Ballet with a bite

This fall, the Sacramento Ballet moves beyond Nutcracker sweets and visions of sugar plums with a startling season opener. Ron Cunningham’s Dracula crawls out of the coffin and onto the Sacramento Community Center stage with all the sinister sensuality one craves from a vampire drama.

Lest things get too dark, Dracula shares the bill with two lighter ballet selections: George Balanchine’s American classic Serenade and Trey McIntire’s Second Before the Ground, which is accompanied by music from the Kronos Quartet. The performances happen October 22, 27 and 28, at 7:30 p.m., and October 23, at 2 p.m. at the Sacramento Community Center Theater. Tickets range from $17 to $68 and can be purchased by calling (916) 808-5181 or by visiting www.sacballet.org.

While you’re on the Sacramento Ballet website, check out the host of other vampire-related activities surrounding the Dracula premiere. Join a Bloodsource blood drive on October 4, or catch a Dracula rehearsal at the ballet’s open studio on October 8. Sip wine and watch excerpts from the ballet at the Dracula’s Passions of the Heart program inside the ballet studios on October 12 and 14. Dress up for the Vampire Pub Crawl on October 15. There are even rumors of a “Thriller” dance flash mob. Find all the details at www.sacballet.org.