As of June, 2003, Terpsicorps Theatre of dance became Asheville’s own professional contemporary ballet company. Terpsicorps is currently a summer organization, hiring in critically acclaimed dancers from such well respected dance companies as Kansas City Ballet, BalletMet, American Repertory Ballet and the Nashville Ballet. Most dance companies lay off their dancers in the summertime when theater going tends to taper off. This has given the company the opportunity to hire first rate principal dancers for a short period of time during Asheville’s most vibrant season.

A summer season from June to mid-August gives Terpsicorps the chance to introduce it’s innovative style of dance to the citizens of Asheville through two concert performances at Pack Place. These performances give Ashevillians the opportunity to take pride in an organization of the quality that one would expect to find only in a large metropolitan city. Asheville’s Citizen-Times called Terpsicorps “dance at its best... high budget shows have nothing on the level of stimulus and reward offered by Terpsicorps.”

Asheville is widely known as a center for the arts, both visual and performing. Along with bringing in critically acclaimed performers from other cities, Terpsicorps has found great inspiration from local artists. It is a mutually enlightening experience for all involved, collaborating with people from other disciplines, as well as different areas of the country. Over the past several years, projections for Alice, Masque of the Red Death and The Scarlet Letter were possible because of local talent, G. Craig Hobbs. Utilizing artists like metal sculptor John Payne, painter Benjamin Betsalel and fiddle player and composer Ian Moore, gives Terpsicorps a special quality that is distinctly Asheville.

This summer the company will be making its first annual visit to Winston-Salem, NC. The shows will feature some of Terpsicorps’ most beloved works, choreographed by Heather Maloy and former NC Dance Theatre director, Salvatore Aiello. Aiello was director while NCDT was based in Winston-Salem and the company is excited to be bringing these works back to the audience for whom they were originally created. Heather Maloy and 40% of the company are graduates of the Winston-Salem based University of NC School of the Arts and are taking on new roles as mentors with the Terpsicorps UNCSA Apprenticeship Program, now in its second season. Two UNCSA students or recent graduates are chosen as apprentices, understudying and training with the Terpsicorps artistic staff and dancers, learning skills to take with them as they embark on their new careers.

Terpsicorps is proud to now include community outreach activities in their summer schedule. Dancer Joe Curry visits area community centers, teaching the children about dance and the choreographic process. These same kids then see a special Terpsicorps performance at the Diana Wortham Theater, free of charge for those from low-income neighborhoods, and led by Curry. Their new point of reference greatly enriches the experience and many of them have a chance to actually join the dancers on stage in front of their peers.

Like all not-for-profit organizations, Terpsicorps survives on the generosity of state funding, foundations, corporate sponsors and individual donors like you. To discover ways that you can become a part of the Terpsicorps family, please visit our support page.