Nashville Ballet Bids Farewell to Paul Vasterling With ‘New in Nashville’

With a rich blend of new works and a beloved fan favorite, New in Nashville seems like the perfect way for Nashville Ballet to close its 2022-23 season. But this vibrant collection of movement and music also offers a particularly fitting tribute to longtime artistic director Paul Vasterling, who’s retiring after more than three decades with the company. 

“It’s interesting because we program so far in advance, so everything was in the works long before I announced my plans to retire,” says Vasterling, who joined Nashville Ballet as a company dancer in 1989 and has served as artistic director since 1998. “But I do think it’s very representative of my taste and time here. I’m always striving to highlight other voices as part of our programming, bringing in different perspectives and different masterworks — that’s been important for both our artists and our audience.”  

The New in Nashville lineup certainly delivers in that regard, serving up a pair of brand-new ballets by Matthew Neenan and Tony-nominated choreographer Donald Byrd. The program also includes Cathy Marston’s dazzling Snowblind, which is based on Edith Wharton’s book Ethan Frome. And then there’s Vasterling’s own Appalachian Spring, set to Aaron Copland’s sweeping score and performed live by the Nashville Symphony. 

“Appalachian Spring has always been so special to me,” Vasterling says of the piece, which premiered in 2017. “It’s such a personal work, which I created in the fall of 2016 — just months after my mother had passed away. It was a very intense time. I’d been struggling with the ending, and when it finally came to me I realized: ‘Oh wow, this is actually about my mom.’ But that’s the beauty of art — it reveals itself in such unexpected ways. Beyond all that, I just love Copland’s music. Actually, I feel like this entire program is very solid musically, and sort of embodies the way I think. It all works so well with where we are as a company, but it also feels like a real bridge between the work I’ve done and what the future holds with Nick.” 

Vasterling is referring to Nashville Ballet’s CEO and incoming artistic director Nick Mullikin, who first joined the organization’s staff in 2015, and was named associate artistic director in 2018.  

“Having dedicated more than three decades of my life to Nashville Ballet, it wasn’t easy to think about retirement,” says Vasterling, who will continue to serve the organization as artistic director emeritus. “But the timing feels right, knowing that the company is in such secure hands. Nick not only has the artistic vision, he also can speak the business language. More importantly, he really cares about the art form and all the ways it can speak to us. He’s such a thoughtful leader — it’s exciting for me to be able to step back now and watch where the company goes.” 

Mullikin says he is “deeply honored” to lead Nashville Ballet into its next chapter, and hopes the 2023-24 season will build on Vasterling’s incredible legacy, with an ambitious mix of innovative contemporary works, romantic classics and several world premieres. 

“We’re certainly excited about the new season,” Mullikin says. “But I also think it’s important that we not look at this as some wild departure or change for the company, but rather, just as the next step — a natural transition. Nashville Ballet owes a great deal of its success to Paul. He has challenged us to think about how we look at classical ballet in a contemporary space, pushing boundaries and inspiring everyone around him. And it’s because of that, that we’re able to take things to the next level. He has laid the foundation, and now we get to build upon it.” 

That foundation reflects a period of unprecedented growth and artistic development, with a clear focus on accessibility and inclusivity. Under Vasterling’s direction, Nashville Ballet has grown from a troupe of just 12 dancers to become the largest professional ballet company in Tennessee — with 32 full-time professional artists from around the world. During his tenure, Vasterling has created more than 40 original ballets, all while building the company’s repertoire and national reputation, and opening countless doors to dancers and other collaborators along the way. 

That’s the work that has fed Vasterling’s soul for the past 34 years. 

“There was a time that I really thought my legacy would be the ballets themselves —  the choreographic works,” he says. “And there’s definitely a part of me that hopes those works will live on, and continue to be performed. But what I’ve come to realize is that it’s the people — their passion for the art, and the way they’ve changed the world in big and small ways through the work that we’ve created together. That’s what I’m most proud of — that’s my legacy.”