Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education, already the largest professional ballet school in the country with more than 10,000 annual participants, will open its fourth school branch at the newly constructed Leggs Hill Road YMCA in Marblehead on Monday, February 2, 2008. The school will be under the direction of Boston Ballet’s Artistic Director, Mikko Nissinen, Boston Ballet School’s Associate Director, Margaret Tracey and Managing Director, Elizabeth Benjes.
Programs planned for Boston Ballet School’s North Shore studios will include dance classes for all ages – from pre-school through adults – and all experience levels. Registration is currently underway. To register please visit www.bostonballet.org/school.
As part of its community service mission, the Center for Dance Education will also introduce its free Citydance workshops to twenty third-grade classrooms in Salem, Marblehead, and Swampscott this spring. Fundraising efforts are underway to expand the number of workshops and the scope of the program to the full-scale Citydance model. Boston Ballet’s Center for Dance Education currently reaches more than 7,000 students through its community outreach programs and is the leading external provider of dance education for Boston Public Schools.
“Boston Ballet is thrilled to have a presence on the North Shore and we are excited about our partnership with the North Shore YMCA,” said Mikko Nissinen. “Our mission is to bring high quality dance education to broader and more diverse segments of the community, to increase arts literacy, and to develop a new generation of artists as well as quality training for pre-professional students. By expanding our presence in the community with a North Shore branch of Boston Ballet School, we believe we have the opportunity to enrich the cultural life of this community.”
Boston Ballet School’s North Shore studios consist of 10,000 square feet on the second floor of the newly constructed Leggs Hill YMCA, located in a picturesque setting in Marblehead overlooking Salem Harbor. The space is divided into four state-of-the-art studios and administrative offices to support year-round dance and community outreach programming. The new studios were made possible through the generosity and vision of North Shore residents and Boston Ballet supporters Belinda and Henri Termeer.
About Boston BalletFounded in 1963, Boston Ballet is one of the leading dance companies in North America. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen, the Company maintains an internationally acclaimed repertoire of classical, neo-classical and contemporary works, ranging from full-length story ballets to new works by some of today's finest choreographers.
Boston Ballet's second company, Boston Ballet II, is made up of pre-professional dancers who gain experience by performing with Boston Ballet and as an independent group, presenting lecture-demonstrations and unique programs to audiences throughout the Northeast. The Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education is the largest ballet school in North America. In service of its mission to bring the highest quality arts education to all, it reaches and instructs more than 10,000 participants of all ages each year through Boston Ballet School, Summer Dance Workshop, Summer Dance Program, Citydance, Taking Steps, and Adaptive Dance. The wide array of dance education programs are held at four major ballet studio locations, in community centers, and throughout the Boston Public Schools.
