The Once Upon A Ballet series captivates young audiences with hour-length renditions of such storybook classics as The Alice-in-Wonderland Follies, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and the winter perennial favorite, The Nutcracker. This groundbreaking series provides exquisite, high-quality, entertaining ballets for family and school-time audiences. Interactive lecture-demonstrations, Q&A Sessions, Meet & Greets, Workshops, and Study Guides are available. Select ballets offer roles for local children. Perfectly suited to the youngest audience members, yet sophisticated for the most discerning adult.

OVERVIEW | New York Theatre Ballet was founded in 1978 by its artistic director, Diana Byer. It is the most widely seen chamber ballet company in the United States. Hailed by Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times as "a discreet little pearl in the oyster of New York dance," NYTB has earned acclaim for its restoration and revival of small masterworks by great choreographers and for its innovative ballets based on children's literature.

NYTB tours its family and adult programs both nationally and abroad, and it operates the nationally-recognized, pioneering LIFT Community Service Program. Its audiences know the Company for its theatrical expressiveness, high production quality, excellent technique, and accessibility. Its aesthetic roots are in the Cecchetti-Diaghilev tradition of the Ballet Russe. The world-renowned teacher and ballet mistress Margaret Craske, brought to the United States by the great choreographer Antony Tudor, passed this tradition on to NYTB.

HISTORY | NYTB's hour-long ballets for children began in the 1980s when Diana Byer commissioned Keith Michael to create The Nutcracker. It proved so popular among family audiences that other ballets were developed to meet the demand. This innovative concept grew into NYTB's current Once Upon a Ballet series. To date, NYTB has presented miniaturized versions of Cinderella, Carnival of the Animals, and The Firebird. Recent new works for the series are The Alice-in-Wonderland Follies and Mother GOOSE! These entertaining and meticulously rendered productions have introduced thousands of people to the world of classic ballet.