News & Events

Children’s Master Class in Self Defense

NHB is excited to announce that Joseph Peterson, an experienced 5th Degree Champion black belt instructor, will offer a Master Class to students, friends and relatives about identifying, avoiding, diffusing, and defending against a threatening situation. At NHB we recognize the importance of teaching children of all ages these critical life skills. This class will help build confidence in a fun and safe environment.

What: Stranger Danger/Bully Defense

Who: Boys and Girls aged 6 to 16 years

Where: The Community Foundation Building, 70 Audubon Street, New Haven

When: Saturday, July 8, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Cost: $20 per student

Attire: Tee shirt, shorts or track pants, bare feet. Long hair should be secured away from face

Bring your friends! This class is not just for students who study at NHB but for friends and relatives as well.

Space is limited. If interested please contact NHB’s office at 203-782-9038. Payment is required at time of registration.

We look forward to your participation!

Head Instructor, Master Joseph Peterson

I have been teaching the art of Tae Kwon Do since 1994 throughout northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. I started training in Tae Kwon do as a teenager to learn self-defense. As I am not shy to say, I was a huge fan of old-time “Kung Fu Theater” and similar programs of its likeness. What I quickly found out was that this activity was helping me to feel more confident about myself. My self-esteem was much better, and I started to feel strong as an individual. I continued my training throughout college at Northern Illinois University, which is when I discovered my love for teaching. By the time I finished college I was in charge of teaching a campus Tae Kwon Do club as well as a University-accredited Tae Kwon Do course. I finished college with a teaching degree in secondary education and immediately began my apprenticeship for instructing Tae Kwon Do. Since that time I have promoted to the rank of 5th Degree Black Belt and have been teaching and managing Tae Kwon Do schools/programs throughout the Northern Illinois (most specifically Rockford) and southern Wisconsin (Beloit, Janesville) areas full-time. Although I recently received my 5th Degree Black Belt (in 2009), becoming a “Master” of Tae Kwon Do, I will always see myself as a “student” of the arts.

I am very fortunate and happy to have wonderful, dedicated students. I look forward to continuing to study martial arts and pass on my knowledge to those that would care to study along with me. By teaching I have become a much better student. By continuing to train, I have realized how much I have to learn. Remember to always train and seek knowledge with the enthusiasm of a White Belt. For those who teach or would like to teach, remember, as a wise teacher once said, “If you would like to keep what I have taught you, give it to others.”

Open Division Class Update

May 5, 2017

Open Division class schedule changes:

Monday’s 6:45 p.m. beginning ballet class at Whitney Avenue has been canceled through May due to low attendance.

In June, Lisa Sanborn will teach Open Division class on Monday evenings from 6-7:30 p.m. in Danspace (70 Audubon Street, New Haven); In July, Ruth Barker will teach Open Division class on Monday evenings from 6-7:30 p.m. in Danspace. This is in addition to the other scheduled Open Division classes.

Click here for full Summer schedules

In addition, please note NHB is closed on Sunday and Monday, May 28-29, for Memorial Day.

Finally, effective May 30, Adult/Teen Open Division class rates will increase as follows:

$19. per class  ($175  10– class card)
$16. per class College Students/Senior Citizens 65+ years. ($150  College/Senior 10–class card)
$13 per barre ($115 Barre only 10–class card)

We look forward to a wonderful summer and hope to see you in class!

Spring Performance Raffle — Items Needed

We are holding a raffle this year!

Raffle tickets will cost $10/ticket and be sold at the NHB Audubon Street location and in the Shubert Theater lobby prior to the performance, as well as during intermission. The drawing will take place at the reception on the mezzanine of the Shubert theater immediately following the performance. Proceeds of the Raffle will support New Haven Ballet.

This year we have three themed baskets – each basket is very special. The following is a brief description of the three baskets (remember, YOU can be a winner by purchasing raffle tickets for just $10 each!!!)

Basket One: A Dancer’s Delight Basket – This wonderful basket includes a gift certificate to Dancer’s World, Bun Flowers, pointe kits, Arch Genie, wobble cushions, extra thick mat and many more dancer essentials. This is going to take your dancer to the next level!

Basket Two: Alice in Wonderland Tea Party Basket – This basket is a real ‘wonderland’ filled with teas, teaballs, honey sticks, teapots, tea cups and many more items. Have a wonderful tea party, or just a relaxing moment of reflection after the Spring Performance.

Basket Three: Private Lesson with the Artistic Director – This is a 45-minute private lesson with NHB Artistic Director Mrs. Sanborn. This is open to students aged 8 years through adult.

We’ve made it easy to contribute donations of your choice, through Bunflowerz and Amazon. We did this last year and it was very successful and reduced overlap in items. Family and Friends of New Haven Ballet are invited to contribute, and all donations are strictly voluntary and in direct support of NHB.

Click here to make your donation to the Dancer’s Delight Basket

Click here to complete the Dancer’s Delight Basket there is a special item from the Bunflowerz website….. very special indeed. We would love it for someone to donate this to the basket. This item should be ordered no later than May 10.

Click here to make your donation to the Alice in Wonderland Tea Basket,

Directions for Amazon donations:

Review both lists to identify the item(s) to donate, click “add to cart”. Add one or more items.
To purchase your item, upper right corner “Proceed to checkout”.

Shipping: ship to your own address, or if you prefer, to Anne Cropp. Please contact Anne if you wish to send items to her directly and to let her know after you have made a purchase for a basket (anne.cropp10@yahoo.com) informing her of the item that you have donated.

Please place your order no later than Friday May 10, 2017 so that your order will ship in the most economical manner. If additional time is needed please reach out to Anne Cropp (anne.cropp10@yahoo). Alternatively, if you would prefer to donate cash/check we will use those funds to purchase items for one of the gift baskets or to fund a gift certificate towards tuition.

We greatly appreciate your support of the Spring Raffle Basket event! Its fun, its easy and the more raffle tickets you purchase the greater your chances of winning these fabulous items!

Gretchen Patchell Master Classes

We are delighted to announce that Ms. Gretchen Patchell will teach two Master Classical Ballet Classes:

Saturday, June 10, 2017
11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Levels 5-8
Danspace
70 Audubon Street, New Haven

Saturday, June 10, 2017
1:00-2:30 p.m.
Levels 2-3
Danspace
70 Audubon Street, New Haven
The fee for the Master Class is $18 per student. All students enrolled in Levels 2-8 are invited and encouraged to attend. Students are required to wear their class uniform.

Gretchen Patchell Bio
Gretchen Patchell received her early training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. At age fourteen she was invited to attend the winter program at the School of American Ballet on full scholarship. Ms. Patchell has performed a vast assortment of ballets with the New York City Ballet, the Dutch National Ballet, and the former Fort Worth Dallas Ballet. While continuing to dance, Ms. Patchell accepted an invitation from Paul Mejia to teach at the Fort Worth School of Ballet in 1996. Ms. Patchell continues to enrich the lives of many children, both through her instruction and choreography.

This is an excellent opportunity for NHB students. To reserve your spot please bring payment to the NHB Office or call if you wish to have a credit card on file charged. We look forward to seeing you there!

Emily Coates Returns for Master Class

Emily Coates returns to New Haven Ballet to offer a master ballet class to Level 5-8 students on Wednesday, February 22, 2017. We are thrilled to offer this opportunity to students and encourage all Level 5-8 students to participate.

Ms. Coates received the School of American Ballet Mae L. Wein Award for Outstanding Promise in 1992 and joined New York City Ballet that same year. After six years with NYCB, she transitioned into contemporary dance. At the invitation of Mikhail Baryshnikov, she joined White Oak Dance Project (1998 – 2002), and subsequently performed with Twyla Tharp Dance (2001 – 2003), and Yvonne Rainer (2005 – present). Performing career highlights include three duets with Baryshnikov: Mark Morris’ The Argument, in Karole Armitage’s The Last Lap, and Erick Hawkins’ Early Floating, principal roles in works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp, Lucinda Childs’ canonical solo Carnation, Yvonne Rainer’s 21st century creations, and Christopher Janney’s solo HeartBeat, originally performed by Sara Rudner and later Baryshnikov. In her own creations, she tries to integrate whenever possible movement research, choreography, and writing. Her research interests include the aesthetics and evolution of postmodern dance and intercultural collaboration, focusing on two distinct areas: contemporary American and African dance collaborations, and interdisciplinary arts and science research. Between 2005 – 2009 she co-directed MIND (Motion in Dialogue) with Bronwen MacArthur, with whom she created four original dance theater works while in residence at Yale. Other past projects include Empty Is Also, created with Israeli sculptor and Yale School of Art graduate Tamar Ettun and commissioned by Performa 09 to critical praise. Since 2011, she has collaborated with violinist Charlie Burnham on a series of improvisations presented in the Vision Festival and at Jalopy in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and with French horn player and composer Will Orzo, most recently on a performance for the Take Your Time Series in New Haven, CT. She has been a resident artist at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, where she was a Martha Duffy Memorial Fellow, Duo Multicultural Arts Center, and Jacob’s Pillow through its Creative Development Residency. Her recent projects include a multi-sited research project on intercultural collaboration undertaken with Lacina Coulibaly, an artist based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Their joint-creations include the development of a duet titled Ici Ou Ailleurs, performed in full or excerpted at Cornell, Harvard, Brown, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and in the Movement Research Fall Festival. Their second piece for a group of eight dancers, commissioned and performed by Ballet Memphis and titled Où Que Nous Soyons, premiered in Memphis , TN in February 2011. They are currently working on a third choreographic creation and a book project, developed in collaboration with scholar Brent Hayes Edwards. In the area of integrated arts and science research, she has collaborated with particle physicist Sarah Demers since 2011, first on a co-taught course at Yale titled The Physics of Dance, and now through co-authoring an interdisciplinary book on physics and dance based on the course, forthcoming from Yale University Press. Their project “Discovering the Higgs” was selected for the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s Reintegrate initiative in 2012-2013. Their related science-art video “Three Views of the Higgs and Dance” premiered online in December 2013. Her essays have appeared in Theater, PAJ, Huffington Post, and Transformations. With Joseph Roach, she is co-editor of Theater’s 2010 issue on postglobal dance. Between 2006 and 2012, she served as the artistic director of Professor Roach’s World Performance Project at Yale. She graduated magna cum laude with a BA in English from Yale ’06 and holds an MA in American Studies from Yale ’11. Currently, she is an assistant professor (adjunct) in Theater Studies and director of dance studies at Yale University, where she has directed the dance curriculum since its inception in 2006.

NHB Awarded Mayor’s Neighborhood Cultural Vitality Grant

Artistic Director, Lisa Sanborn, is thrilled to announce that Mayor Toni Harp and Martha Okafor, Community Services Administrator, awarded New Haven Ballet with the Mayor’s Neighborhood Cultural Vitality Grant in the amount of $4,675 in support of NHB’s Shared Ability program. Shared Ability provides weekly dance workshops to differently abled students aged 10-20 years with assistance from advanced NHB students and the guidance of movement specialist, Kerry Kincy. In addition to Mayor Harp and Ms. Okafor, Ms. Sanborn extends her sincere thanks to Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism Director, Andy Wolf, and Community Outreach Coordinator, Kim Futrell.