I asked our Academy Director Peter Christie who is also the head of Education and Outreach to give you the report below.

“We’re very proud of the efforts of our education department and all that we’ve been able to accomplish in the 2007-2008 school year. We had a very full year. With the injection of additional funding from the legislature, came the directive to increase the number of students and teachers served. Student and teachers numbers reported to the Utah State Office of Education have increased from 80,306 to 104,465. Including all of our services to community outreach, we’ve serviced 114,875.

We increased quite dramatically the services provided with our Ballet West for Children program. Ballet West for Children was presented by Ballet West II during September 07, January 08 and March 08 in 134 elementary schools throughout the state, covering 19 school districts as well as charter and private/parochial schools, totaling over 75,000 students and teachers.

13 Ballet West Student Presentations were offered in the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City and the Val Browning Center in Ogden, as well as 3 First Look Preview performances at the Capitol Theater. These were presentations of each of the programs offered to the general public. 3 Special Needs Dress Rehearsals of the Nutcracker were offered which also included many school groups.

I CAN DO, our in-school dance instructional program, was very successful in 11 local elementary schools with an expansion into smaller workshops offered to schools locally and in rural districts in a program similar to what we offered in Edinburough, Scotland schools. We finished the year with a final performance featuring all of the students at West High that was packed with family, friends and teachers!

For a more in-depth look at what our programs are all about and more detailed information about who we serviced, please access our annual state report filed with the Utah State Office of Education on July 1, 2008.

You can access this report at: http://www.balletwest.org/pdf/USOEReport2007-2008.pdf    -Peter Christie”

Ballet West For Children – The Sleeping Beauty

Maggie and Whitney Discuss Pointe Shoes

Ballet West For Children – The Sleeping Beauty, Mime Sequence

Reid rustles up some audience members to try out ballet steps on stage

I CAN DO

Cinderella – School Show, Children on Stage With Ballet West Dancers

For further information click “Education and Outreach” on the homepage of this website.

-Mark