Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts to Present THE BEAUTY OF BALLET, 3/8

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College's 2013-14 season continues with The Beauty of Ballet, a free lecture demonstration presented by the School of American Ballet (SAB), on Saturday, March 8 at 2pm. This event is free, with no ticket or reservation required.

The 45-minute, family-friendly presentation 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.

The School of American Ballet, the official academy of the New York City Ballet, has been the leading academy for classical ballet training in the United States since it's founding in1934 by Lincoln Kirstein and the renowned choreographer George Balanchine. Over the past 80 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. www.sab.org.