If you consider yourself a maven of the arts, you may want to check out “Count: The Legend of Dracula” coming to the Averitt Center for the Arts on Oct. 17 and 18. This ballet recounts the legend of one of the world’s oldest villains, Count Dracula.

This production, written by Michael Thomas and directed by Bobby Wesner, recounts the tale of the infamous vampire from a very different perspective, Dracula’s own. This performance is possible thanks to an exciting collaboration between the renowned Neos Dance Theatre and our very own Statesboro Youth Ballet.

Wesner himself flew all the way down to our humble city just to attend the auditions, and the Neos Dance Theatre sent the choreography in video form to the head instructor of the S.Y.B., Jurijs Safonovs, for him to learn, and in turn, teach to his dancers.

“This is a science experiment of sorts,” said Safonovs. “We’re taking an art like dance, something that’s very primal, very emotional and trying to transfer it over something cold and calculating like the Internet. It’s hard because most dancers are accustomed to learning from an instructor in the room with them.”

The Statesboro Youth Symphony Ballet is a full time dance studio that teaches students ranging from ages 3-16. Despite this, they offer separate classes for adults in many different dance styles. The S.Y.B. also has a yearly production of “The Nutcracker” around the holidays open to the community.