Nashville's 2024–2025 Dance Season:
Come Spin, Swerve, Swivel, and Squirm
In 2022-2023 I had a “Wait and See” attitude. From 2022–2023:
Before I returned home to Middle Tennessee, I binged ballet in New York and Houston, two American cities with world-class ballet companies. Having left decades ago when classical and modern dance were not even a twinkle in the toes of little would-be ballerinas in endless recitals, I must admit the binging represented a certain lack of faith that my dance options in Nashville would supply anything beyond the annual Nutcracker recurrence common in the most cities.
Over and over, since that “wait and see” attitude I had in 2023, Nashville has come through with dynamic performances from the Nashville Ballet (NB) and at OZ Arts, in particular. But this year’s 2024–2025 dance season rivals that of nearly any major city I’ve experienced. In addition to NB’s focus on classical and modern dance, and the OZ focus on the avant-garde, Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) has stepped up to the plate with an all-star lineup of iconic dance companies from the Americas. (click links for full seasons)
The fourteen events can be divided into traditional classical ballet, traditional modern dance, world dance, and avant-garde dance. Whether you’re new to dance and want a crash course or you’re an old hand with specialized tastes, there’ll be something for you in this power-packed season. First the crash course with some recommendations. If you want to get maximum coverage I’ll also recommend one event per month. Let me know in the comments if you would have chosen differently.
Traditional classical dance is what most people think of when they hear the word “ballet.” Evolving from 18th-century France, the standardized step vocabulary, like pirouette, tutus, and toe shoes, classical ballet typically focuses on fairytales, with Tchaikowsky as its most famous composer. Of course, if this is your dance love language, you’ve seen Nutcracker, which is a perennial favorite and perfect if you’re a dance newbie with children, but NB will also be offering another favorite with original 19th-century choreography by Marius Petipa, adapted by NB director-emeritus Paul Vasterling.
*Classical Dance Recommendation: Sleeping Beauty (NB)
Traditional modern dance is primarily an American art form. Choreographers like Martha Graham took the classical vocabulary and expanded it with experimentation into increased physicality, telling American tales and creating choreographies with no narrative structure. Much of this category, which includes music by Aaron Copland and George Balanchine’s “black and white” ballets to music by composers like J.S. Bach and Igor Stravinsky, was once avant-garde but is now part of the mainstream.
This year, TPAC’s Martha Graham program will include her iconic choreography of Copland’s Appalachian Spring. Founded in 1926, this company is a must-see for dance lovers and an excellent introduction to modern dance for the uninitiated. Based on the excellence of last year’s Attitude and Five Short Stories programs, often featuring NB dancers as choreographers, this year’s Attitude promises exciting new works. Those interested in encouraging the growth of today’s choreographers will enjoy the NB offerings.
*Modern Dance Recommendations: Martha Graham (TPAC), Attitude (NB)
World Dance typically falls into two categories: companies that elevate traditional folk dance and those, like American modern dance, that use traditional elements from their cultures, but expand them through influences from other parts of the globe and from the choreographers’ imaginations. Nashville is lucky to have sterling examples of both this season, though both are in March.
Ballet Folklórico de México, founded in 1952 by Amalia Hernández, has gone from eight to fifty dancers. They perform three times weekly at Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes [Palace of Fine Arts]. Dressed in traditional costuming from throughout Mexico and its indigenous peoples, this lively event will be a great event for families.
On the more modern side of world dance, Soon-ho Park & Bereishit Dance from Seoul, South Korea, will use onstage Korean drumming, while incorporating ethnic traditions and martial arts into their dance. This company is known for its physical precision. And, of course, live music always makes for a more stimulating dance performance.
*World Dance Recommendations: The Ballet Folklórico de México (TPAC), Soon-ho Park & Bereishit Dance (OZ)
Avant-garde dance pushes the envelope, often fusing extreme dance techniques with controversial topics, and other art forms, like video, and unusual effects in sound and lighting. Most of these events come from OZ. Last season’s marvelous TRIBE, directed by Shamel Pitts, is a case in point. This year, they are bringing in Emma Sandall, an Australian native with Nashville connections. This medalist in Rome’s International Choreography Competition will perform a dance/multimedia narrative to Sheila Heti’s acclaimed novel Motherhood. Given the widespread legislative challenges currently placed on motherhood, this work should be thought-provoking.
Even more innovative, Faye Driscoll’s Weathering will present a kinetic human sculpture or what she terms a “multi-sensory flesh sculpture” with writhing bodies atop and surrounding a large white block on stage. This Guggenheim Fellowship winner welcomes Nashville audiences to the edge.
*Avant-garde Dance Recommendations: An Ambivalent Woman of 37 (OZ), Weathering (OZ)
Here are my monthly recommendations with choreographer and composer listed (as possible):
November: Sandall, An Ambivalent Woman of 37 (OZ)
December: Vasterling/Tchaikowsky, Nutcracker (NB)
January: Graham/Copland, Appalachian Spring (TPAC)
February: Petipa-Vasterling/Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty (NB)
March: Ballet Folklórico de México (TPAC)
April: Driscoll, Weathering (OZ)
May: multiple, Attitude (NB)
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Y Kendall is a Stanford-educated musicologist, specializing in dance history who recently earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at Columbia University, studying nonfiction writing with Ben Ratliff and Margo Jefferson. Kendall’s diverse works have been published in Alchemy: Journal of Translation, Columbia Journal, Mitos Magazín, The Hunger Mountain Review, and The Salt Collective, among others. Born and raised in Tennessee, Kendall now lives near Nashville, freelancing as a flutist and writer, while caregiving for relatives.
