Colorado Ballet's home on Santa Fe Drive in Denver.
Colorado Ballet encompasses a 31-member professional performing ballet company, a studio company for advanced dance students, an academy, and an education and outreach department. Based in downtown Denver, Colorado, Colorado Ballet serves more than 125,000 patrons each year.
With an annual operating budget exceeding $7.8 million, the company employs more than 150 people on either a full-time or part-time basis during the year.
Colorado Ballet received the 2009 Colorado Masterpieces Award. As part of the award, Colorado Ballet toured Colorado in the 2009–2010 season as a part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius initiative, funded by the Colorado Council on the Arts.[1]
In 2013, Colorado Ballet purchased a building in Denver's Art District on Santa Fe. The company moved to its new location in August 2014.[3]
History
In 1961, Lillian Covillo and Freidann Parker established Colorado Concert Ballet to showcase talented students they had been teaching at their ballet school. Their first production, The Nutcracker, played to sold-out houses in Denver's Bonfils Theatre. By 1968, the Company hit the road for its first tour of the state. By 1976, Colorado Concert Ballet produced 33 performances of The Nutcracker and three other productions that season. By October of that year, Colorado Concert ballet achieved full professional status with a total roster of eight professional dancers. Two years later, the board of trustees changed the company's name to Colorado Ballet.
In 1987, Parker and Covillo conducted a nationwide search, at their own expense, for a new artistic director. With their choice of Martin Fredmann, they changed the course of Colorado Ballet.[4] Also that year, a lagging economy in Denver forced Colorado Ballet to look at an emerging national trend among dance companies and as a result entered into an alliance with Tampa Ballet. Colorado Ballet and Tampa Ballet joined forces, performing 18 weeks in Tampa and 18 weeks in Denver. The partnership remained successful for three years, and in 1990, the board of trustees decided to the dissolve the alliance and move the Company permanently to Denver.
In 1993, Colorado Ballet made its New York debut to favorable reviews. In 1995, the Company formed Colorado Ballet II, which is now known as Colorado Ballet's Studio Company. By the time the Company celebrated its 40th anniversary in the early 2000s, the organization's annual budget had grown to $5.1 million, with 30 professional dancers, 20 apprentices and an academy with 250 students. In March 2006, Gil Boggs, former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, was hired as the new artistic director.
After more than two decades of leasing a space near the Colorado State Capitol, Colorado Ballet purchased a building at the north end of Denver's Art District on Santa Fe in 2013. The Company renovated the space and moved into its new home in August 2014.[5]
During the 2016-2017 season, Colorado Ballet's ticketing revenue exceeded more than $4 million for the first time and more than 87,000 people watched Colorado Ballet's productions.[6] In December 2016, Colorado Ballet's The Nutcracker was named the best-loved Nutcracker in the 10th Annual Goldstar National Nutcracker Award contest, winning this coveted honor in a field that included more than 80 other productions throughout the U.S.[7]
Artistic leaders
The artistic leadership of the Colorado Ballet includes (as of 2017-2018 season):
The Studio Company is a pre-professional training program; members are selected by audition. The program is designed to offer young dancers training and experience working with the professional company.
2018–2019 season
Colorado Ballet's 2018–2019 season will open on October 5, 2018.[9]
Tour de Force (collaborative production with choreography by artistic staff members of Colorado Ballet, Garrett Ammon of Wonderbound, and Cleo Parker Robinson of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble)
Peter Pan (choreography by Michael Pink, music by Philip Feeney)
Tribute (choreography by Emery LeCrone, Jodie Gates and Amy Seiwert)
2010–2011 season
Anniversary Triple Bill (Feast of the Gods - choreography by Edwaard Liang, "…smile with my heart" - choreography by Lar Lubovitch and The Faraway - choreography by Matthew Neenan)
Dracula (choreography by Michael Pink, music by Philip Feeney)
Since 1961, The Nutcracker has been in the Colorado Ballet's repertoire every holiday season. Although primarily a classical ballet company, the Company's repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary ballets.[14]
The Colorado Ballet Academy is the official school of the Colorado Ballet Company, located in Denver, CO. The academy provides training to students ages 1 ½ through adult, beginner through professional
The academy begins teaching students from ages 3 through 6 for creative dance and pre-ballet, two classes that lay the foundation for further study of classical ballet
Beginning at age seven, students are placed in Level 1 and advance according to age, experience, and ability. The academy curriculum is designed to guide students from their first introduction to the art through a full course of ballet study. During their time at Colorado Ballet Academy, students take classes in technique, pointe work, pas de deux, modern, jazz as well as vital conditioning classes.
The Colorado Ballet Academy's designed method follows a structured sequence of training stages intended to increase student's technical skills, stamina and discipline in accordance with their age and physical development.
Academy students perform in showcase performances as well as Colorado Ballet's professional ballets, including the annual productions of The Nutcracker. The academy is located in downtown Denver.
Education and Community Engagement
Colorado Ballet's Education and Community Engagement department serves in-need students, teachers, families, people with disabilities and lifelong learners in Colorado. Colorado Ballet's outreach programs make more than 35,000 contacts each year in 225 schools/organizations.
Education & Outreach Includes:
After School Programs
School Workshops: Dance Technique & Arts Integration
In-school Assembly Program
Student Performances - Local & Remote
Community Performances
Study Materials and Activity Guides
Educator Appreciation and Professional Development
Adult Education
Programs
Be Beautiful Be Yourself - Based on Boston Ballet's "Adaptive Dance" program and supported by the Anna and John J. Sie Center for Down Syndrome at Children's Hospital Colorado and the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Dance program provides 10 weekly dance classes to ten 5-9 year-old-children with Down syndrome.
Five by Five Project - The 5 X 5 Project is the Mayor's Office for Education and Children's program designed to offer Head Start families opportunities to give their children five cultural experiences by the age of five. Colorado Ballet has been a partnering organization in this program for four years.
Leap N Learn (formerly (Dance Renaissance) - Leap N Learn is an after school residency that lasts 10–15 weeks, classes focus on creative movement and ballet. The students study a variety of dance concepts while working on spatial awareness, problem solving, and strengthening the body and brain. The program culminates with a performance for the parents, school, and community.
Rhythm and Grace - Rhythm & Grace is an adaptation of the nationally recognized Dance for PD® model created by the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Brooklyn Parkinson Group. This national model is offered in more than 40 communities in the U.S. and Europe. The Parkinson Association of the Rockies is the first Parkinson's-oriented Colorado organization to bring this dance-focused method of physical therapy to the Denver community. Since its inception in September 2011, approximately 50 individuals with Parkinson's disease have participated in the program.
School workshops, assemblies and field trips - Colorado Ballet's education and outreach department offers school workshops and assemblies teaching students about dance. In addition, the department offers students discounted tickets to the professional Company's final dress rehearsal for selected shows each season.
Related Research Articles
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