Appalachian Ballet Company will celebrate 55 years of bringing classical dance to Blount County with an Emerald Masquerade Ball on Friday, September 25, 2026, at 7 p.m. at White Star Station in downtown Maryville. The evening will include a silent auction, heavy hors d'oeuvres, and a short special performance from company dancers, followed by an opportunity for guests to dance themselves.
The gala doubles as both a birthday party and a fundraiser, according to The Daily Times, which reports that proceeds will support the company's dancers and its mission to enrich the community through dance. Tickets are limited and can be purchased at appalachianballet.org, per the same report.
White Star Station itself carries plenty of local history. The building at 133 W. Broadway Ave. was constructed in the early 1900s, served as Maryville's first bus terminal in 1926, and was restored into an event space in 2015, according to Blount Tourism. The historic structure also once housed a Sterchi Brothers store, the tourism group notes.
A Half-Century of Dance Rooted in Maryville
Appalachian Ballet Company was founded in 1972 by Cheryl Van Metre, who led the organization for 25 years before her passing in January 2026, according to the Appalachian Ballet Company. Van Metre also established the precursor dance school in Maryville that would later become the company's feeder studio.
Amy Morton Vaughn has served as the company's Artistic Director since 1997, when she succeeded Van Metre after retiring from performing, as detailed by CanvasRebel Magazine. Vaughn also owns and operates the affiliated Van Metre School of Dance, which was founded in 1957 and trains nearly 300 regional students each year, with dancers becoming eligible to audition for the main company starting at age 10, according to Livability. Students travel from across Blount County and nearby East Tennessee areas to train there, the outlet reports.
The company has been the official resident dance company of the Clayton Center for the Arts at Maryville College since 2010, per the Tennessee General Assembly. It also earned acceptance into Regional Dance America/Southeast in 1989 and achieved the prestigious designation of Honor Company within three years, the state legislature's records show. For nearly five decades, the company has partnered with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra to provide live musical accompaniment for its annual holiday production of The Nutcracker.
Silent Auction Features Local Businesses and Artists
The masquerade's silent auction will draw heavily on Blount County's small-business and arts community. Items up for bid include gift certificates from Studio P Pilates, jewelry from Lamon Jewelers, spa treatments from Knox Skin Company, and gift cards from Bella, Raven and Aubrey's restaurants, according to The Daily Times.
Also on the auction block: a dinner for six at the historic William Henderson House, an antique Royal Doulton Kingsware vase from Sequoyah Antiques, original artwork and handcrafted pottery by Leanne McQueen of Studio 212, a print of the UT Vols mural by Shawna Mills, and themed gift baskets. Guests will receive heavy hors d'oeuvres catered by Foothills Milling Co., a fine-dining restaurant in downtown Maryville that operates out of a renovated former Studebaker and Edsel automobile showroom, according to a video posted by the restaurant.
Dancers Bring Recent Regional Honors to the Stage
Among those performing will be principal artist Laura La Russa, who along with fellow principal James La Russa co-choreographed “The Wheel,” an original contemporary work selected for the Gala Performance at the Regional Dance America/Southeast Festival in April, held in Birmingham, Alabama, according to a video posted by Appalachian Ballet Company on Facebook.
The masquerade ball also kicks off a season of major productions for the company's 55th anniversary. The 2026-27 slate includes an immersive, black-box production of Dracula in October, followed by Cinderella in April 2027, both staged at the Clayton Center for the Arts, according to the venue. Those performances will be held across the center's main stage and its flexible black-box theatre, the Clayton Center notes.
The gala reflects a dynamic playing out in small arts markets across the region: community fundraising through events like silent auctions and formal balls directly sustains pre-professional companies that might otherwise struggle to support live orchestral performances or travel to regional festivals. For Appalachian Ballet Company, that support has helped keep a homegrown ballet tradition running in Maryville for more than five decades.
