Community

This year, Cincinnati Ballet expanded its reach into the community through educational and outreach programming, reaching more people in more locations than ever before. Expanding on the motto that Everybody Dances, we brought Cincinnati Ballet’s dancers into the community to get as many people dancing as possible.

 

In its 15^th year, CincyDance! reached more than 735 students in 16 Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky schools. CincyDance! is the flagship program of the Education Department. The program brings six weeks of ballet class to elementary schools. At the end of the six weeks, we invite students showing promise and dedication to attend a fully funded 20-week Ballet Foundations class with Cincinnati Ballet Academy. The second step of the program had its highest participation ever, as 80 children were invited to attend Ballet Foundations class. Of these, 38 students graduated, and we’ve offered 7 students full, lifetime scholarships into Cincinnati Ballet’s Otto M. Budig Academy. For Fall 2009-10 the total number of CincyDance! students receiving full scholarship is 39, almost double last year’s total.

 

We provided the Behind the Scenes Tour to more than 500 students, seniors, and “ladies who lunch.” Behind the Scenes Tours include 30 minutes of backstage rehearsal, a tour of our studios and a visit to the Wardrobe Department to view our costumes. The tour is peppered with facts about Cincinnati Ballet, the history of dance and what it takes to keep the Company and Academy running. Finding out that a single pair of pointe shoes runs about $60 and that one pair may only last one performance certainly changes the perception of our company and how far, or in this case, not so far, a dollar goes.

 

Our Creative Movement Residencies have continued to grow in popularity. Although we are Cincinnati Ballet, we are also the leading teachers of Hip Hop, Modern and Jazz. Our after-school dance programs, whether for a one-time visit or weekly in a year-long format, reach kindergarteners to high school students at SCPA. In the 2010-2011 season we visited 22 schools and reached 1,180 students.

 

Cincinnati Ballet’s In-Step, our longest running program, is a 50-minute educational demonstration featuring two Cincinnati Ballet dancers, a professional-grade Marley floor and a barre. Demonstrations of classical variations follow an introduction to the history and technique of ballet. This program is popular with schools, retirement communities and arts celebrations around the city. This year we expanded the reach of In-Steps to businesses as well. We also participated in the Fine Arts Fund Sampler Weekend, where we reached more than 500 families. More than 20 programs were ordered this year and 4665 people became fans of Cincinnati Ballet.

 

We offer the opportunity to experience Cincinnati Ballet’s full length productions in an environment just for students. Educators are provided with study guides prior to the shows that tie the performance to a piece of literature. These study guides provide the chance to turn the enjoyment of a performance into an academic opportunity that meets National Standards in Education. 5064 students participated in our student matinees this year.

 

Cincinnati Public Schools are very focused on their performance index scores. Test preparation in the academics has become top priority, while arts education has been marginalized. Cincinnati Ballet has joined up with the Fine Arts Fund, 25 arts organizations, and the Strive partnership and a Six Sigma representative from GE to demonstrate the measurable effects of the arts on students and their test scores. Cincinnati Ballet has been chosen to participate in a pilot program for the fall that will study the effectiveness of Arts Integration.

 

Cincinnati Ballet’s Education and Outreach Department is always seeking new ways to bring the joy of dance to everyone in our community, as well as to educate about the techniques and history of ballet. We have formed new regional partnerships to help us reach broader audiences in 2009-10 and we’re eagerly anticipating introducing every community to the idea the Everybody Dances!