Ballet SpartanbuRg History

In 1966, a group of 85 ballet enthusiasts and visionaries, under the leadership of the late Majorie Riggs, met at Converse College and decided that Spartanburg needed to have the opportunity to enjoy live classical ballet. They began working as a group to create a charter named The Ballet Guild of Spartanburg. Memberships were $5 for an Active Member, $15 for a Patron and $25 for a Sponsor Membership.

During the first year, local ballet schools from Asheville, Greenville, and Spartanburg performed in the first Ballet Festival presented by the Spartanburg Ballet Company. The first nationally recognized ballet company presented by The Ballet Guild of Spartanburg was The Southern Ballet of Atlanta. Over the next 25 years, notable ballet companies performed in Spartanburg, including Washington Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet Company, Miami Ballet Company, The Atlanta Ballet, The Pittsburgh Ballet and The Charlotte Ballet Company.

Today, Ballet Spartanburg is recognized as a regional dance company with an exceptional commitment to education and outreach activities in the Upstate. Ballet Spartanburg has performed at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, the Koger Center in Columbia, Peace Center in Greenville, TEDXTryon, and in Houston, TX. For the past 12 years, Ballet Spartanburg has retained the only resident Professional Company in the Upstate, one of only two in the state of South Carolina. The Company has performed in North and South Carolina, Texas, Nevada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.

The Center for Dance Education began in 1976 under the direction of the late Barbara Ferguson. The Center now instructs approximately 300 students, from 3 to 78 years of age, from over 47 zip codes, all under the direction of Analay Saiz, CFDE Principal.

With an ever-growing outreach program, Ballet Spartanburg offers lecture demonstrations in partnership with Spartanburg School Districts, with after-school programs, in-school performances, artists-in-residences, and free performances of Peter & the Wolf for school age students in kindergarten through 4th grades. Ballet Spartanburg also partners with the City of Spartanburg and Kids Upstate to offer summer programs for underserved youth.

We are evolving and adapting to serve the needs of the community in all capacities, recognizing the need for diversity, inclusion, and equity. Ballet Spartanburg continues to reach deep into the community to hear the needs of others, to collaborate, communicate and grow in service as we go forward to achieve our mission.

Celebrating 60 years embedded in the Spartanburg community, Ballet Spartanburg's programming continues to evolve with the dance needs of the community and its students, adding new variations of dance classes with opportunities to extend dance knowledge, technique, and new performances for new audiences.  We welcome you to join our dance family as we dance gracefully into our next 60 years.