Paul Vasterling is an Emmy Award-winning ^[1] American choreographer, dancer, and current Artistic Director of Nashville Ballet. Vasterling has created over 40 works for both Nashville Ballet and other esteemed dance institutions, ranging from classical, full-length story ballets to contemporary one-acts. ^[2]

Paul Vasterling’s artistic career began when he started studying piano at age 10. At age 16, he started dancing. Vasterling landed at Nashville Ballet shortly after, where he was a company dancer, teacher, rehearsal director, and choreographer. In 1998, he was promoted to Artistic Director of Nashville Ballet. ^[3]

Graduating Magna Cum Laude, Vasterling studied music, theater, and liberal arts at Loyola University. He has received many fellowships- including at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University. He is also a Fulbright Scholar. ^[4]

Throughout his career, Vasterling has created over 40 works. Vasterling's connection to music and his Nashville community have led to collaborations with numerous nationally and internationally renowned musicians and institutions- including The Bluebird Cafe, Ben Folds, Rhiannon Giddens, and more. During his time as Artistic Director, Nashville Ballet has commissioned over 22 original scores for brand-new ballets. ^[5]

Vasterling has choreographed a plethora of narratives into ballets, with New York Magazine Attitude writing of his work, "America has not lost its sense of value of elegant dancing as art." ^[6]

In 2022, his New York Times acclaimed ^[7] production of Lucy Negro Redux embarked on a nation-wide tour and was filmed for the 50th anniversary season of PBS’s multi Emmy- and Peabody-Award-winning Great Performances ^[8] as Black Lucy and the Bard. The primetime series is known for bringing the best in music, opera, theater, dance, and popular song to millions of viewers worldwide. ^[9]

Additional choreographic credits include Peter Pan, Layla and the Majnun, Lucy Negro Redux, Lizzie Borden, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Nashville Children’s Theatre’s production of Dragons Love Tacos, and the Company’s annual holiday production of Nashville's Nutcracker, which, through its stage adaptation and televised debut, has reached over half a million people since it’s 2008 premiere. ^[10]

His 2009 premiere of Carmina Burana, a ballet he had long wanted to present, was popular among critics. Critic Pamela Gaye noted, “Choreographically, Carmina Burana challenges dancers . . .because of the call to intensify the dance and render it equal in power to the music. Few choreographers have been able to achieve this momentum, and it is at this task that Vasterling excelled.” ^[11]

He has served on panels for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Arkansas Arts Commission. In 2004, Vanderbilt University paired up with him to create and direct Emergence, a program that matches emerging choreographers with local composers for the creation of original works. He has also staged and choreographed original works with institutions such as the University of California at Irvine, Harvard University, Belmont University, and Goucher College. ^[12]

Beyond his own choreography, Mr. Vasterling has expanded the company’s repertoire to include works by Salvatore Aiello, George Balanchine, James Canfield, Lew Christensen, Jirí Kylián, Twyla Tharp, Jennifer Archibald, Matthew Neenan, Caili Quan, Christopher Wheeldon, among many others. He has also edited and updated the classic productions like Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake, has grown the company from a troupe of 12 to 32 professional dancers ^[13], and more than octupled the Company’s annual budget. Additionally, Vasterling oversaw a capital campaign to raise $5.8 million to renovate and reopen the Company’s home, The Martin Center for Nashville Ballet, in 2015. ^[14]

In 2019, in celebration of his 20 years of service to Nashville Ballet, the organization presented him with the Paul Vasterling Endowment Fund- dedicated to growing the artform of ballet and seeking world-class and diverse dancers, choreographers, and designers to create in their studios. ^[15]

Vasterling has taken Nashville Ballet across the country and beyond—Nashville Ballet's company made its Kennedy Center debut in 2017 and has toured throughout the U.S.- including performances in St. Louis, Charleston, Santa Fe, Denver, Kansas City, Norfolk and a debut at the Chautauqua Institution in August 2018. The company has also toured internationally in South America and Europe, and many of Vasterling's original works have been staged by companies nationally and internationally- including Oregon Ballet Theater, Eugene Ballet, Ballet Pacifica, National Choreography, Northwest Dance Project, Milwaukee Ballet, Ballet Austin, Sarasota Ballet, Ballet Builders ( New York City), Oklahoma City Ballet, Lustig Dance Theater, James Sewell Ballet, Nevada Ballet Theater, Ballet Manila, Ballet Argentino de La Plata, Ballet Sur, and Ballet Sodre. ^[16]

Vasterling’s works have been hailed as “wildly original” ( The New York Times) ^[17], “exquisite” and “breathtaking” ( Pointe Magazine), “evocative” ( Nashville Scene) ^[18], “Stunning” (Broadway World Nashville) ^[19], and “groundbreaking” ( Tennessean). ^[20]

• Emmy Award- Editing (Long Form)- Nashville’s Nutcracker (2022) ^[21]
• Silver Telly Award for Editing (Television)-Nashville’s Nutcracker (2021) ^[22]
• Bronze Telly Award for Entertainment (Television) -Nashville’s Nutcracker (2021) ^[23]
• Broadway World Nashville’s Best Direction of a Stream- Nashville’s Nutcracker (2021) ^[24]
• Moulin au Nef, France- Fellow (2019) ^[25]
• Virginia Center for the Creative Arts- Fellow (2018) ^[26]
• NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts- Resident Fellow (2017) ^[27]
• Three-time recipient of National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Creation grants through Nashville Ballet. ^[28]
• Selected by The Kennedy Center to perform on the Ballet Across America opening gala (2017) ^[29]
• Two-time Adjudicator for the National Endowment for the Arts.
• Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year Award (2017) ^[30]
• Leadership Nashville member (2013) ^[31]
• Selected as a guest teacher for competitor at the USIBC International Ballet Competition(2010)
• Two-time Adjudicator for the Arts Council of Miami Dade County.
• Selected as a faculty member for the USIBC School International Ballet Competition (2006)
• Selected to present works at New Choreographers On Pointe- New York City (1996 & 2005)
• Fulbright Scholarship- Argentina (2004) ^[32]