Nashville Ballet’s annual fundraising gala is set to make its grand return to Schermerhorn Symphony Center this March. A highly-anticipated event, this year’s Ballet Ball will feature live music by GRAMMY-nominated artist Allison Russell, performances by Nashville Ballet Company dancers, and will honor award-winning writer and long-standing artistic collaborator Caroline Randall Williams.
Williams will be receiving the Synergy Award, which recognizes individuals who have successfully demonstrated the importance of creative partnerships between music, art, and dance that Nashville Ballet so strongly believes in and executes on stage. Recognizable by her original book that inspired Artistic Director Paul Vasterling’s ballet of the same name, Lucy Negro Redux, Williams has redefined the connection between spoken word and movement through her collaborations with Nashville Ballet. Beyond her trailblazing career as a writer, poet, and activist, she has also performed live on stage alongside Company dancers in Vasterling’s Lucy Negro Redux and Jennifer Archibald’s Posters.
Joining the Ballet Ball stage will be three-time GRAMMY-award nominee Allison Russell, who has, over the past year, begun her own artistic partnership with Nashville Ballet. Known for her eclectic style and passionate sound, Russell recently starred in Nashville Ballet’s free virtual season with live, original music for Kevin Thomas’ Eve Was Black. Russell will be using her skills as a multi-instrumentalist singer songwriter to work alongside Artistic Director Paul Vasterling to create brand-new, original music for this year’s live Ballet Ball performance.
“Allison and Caroline are the embodiment of what we want to celebrate at this year’s event; they are strength, excellence, creativity, resiliency,” shared Vasterling. “Just like the golden age of dance that inspired this year’s event, these two are reinventing how we experience art. We are honored not only to share the stage with them, but to work alongside them to continue to push the boundaries of ballet as a voice of expression and outlet for storytelling.”
Following the theme of mid-century elegance, the evening will also include a curated selection of pieces from award-winning choreographer Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs. This chic and alluring performance is set to some of Frank Sinatra’s most iconic hits, such as “That’s Life,” “Strangers in the Night,” and “My Way.”
Chaired by Joanne Sowell and Brooke Trusley, Ballet Ball 2022 will take place at Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Saturday, March 12 to raise mission-critical funds for Nashville Ballet’s Community Engagement Initiative. Inspired by the golden age of dance in America, renowned luxury event planner Bruce Pittman will be returning to bring the theme of mid-century elegance to life throughout the Schermerhorn. Dinner will be served by premier caterer Kristen Winston, and cocktails and assorted beverages will be provided by Lipman Brothers, LLC.
Tickets for Ballet Ball are by invitation only, but the general public is invited to purchase tickets to the Ballet Ball Late Party, which features a cocktail hour, live music by Bizz & Everyday People, and a seat for the gala performance. For more information on Ballet Ball, or to purchase Late Party tickets, please visit nashvilleballet.com.
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About Nashville Ballet
Nashville Ballet is the largest professional ballet company in Tennessee. Nashville Ballet presents a varied repertoire of classical ballet and contemporary works by noted choreographers, including original works by Artistic Director Paul Vasterling. Thanks to Ballet Ball funding, Nashville Ballet and the second company, NB2 (a pre-professional training company), provide more than 55,000 arts experiences to adults and children annually through virtual and in-person season performances and its Community Engagement programming. Curriculum-based Community Engagement programs bring hybrid learning dance education to community centers, colleges, public libraries, and public elementary, middle, and high schools across the state. School of Nashville Ballet brings world-class in-studio, on-demand, and outdoor dance instruction to students ages 2 and up. To learn more about Nashville Ballet, please visit nashvilleballet.com.
Nashville Ballet receives public funding from Metro Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Contributions from local, regional, and national institutional funders and community partners, as well as hundreds of generous individuals, provide ongoing support of Nashville Ballet’s mission-critical programs.
About Caroline Randall Williams
Caroline Randall Williams is a multi-genre writer, educator, and performance artist in Nashville Tennessee, where she is a writer-in-residence at Vanderbilt University. She is a co-author of the NAACP Image Award-winning cookbook Soul Food Love. Her debut collection of poetry, Lucy Negro, Redux, was turned into a ballet in 2019 by Nashville Ballet's Artistic Director Paul Vasterling. Williams performed her poetry as an integral member of the cast, all set to an original score by multi-GRAMMY nominee Rhiannon Giddens. Named by Southern Living as “One of the 50 People Changing the South,” the Cave Canem fellow has been published and featured in multiple journals, essay collections, and news outlets, including The Iowa Review, The Massachusetts Review, CherryBombe, Garden and Gun, Essence, and The New York Times. Most recently, she was ranked by The Root as one of the 100 most influential African Americans of 2020.
About Allison Russell
Allison Russell is an artist, activist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist of extraordinary power, talent, and grace. A founding member of the acclaimed groups Our Native Daughters (with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Amythyst Kiah), and Birds of Chicago (with her husband/musical partner JT Nero), the Montreal native has begun to emerge as a potent force among creative circles worldwide. On her debut solo album, Outside Child (Fantasy Records, May 2021), Russell unpacks the story of her traumatic childhood in a deeply moving, unforgettable song-cycle of courage, empathy, and love. Outside Child is a powerful and warm statement of hope, resilience, and the redemptive power of art– asserted from a place of healing, of motherhood, of partnership– and from a new home made in Nashville. Russell was named Emerging Act of the Year (Americana Music Association US), International Artist of the Year (AMA UK), and one of the top artists to watch in 2021 by Rolling Stone. Outside Child was recently placed on the long-list for the prestigious Polaris Prize, was nominated for four Canadian Folk Music Awards, and appeared on a number of “Best of 2021” lists.
