Community and Education
INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION AND ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY
Ballet Spartanburg has an exceptionally strong educational outreach program which aid community in a variety of ways. Through community outreach, the beauty of dance and the joy of participation is brought to all segments of the Spartanburg Community.
Maintaining education and outreach programs demands great energy and ingenuity in this economic climate. Your support is the foundation upon which we build our vision and our future. It is your personal involvement through contributions that allows us to impact over 15,000 children and adults annually through programs such as:
- Dance/Movement classes for Parkinson’s Disease and other neurological disorders
- Dance/Movement for Autism and Autistic Spectrum Disorder students
- Pilates in Pink for Breast Cancer Survivors
- A Sensory Sensitive performance of The Nutcracker for SCSDB and McCarthy Teszler students
- An outreach program that provides lectures/demonstrations for schools (over 10,000 youth reached annually)
- Ballet Spartanburg’s City Dance program, a summer program which teaches dance to at-risk, inner city youth
- Summer and after school programs partnering with the Boys and Girls Club of the Upstate and
- Big Brothers Big Sisters
- School residencies for Title One Schools
- In-school dance performances in partnership with TAP’s MUSE machine program
- Performances at nursing homes, assisted living and retirement centers, and colleges
- Performances at community events and festivals such as Spartanburg County Library System,
- Barnes and Noble, and International Festival
- Annual FREE performances of Peter & the Wolf for all K-4 students in Spartanburg County Schools
- Scholarships to ensure talented, underserved, students’ desire to dance
- Dance classes at: Cleveland, Houston, Mary H. Wright, and Pine Street Schools in partnership with
- Spartanburg District 7; and Lone Oak, Fairforest, O.P. Earle and Inman Elementary Schools
Education. Outreach. Performance.
The joyful picture above of children from Sidewalk Hope, an inner city ministry in Spartanburg, captures the essence and innocence of joy, hope, and the connections that are created when we dance. Sidewalk Hope participated in the 2018 So You Think You Can Dance, Spartanburg! community event, a fundraiser in partnership with 10 local organizations. The picture above reflects opportunity, joy, happiness, dance and above all, who we are as an organization: education, outreach and performance.
This year is Ballet Spartanburg's 55th season in your community. Throughout this pandemic, we have remained committed to offering to our community the services of our mission, education, outreach and performance, to the best of our ability in keeping with the guidelines of the CDC and DHEC. We have all seen a dramatic change in our world, how we live, and how we are able to experience the arts. We are resilient and prepared to face a tough and challenging season. Your support is needed now more than ever.
Our community's words of encouragement, notes, letters, emails, donations and gifts continue to inspire us each day. Contributions allow us to continue creating new choreography, engage in new outreach programs such as our new partnership with the Leap of Dance Academy in Nigeria, Africa, and our commitment to offering the highest quality dance education in our Center for Dance Education.
We look forward to 2021 when our dancers can return safely to the stage and share the beauty of dance. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook and please, stay connected. Stay safe and take care of others.
With immense gratitude-Ballet Spartanburg