The celestial bodies twinkling in the sky weren’t the only things that shone brightly during Ballet Under the Stars at Tree House Vero Beach, the annual fundraiser to benefit Ballet Vero Beach.

Co-chaired by Sue Sharpe and Shelly Jenkins, the event took place on a lovely spring evening and featured a silent auction, gourmet bites by Adrienne Drew Catering, bourbon and rye from 21st Amendment Distillery, and beer from Sailfish Brewing Company.

The evening was further illuminated by the captivating music of the Dave Capp Project, and a performance by the ballet company under the choreography of Marlyse Noble, a BVB fellowship dancer, that left the audience in awe of their talents.

“The artists that you just saw are not only phenomenal dancers, but they are the deliverers of our education and community engagement initiatives. We allow them to choreograph. And really, it’s part of our philosophy to put our art and artists in the center of important conversations that drive our community forward,” said Adam Schnell, BVB artistic director/CEO.

Proceeds from the evening fund education and community engagement initiatives that support the nonprofit’s mission to “promote the art of dance as a universal language in our community and beyond,” and many of their nonprofit partners were in attendance.

Ballet Vero Beach community engagement programs include hour-long accessible and family friendly performances, in conjunction with their regular performances.

Their Stage to Page program, in collaboration with the Learning Alliance and the School District of Indian River County, addresses literacy problems through arts integration. It now reaches some 2,000 students in first, third and fifth grades.

A First Steps program at Childcare Resources of Indian River County engages BVB dancers to work with children from 6 weeks to age 5 on developmental milestones.

And a Fellowship Initiative with the Indian River State College and the Learning Alliance, is geared toward elevating the dancers’ professional performance training with arts literacy.

“Most of you know that we started out with a very, very challenging year. Last summer, we were looking at a $100,000 hole in our budget due to shrinking public funds for the arts,” said Schnell.

He said that thanks to some fantastic people, they have doubled the size of their endowment, held by the Indian River Community Foundation, and have now moved into surplus territory.

Before even announcing it, Schnell said they are well on their way toward meeting next year’s campaign.

“When I sent out the all-call and asked you all to give and to increase your gifts, we received over $100,000 this year in new or increased gifts. For an organization that normally raises $200,000 to $250,000 in individual gifts to make the jump to $350,000 in one year is incredible. I can’t thank you all enough,” said Schnell.

For more information, visit balletverobeach.org.