ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Professional Division Overview
Photo: Megan Andrews
Classes in the Academy of Ballet Fantastique’s Professional Training Division (ages 9 and up) meet from three to six times per week. These classes equip dancers with a distinctive artistic expression and technical proficiency that enables them to pursue professional careers, from those as dancers with companies such as State Street Ballet and Colorado Ballet, to those as educators in the arts, pursuing graduate degrees in fields such as Arts Management and Dance Education.
The Academy of Ballet Fantastique’s Professional Division offers student dancers an extraordinary opportunity to build technique and artistry-and has drawn summer-study students from as far away as Colorado. Ballet Fantastique students and graduates have been invited to join nationally recognized schools, including the Kirov Academy of Ballet in D.C., Academy of Colorado Ballet, and State Street Ballet of California. Professional Division students are given the opportunity to audition for Apprentice positions in Ballet Fantastique’s Chamber Company »and perform with the Company throughout the year.
While we are aware that ours is perhaps the most demanding training program in classical dance in this area, we have strong convictions in the recent studies that have shown that students who participate in intensive training programs perform better in their academic studies and in other areas. And ours do!
Photo: Jerry Gowins
Technique Classes
The Academy of Ballet Fantastique’s highly-qualified instructors coach Professional Division students in the eight levels of the internationally-recognized Vaganova (Kirov) Training Syllabus »,and the study of each level concludes with Ballet Fantastique students demonstrating their understanding and achievement of each required step and earning a well-deserved medal and certificate of accomplishment.
The Vaganova Syllabus has trained some of the world’s most well-known dancers, including Anna Pavlova, Natalia Makarova, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, legendary choreographer George Balanchine, and dancers in almost every company in the world. Its codified technical approach makes for injury-free training, and emphasizes the simultaneous development of both technical proficiency and individual artistry, emphasizing a complete range of movemental expression. We use the Vaganova Syllabus because in our combined decades of teaching experience, we have seen that it builds the strongest, most confident, injury-free, and artistically expressive dancers.
To ensure that our learning environment is one in which each student is encouraged to his or her utmost potential, all School Year Professional Training Division classes at the Academy of Ballet Fantastique are limited to just six students per class. Waiting lists are available when classes are full.
