Ballet East, formerly Susan Lyle Studios, announces the opening of its new studio, located at 2365 Vista Parkway, Suite 7, in West Palm Beach.
The new studio features three large dance rooms, state-of-the-art Harlequin floors, a locker room for female students, a spacious lobby equipped for students to complete their schoolwork and ample parking.
The school, under the artistic direction of Chelsea Nasby, will open its doors to the public with a free opening reception Saturday, Sept. 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. Guests are welcome to enjoy hors d’oeuvres while viewing the new space and enjoying a short performance.
Ballet East’s mission is to provide the highest quality of dance education through an accelerated training program. The school seeks to produce students with superior artistic qualifications to enhance future employment and to enrich the cultural growth of the community.
Ballet East offers three different program options for returning and prospective students. The children’s division is a program dedicated to the fundamentals of dance, creative movement and class etiquette. The children’s division prepares students who are dedicated and serious for the more rigorous pre-professional program. Students selected for the pre-professional program are trained thoroughly in technical ballet classes on a daily basis. The accelerated ballet training is reinforced through structured modern, contemporary, jazz, acrobatics and tap classes that assist in the development of movement quality and dynamics.
Ballet East will also offer an open class program for students who have rigorous academic schedules and would like to begin or continue training. Certain open classes will be specifically designed for theater students.
Aside from Nasby, faculty members include Marcie Bowers-Russo, Wendy Broxson, Doreen Cafarella, Kimberly Dawn Smith and Charlene Shaw. This season, Ballet East will add world-renowned master instructor Olivia Pardina to the faculty.
The faculty has collectively trained students who continued their training with the Juilliard School, the Boston Conservatory, SUNY Purchase, the University of the Arts (UARTS), Marymount Manhattan, the Ailey School and Florida State University, to name a few. Additionally, students trained by the faculty have continued with professional companies such as American Ballet Theatre, Ballet West, Boston Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Joffrey Ballet, Cirque du Soleil and Columbia City Ballet.
The Ballet East Youth Ensemble, an assembled collection of serious young dancers who wish to further their intensive training, offers additional performance opportunities. Students who exhibit both the technical talent and desire to become professionals are selected to join this group. The members strive for excellence in both performance and technique under the direction of highly accredited instructors and choreographers.
The school will also host semiannual productions at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens. Both performances will feature students of the school with a selection of mixed repertory as well as a full ballet production.
For more information, call (561) 966-3650 or visit www.balleteastfl.com.
ABOVE: Professional dancer Jarrett Reimers (left) and Ballet East student Carley Anderson rehearse a scene from the recent Ballet East production of Arabian Nights.
