Staff photo / Andy Gray Emily Dew of Canfield performs a dance from "The Nutcracker" at a press conference Wednesday announcing Ballet Western Reserve's 60th anniversary season.

YOUNGSTOWN — Ballet Western Reserve will celebrate its 60th anniversary with two full-length ballets and a gala event featuring its alumni.

The season was announced at a Wednesday morning news conference at its West Boardman Street studio.

“We are all so proud that Ballet Western Reserve has been a continued and vital presence in the arts community and that we are celebrating our diamond anniversary,” board President Anna Aey said.

Holiday favorite “The Nutcracker” will be staged Dec. 4-5 at Powers Auditorium. BWR alum Austin Dabney, who went on to dance with Boston Ballet, will return to dance the role of the second act Cavalier, and the production will feature live musical accompaniment by Youngstown State University’s Dana Ensemble, which features its faculty members.

“It’s the only full-length production of ‘The Nutcracker’ in the Valley,” Aey said. “The live orchestra brings added excitement and interest, and our partnership with YSU’s Dana Ensemble is wonderful and demonstrates how much can be accomplished when the local arts community works collaboratively.”

Artistic Director Cate Greyjoy said the collaboration also will benefit BWR’s students.

“Performing with live music is quite unlike any experience we can provide in studio,” she said. “Recorded music is an amazing way to allow performance opportunities, but simply feeling the vibrations and the energy created by live accompaniment takes dance to the next level, and it teaches students how to listen and how to feel against and in collaboration with other professional artists.”

Tickets for “The Nutcracker” will go on sale Aug. 2 at the DeYor box office.

The full-length ballet “Giselle” also will be staged at Powers on April 9, 2022.

A 60th anniversary celebration is planned for Feb. 11, 2022, in the third floor theater of the Morley Building. It will include a dinner and performances by the dance company and its alumni. BWR students have gone on to work with such prestigious troupes as Dance Theatre of Harlem, Cleveland Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.

Other events for the 2021-22 season include a Young Dancers Program on Feb. 26, 2022, and its annual school concert on May 15, 2022.

“Whatever your style, Ballet Western Reserve promises an entertaining year,” Greyjoy said.

BWR will have an open house 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in conjunction with Youngstown State University’s Summer Festival of the Arts, and some of its students will perform at the festival at noon Saturday. Summer intensive workshops with several guest artists are planned in August.

Greyjoy said enrollment remained high during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the goal this year is to return to pre-pandemic levels.

“No one could have predicted our 60th anniversary season would fall on the coattails of an impactful pandemic,” Greyjoy said. “But art perseveres.”

Greyjoy also thanked those who helped the arts organization weather the challenges of the last 18 months.

“Only through the generosity of the Ohio Arts Council, Ohio Citizens for the Arts and patrons like yourselves has Ballet Western Reserve been allowed to thrive,” she said. “Through your support will continue our mission to nurture generations of dancers.”

agray@tribtoday.com