Ballethnic Dance Company Performance & Talkback

Celebrate the holidays and the Gantt Golden Year by joining us for a special performance and audience talkback with Ballethnic Dance Company hosted by the Gantt, and will take place at The Charlotte Ballet Center for Dance!

Ballethnic will perform excerpts of its soulful holiday classic, Urban Nutcracker Act II choreographed by Waverly T. Lucas II, featuring the dances of the Brown Sugar and Chocolatier, the bubbly Coca-Cola dancers, and the rhythmic jumps of the Black Russian. The dances are set to the traditional Tchaikovsky score, with adapted music, to the Black Russian dance composed by North Carolinian, L. Gerard Reid.

Ballethnic will also present WaltzTanGall, a ballet performed to live percussion that utilizes the rhythms of a waltz, a tango, and a gallop to create movements that integrate African, ballet, and contemporary dance into a unique composition of artistic distinction. This ballet shows the pioneering spirit of the Ballethnic concept with its fluid fusion of the African dance style concepts performed sur le pointe and the athletic bravura of the danseur.

After the performance, Ballethnic co-founders Nena Gilreath and Waverly Lucas will share insights on the origin and growth of this dance company, founded in Atlanta in 1990.

This program is made possible through the generous support from the David and Nicole Tepper Foundation.

Ballethnic is a professional ballet company that creates visibility for Black and Brown dancers who are overlooked despite proper training. For over 30 years, Ballethnic has distinguished itself by its unique and authentic praxis of blending ballet with African dance concepts and placing the movements sur la pointe. The company strives to change the landscape of classical ballet by increasing artistic opportunities through its Dance Company, Ballethnic Academy of Dance, Youth Ensemble, and Danseur Development Project.

Ballethnic is one of the most prolific creators of critically acclaimed ballets in the Southeast region. Its goal is to positively impact the number of Black and culturally diverse dancers in mainstream ballet companies globally.

Co-founders Nena Gilreath, a native of North Wilkesboro, NC, and Waverly T. Lucas, II of Detroit, MI, a husband-and-wife team, met while dancing with the Dance Theatre of Harlem (New York City) and the Atlanta Ballet. Over the years, the dance company and academy faced obstacles, but also achieved great successes -- including the street naming of "Ballethnic Way" and teaching and performing in Europe and Africa.

Learn more about Ballethnic at ballethnic.org.