Arkansas Festival Ballet reprises its January 2020 production of "The Princess and the Frog," a storybook ballet featuring choreography by Rebecca Miller Stalcup and based upon music by Florence Price and William Grant Still, 3:30 and 7 p.m. Saturday at Reynolds Performance Hall, University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway.
A hard-working New Orleans waitress finds her dreams of opening her own restaurant take a detour when, having reluctantly kissed an enchanted frog in attempt to make him human (and a prince) again, a sinister witch doctor's spell turns her into a frog herself.
Stalcup based the ballet on the folktale "The Frog Prince," the novel "The Frog Princess" by E.D. Baker and the 2009 Disney animated film "The Princess and the Frog."
Keira Eady once again dances the title role of Tiana, with Brian Earles as Shadow Man, Paige Anthony Bryant as Prince Naveen, Dennis Glasscock as Big Daddy, Lizzie Clark as Charlotte and Sarah Tarawally as Mama Odie and Symphony of Suites. They head up a 60-member cast of area dance students, pre-professional dancers, company dancers and guest artists.
Tickets are $35, $25 for students and children. Call (501) 450-3265 or visit ArkansasFestivalBallet.org.
The dance company's headquarters in the Breckenridge Village Shopping Center on North Rodney Parham Road was badly damaged in the March 31 tornado. The Arkansas Repertory Theatre, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock theater department and Dance Dynamics have provided rehearsal space for this production.
The company is in the process of moving to a new home at 518 Main St. in downtown Little Rock, where its next-door neighbor is Ballet Arkansas.