Saint Augustine Ballet will present “Peter and the Wolf” and “Don Quixote Suite” on Saturday, May 21 — with two performances, at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., in Lewis Auditorium at Flagler College.
Local dance students from St. Johns, Duval and Flagler counties are featured in the performance, under the direction of Luis Abella, executive and artistic director of Saint Augustine Ballet, the producer of the annual “Nutcracker” for the past 13 years.
Special guest Daniel Hilbert is the narrator. Hilbert, an attorney with Canan Law in St. Augustine, is known for his podcast, “The Things I Like,” on The 904 Now App, in which he interviews local business owners and nonprofits.
“Peter and the Wolf” was previously staged in May 2012 by Saint Augustine Ballet in Kirk Memorial Auditorium on the campus of the Florida School of the Deaf and the Blind.
“We are so excited to be able to re-stage this ballet 10 years later in our wonderful community,” said Abella. “We are thrilled to share these performances with our audiences from near and far.”
Act 1 features “Peter and the Wolf,” a “symphonic fairy tale” by composer Sergei Prokofiev.
The ballet features a narrator and a young boy named Peter who lives with his grandfather in a small country house surrounded by meadows, a pond and the woods. Peter’s three best friends are a little bird who has a nest near Peter’s home, a duck who likes to splash in the nearby pond at the edge of the woods and a playful cat who is forever chasing his own tail. This is the perfect ballet for all ages.
Act 2 features the “Don Quixote Suite: The Dream,” a ballet based on episodes taken from the famous novel “Don Quixote de la Mancha” by Miguel de Cervantes.
In the dream sequence, Don Quixote has an enchanted dream about beautiful maidens in which the image of Kitri symbolizes his Dulcinea.
Tickets are $35, $45 to $50 and are available at saintaugustineballet.com or by calling 855-222-2849.
Saint Augustine Ballet offers performance opportunities to dancers from St. Augustine, St. Johns County and the surrounding area. The Saint Augustine Ballet is a nonprofit performing arts organization founded in 2010. For more details, go to saintaugustineballet.org.
