Ballet Vero Beach closed out its 10th anniversary season with another delightful Ballet Under the Stars fundraiser at Tree House Vero Beach, with proceeds going toward the nonprofit’s educational and community engagement initiatives.

The evening kicked off with a jazzy performance by the gifted dancers of the troupe, which was somewhat bittersweet with the announcement by Adam Schnell, BVB artistic director/CEO, that dancers Anders Southerland and Alyssa Donley were leaving the company.

“You guys will always have a place here. We would not be the organization we are without you,” Schnell said to them.

“Over the past couple years especially, I have come to know, even more, why it is important to keep doing what we’re doing. To push our education and engagement initiatives. To make sure that we are expanding beyond Vero Beach. And I know that we are, every time I walk into a classroom, every time we visit a senior staff, every time that I get emails after our shows from someone telling me, ‘Thank you for making my life a little brighter for an hour and a half,’” said Schnell.

Proceeds will enable BVB to continue with its ticket donation program, which has expanded over the years to provide free tickets to school children and 19 social services organizations.

“We gave away over 500 tickets to folks that could not necessarily afford our programming or didn’t even know it existed or that dance was something that was that for them and that they wanted in their lives,” said Schnell prior to the fundraiser.

A few years ago, they partnered with the Learning Alliance, which has a goal of improving student literacy, and transformed their student matinee series into a Stage to Page program of one-act ballets with a full curriculum. It is currently for first- and third-grade students with hopes to expand to second and fourth grade.

“So, we do need your help to continue doing what we’re doing. We are poised actually in the next month to, at the ripe old age of 10, join the endowment partners at the Indian River Community Foundation,” said Schnell.

“We have a resolution on the table for the board when we establish that fund, we will establish matching reserve funds so that every dollar that goes into the endowment also goes into a reserve for the rainy day. Where we go next is hugely dependent on our community support.”

The casually elegant event, chaired by BVB board members Sue Sharpe and Shelly Jenkins, featured a lavish selection of dishes and a dynamic live auction, followed by live entertainment by the fantastic Dave Capp Project, that had everyone on the dance floor to show off their own dance moves.

For more information, visit BalletVeroBeach.org.

Photos by Joshua Kodis