So You Think Your Child Can Dance?

By Jennifer Gentry, Marketing Director of Greensboro Ballet

Your proof: your creative and energetic child leaps over toys, twirls down the hallway and bounces off every wall in your house. You may be right! Why not find out for sure?

The School of Greensboro Ballet is a great place to explore your child’s love of dance! Why you ask? Being a non-profit school of dance, SGB is focused on teaching an art form, not selling you a service. Your child will be taught technique that will give him/her a strong and flexible body, musical instincts, artistic expression and performance skills and all without spending a fortune.

Our dancers compete with themselves, not other dancers, to become the best young artists they can be. Our youngest students (ages 3-6) start in our Children’s Dance program in which they get to run, leap, skip and twirl to their heart’s content. These youngest dancers also enjoy Dress-Up Week, Bring-A-Friend Week, etc. and perform in their own Concert, complete with a celebration Carnival. For this age group, we use a curriculum that is both really fun and educational. Though its strength is in its classical ballet program for ages 7-Adult, the School of Greensboro Ballet also has excellent classes in Pointe, Jazz, Modern/Contemporary, Ballroom and Pilates/MELT.

As our students move through the various levels of training, they are offered performance opportunities unparalleled in this community. Students ages 8 & up are eligible to audition for Greensboro Ballet’s annual holiday classic, “The Nutcracker.”

In past seasons, our dancers have shared the stage with guest artists including Julie Kent, Ethan Stiefel, Sascha Radetsky and Stella Abrera of the American Ballet Theatre, as well as other artists from NY City Ballet, Washington Ballet, Montgomery Ballet and more. This past year, our oldest students were given the rare honor of performing a selection from George Balanchine’s “Serenade,” which was staged by former Atlanta Ballet Artistic Director, Robert Barnett.

Of course if you have a little one, you’re not ready to even think about all that right now! You just want to see if dance is really a good “fit” for your child. If you would like your child to try a free dance class at SGB, please contact the office (see below). You can also learn much more about SGB by attending one of our Open Houses, which will be August 17 & 18, 2013, between 1:00-3:00pmboth days.

The School of Greensboro Ballet is located on the 3rd floor of the Greensboro Cultural Center, which is in the heart of the cultural district in downtown Greensboro (near the Central Library, Center City Park and the Greensboro Children’s Museum). The address is 200 N. Davie Street, Greensboro, NC 27401.

For more information, go to Greensboro Ballet’s website atwww.greensboroballet.org, email greensboroballet@yahoo.com or call the office at 336.333.7480. You can also find us on Facebook or read another of our TMOM blogs here.

*Sponsored by Greensboro Ballet