Ballet Nights at Cadogan Hall in London, England Featured Nashville Ballet’s Finest
Photo credit: Deborah Jaffe
Nashville Ballet, the largest professional dance company in the state of Tennessee, recently made its highly-anticipated UK debut at Ballet Nights in London, England. Ballet Nights featured world-class dancers, emerging artists, modern masterpieces, new creations, legacy works, live music and spoken word at a brand new location for the series, Cadogan Hall.
As part of the special evening, a brand new duet, LETO, created and choreographed by Nashville Ballet’s own Artistic Director and CEO Nick Mullikin, was premiered and performed by two of Nashville Ballet’s most prestigious dancers, Sarah Pierce and James Lankford. The work was scored by Maurice Ravel and was performed live by Ballet Nights’ in-house pianist, Viktor Erik Emanuel.
LETO was inspired by the poem of Henri de Régnier that Maurice Ravel gave homage to when he wrote this magical piece.
Photo credit: MA2LA
"Nashville Ballet was thrilled to partner with Ballet Nights for our London debut and our first return overseas in over 20 years," said Nashville Ballet Artistic Director and CEO Nick Mullikin. "Seeing our dancers share a stage with some of the biggest names in ballet was an honor. It solidified that we are on the right path as a company. We truly are building something special here in Nashville. Something that can resonate around the world. I hope this helps our audiences locally realize the value of this organization and appreciate just how amazing the Nashville Ballet artists are.”
The Ballet Nights event was designed to celebrate live music and dance, featuring classical ballet, neoclassical and contemporary dance.
“It was a huge honor to be entrusted with the very first London staging of a performance by Nashville Ballet,” said Ballet Nights Founder & Artistic Director Jamiel Devernay-Laurence. “Cadogan Hall audiences loved Nick Mullikin’s duet LETO which was performed by two of Nashville Ballet’s amazing dancers. Our virtuoso Ballet Nights pianist, Viktor Erik Emanuel, accompanied the dancers on Cadogan Hall’s Steinway with the lyrical piece, ‘Jeux d’eau’ by French composer Maurice Ravel. This exciting new development in partnering with Nashville Ballet at Cadogan Hall is also a statement of intent for Ballet Nights’ vision to create a free-flowing exchange of essential international voices for our audiences here in the UK, and for our developing audiences globally.”