Hickory – As the 2024-25 season winds down, new opportunities for local dance and performing arts students are being planned for the summer and beyond at Hickory Ballet & Performing Arts.
HBPA’s final performance of the school year is Cinderella. This ballet, to be held at the Old Post Office Playhouse in Newton, runs from Thursday through Saturday, May 22-24. Tickets are available at thegreenroomtheatre.org.
At this time, several students are participating in an exploration of how ballet training can foster appreciation and respect for the body and its abilities. This study is being held in collaboration with the UNC-Greensboro Development and Understanding of Children’s Knowledge (DUCK) Lab and is led by Julie Peebles, MA-PhD Student in Developmental Psychology at UNCG. As a part of the program, students, ages 8-10, will participate in a 15-to-30 minute question/answer session with trained researchers. Results of this study will be of interest to parents and instructors as the findings will aid in the understanding of how dance participation impacts body image and development in children.
Beginning in June, HBPA’s summer program will offer camps for youth from age 4 through 17. The HBPA staff will include student intern Emma Frye. A student of the NC School of the Arts, she will assist in the leadership of ballet camps for children ages 4 through 6, ballet intensives for ages 7-17, and musical theatre camps Beetlejuice Jr. with the Hickory Community Theatre and 12 Dancing Princesses. Ms. Frye’s work with HBPA is supported by the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Fund for Catawba County Endowment, a fund administered by the North Carolina Community Foundation. For further information about the camps and classes being offered during the summer, see www.hickoryballetpa.com or info@hickoryballetpa.com.
Plans for HBPA’s 2025-26 season were recently revealed to the delight of the students gathered at the studio for a special “great reveal” event. The 2025-2026 season will include a musical theatre production of Pinocchio, The Nutcracker ballet, the full-length musical The Lightning Thief, and the ballet Degas and the Little Dancer. Degas and the Little Dancer is supported by a grant from Arts Culture Catawba.
Hickory Ballet & Performing Arts is a 501C3 non-profit organization. Its programs are supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
