
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS
The Wilmington Ballet Company presents:
A New Beginning
LIVE at the Wilson Center

Live-streamed Saturday, May 28th
Buy your tickets below!
This is a show you won't want to miss! As the only professional ballet company in the Cape Fear area, US International Ballet partners with Wilmington Ballet Company to put on a spectacular performance. Featuring excerpts from masterpiece ballets like Paquita and Le Corsaire, "A New Beginning" is the first show with Johnal Fernández as the new artistic director of USIB. Johnal and his wife Ronna, along with USIB professional dancers, guest artist Ariel Martinez, and pre-professional students from Wilmington School of Ballet and Studio A of Wilmington, will all take the stage in a magnificent performance for everyone in the Cape Fear region to enjoy.
The Wilmington Ballet Company presents:
The Great Wilmington Nutcracker
LIVE at the Wilson Center

Join the Wilmington Ballet Company and US International Ballet live at The Wilson Center for the joyous return of the favorite holiday classic, The Great Wilmington Nutcracker! Local youths and special needs dance program A Chance To Dance from Charlotte, NC will accompany the professional dancers, bringing The Nutcracker story to life. Experience a magical holiday evening with Clara as she battles the Mouse Queen, travels through the Land of Snow, and reigns over The Land of Sweets.
Bring the family back to the theater and get your tickets today!
Wilmington Ballet Company is excited to partner with A Chance to Dance for this year's Great Wilmington Nutcracker! Learn more about A Chance to Dance here.




Check out last year's livestream performance:
Special Thanks to the Arts Council of Wilmington & the Landfall Foundation
PERFORMANCES
Great Wilmington Nutcracker:
Live Audience at the Wilson Center:
December 18, 2021
6:30pm
December 19, 2021
3:00pm
Online Livestream Performance:
December 19, 2021
3:00pm
A New Beginning:
May 27 & 28, 2022
7:00pm
The Wilson Center
Other performances TBA. Stay Tuned!

20 years of
GREAT SUCCESS
Wilmington Ballet Company is a pillar of the arts in Southeastern North Carolina
Wilmington Ballet Company integrates diverse audiences and performers from wide ranging socio-economic, cultural, racial, age, ability, body type, and educational backgrounds into professional calibre ballet productions and educational outreach programs. Through decades of experimentation, the organization has discovered and perfected innovative inclusion techniques that engage a potpourri of people into the art of Ballet. The non-profit production company creates truly impactful experiences for both audiences and participates.
As a non-profit, the company's mission is to impact, educate, and inspire diverse populations through intimate exposure to professional calibre ballet. Collaboration with community groups is the cornerstone for successfully assimilating diverse groups into performances.
Special Olympics, senior performing groups, inner-city outreach organizations, public school drama programs, college art clubs, community opera groups, local theater associations: these are just a sampling of the partner organizations that make the companies’ remarkable diversity possible.
The company additionally intends to grow a diverse audience for the art of ballet. In partnership with US International Ballet, a cutting edge professional ballet company, productions are designed to entertain a twenty first century audience. Visual effects, digital background, and circus arts are all combined with professional ballet to create an exciting theatrical spectacle.
The Wilmington Ballet Company also contracts professional ballet dancers, guest circus artists, visual artists, innovative costumers, seasoned actors, eclectic puppeteers, and a variety of technical artists in order create highly visually entertaining productions. For this reason, the vast majority of performances are sold out!
Ballet outreach is too often simply a lovely performance without any lasting effect for the attendees. Since 1999, Wilmington Ballet Company has been dedicated to creating lasting impact for underserved populations in Southeastern North Carolina. The company partners with educational institutions to create long term opportunities for those who would otherwise be excluded from learning ballet.
Wilmington School of Ballet partners with WBC by offering annual scholarships to outreach participants who show interest but are socio-economically disadvantaged. Inspiration Dance Center partners to bring a classically trained ballerina weekly into a rural city to expand the classical offerings locally available. The company provides curriculum to public school teachers to further the experience of a production into the classroom. Weekly adaptive dance classes are offered with a sliding scale to dancers with mental and physical disabilities. These are just an example of the long term outreach programming provided to the community by the company.
Wilmington Ballet Company is devoted to the belief that arts can heal cultural divides and wounds by bringing diverse peoples together in a creative mission. Below is a link to WHQR about a quintessential Wilmington Ballet Company production where races, ages, and genders were combined in a way that brought social and cultural issues to the forefront in a healing and honest way.
Every year Wilmington Ballet Company produces four theatrical productions that are attended by as many as 5000 people. Over 700 people directly perform and over a dozen community organizations participate. Wilmington Ballet Company intends to be a cultural force for change by opening to all peoples the historically elite art form of ballet and thereby, enriching our world through the beauty of classical dance.

Adaptive Dance
Wilmington Ballet Company (WBC) is committed to making ballet truly accessible to dancers of all abilities. Adaptive dance is based on the belief that everyone can dance. Classes and performances are designed to allow each dancer to be their very best as a student and a performer. Everyone is welcome.
Ballet is an artform meant to deeply impact both the dancer and the audience. Frequently, audience members express emotions about the beauty and meaning of our adaptive dance numbers. Our special dancers feel appreciated and successful when they hear the applause of an audience. Truly our adaptive dance programs achieves the ultimate goal of impacting both the dancer and the audience through the art of ballet.
Performance Inclusion
Adaptive dancers are integrated into performances in one of two ways. Select adaptive dancers may be assimilated directly into a piece in the ballet. However, this is not the perfect fit for all adaptive dancers. Assimilating directly into the ballet may mean managing changing lights, loud music, and being on a specific time frame. This can be too stressful for some adaptive dancers.
WBC strives to give every adaptive dancer a successful performance experience. Therefore, an intermission show is frequently performed by adaptive dancers. This allows for the lights and music to be calm. There is not a specific time limit or other distractions on stage. Inclusion specialist dance team members can be on stage with the adaptive dancers.
Often our company dancers join our adaptive dancers in these intermission show numbers. Adaptive dancers love these special performances, especially the bows! During an intermission show, an adaptive dancer can take all the time they need to bow. This is often an exhilarating experience for both the audience and the dancer.
Classes
Weekly adaptive dance classes are available on a sliding scale. Adaptive dance classes teach the fundamentals of ballet and contemporary. Dance classes provide physical, and social stimulation for adaptive dancers.
Classes teach fundamental coordination, ballet terminology, musicality, and spatial awareness. Dancers learn to work together in making formations and maintaining patterns. Adaptive dancers develop self esteem as they feel the accomplishment of being a part of a dance group.
Contact us for further detailed information.
Breaking Boundaries
Wilmington Ballet Company has a long history of breaking boundaries and ceilings for members of our community. WBC is committed to creating opportunities and opening doors for those who experience limitations in our region.
Limitations are not limited to one race, ability, gender, or peoples. Limitations come in all shapes and sizes. Wilmington Ballet Company collaborates with numerous organizations with the sole purpose of creating opportunity.
Socio-economic challenges, physical/mental limitations, and gender expectations currently are the focus of our groundbreaking work.

Community Partners
2018/2019 Season Partners
Below is an overview of the extraordinary integration practices developed by Wilmington Ballet Company.
Special Olympics - performs a piece in the production and a special intermission show
Dreams (Inner City Outreach) - has performed with WBC for numerous years
New Hanover County Public Schools - numerous school specific performances
(with curriculum provided for teachers)
Wilmington Children’s Museum - annual ballet character event at the Museum
New Hanover County Library System - annual ballet day event at the Central Library
Thalian Association - singing live during the snow scene of Nutcracker
Coastal Christian High School - drama department produces a “show within a show” that
Narrates the spring production
Southside Dance Centre (Rural Dance Studio) - Columbus County) - from a Rual county that
Doesn’t have a professional theater - this studio have over 30 dancers annually perform a Candy Cane scene in the Nutcracker since 2009
Inspirations Dance Centre (Rural Dance Studio - Brunswick County) - WBC tours to
-
Neighboring Brunswick County and partners with this local dance
-
Studio to include local Children in Nutcracker - WBC also sends out
-
A ballet teacher weekly to offer ongoing education
Wilmington Celebration Choir - an adult to Senior Choir that performed the pre-show of Nutcracker
Leland Cultural Center - Free Community Performance
YWCA - Free preschool and afterschool dance program
Girl Scouts - Arts Events and Discounted ticket programs
Wilmington School of Ballet - scholarship partnership and performing partnership
Coastal Dance Academy - Performs in an intermission show
Babs McDance (Adult Ballroom Dance Studio) Adults and Seniors have performed adult dance in Nutcracker party scene for many years
Glory Academy of Fine Arts (Christian Dance Studio) - performed pre-show
Gore Dolls - Collaboration for Character displays in lobby ranging from children’s characters at Family Friendly Ballets to Haunted House Characters at Vampires, the ballet
Juggling Gypsy - provide circus artist including stilt walkers
Hannah Block Community Arts Center - free community performance
Brunswick County Arts Council - community arts events
Other Community Partners
Highlights of other community partner Agencies that have collaborated on projects with WBC in Wilmington:
Lower Cape Fear Hospice - Wilmington Ballet Company “re-invented” a beloved local tradition event - Cape Fear Festival of Trees - see “news” page
New Hanover Memorial Hospital - Gala Fundraising Event
UNCW - Cultural Arts Department - Free school show performances
UNCW - Watson School of Education - create curriculum for school performances that meets standard course of study for teacher use
Cape Fear Raptor Center - include live rescued birds in the lobby and production of Swan to bring attention to the local rescue facility
Cape Fear Community College Art Club - create a snow backdrop for Nutcracker. Gave student artist the opportunity to explore creating professional backdrops and created a lasting set peice
Cape Fear Community College Music Department - performed vocals live of snow Scene
Ashley High School Singers - performed vocals live for Snow Scene
Cameron Art Museum - Kids at CAM - Community youth work with professional
choreographers to create a “reflection on an exhibit” dance event that is free to children in the community
NC Aquarium - Community educational events
Reenactors Society - performed fight scenes in lobby and played characters in performance Glow Academy - sent out professional dance teacher to set a dance on Glow Students who are generally from socio-economically diverse background and are predominantly minority. Glow students performed a court dance in Swan Lake
Snipes Academy - has performed numerous times an intermission show. Title one school.
Girls Inc - discounted tickets - scholarship offerings
Techniques in Motion - performed Mother Ginger in Nutcracker. Predominantly a hip hop/tap Studio - bringing diverse dancers to the ballet
Cape Fear Roller Derby Girls - performed the role of Wolves in the Jungle Book production
Pop Warner Cheerleading - performed the role of Vines in the Jungle Book production
Opera Wilmington - performed the music for the snake scene in Jungle Book
Dance Cooperative - performed the night sky lights scene in Jungle Book
Cripple Creek Cloggers - performed the elephant thunder in Jungle Book
Wilmington Girls Choir - has performed as a guest for Wilmington Ballet Company and Wilmington Ballet Company has performed as a guest in Girls Choir Concerts
Kathy Snow Productions - performed Lobby show and intermission show
Providence Preparatory Academy - performed Narration for Jungle Book
Wilmington Christian Academy - performed the pre-show for Nutcracker
Port City Gymnastics - Performed in Mother Ginger in Nutcracker
Gymnastics Unlimited - Performed in Mother Ginger in Nutcracker
Friends School of Wilmington - Performed Narration for Jungle Book
Cape Fear Academy - Performed the music pre-show for Nutcracker
East Brunswick High School - Performed an intermission show for Nutcracker on tour
Brunswick School of Dance - Performed in Nutcracker both in Wilmington and on tour to Brunswick County
East Brunswick High School Show Choir - Performed in Nutcracker on tour
Azalea Festival Multicultural stage - WBC has performed numerous times for the Azalea Multi-Cultural Stage as well as other Azalea Festival Events
Chinese American Association - performed authentic Chinese dance in WBC production
Mexican American Association - performed authentic Mexican dance in WBC production
Philippine American Association - performed authentic Philippine dance in WBC production
Evolution Dance - performed in the preshow of a production - predominately a competition studio - bringing a diverse group of dancers to a ballet
Southport Christian High School - performed a handbell pre-show for Nutcracker
Dance Quest - Performed a pre-show for WBC production - typically a clogging studio - Bringing a diverse group of dancers to a ballet
SPONSORS




















