The School of American Ballet Announces Free Events

The School of American Ballet, the official academy of New York City Ballet, will present free lecture-demonstrations on three consecutive March weekends in Brooklyn, Harlem and Queens.

The 45-minute, family-friendly presentation entitled The Beauty of Ballet will illustrate how students develop into accomplished classical ballet dancers, alternating examples of advanced classroom training exercises with the performance of excerpts from notable ballets.  School of American Ballet faculty member Katrina Killian (a former New York City Ballet soloist) and advanced students from SAB will be featured in the enchanting and informative introduction to the art of classical ballet.

How do ballerinas dance on their toes? How do dancers spin and turn without getting dizzy? How do male dancers jump so high? Those questions and more will be answered during the demonstration, and favorite moments from ballets such as The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, and Swan Lake will be performed to live music. The Beauty of Ballet is recommended for ages 4 through adult. Admission is free and no advance tickets are required for the presentation in Brooklyn. Reservations are required for the Queens and Harlem performances.

The Beauty of Ballet performance dates, times and locations are as follows:

 

Brooklyn                                                                                           Harlem

Sunday, March 11, at 2:00 p.m.                                          Sunday, March 18, at 2:00 p.m.

Walt Whitman Theatre at Brooklyn College                            Harlem School of the Arts

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts                               HSA Theater

(at Campus Place & Hillel Place)                                         649 Saint Nicholas Avenue

Free admission. No tickets required.                                    Free admission.

                                                                                     Visit hsanyc.org to reserve tickets.

Queens

Sunday, March 25, at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

Queens Theatre

14 United Nations Avenue South

Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Free admission. Call 718-760-0064 to reserve tickets.

(A reservation is required.) 

The School of American Ballet has been the leading academy for classical ballet training in the United States since its founding in 1934 by Lincoln Kirstein and the renowned choreographer George Balanchine. Over the past 78 years, the Lincoln Center-based school has enrolled some 17,000 students, with over 2,000 having become professional dancers at New York City Ballet and countless other companies around the U.S. and abroad. 

Today, SAB-trained dancers appear on the rosters of over 65 U.S. and one dozen international companies. Peter Martins is the artistic director and chairman of faculty of the School, which is the official academy of New York City Ballet. New York-area children enrolled at SAB are featured annually in New York City Ballet’s beloved production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center. The School’s advanced students come to train at SAB from around the United States and abroad and represent some of the most promising young talent in the U.S. Students aged 6 to 18 are admitted by audition only.

SAB’s presentation of The Beauty of Ballet is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.