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Wilmington Ballet Company News
910-477-0664 for More Info or
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The Wilmington Ballet Company was founded in 1999 to create a professional level ballet company in the New Hanover County area. Auditions for the Company are held at the beginning of each school year. Establishing outreach programs to both the public schools and to individual disadvantaged students and attracting nationally recognized artists as an inspiration for students and audiences alike are just a few of the Company's accomplishments and programs. Each year the Wilmington Ballet Company presents a professional caliber, grand scale, full-length children’s ballet at historic Thalian Hall in downtown Wilmington. Our original ballets have been Cinderella, The Elephant’s Child, Beauty and the Beast, Coppelia, and The Little Mermaid. The latter was performed with The Wilmington Youth Symphony, conducted by Steven Errante. |
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Each year the Wilmington Ballet Company brings over 1,000 children to our productions at Thalian Hall. In 2003 our focus became inner-city title 1 schools. Johnson and Snipes Elementary Schools both brought their entire student body to the performance. Additionally, the Chamber of Commerce sponsored, in collaboration with the Wilmington Ballet Company, a program which allowed parents of the students at Snipes to attend the ballet as well. For many of the parents, it was their first experience in a theater and a wonderful opportunity to share a cultural experience with their child. The parents were also involved in a literacy curriculum developed to deepen the learning obtained both in the classroom and at home. The Wilmington Ballet Company has created a curriculum for teachers to utilize in their classrooms for each of our five ballets. These curriculums help teachers deepen the educational experience for the children attending our ballets. The Wilmington Ballet Company has successfully participated in artist in residence pilot programs at Winter Park and Forest Hills Elementary Schools. Snipes Elementary is currently exploring the possibility of a dance magnet after school program for under served children. The WBC is currently working on establishing a school tour that would serve all of our area elementary schools.
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Working with the Wilmington School of Ballet, the Wilmington Ballet Company has been able to establish a scholarship program for disadvantaged children. The Wilmington School of Ballet donates $10,000 worth of tuition annually to The Wilmington Ballet Company’s Scholarship program. Counselors of elementary schools, Girls Inc, and Head Start have all referred students to our scholarship program. The disadvantaged child with talent, intelligence and desire has much potential but will more often than not fall through the cracks if not given opportunities. The Wilmington Ballet Company serves as a vehicle for these children to have the opportunity to study ballet, an art form which instills both discipline and self-confidence. These are tools which will serve these children for a lifetime. |
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The Wilmington Ballet Company actively seeks to attract, and collaborate with guest artist in an effort to further dance as an art form in our area. Dancers from the North Carolina School of the Arts, the Virginia School of the Arts, the High Point Ballet, Carolina Ballet the Greensboro Ballet, Columbia City Ballet, and Columbia Classical Ballet have all performed in our concerts. In July 2004 and 2005, the Joffrey School Dancers from New York City hosted a two week intensive for area students which culminated in a wonderful performance by the Joffrey School Dancers in which select students of the intensive were given the opportunity to perform with the professional dancers. |
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© The Wilmington School of Ballet 3834 Oleander Drive Wilmington, NC 28403 910-794-9590
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