Mara Vinson and Oleg Gorboulev, the new artistic directors at the Olympic Ballet Theatre, have certainly upped the ante in the local ballet scene since taking over their positions.

New to the repertoire this year will be “Highlights from The Sleeping Beauty & Griffes,” which will be performed on April 14 at Everett Performing Arts Center and April 22 at Edmonds Center for the Arts.

The “Highlights” are just that, some of the better moments of “Sleeping Beauty,” which is a four-act play.

And this fits in perfectly with the OBT’s long-range plans, which include a future presentation of the whole “Sleeping Beauty” production.

“The ‘Highlights’ program will contain great dance numbers from the story,” Vinson said. “We’re hoping to build it over the next five years to include the whole production.”

Build is an accurate description. There is a whole production to be built, including staging, costumes and scenery.

This will cost a lot of money as well as work, but OBT has begun a fundraising effort to offset the capital expenses.

As a start to the effort, OBT has received a generous matching gift from an anonymous donor.

“The gift is in support of our April production of ‘Highlights from the Sleeping Beauty and Griffes,’ both of which are premieres for OBT,” OBT board president Bill Jones said.

“Funds raised will be matched up to $4,500, which means that Olympic Ballet Theatre has the opportunity to raise $9,000.

“Please help with this incredible opportunity; any amount helps.”

Funding will promote long-term sustainability for the organization, while subsequently supporting the 2012 performance season.

“We’ve never done ‘Sleeping Beauty’ before,” Gorboulev said. “There will be new choreography, and we’re bringing back live music to the production, with the Seattle Chamber Players.”

The live musical accompaniment by Seattle Chamber Players will feature work by Charles Griffes (1884-1920), who is said to have wrote “some of the most beautiful music ever composed by an American.”

The collaboration between OBT and Seattle Chamber Players is partly supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

And bringing “Sleeping Beauty” to the stage is already having a positive effect on the OBT’s young dancers.

“The steps are purely classical, deceptively hard and technically challenging,” Vinson said. “We started rehearsing after ‘Nutcracker,’ and I can already see a difference in the abilities of the dancers.”

All this means there could be extraordinary ballet for a long time to come from OBT, but they need funds to continue these classic works.

For more information on how you can help, call 425-774-7570 or go to www.olympicballet.com.