Movement & Music Profiles: Nashville Ballet

While Nashville is known as Music City, it is a variety of performing and visual arts that truly bring character to Nashville. This year we profiled just some of the incredible organizations dedicated to music and movement that elevate the city.

Since their inception, these organizations have helped Nashville’s light shine brighter and to bring arts to a greater section of the community. Step inside as we talk history, legacy and the future with some of Nashville’s institutions of music and movement.

One performance company in town is keeping audiences on their toes, while simultaneously keeping their feet firmly on the ground. The Nashville Ballet has been dazzling audiences since 1986, continuously evolving in the worlds of classical and contemporary ballet.

Since its inception, the company has reached many milestones, from international touring and Kennedy Center performances, to Emmy and TELLY Award-winning productions. These achievements were guided by Artistic Director Paul Vasterling and the incredible team at the Nashville Ballet. This year, Paul retired, setting the stage for Nick Mullikin to take the reins.

Nick credits the company’s success to their dedication to the mission statement: “We create, perform, teach and promote dance as an essential and inspiring element of our community.” The company reflects the uniqueness and creativity that exists in Nashville. “We don’t try to thrust our voice onto this community, necessarily,” Nick says. “We listen to what is being said, and we do that through a lot of community engagement.”

The Nashville Ballet stays connected with the city through programs in libraries and public schools, collaborations with local musicians, and free opportunities for audiences to come see the second company, NB2, at the Martin Center. Their wide range of voices and diverse styles also captivates audiences around the globe: They have received recognition through their digital work, getting views as far away as Japan. Online viewers have really enjoyed Nashville’s Nutcracker for the past few years. 

Accessibility to the Ballet is the key to the future of this organization — not just for the dancers, but for audiences as well. With backing from the community and the forward thinking of Mullikin, Nashville Ballet hopes to deepen their virtual presence, expand national distribution and create tuition discount opportunities for students. “This support will allow us to take risks and chances,” Nick says, “so everybody can feel this art form is evolving and growing with a city that’s evolving and growing.”

With Nick at the helm of the Nashville Ballet, they will commit to classical work while continuing to make leaps and bounds into the future. He says, “Everything we do here in this city seems to be about expression and carrying stories forward, and it’s really exciting to be a part of that in our own way.” Be it classical or contemporary, we know the Nashville Ballet will stay on point.