Carolina Ballet is one of America’s premiere arts organizations, programming traditional ballets by legendary masters and new works by contemporary choreographers. The Ballet was launched as a professional company in 1998 under the direction of Founding Artistic Director Robert Weiss. In 2019, Zalman Raffael was appointed as the company’s Artistic Director/CEO. The organization offers an annual subscription series of classical works, traditional story ballets and innovative new choreography, as well as an annual Nutcracker program each December. There are approximately 80 performances per season, educational matinees and outreach programs. The School of Carolina Ballet opened in 2018 which offers professional ballet training to individuals aged 6 through adult.