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RobinElla and her band in one balcony box … a Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra ensemble in the other … dry ice drifting across the stage while dancers pirouette and spin … seating for 800 patrons.

In the middle of it all, the girls who travel to Van Metre School of Dance in downtown Maryville bask in the spotlight, the weather outside shaking off the clutches of winter as the trees open their blooms to the sun.

It’s time for the annual spring performance by the Appalachian Ballet Company, and as always company director Amy Morton has raised expectations for audience members and the bar for the dancers themselves.

“We’re doing ‘Giselle, Act II,’ which is a very famous ballet, a very classical work, in our mixed bill program,” Morton told The Daily Times this week. “It’s been several years since we’ve done a real classical piece, and it takes up the first 40 minutes of the program. The dancers will be in these long white tutus, and it’s a very disciplined, gorgeous classical piece. I think the hardcore ballet people are going to be quite satisfied, because it’s one of those ballets that’s very symmetrical and pleasing to the eye in terms of a classical work.

“The second part of the program is much brighter and lighter. We’re opening with our Charlie Chaplin piece and doing a very modern work that’s very aerobic and a high-paced piece, and then we’ll close with RobinElla. The second half is very upbeat and fun, and the first half is this very beautiful, quiet ‘Giselle’ piece.”

Next weekend’s performance marks the second public collaboration between the Appalachian Ballet Company and Blount County singer-songwriter RobinElla, a resident of the Lanier community and a favorite performer around these parts. Last year, she performed the bulk of the material for the company’s annual “Bluejeans and Ballet” production, and she’s already booked to provide music for this year’s “Bluejeans.”

“We had a very successful ‘Bluejeans and Ballet’ with her, and then in November, we were asked to collaborate again and do a couple of dances over at The Tennessee Theatre for some arts patrons,” Morton said. “It was a fund-raiser for the new (Maryville College) Civic Arts Center, and we did some more songs together then. When we told her we would be performing at The Bijou in March, we wanted to collaborate and see how it would be under the lights and on that stage.”

The Bijou, Morton added, gives the company room to provide the dances with little details that add to their beauty and effectiveness. For “Press On,” one of RobinElla’s songs, the company will use dry ice for special effects, highlighting the dancers’ white attire and the song’s heavenly theme.

“We’ll do some different things with the lighting,” Morton said. “She and the band are going to be in one of the boxes above the stage, and we’ll have them lit up so the audience can watch them and still see the full stage. I think the Bijou is such a wonderful venue for what we’ve chosen to do. In that theater, no matter where you sit, you can really see the dancers’ faces. That’s a good thing, because there are a lot of acting bits in this program.”

One company member who shoulders quite a load during this production is 16-year-old Anne Souder, a sophomore at Catholic High School of Knoxville and a long-time student of Morton. She follows in the footsteps of her older sisters — Kathleen and Mary, both dancers with the company — and next weekend, Souder will perform in all five of the company’s dances.

“It’s very difficult when we were first learning all the pieces, because we would have to do it once and then do it again for rehearsals, and your energy level would drop,” Souder told The Daily Times. “After several weeks of rehearsal, though, I can do it a lot easier. Every time you do them, it gets easier, and your stamina sort of builds. It’s still hard, though, but Ms. Amy is very good at not pushing us too hard and making sure we don’t get injured during practice.”

With five very different works on the 90-minute program — the classical “Giselle Act II,” “With Chaplin,” the modern piece “Into the Depths,” the classical “Quiet Blush” and the music of RobinElla — keeping the various dances and forms needed for each straight can be difficult as well, she added.

“It’s pretty funny, because you just have to get into the different style of dances with your body,” she said. “You have to get into it and remind yourself that you’re doing ‘Giselle,’ and even though you might be able to do all of the steps easily, you have to think of the group. You can’t stand out like you’d like to; you have to do it the way the whole corps does, so you have to either hold back or push yourself forward to meet the whole standard.”

“Then when you do RobinElla, you can let go a little bit more. We all love dancing to her music because it’s a lot of fun, and now I know all the words. I really get into it, and I have to remind myself not to lip-synch to it. Her songs are very diverse, so we never get bored with it. You just have to keep in mind the different styles you want to accomplish in the individual pieces.”

Souder, however, isn’t the only dancer facing the challenges in this spring production. According to Morton, the intricate details on stage are mirrored by everything going on backstage, and it can be a hectic pace for a group of young girls. Fortunately, they’ve sharpened their skills under Morton’s tutelage — both as dancers and as professional performers.

“There’s the physical stamina, and the ability to switch gears so quickly, that’s really needed,” Morton said. “Going from a calm ‘Giselle,’ with that sort of quiet repose, to all of the sudden you’re 1930s Charlie Chaplin characters — that’s a hard thing for the girls. And then you have to change costumes, hairstyles, earrings, shoes — you’re sweaty from dancing, and you have to try to pull on your tights on in under 30 seconds — it can get tricky.

“The day of the show will be very difficult for these ladies doing all five works — we’re doing a 2 p.m. show and an 8 p.m. show — but this is a dancer’s dream program, especially if they’re one of the lucky ones who gets to be in several pieces. That just makes it a lot of fun for them, and it shows the audience how versatile they can be.”