BALLET AND FRIENDS

Ballet and Friends focuses on providing professional and pre-professional ballet programs in Phoenix and inspiring young dancers to pursue their dreams.  Through its range of artistic and charitable endeavors, Ballet and Friends is helping to enhance Phoenix and the surrounding area by delivering excellence in the performing arts and providing the highest level of dance education in the region. 

OUR VISION

To benefit the lives of our Phoenix area aspiring dancers and show these children what is possible. ·
To provide opportunity to the less fortunate students who have talent and desire but not the financial resources to reach their potential.
To inspire our students to work hard and focus their efforts to become the best that they can be.
To realistically expose our young dancers to the excitement and intensity on how a professional ballet company operates.

Under the artistic direction of Slawomir Wozniak, Ballet and Friends is in the process of creating a semi-professional ballet company and performances that will move audiences of all ages.

COMMUNITY PARTNERS AND OUTREACH

Ballet and Friends strives to instill a passion and love for the performing arts by providing opportunities for underserved or uniquely challenged children in our community to experience performances.   To further this objective, each year we donate hundreds of tickets to children affiliated with our Community Partners which currently include Phoenix Children’s Hospital and the Changing Lives Center.   Moreover, we are fully sponsoring an on-site ballet production at Phoenix Children’s Hospital for children whose illness prevents them from leaving the hospital.  Additionally, Ballet and Friends subsidizes a significant quantity of student tickets enabling hundreds of school children to share the magic of the Nutcracker each year.  Ballet and Friends also continues its longstanding relationship with Toys for Tots by providing both toy and monetary donations every year.   

Another of our cherished partnerships is with AZ Dance’s Movement E-Motion.   AZ Dance provides instruction and performance opportunities for young adults with Down Syndrome, Autism and/or other physical challenges.  These performers beautifully illustrate the compelling value of dance, performance and the resultant joy to each and every dancer. 

Ballet and Friend’s passion and dedication to children and young adults inspires us to support not only aspiring dancers, but also a myriad of children in our community.

EDUCATION

Through world-class training and performances, Ballet and Friends collaborates with Master Ballet Academy to provide an atmosphere and experience which parallels that of a professional ballet company.  This environment affords exposure to the excitement and intensity of a professional company while developing a dancer’s skills and confidence. (belief in his talents and abilities. )

As a valuable component of this instruction, Ballet and Friends provides premiere opportunities for its students to display their talents alongside world class professional dancers from the U.S. and Europe.  We present dancers with outstanding performance experiences to instill a zeal and enthusiasm for ballet that is super ceded only by exceptional training.

 We also provide opportunities for young dancers to observe, participate and train with professionals in rehearsals and master classes.  Ballet and Friends endeavors to cultivate extraordinary performers who are world citizens of character and integrity.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

The Ballet and Friends Guild was formed in 2008 to broaden appreciation and support for ballet in Phoenix.  The Guild and its Board are comprised entirely of volunteers dedicated to fostering support for our organization and its objectives.  One of our foremost objectives is to advocate and model the advancement of dance in the performing arts.

Gifts from foundations, corporations and individuals comprise the preponderance of the organization’s budget.  Financial contributions to our organization produce a prism effect as they disperse light to enhance the lives of young dancers as well as a diverse array of children throughout the Valley.