Festival Ballet Albuquerque (FBA)

-from january through mid-april, fba dancers, choreographers and director were working on the spring production of billy the kid and other tall tales presented in april at the national hispanic cultural center. The presentation also included the classic Ballet giselle, a first-time production for fba. Fba presented a free special show on the final dress rehearsal presented to clients of health and human resource organizations whose clients include the homeless, domestically abused women and children, educational initiatives including students of title 1 schools, families of incarcerated individuals, and residents of recovery homes and half-way houses. It is gifted to the community to provide the opportunity for over 600 underserved individuals to have the opportunity to see performances of this caliber that they otherwise would not have access to. -one week later, also in april, fba traveled to daytona beach, fl, to present two pieces of choreography chosen for the regional dance america (rda) national Festival. Rda is a prestigious national dance organization of which fba is a southwest regional member and is the only adjudicated and accepted member from new mexico. Two works of choreography were presented, including one fba dancer being chosen from hundreds throughout the nation to perform as an outstanding soloist. -in august, fba held city-wide auditions for the upcoming 2024-2025 season, gaining many new dancers in both the professional level and the pre- professional levels. - october culminated after intense preparation in the production of sacred journeys v, a collaboration presented with two-time grammy award winning musician, robert mirabal, taos pueblo musician, and jock soto, new york city Ballet icon. The free special show on the final dress rehearsal was again presented to clients of health and human resource organizations whose clients include the homeless, domestically abused women and children, educational initiatives including students of title 1 schools, families of incarcerated individuals, and residents of recovery homes and half-way houses -in november, fba served as guests of the new mexico hispanic heritage committee to perform at the presentation event of the hispanic heritage committee's for their corazon de cultura awards. In attendance was the mayor of Albuquerque, the lt. Governor, the ambassadors to mexico and spain, several city of Albuquerque city councilors, several bernalillo county commissioners, and many other dignitaries. -in december, fba produced nutcracker in the land of enchantment. Fba provided 5 public shows, almost all sold out, as this regional nutcracker Ballet has become a favorite annual holiday tradition where the entire family attends. A free special show on the last dress rehearsal was presented to clients of health and human resource organizations whose clients include the homeless, domestically abused women and children, educational initiatives including students of title 1 schools, families of incarcerated individuals, and residents of recovery homes and half-way houses. It is gifted to the community to provide the opportunity for over 600 underserved individuals to have the opportunity to see performances of this caliber that they otherwise would not have access to. Additionally, fba provided one school-time show there in the nhcc theater for elementary and middle school students for a greatly reduced price, and in some cases for title 1 schools, students attended for free. -fba will continue the second of a two-year cycle of mobile on-site performances for title 1 Albuquerque public schools in the 2025-2026 season after fba won a highly competitive grant from the city of Albuquerque urban enhancement trust fund and successfully completed 5 of the shows in 2024 to enthusiastic elementary school students who would otherwise not have this personal connection with local professional dance artists.