Photos of our dancers by Picking Photography
WELCOME TO BALLET KALAMAZOO
Hello Friends!
Ballet Kalamazoo is a youth ballet company in Downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ballet Kalamazoo focuses on teaching a high standard of classical ballet technique.
Together, we create a positive, fun and healthy atmosphere to learn dance. Ballet Kalamazoo's goal is to mentor young people of all ages to be beautiful dancers who are grounded with solid values and personal integrity.
Through our commitment to family-friendly programming, age appropriate costumes, and music, we provide an environment that will inspire and empower, leading to the consistent achievement of goals.
BE THE NEXT GENERATION OF BALLET DANCERS
At Ballet Kalamazoo, you are gaining so much more than ballet lessons. You are joining the previous generations of ballet dancers
that have passed on their knowledge to continue to uphold and evolve the tradition that is the art form of Classical Ballet.
You are building strength, grace, confidence, discipline, balance, focus, spatial awareness, musicality, artistry, and flexibility.
You will learn of the great composers and dance the gift of classical ballets.
You experience the importance of working as a team and upholding your responsibilities. You feel the heart-bursting moment of leaping across the floor next to your best friends and on stage, you will always have the feeling of knowing you have someone on your side.
You discover your unique gifts that are nurtured, supported, and developed for success whether you are striving towards a career in dance or becoming something else. You learn from incredible teachers coming together to work with you each day to build your technique while focusing on bringing out the best in you. We will be with you through every plie, tendu, and pirouette, through the blood, sweat, and tears, through the celebrations of achievement of goals and making a plan towards them.
You will be empowered to share your unique, creative ideas and your voices. You will be YOU. You will discover what you are capable of beyond expectations. We will be there and cheer you on once you spread your wings to your next chapter. Ballet provides you with the tools you need
for success in anything, you dream of doing.
And if your day is hard you can come to class knowing you will always have a safe, welcoming place to dance at Ballet Kalamazoo.
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Our Ballet Training Curriculum
Ballet Kalamazoo is proud to include the AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE® National Training Curriculum, a breakthrough 9 level program that combines high quality artistic training with the basics of dancer health and child development. The ABT® National Training Curriculum consists of a comprehensive set of age-appropriate, outcome-based guidelines to provide the highest quality ballet training to dance students of all ages and skill levels.
Pre-Primary through Level - 7 will be taught by ABT® Certified Teachers, Amy Russell (Pre-Primary-Level 3), Eun-Kyung Chung (Pre-Primary - Level 5), and Seyong Kim (Pre-Primary - Level 7) who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.
ABT Student Examinations benefit students by serving as a skill assessment to document students’ progress, build their confidence, and improve their training.
Student Exams will be held in 2022.
WHAT WE OFFER
Youth America Grand Prix Training
Train to experience dancing in the prestigious ballet competition
Ballet Performances
From The Nutcracker, Fairytale Ballets and the Ballet Classics
Private Lessons
Take your ballet training to the next level through focused, customized one-on-one lessons
MAKE YOUR DREAM MORE THAN A WISH
Now Enrolling for our 2021/2022 Season of Dance!
Ballet Kalamazoo is a year-round training school for ballet. Our 2021/2022 Season runs September 7th - May 18th ending with a school-wide ballet performance, May 20-22nd, 2022.
June-August, we have summer Dancer Intensives for ages 10-18yrs, 3-week ballet classes, and Fairytale Ballet Camps in the summer.
Ballet Kalamazoo offers many paths to study classical ballet.
Children's Division: The Children’s Division is for dancers new to ballet and building the foundation of their ballet training. Dancers in these divisions typically take one dance class per week. Tuition is billed by the semester and is due by the 15th day of the semester. Ages 3-8yrs.
Youth Ballet Division: Our Youth Ballet Division is for dancers wishing to continue their ballet training and may take ballet to support their training in other activities. Ages -8-18yrs.
Conservatory Division: The Ballet Kalamazoo Conservatory is a pre-professional ballet training curriculum for the more serious dancer ages 8+ that reaches Level 2 Ballet. Dancers in the conservatory take a required amount of classes per week based on their level. The Ballet Kalamazoo Conservatory classes are designed to guide each student in achieving their goals as ballet dancers.
Weekly classes include ballet training, pointe/pre-pointe, contemporary ballet, dancer pilates, and Progressing Ballet Technique.
Tuition is billed monthly on the 15th of the month and dancers receive multi-class discounts. Ages 8-18yrs.
Dancers not wishing to join the conservatory can continue their training at their level without meeting the class requirements.
Kalamazoo Youth Ballet: Ballet Kalamazoo's youth ballet company is an elite group of dancers that commit to their Ballet Kalamazoo Conservatory class requirements, uphold their responsibilities, and are role models for our youth dancers. Our youth lifestyle brand,
The Dancer Collective empowers young dancers to share their creative ideas, achieve goals, gain knowledge, and build relationships
through dance. Ages 10-18yrs and must be a student with Ballet Kalamazoo for 1 year before auditioning.
Join Ballet Kalamazoo!
Your first class with us is free to try, so select the trial option when you register. This can help make sure your dancer is ready to commit to the full semester before buying the uniform. For the first class, please wear something comfortable to move in like leggings and a t-shirt or dance attire if you have one already. If they decide to sign up, then we do require a uniform.
We are pleased to announce we have added a second location on the Downtown Kalamazoo Mall!
Please join us at 354 S Kalamazoo Mall and at The Station for in studio and virtual dance training.
Please email Amy at info@balletkalamazoo.com with any questions on joining us for our 2021/2022 Season.
We can't wait to meet you and your family!
Experience the beauty of ballet and the power of a great story. Through our art, Ballet Kalamazoo will lead your dancer on a journey through some of our most beloved stories.
But not the tired old stories you’ve seen over and over!
This year, we will be creating our very own Nutcracker ballet inspired by the city of Kalamazoo. Instead of taking place in Germany, we will be weaving the traditional Nutcracker story through Kalamazoo's history and most loved places that make Kalamazoo such a special place to be. We already can imagine recreating the magic of Bronson Park on stage and the dancers strolling through Candy Cane Lane on the way to Clara's holiday party.
How do we do it? Ballet Kalamazoo takes a classic tale and performs it with our own unique twist. It’s a wonderful collaboration as we listen to our dancers’ perspectives and truly see the story through their eyes.
The result? Ballet Kalamazoo’s performances are a shared vision full of heart and connection. Working as a team, we create performances that are modern and infinitely more magical.
Don't walk, DANCE through this year!
KALAMAZOO
Chocolate & Mixed Nuts
Save the Date for
The Nutcracker Ballet!
Dec 18th & 19th, 2021 | Comstock Community Auditorium
JOIN THE DANCER COLLECTIVE COMMUNITY
We’re so glad you’re here! We’ve been waiting for you!
Join us to discover the beauty of becoming YOU. We love you exactly as you are, wherever you are in your journey.
We know how hard you’re working to be the best dancer you can be. Dancers grow through grit and grace and are continuously challenged to be the best version of themselves.
We invest in ourselves through blood, sweat, and tears as we spin through the magic of being an artist - all while trying to make it look easy!
There is a deep knowing within you as you wholeheartedly create something special. Very few people understand what drives your commitment to dance, but The Dancer Collective does.
At The Dancer Collective, you will find friends that understand your passion and determination to achieve your goals. Join The Dancer Collective to build a new community of dancers that support each other, share ideas, wisdom, and answer questions!
The Dancer Collective is YOU.
Your voices, dreams, and unique creative ideas are made REAL through our collection of dancer-inspired apparel. Our dancers love wearing our original wearable art everywhere: cozying up a leotard & tights, glamorizing a pair of jeans, accessorizing a tutu, really anything! We know you want clothing that feels good, that can be worn when we are dancing or having coffee with friends.
Try one on today! You’ll love The Dancer Collective’s designs just as much as we do!
Connect with us!
INCLUDE US IN YOUR JOURNEY
Tag us in your dance photos!
@balletkalamazoo
@thedancercollective
#balletkalamazoo
#dancercollective
#discoverballet
#kalamazooyouthballet
PARENT TESTIMONIALS
"Our oldest daughter began dancing with Amy Russell four years ago. I was looking for a studio that would teach technique in an age appropriate way without filling most of the class with games that did not support the training. Now, all three of my daughters (ages 8, 6, and 4) learn from Amy and I could not be more pleased with the training they receive. Amy treats each dancer, three years old through her oldest students, as full-of-potential ballerinas. Her classes are fun, but each activity is chosen wisely and supports the student in learning proper technique.
Above and beyond the excellent content and teaching, Amy sets a tone with her students to be encouragers of others, to support their fellow dancers, and to grow their hearts. I feel so grateful for my daughters to have her as a role model in their lives.
Ballet Kalamazoo events and productions are flawlessly tasteful and creative. The recital format of performing a ballet as a company allows each dancer to shine and learn to contribute to a greater goal.
My daughters are all so different, and Amy (and the teachers she hires), brings out the best in each of them. I love that she has grown the company so that there are options for dancers who wish to be more serious and engage in more training, but that each dancer is so valued for the individual goals he or she has. Each year, Ballet Kalamazoo grows in such positive directions and I am always excited to see what’s next!"
— SAMANTHA ANDERSON