Carolina Ballet’s Dancers performed for our elementary students this past Monday.
In 1997, Carolina Ballet began as a professional dance company, being created from Raleigh Dance Theatre, Inc., which was founded in 1984. Robert Weiss, a former principal dancer with New York City Ballet was named Artistic Director. In August 1998, twenty-one dancers from around the world opened Carolina Ballet’s inaugural season.
Now the company has thirty-two dancers and eight trainees from the United States, Australia,
Cambodia, Canada, France, Hungary, Paraguay, Uruguay, Russia, and Ukraine. Carolina Ballet has performed in New York City, “the dance capital of the world,” and in the countries of Hungary
and China. Today, it is recognized as one of the top ten ballet companies in the United States.
The Carolina Ballet created the Dancers in School for the K thru 5th grade student population and supports the North Carolina Healthful Living curriculum. It is designed to promote critical and analytical thinking, cooperation and teamwork, the importance of a healthy diet and lifestyle, and physical, intellectual, and social development as they relate to the art and science of ballet.
This program featured a 45-minute “informance” led by our Education Coordinator and two of our professional company dancers. They gave a short performance, demonstrated and lead students in learning ballet movements, and informed students about what it takes to be a professional dancer. The program emphasized healthy living choices, and the program linked dance to math, science, social studies, and health. Students received the benefit of having professional artists present in an intimate learning environment.
The two professional dancers were Luke Potgieter and Laurel Dorn.
Click carolinaballet.com for more information.