Sacramento Ballet opens its season at The Sofia with Telling Stories, a four-work production building on the company’s artistic roots and high-flying future.Telling Stories is the first of a series of innovative and artistically exciting programs envisioned by new Artistic Director Amy Seiwert.

Telling Stories explores tales of fantasy, betrayal, and heartbreak as part of a full season of dance the Ballet is calling “Roots and Wings.”

First on the bill is a historic piece: Incident at Blackbriar, one of the early works Cunningham staged at Sacramento Ballet. Based on a love triangle in D.H. Lawrence’s novella The Fox, this masterfully crafted story features an original score by author and composer William Sleator.

Cigarettes, a dance-theater work by Hougland, was inspired by multiple interpretations of Patsy Cline’s song "Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray." When it premiered in 2011, it was likened to the movie plot of Groundhog Day – how we can’t move forward until we get things right.

Instructions, created by Seiwert in 2016 and based on Neil Gaiman’s poem of the same name, is an imaginative guidebook on how to survive any trip to the underworld, science-fiction novel, or fairy tale. Playing with music is an ongoing theme in Seiwert’s works, and Instructions is interwoven with Benjamin Britten’s "Cello Suite No 1, Op. 72." Accompanying Instructions will be Evan Kahn, principal cellist for Symphony Silicon Valley.

Saunders’ world premiere will highlight her fresh and fearlessly creative style, performed to the music of English singer-songwriter Nick Drake.

Note: This event is for Ages 5+.