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New Haven Ballet returns to ECA ACES Arts Hall on Friday, May 10, at 6:30 p.m. to celebrate young dancers participating in this year’s DanceAIR program.

New Haven Ballet’s DanceAIR program offers free in-school ballet classes to young children at New Haven public elementary schools. Through partnerships established with New Haven public schools and LEAP (Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership, Inc.), New Haven Ballet provides high-quality arts education, expands students’ understanding and appreciation of dance and the performing arts, teaches basic dance technique and choreography, and allows children to express themselves artistically by combining musicality and rhythm. Students experience the artistry and musicality of dance, which emphasizes self-discipline, athleticism, coordination, creativity, strength, balance, and flexibility.

The recently established offerings at the Dixwell Community House (Q House) grew out of interest when New Haven Ballet offered a free performance of Nutcracker excerpts at the Q House, which serves families in the Dixwell and Newhallville neighborhoods of New Haven. “The performance attracted a standing-room-only audience, which led New Haven Ballet and Q House to develop a long-term partnership with free weekly dance classes at Q House,” notes Artistic Director Lisa Kim Sanborn.

Sanborn states, “We began last spring, and the program has now expanded to three classes held each Friday evening, with sixty-seven students enrolled.”

A testament to the program’s growing popularity and the joy it brings, twenty-seven DanceAIR and Q House students performed with New Haven Ballet’s student Company last December to showcase their talent in the Q House holiday dance concert, once again attracting a full house. According to Sanborn, “Seven DanceAIR students had the opportunity to perform in our public performances of The Nutcracker on stage at New Haven’s historic Shubert Theatre, where over 4,000 audience members shared in nurturing our young talented dancers, witnessing their excitement and passion for dance. New Haven Ballet is proud of the success of DanceAIR, which is a testament to the support and involvement of our community. This year, we are offering free in-school ballet classes to over forty-five young children at five New Haven public elementary schools,” which Sanborn continues is “a significant increase from last year,” where ninety percent of the students are children of color and approximately seventy percent are eligible for free/reduced-price meals.

New Haven Schools offering DanceAIR training include Fair Haven School, Truman School, Edgewood Creative Thinking through STEAM Magnet School, Lincoln-Bassett Community School, and Barack H. Obama Magnet University School. These students will be joined by Q House students and New Haven Ballet Company dancers for a one-hour performance at ECA ACES Arts Hall, 55 Audubon Street, New Haven, on Friday, May 10, at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. The performance is one hour long and FREE admission.

New Haven Ballet is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This performance is made possible through the generosity and support of our partners, ECA ACES, the City of New Haven Department of Arts, Culture, and Tourism, the Anna Fitch Ardenghi Trust, the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, and our valued partnership with the Dixwell Community House. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and belief in our mission to provide high-quality arts education to young children in New Haven.

New Haven Ballet continues to kick off the holiday season by returning to the Dixwell Community House (“Q House”) to present a free Holiday Dance Concert on Sunday, December 3, at 3:00 p.m.

New Haven Ballet will perform excerpts from Artistic Director Lisa Kim Sanborn’s The Nutcracker, which premiered at the Shubert Theatre New Haven in 2013. Also presented will be excerpts from the ballets Cavaliere Allegro and Vivaldi Concerto.

Located at 197 Dixwell Avenue in the heart of New Haven, the performance will feature beautiful costumes, professional sound and lighting, and the quintessential holiday music by Tchaikovsky. Parking is available. Admission is free. Audience members are encouraged to arrive early to enjoy a holiday afternoon of ballet.

This performance is made possible through the generosity of the City of New Haven Department of Arts, Culture, and Tourism and in partnership with the Dixwell Community House.

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If you want more information about this event or New Haven Ballet, please call Ruth Barker at tel. 203-782-9038 or email: administrator@newhavenballet.org.

Donor support and grants make bringing people together and giving back to the community possible. In 2022 New Haven Ballet was able to offer two free community performances. In this video take a look behind the scenes as we transform the Dixwell Community House (Q House) gymnasium into a beautiful performance space to share the magic of the holidays with the the City of New Haven.

Click Here for Video

OUR MISSION

To provide the greater New Haven Community with exceptional classical ballet training, performances, and outreach programs, that nurture appreciation of ballet and foster the joy of dance.

On October 31, 2020, NHB’s Board of Directors adopted the following Diversity and Inclusion Statement:

New Haven Ballet celebrates those who aspire to excellence in classical ballet. A culture of creativity is the core of our work and diversity promotes innovation. The arts can provide powerful life-changing experiences that prepare students and impact audiences to lead more successful, meaningful and culturally rich lives. The arts can also prove to be an important platform for social change. At New Haven Ballet we are passionate about creating an inclusive dance environment and performances that promote and value diversity and inclusion. We will continue to strive to increase diversity in age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, and perspective, which will improve and strengthen our work.

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