Regional Dance Company of the Week: Maine State Ballet

BroadwayWorld.com, the largest theatre site on the Internet, is thrilled to announce a new feature to its comprehensive regional coverage - the Featured Regional Dance Company of the Week! Much like we do with our featured Regional Theaters, each week, we will bring you a story on a regional dance company in one of our coverage cities. 

This week's featured Regional Dance Company is Maine State Ballet located in Falmouth, Maine! Read all about them below and scroll to see photos from the company's recent production of THE NUTCRACKER!

Maine State Ballet was incorporated in 1986 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. The affiliated dance school, the Maine State School for the Performing Arts, has been in existence since the early 1900s. Maine State Ballet is run by a Board of Directors and is supported though dance school tuition, performance ticket sales, business partnerships, grants and individual donors.

Maine State Ballet educates, entertains, and enriches the community through versatile and varied dance programs. The school maintains a population of over 500 students. We encourage them to become active, intelligent young artists who will emerge as leaders in their communities. Maine State Ballet's dance classes, outreach events, lecture demonstrations in the schools and Backstage children's concert series embody the fundamental element of our educational vision.

In addition to its renowned production of The Nutcracker, Maine State Ballet has also presented numerous spectacular full-length ballets from its repertoire including Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Alice in Wonderland, Hansel and Gretel, Coppelia, and the time honored Swan Lake - as well as the impressive one ACT Productions of Peter and the Wolf, Paquita, The Firebird and Can Can Parisien, to name a few.

Artistic Director and Co-Founder Linda MacArthur Miele is a former dancer with the New York City Ballet and protégé of George Balanchine. Miele continues to expand Maine State Ballet's repertoire to include new full-length productions and smaller ballets that showcase the company's growing number of talented dancers. Jonathan Miele, Co-Founder, is a former professional Broadway show dancer.

Maine State Ballet's Falmouth location boasts its own in-house theater. This enables Maine State Ballet to realize its vision of offering a wide range of dance productions in our community on a regular basis. Maine State Ballet's annual season includes over 30 performances and reaches audiences of over 15,000 patrons.

Upcoming performances hosted by Maine State Ballet include THE MAGIC TOY SHOP which runs December 8 and 15, TAP, TAP, JAZZ in January, and ALICE IN WONDERLAND presented in May 2013. For tickets and more information, click here.

To learn more about Maine State Ballet, click here.

Know of a dance company we should feature? Send your suggestion to romi@broadwayworld.com

Photos and information courtesy of Maine State Ballet

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