Festival Ballet Providence will present Program 1 of its award-winning Up Close On Hope Saturday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m, with performances repeated November 14 and 21 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 15 and 22 at 6 p.m. This dance series, featuring many world and Rhode Island premieres, continues to be wildly popular for its eclectic and entertaining blend of contemporary and classical ballet. Performed at the Black Box Theater located in the company’s studio, UCOH offers audiences an intimate night of dance with “dance so close you can touch it.”

While this season will once again feature two programs celebrating local and resident choreographers, each program will also feature several pieces from choreographers whose accomplishments transformed dance. Program 1 will pay tribute to legendary choreographer George Balanchine. As one of the early pioneers of ballet in the U.S., his style and technique revolutionized dance, creating a new genre – modern ballet.

In honor of Balanchine, FBP will present his very festive and technically challenging “Tarantella.” The profusion of steps and quick changes of direction this brief but explosive pas de deux requires typify the ways in which Balanchine expanded the traditional vocabulary of classical dance. Program 1 will also feature the “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux.” The music for this pas de deux was originally intended for the pas de deux in Act III of “Swan Lake,” but it remained unnoticed in the Tchaikovsky Museum in Klin until it was discovered through the efforts of the Tchaikovsky Foundation of New York.

“Tarantella” and the “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux,” both Balanchine Ballets, are presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust and have been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Technique Service standards established and provided by the trust.)

In addition to the Balanchine pieces, UCOH Program 1 will also feature world premieres by FBP Ballet Master Yves de Bouteiller (“Secrets of the Moon”), company dancer Mark Harootian (“The Risk of Thrust”) and Boston Ballet’s Boyko Dossev (“Nothing Else Matters”). A newcomer to UCOH last season, Dossev’s Sensucht and Over Again left audiences speechless. Program 1 will also include local favorite Dr. Colleen Cavanaugh’s Legacy of Loss, which premiered on Oct. 18 in FBP’s Black Box Theater as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The ballet explores the emotional path traveled by women and men when they learn they are BRCA positive; the BRCA gene is inherited and is responsible for 10 percent of all breast cancer cases. The ballet also touches upon the sorrow, pain and loss, as well as the guilt, a mother or father may feel when passing the gene on.

Rounding out the program will be Mihailo “Misha” Djuric’s Tender Delusions and the company premiere of Esmeralda (with excerpts from Jules Perrot’s three act ballet).

Tickets for Up Close On Hope are $45 (with subscriptions available for Program 1 and Program 2 for $80); ticket prices include complimentary wine and hors d’ouevres at intermission. All UCOH performances take place at 825 Hope St. in the company’s Black Box Theater. For tickets or additional information call 353-1129.