Nashville Ballet's ATTITUDE Dances Onstage This Weekend

Nashville Ballet's acclaimed Attitude series will shake up its annual performance - slated for this weekend at TPAC's James K. Polk Theatre - to feature a collaboration with Music City's world-famous Bluebird Café for a unique series of dances.

Due to the series' popularity, a Valentine's Day evening performance has been added to the original schedule, with a total of four performances February 12-14.

The 2016 Attitude series marks Nashville Ballet's first collaboration with The Bluebird Cafe since 2007, and the ballet will convey the look and feel of one of the world's preeminent listening rooms. Songwriters Victoria Banks, J.T. Harding and Georgia Middleman will perform a selection of their biggest hits in typical Bluebird fashion, a writers' round featuring a stripped down sound, the stories behind their songs and spontaneous collaboration.

"As songwriters, we're always thinking about how we're making people feel and how to use words and melodies in a way that will make people connect with our music," Banks said. "I'm looking forward to seeing how the choreographers use their own interpretations of the songs to add an extra visual element to the performance to make people connect in an even deeper way."

Hit songs made famous by country superstars like Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Reba McEntire and Sara Evans will provide the soundtrack to new choreography by Nashville Ballet's Christopher Stuart, New Dialect's Banning Bouldin, Brian Enos and Gina Patterson. The piece, entitled City of Dreams, is named after Banks' song that was recorded by more than 40 artists to support Tennessee flood relief in 2010.

"The overarching theme is City of Dreams, because Nashville is that," says Erika Wollam Nichols, The Bluebird Cafe chief operating officer and general manager. "Nashville is the place where people come with dreams, even if you're not a songwriter or musician. The energy of chasing your dreams is here."

Attitude will also feature Petite Mort by famed Czech/Dutch choreographer Ji?í Kylián set to music by Mozart. The work for six couples imbues contemporary movement with a classical sensibility and a bold, modern elegance.

James Sewell's Chopin Tributes rounds out the program with a piece that was created to honor the Polish composer's 200th birthday. The ballet, accompanied by pianist Robert Marler, juxtaposes Chopin's classical sound with playful, athletic movement in an unexpected way.

Attitude is presented by SunTrust. Tickets start at $28 and can be purchased in person at the TPAC box office in downtown Nashville, by phone at (615) 782-4040 or at www.nashvilleballet.com.

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