Friday, November 03, 2006

Wilmington, N.C. - The young and the young at heart will delight in The Wilmington Ballet Company's enchanting new production of Cinderella. This special one-night-only performance is at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18 in the recently renovated Kenan Auditorium.

Artistic Director Gregg Saulnier says he is "staging this production to be more true to the original 'script' of the Prokofiev score." Saulnier's has previously worked with the Cincinnati Ballet, both as a dancer and as Director of the Otto M. Budig Academy.

The role of Cinderella is danced by 14-year-old prodigy, Dara Holmes. Holmes trains locally at the Wilmington School of Ballet. She is a nationally recognized ballerina, who has been offered full scholarships to the American Ballet Theater and the School of American Ballet in New York.

The ballroom scene of Cinderella will be danced to live music performed by the Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra, led by Steven Errante, renowned conductor of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra and a professor of music at University of North Carolina Wilmington.

In addition to Saturday's performance, The Wilmington Ballet Company, in association with the UNCW Watson School of Education, will offer special school performances and curriculum materials to local elementary school children on Nov. 17. Cinderella is sponsored by the UNCW Office of Cultural Arts, The Landfall Foundation, The Wal-Mart Foundation and The North Carolina Arts Council.

Tickets are $15 and $20 and are available at the Kenan Box Office (910.962.3500).