerto Barocco, Amy Seiwert’s contemporary Renaissance, and Stephen Mills’ dive into existentialism in CARBON53. March spotlights the World Premiere of Stephen Mills’ POE / A Tale of Madness, commissioned through the generosity of the Butler New Choreography Endowment. The season concludes over Mother’s Day weekend with one of the most beloved classical ballets of all time, The Sleeping Beauty. Season ticket packages are available now, followed by single ticket sales beginning July 17.
STEPHEN MILLS’ CINDERELLA DANCES INTO THE LONG
CENTER MAY 12-14
April 5, 2023
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin closes the 2022/23 season with one of Stephen Mills’ most treasured full-length works, Cinderella. This classic fairy tale showcases Mills’ enchanting storytelling, exquisite classical choreography, and signature humor that makes this ballet one of Austin’s all-time audience favorites. With a compiled score by Alexander Glazunov performed live by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Stephen Mills’ Cinderella includes two evening performances and two matinees over Mother’s Day weekend at the Long Center for the Performing Arts May 12-14.
BALLET AUSTIN TO RECEIVE $10,000 GRANT FROM NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
February 27, 2023
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin announces the award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to receive a Grant for Arts Projects award of $10,000. This grant will support Ballet Austin’s upcoming production of Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project, featuring both a full-length contemporary dance work is preceded by a 2-month project… and an accompanying community education project. This grant is one of 1,251 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling nearly $28.8 million that were announced by the NEA as part of its first round of fiscal year 2023 grants.
BALLET AUSTIN PRESENTS STEPHEN MILLS’ LIGHT / THE HOLOCAUST & HUMANITY PROJECT MAR 31- APR 2
February 21, 2023
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin brings Stephen Mills’ award-winning Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project back to Austin this spring, preceded by a series of community dialogues focused on the protection of human rights against bigotry and hate. The contemporary dance work will be performed at The Long Center for the Performing Arts on March 31 & April 1-2.
FINDING LIGHT NAMED “BEST DOCUMENTARY” IN BERLIN AND ROME FILM FESTIVALS
February 1, 2023
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin is pleased to announce that FINDING LIGHT, a documentary feature detailing the story behind choreographer Stephen Mills’ Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project (Light), received the “Best Documentary” award from both the Berlin Indie Film Festival and the Rome International Movie Awards. The film is also an official selection of notable festivals across the United States and the world, including a world premiere at the prestigious Miami Jewish Film Festival and a screening at the Cannes World Film Festival.
BALLET AUSTIN’S “GET FIT 2023!” SUNDAY, JANUARY 15TH
January 4, 2023
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin’s Butler Center for Dance & Fitness (BCDF) welcomes the Austin community back to its downtown studios for a day designed to get Austin moving in the New Year. With 42 different classes offered throughout the day, participants will take classes from Ballet Austin’s exceptional professional teaching staff.
STEPHEN MILLS PRESENTS A TRIO OF EXCEPTIONAL DANCE WORKS HONORING COMMUNITY LEADER SARAH GOODRICH BUTLER, FEBRUARY 10-12
January 1, 2023
AUSTIN, Texas – From the beauty of a neo-classical masterpiece to the energy of contemporary ballet, to the stunning world premiere by international award-winning choreographer, Stephen Mills, Ballet Austin returns February 10-12 to The Long Center for the Performing Arts for a weekend of extraordinary dance. This exciting collection, assembled by Mills, Ballet Austin’s Sarah & Ernest Butler Family Fund Artistic Director, honors long-time Austin philanthropist Sarah Goodrich Butler for her generous support and leadership over the years, along with her husband, Dr. Ernest Butler.
BALLET AUSTIN’S 60TH ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION OF THE NUTCRACKER SELLS OUT
December 7, 2022
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin is thrilled to announce that for the first time in the history of Ballet Austin’s production of The Nutcracker, tickets for all 15 performances have sold out. This unprecedented response to this time-honored Austin holiday tradition makes this year’s production both the top-selling and top-attended run of all time.
BALLET AUSTIN RECEIVES HEALTHIEST WORKPLACE AWARD FROM THE MAYOR’S HEALTH & FITNESS COUNCIL
October 11, 2022
AUSTIN, Texas – Ballet Austin was honored to receive the Healthiest Workplace Award this past month. This award comes from the Mayor’s Health & Fitness Council (MHFC) and is designed to distinguish organizations within the city of Austin that are promoting health and well-being within their workplaces. The award is divided into categories based on the size of the organization and the number of total employees. Ballet Austin was the winner of the Healthiest Workplace in the Small Business Category, focused on organizations with 1-250 employees.
BALLET AUSTIN IN THE NEWS
External links to recent news and featured articles plus performance previews and reviews.
September 11, 2023 – Pre-Professional Pipeline – or Purgatory? Who Do Apprentice and Trainee Programs Really Serve?
By Kathryn Holmes and Nick Kepley, Dance Magazine
September 8, 2023 – Revenge, Deferred in Stephen Mills’ Hamlet
By Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle
September 8, 2023 – Ballet Austin’s Upcoming Season Presents an Acclaimed and Contemporary take on Hamlet
By Meher Qazilbash, Tribeza
September 7, 2023 – Hamlet changes everything: See the ‘stunningly modern’ show that raised the profile of Stephen Mills and Ballet Austin
By Michael Barnes, Austin American-Statesman
May 5, 2023 – ‘It’s a 9 to 5 job that’s not so normal’ | Ballet Austin company members prepare for final show of the season
By Melia Masumoto, KVUE
May 5, 2023 – Ballet Austin prepares for final show of the season
By kvue.com, KVUE
March 13, 2023 – Texas ballet shares the story of a Holocaust survivor
By Jamil Donith, Spectrum News 1
February 12, 2023 – Dance review: Ballet Austin’s ‘Sarah’s Songs’
By Courtney Thomas, Sightlines
February 10, 2023 – Ballet Austin performs ‘Sarah’s Songs’ this Valentine’s weekend
By Amanda Salinas, FOX 7 Austin
February 9, 2023 – Explore Impactful Art, Through Meaningful Dialogue At FINDING LIGHT At WFA2023
By A.A. Cristi, Broadway World
December 19, 2022 – Seven performance highlights of 2022
By Courtney Thomas, Sightlines
December 14, 2022 – Arts Around Austin: Ballet Austin and ZACH Theatre
By kvue.com, KVUE
December 9, 2022 – Interim CapMetro president and CEO Dottie Watkins helps kick off a new season of Ballet Austin’s ‘Nutcracker’
By Gary Dinges, CapMetro WayPoint
December 6, 2022 – Our Visit to Ballet Austin’s The Nutcracker
By Natalie Paramore, Natalie Paramore
December 4, 2022 – Ballet Austin’s production of ‘The Nutcracker’ sells out
By Kim Yonick, KVUE
November 26, 2022 – KFMA 89.5 Nutcracker’s 60th at Ballet Austin
By Judlyne Lilly Gibson, Staccato
October 28, 2022 – UT alum choreographs, presents Filipino ballet ‘Maria and the Mouse Deer’
By Angela Lim, The Daily Texan
October 17, 2022 – Review: Maria & the Mouse Deer by Ballet Austin
By David Glen Robinson, CTX Live Theatre
October 14, 2022 – Ballet Austin II Launches Fables of the World Series
By Leila Saidane, The Austin Chronicle
October 7, 2022 – Making space in the ballet repertoire for non-European cultures
By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Sightlines