Ballet Idaho impacts our community in a number of ways; both through educational programming that extends our company and faculty into the community and through inviting audiences to come and join us inside our theater venues for special performances.
Ballet Idaho’s 2011-2012 Educational Outreach and Inreach programs are supported through individual membership gifts as well as through generous contributions from charitable trusts, foundations and corporate giving.
Ballet Idaho Brings Cultural Nourishment to Idaho Public Schools with Learning Through Dance
Learning Through Dance is a 10-week Artist-in-Residence program that places a professional dance educator in third grade classrooms serving approximately 2100 students throughout the Treasure Valley every year. The Learning through Dance program uses a kinesthetic approach to foster growth in creativity and nurture every child’s mind, facilitating their ability to understand complex ideas and interpret the complicated world around them. Each week the children learn discipline, self-respect, and confidence by exploring core strength, balance, social skills, and rhythm and marrying those skills to math, science and language arts. Generously funded through foundations, the program is offered free of charge to participating schools and students.
GLADYS LANGROISE ADVISED FUND
THE WHITTENBERGER FOUNDATION
Ballet Idaho Youth Ensemble:
Comprised of top students of the Ballet Idaho Academy, our Youth Ensemble performs short ballets in conjunction with our Learning Through Dance educational outreach program. The members are our top most well-trained students from our academy who audition every year for the opportunity to be ambassadors of the Ballet to our Treasure Valley schools.
Student Matinees:
Ballet Idaho has partnered with the Boise Independent School District and the Morrison Center Arts Education Program to bring students from 1st to 12th grade into the theatre to experience the magic moments of live performances of classical ballet.
Students are invited to participate in excerpted versions of Aarrgh! Pirates! and Claire de Lune at the Boise State University Special Events Center and to Cinderella at the Morrison Center for Performing Arts. In conjunction with the excerpted performances, Ballet Idaho provides the teachers with a study guide that provides students with a broader understanding of the performing arts and the historical context behind each production.
By Special Invitation:
Our By Special Invitation program provides an opportunity for individuals represented by local organizations from a wide array of socio/economic/ethnic backgrounds to attend a full production of Ballet Idaho’s mainstage performances free of charge.
Sponsored blocks of tickets are distributed to partner social service organizations and individuals who would not otherwise have the means or the opportunity to attend a live performance. Approximately 2,800 children, veterans, refugees and their families will benefit from the program. By Special Invitation furthers a significant part of Ballet Idaho’s core mission; to bring diverse groups of people together for a common experience and communicate through fine music, choreography, performance, scenic design and costumes, a deeper understanding of the way in which classic ballet relates to the other arts and the values of Western culture.
From a Headstart Parent: “Thank you so much for the opportunity to experience the ballet. It was potentially a life changing experience for my son, Zeke. Your generosity and the talent of the dancers are wonderful models for my son’s growth. My admiration and gratitude is yours.”
2011-2012 Beneficiaries
Big Brothers Big Sisters
The Boys and Girls Club of Ada and Canyon Counties
English Language Center
Idaho State Veteran’s Home
Wednesday’s Child
Women’s and Children’s Alliance
United Way of the Treasure Valley
Giraffe Laugh
The Ronald McDonald House