More Joni Mitchell in Alberta Ballet's 2008-09 season

Alberta Ballet has announced a 2008-09 season featuring a new version of The Nutcracker and a longer version of The Fiddle and The Drum, its groundbreaking balletset to the music of Joni Mitchell.

The season, announced Monday, also includes productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, part ofa three-year series of Shakespeare ballets, and Alice in Wonderland, as well as appearances by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Ballet British Columbia.

The Fiddle and the Drum, a collaboration betweenMitchell and Alberta Ballet artistic directorJean Grand-Maitre, debuted in February 2007 in Calgary and Edmonton.

The piece went on to play to sold-out audiences at art festivals Canada-wideand was aired in a national television broadcast.

A new full-length adaptation, with more songs and imagery by Mitchell, debuts in February 2009.

At Christmas, Alberta Ballet will have a new version of The Nutcracker, with choreography by ballet master Edmund Stripe and a rich Russian setting. Tchaikovsky's beloved score is to beperformed by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet opens the ballet season in Septemberwith its athletic and appealing Peter Pan, choreographed by the RWB's Jorden Morris.

The season closes in May with A Streetcar Named Desire, an adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play by Ballet British Columbia. The contemporary choreography by John Alleyne of Ballet B.C. is set to a jazz score.

A Midsummer Night's Dreamwill feature choreography by New York's Christopher Wheeldon. The company staged Othello last season.

Alice in Wonderland has been choreographed by the Alberta Ballet's Stripewith music from Ravel and Debussy to set off Lewis Carroll's madcap tale.

Alberta Ballet, Canadas third-largest ballet company, operates and performs in both Calgary and Edmonton.