Atlanta Ballet 2 Brings Cinderella to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

Ahead of its October performances at the Fox Theatre, the company brought ballet, and a few sparkling costumes, to patients at Arthur M. Blank Hospital.

Aya wanted to know about the dresses. Watching Atlanta Ballet 2 perform Cinderella from her hospital room, she asked where the dancers got their sparkling costumes and which princesses were their favorites. Later, when they visited her room, she taught them a dance of her own.

The exchange was part of “Fairytale & Friends,” a September 28 visit to Seacrest Studios at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Arthur M. Blank Hospital. Four AB2 dancers performed a shortened, interactive version of the ballet less than three weeks before Atlanta Ballet returns to the Fox Theatre for the first time since 2019.

A Personal Connection at Seacrest Studios

Photo Credit: Seacrest Studios at Arthur M. Blank Hospital, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Children gathered in the studio sat close to the dancers and their glittering costumes. Patients who couldn’t come downstairs watched on the hospital’s closed-circuit broadcast and called in questions from their rooms.

Aya’s questions came first. Others wanted to know how the dancers had reached this point in their careers.

“Follow your dreams,” one performer replied.

For dancer Eliza Soto, who spent time in a children’s hospital herself growing up, the afternoon was personal. Her favorite part, she told Haute Living, was “seeing the kids light up.”

“It’s fulfilling to be here,” Soto said. “It’s like a full circle moment.”

After the performance, the dancers made rounds to patients who couldn’t attend. In Aya’s room, they became the students.

Atlanta Ballet’s Cinderella at the Fox Theatre

On October 16–17, Atlanta Ballet 2 and students from the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education will bring Bruce Wells’ Cinderella to the Fox Theatre for a limited three-performance engagement. Wells, a longtime Atlanta Ballet choreographer, also created AB2’s Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and Swan Princess.

The family ballet is set to music by Johann Strauss II and pairs classical choreography with narration that helps young audiences follow the story. It runs 1 hour and 28 minutes, including intermission. Artistic director Gennadi Nedvigin has called the Fox engagement especially meaningful for the AB2 dancers. After October, the company’s productions, including The Nutcracker, return to Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

For AB2’s dancers, the run is also another step toward their professional ambitions. The program serves as a pathway to Atlanta Ballet’s main company.

Tickets are available through Atlanta Ballet’s Cinderella performance page.