Educational Outreach
Backstage during the 2009-2010 Series
- Nutcracker - December 2009
- Aladdin - March 2010
All performances are lecture demonstrations with scenes from the ballets, not full-length productions. The performances will be held at the Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton, MA at 10:00 am.
All tickets $5 - For reservations call Pioneer Valley Ballet at 413.527.6363
The performances are 1 hour and 30 minutes and include:
- A lecture about the Academy of Music; one of this country’s oldest and most beautiful theatres.
- Discussion about theater and backstage vocabulary, educating the audience about what it is like to be backstage in a theatre.
- An inside look at ballet, including the work of a choreographer, and what it takes to be a ballet dancer. Students are invited on stage to help demonstrate.
- Scenes from a current ballet production. Excerpts from Nutcracker take the stage in December and Aladdin scenes come to life in March.
- Question and answer period – a lively discussion of what the students have seen.
Young students can develop an appreciation of the classical arts if they learn to understand them at an early age. PVB’s “Backstage at the Ballet” is designed and presented to introduce students to the art of ballet, answering such questions as, “Can boys take ballet?” and “Why do ballerinas wear pointe shoes?”.
Education packets and resource boxes for your classroom are available prior to your visit.
Here are some comments from the over 400 students who attended our Beauty and the Beast outreach program in April:
- “Thank you for giving (our) classes the chance to come to the Academy of Music. It was so great to be able to see a theater that is so beautiful!”
- “The best part about being in the theater was seeing the dancers perform parts of Beauty and the Beast. It was very beautiful and creative. I would love to take part in ballet now!”
- “If I could tell the dancers one thing I would tell them to keep going for their dreams. If I could ask the dancers one thing I would ask how they get so much balance.”
- “It was wonderful and everything looked planned; everything came together perfectly.”
Pioneer Valley Ballet can present a dance lecture demonstration suitable for your school. Our school performances focus on the athleticism of dance and the traditions of classical ballet. Please contact Pioneer Valley Ballet for scheduling and pricing.
Pioneer Valley Ballet has provided quality professional ballet in Western Massachusetts for over thirty years. Our annual production of The Nutcracker is presented at the Academy of Music and in March 2010 we are offering an original full-scale production of Aladdin. Our performances include a cast of local young artists, which makes coming to one of our outreach lecture demonstrations a unique experience. Pioneer Valley Ballet’s Training Program also trains many young dancers in the area. Our program has sent many dancers onto professional careers and enriched the lives of others with the values taught by professional dance training. Trainee scholarships are available to students in need.
