Nashville Ballet presents Artistic Director & CEO Nick Mullikin’s Abyss, a bold digital ballet that explores mental health, emotional isolation, and the human need for meaning.
Filmed at Kingswood Production Studio in Nashville, the piece features Company Dancers Jaison McClendon and Anneliese Guerin. It begins with the lead character plunging into a surreal void — a metaphor for the emotional disorientation that often accompanies internal struggle. Mullikin’s choreography lays bare the tension between despair and the fight to escape it.
“This piece explores the mindset that traps us when we try to move forward,” Mullikin says. “It asks, ‘Is this all life offers?’ The abyss is where that question can consume you.”
Set to Bach’s Concerto in D Minor, BWV 974: II. Adagio, pianist Alessandra Volpi delivers a delicate yet intense performance. Her interpretation deepens the work’s emotional core and sharpens its contrasts.
Launched as a preview to the upcoming world premiere of Mullikin’s Erase the Night, Abyss harnesses the medium of video to create a “Digital Ballet.”
Read more: Erase the Night Confronts Addiction Through Dance
Mullikin uses the digital format to move beyond traditional ballet. Under the direction of Chad Driver, the film employs immersive, 360-degree visuals that pull viewers into the dancer’s emotional world. Layered with cinematic lighting and deliberate camera movement, the piece blurs the line between film and stage. The result is a visceral experience of the performance.
Nick Mullikin’s Abyss challenges audiences to face the silence, the weight, and the questions they often avoid. It’s raw, intimate, and visually stunning — a portrait of vulnerability wrapped in movement, music, and light.
Abyss Production Credits
- Cinematographer and Editor: Chad Driver
- Cinematographer: Randy Hale
- Lighting Designer: Kelly Landry
- Costume Director Mycah Kennedy
- Director of Production: Melinda Dobson
- Production Stage Manager: Deborah Climo
- Properties Master: Eric Gamez
- Master Electrician: Kim Pukay
- Cutter/Draper and Shop Assistant: Aryana Gaines
- Wardrobe Supervisor: Alison Taylor
- Shoe Manager: Christana Alford
- Patternmaker / Stitcher: Anna Yepes
- Stitcher: Sarah Newman and Nawal Shirnaky
- Hair/Make-up and Dresser: Lily Murray