Charlotte Ballet will perform at Clemson University’s Brooks Center for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29, concluding a four-day residency. It will be the first appearance there by the company’s main troupe; Charlotte Ballet 2, its second company, has performed at the venue in recent years.
The residency will bring 21 main-company dancers and eight members of Charlotte Ballet 2 to campus, according to Greenville Journal. The performance itself takes place at the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts, located at 141 Jersey Lane in Clemson, with tickets priced between $30 and $50. The Clemson stop is also part of a broader run for the company this season, which according to Charlotte Ballet includes dates with the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur in Canada alongside Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Hung Dance and Ballet Hispanico New York.
A Program Spanning Decades of Choreography
The program pairs works by three choreographers. Jiří Kylián’s “Petite Mort,” set to Mozart, opens the evening. Crystal Pite’s “Solo Echo,” set to Brahms and performed by seven dancers, follows. Both works are in the repertory of Charlotte Ballet, according to the Greenville Journal’s report.
The program closes with a work by Mthuthuzeli November, Charlotte Ballet’s resident choreographer. November, who was born in South Africa, composed the music and included recordings of musicians from his community in South Africa. The company announced his appointment as resident choreographer, effective immediately, and said he received the Benois de la Danse Award for Best Choreography in 2025.
From Knight Theater to the Upstate
The Clemson program carries the same title as Charlotte Ballet's “Fall Works: Whispers, Echoes, Voices,” which ran at Charlotte's Knight Theater in late October 2025 with the same Kylián and Pite works alongside a November piece called “As I Am,” according to the Charlotte Ledger's coverage at the time. The Brooks Center confirmed Charlotte Ballet's return for its 2026-2027 season, its 32nd, describing the Clemson engagement as a mixed repertory, contemporary program featuring Kylián, Pite and November, per Clemson University.
More Than a Single Night Onstage
The residency also includes activities beyond the Oct. 29 performance: master classes for area dance schools, activities with seniors at Clemson Downs and lecture-demonstrations for students at Pendleton High School. An hourlong educational performance for school groups is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Oct. 30.
The Brooks Center’s Education Role
The Brooks Center, established in 1994, has served as a performing arts hub in Clemson for three decades, according to Clemson University’s Brooks Center. The center also runs the Bill and Donna Eskridge Tri-ART Series, an educational outreach program for area schools and homeschools, putting the school activities during Charlotte Ballet’s visit in the context of the venue’s broader education work, according to the Brooks Center.
Separately from the Clemson engagement, Charlotte Ballet’s education brochure describes school residencies tailored to individual schools’ needs. That material documents an education model, but does not by itself establish the company’s reported recent expansion in touring.
Neela Vadivel, Charlotte Ballet’s director of artistic operations and touring, said the company hopes its Clemson residency can help build lasting community connections and a recurring presence in the region.
Charlotte Ballet began almost 50 years ago as North Carolina Dance Theatre, first operating as a touring organization before becoming a resident company based in Charlotte. The company says its touring footprint has grown again over the past three years; residencies such as Clemson are intended to bring professional dance to audiences and students who might not otherwise encounter it.
