Friday, August 12, 2022 |

5:00pm reception, 5:30pm performance*

*Ticketed event with reserved seats, wine, and hors d'oeuvres $35

Buy tickets on the Highlands Performing Arts Center's website

Saturday, August 13, 2022 |

1:30pm performance

Free and open to the public

Performances to be held on The Bascom Terrace.

Ballet Memphis is known for creating new dance works that utilize classical and contemporary ballet vocabulary to examine and celebrate Memphis's cultural contributions to the world. The company’s work has been heavily influenced by the music and literature of Memphis and the surrounding region, but also by the geography and history of the land.

Exploring the concept of “place” is an important part of the identity of Ballet Memphis, one that they have been honored to share with communities across the United States and beyond.

Flyway, choreographed by Artistic Director Steven McMahon, was created in 2014 as part of Ballet Memphis's River Project program, a three-year creative project that used the Mississippi River as a muse.

The Mississippi Flyway is a major thoroughfare for many North American birds. It provides these birds with an unobstructed passage and an important respite on their bi-annual migration. The choreographer was interested in the many peculiarities, behaviors, and patterns that birds exhibited in this setting and desired to reimagine them through his own choreographic lens.

The original scenic design for this piece was created by Memphis Artist Erin Harmon. Erin is a painter whose work “dwells in the twilight zone between painting and sculpture, filled with longing for places that do not actually exist.”

The original paintings of this artwork will be on display at the Bascom.

Short Trip Home was choreographed by dancer and choreographer Garrett Ammon in 2003. It is set to music composed and performed Edgar Meyer and Joshua Bell featuring the talents of bluegrass musicians Sam Bush and Mike Marshall. This work in four movements is a story of family dynamics, marriage, parenthood and witnessing children find new love as they create their own place in the world.

This immersive experience brought to the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau, in collaboration with two of its arts organizations (Highlands Performing Arts Center and The Bascom), offers the extraordinary opportunity to witness the organic intersection of art, dance, and craft.