We recently attended Nashville Ballet's Día de los Muertos performance at The Martin Center in West Nashville, and it was a wonderful experience from start to finish! While Nashville Ballet is also home to a dance school, we visited specifically to attend a live performance, and I would highly recommend this experience to anyone looking for something unique to do in Nashville.The Martin Center is tucked into the Sylvan Heights neighborhood, surrounded by residential streets. One of the biggest perks of attending a performance here is the free parking! Even though our show was sold out, we had no trouble finding a parking space right outside the building.The entire arrival process was incredibly easy. Staff members greeted us, directed us to the performance area, scanned our digital tickets, and helped guests find their seats. Before the performance, there was a beautiful Día de los Muertos ofrenda display, a small merchandise table, and an informal presentation about the creative process behind the ballet, including the costuming.The performance took place in Studio A, a small, intimate theater space inside The Martin Center. This was probably my favorite part of the experience! The tiered seating provided excellent views of the stage, and being so close to the dancers allowed us to appreciate the beautiful costumes, choreography, and expressions in a way that might be harder to experience in a much larger theater. The seating consisted of folding chairs, but they were comfortable enough for our approximately one-hour performance.The ballet itself was absolutely beautiful, and everyone in our group loved it. This was my daughter's first time attending a ballet, and she enjoyed it so much that she's already excited to see more performances!Nashville Ballet also presents larger productions at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) in downtown Nashville, but I would absolutely recommend checking their schedule for smaller performances held directly at The Martin Center. The intimate setting really made this experience special.A few tips for visiting: Double-check the venue listed on your tickets, since Nashville Ballet performs at multiple locations. If you're attending a performance at The Martin Center, enjoy the convenience of free on-site parking. Arrive a little early to explore any displays or pre-performance activities that may be offered.Overall, this was a fantastic experience! Between the beautiful performance, welcoming staff, convenient parking, and intimate theater setting, I would happily attend another performance here.

Professional Ballet company that pushed my student. She was very happy with the time that she spent here and wishes to explore further opportunities.

My first time to see ballet live and it was for The Nutcracker. This was an amazing experience for me and I was fortunate to have the experience with my daughter, her husband and my sweet husband (who was somewhat dreading this). The performers were wonderful. They put on such a beautiful show and my husband even enjoyed it. If I have the opportunity I will return to see other performances.

Phenomenal performance of the Shakespearean classic story of love and revenge- Mollie Sansone and Brett Sjolbom embodied the young lovers and were surrounded by an incredible cast of characters, sound and stage. Nashville Ballet is artistic excellence and creativity in an intimate setting at TPAC.

Since moving to Nashville a couple of years ago, I've attended three ballets performed by the Nashville Ballet. And I've been blown away by all three. I know that ballet probably sounds old and stuffy and traditional to people, but let me go out on a limb here and say that the Nashville Ballet is pushing boundaries of what ballet is and can be and that their performances are among the best performance art experiences I've had in this city. Don't believe me? Let me try to convince you! My first ballet was Cinderella. It's a traditional ballet with music composed by Sergei Prokofiev. So what did Nashville Ballet's amazing artistic director Paul Vasterling do with it? He showcased men in the roles of the evil stepsisters - all three male dancers had to dance in pointe shoes for the first times in their careers. He made sure that the Cinderella in his version of the ballet was a strong character (not a damsel in distress). The ballet was a joy to watch. My second ballet was The Raven followed by Lizzie Borden (a double feature just time for Halloween). The Raven was a world premiere of a piece inspired by the Edgar Allen Poe poem, and Lizzie Borden examines (you guessed it) the double-murder case in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892. These probably aren't the ballets you picture when you hear ballet. They were bold and original and interesting, and I was glued to my seat. Just this past weekend, I attended the Friday night performance of Superstitions and Seven Deadly Sins. Superstitions was a piece composed by a local composer, and the choreography was inspired by both ballet and hip hop/contemporary dance. It was powerful and beautiful. I can't begin to say enough about Seven Deadly Sins. Nashville singer-songwriter collective Ten Out of Tenn composed seven songs inspired by each of the seven deadly sins and performed them live on stage as the ballet was performed. Not only was the music amazing, it was a perfect accompaniment to the ballet's choreography. This is what art in Nashville can be when artists aren't kept in their boxes of classical music, country music, performance art, etc. This was Nashville's talent being used to its fullest potential: great dancers, great choreographer, amazing artistic director, great writers, great musicians. This was inspiring and amazing - and, I'm not kidding, I loved it so much I went again Saturday night. Next year I have tickets to attend Lucy Negro Redux - a world premiere and another performance made possible by talents that might not necessarily collaborate in a city without Paul Vasterling as the ballet's artistic director. Based on a book by a local poet about the Dark Lady in Shakespeare's sonnets and featuring an original score by Rhiannon Giddens with spoken word performed by the poet? I'm there. Even if ballet isn't your thing, maybe scroll through their season overview and see if anything strikes you as interesting. Nashville Ballet is always pushing boundaries and experimenting with ballet (but they do keep a few classics - The Nutcracker, for example - on the books for traditional ballet fans), and there might be something that inspires you to give ballet a second chance. The tickets are reasonably priced (less than many concerts in Nashville), and it's a fun night on the town/date night/girls' night to grab a fancy dinner and go to the ballet. I've loved each and every performance of the Nashville Ballet I've seen, so I'll definitely be keeping my eyes out for what they're up to for the 2019-2020 season!