About me: In 1974, choreographer Eliot Feld founded Ballet Tech as a professional dance company principally to serve as an instrument for his choreography. Three years later, while sharing a subway car full of public elementary school students, Mr. Feld was struck with an idea: all children should have an introduction to dance, and the opportunity to train should be contingent upon students’ innate talent and enthusiasm, not their parents’ income. Pursuing this inspiration, in 1978, Mr. Feld established a tuition-free school for New York City public school students. The Ballet Tech School provides basic beginner to intensive, pre-professional ballet.
Today, the Ballet Tech Company operates on an ad-hoc basis, presenting MANDANCE PROJECT performance seasons at the Joyce Theater. Periodically, Mr. Feld also sets his work on and choreographs for other companies, including most recently New York City Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada.
The Ballet Tech School continues to thrive. Unparalleled in its reach, Ballet Tech auditions 30,000 public school children from across New York City each year. Representing the talented few, 800 students enroll, including 650 part-time beginners and 150 full-time students at the New York City Public School for Dance. A cooperative venture with the Department of Education, the New York City Public School for Dance integrates a rigorous academic curriculum with pre-professional ballet training for students in grades 4-12.
Following the academic calendar, the Ballet Tech School operates from September through June. Ballet Tech also offers a four-week summer session in July/August. Since 1978, Ballet Tech has auditioned 599,254 children and provided tuition-free training for 16,525 students. Graduates have pursued professional careers with such companies as Alvin Ailey, American Ballet Theatre, and Dance Theatre of Harlem and pursued higher education at four-year universities including Brown, Columbia, and St. John’s.
As part of their dance training, students from the school learn choreography and perform on stage, dancing during the weekend matinees when the company is in residence at the Joyce Theater.
Ballet Tech is a recognized innovator in the ways it has brought together the often-antagonistic bedfellows of New York real estate and the performing arts. Ballet Tech Foundation conceived and directed the renovation of The Joyce Theater. Also, in partnership with American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Tech saved 890 Broadway from commercial development. Now Known as The Lawrence A. Wien Center for Dance and Theater, the building serves as one of New York’s primary rehearsal complexes for the performing arts. Ballet Tech’s ability to conceive and carry out extraordinary projects such as these attests to it understanding of the need to create an infrastructure to supports its more poetic enterprises.
Find out more about Ballet Tech at www.ballettech.org. If you feel inspired to support us, please contact us by mail at 890 Broadway, New York, NY 10003, call (212) 777-7710, or email questions@ballettech.org. If you would like to join our mailing list, please enter your email below.
hi there! tnx for the add...wanna ask u what's the age of dancers that attend u're classes, that is that go to u're school? and this seasons of performing- do u have any videos of u're students?
Love the pics. Thanks for sharing your space with us. If you or the company are ever in Portland, let us know. Keep up the great work. We'll keep you posted of what we're up too. Merde,
