In 1969 the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre was born and April 1970, saw the first showcase of the companies talent. Three years later the gift of a city center building gave a much needed space for rehearsal and resulted in a dance school being formed. Mr. Terrence S. Orr, a well accomplished ballet lead dancer, became the director 7 years later.
Mr. Orr established the creation of a powerful and diverse repertoire. An eclectic and diverse style was established which transformed the way dance was presented. There were two developments which emerged on the celebration of the 10th anniversary, which changed the path that was taken, initially the dancers endeavored to become associated with the American Guild of Musical Artists, a performing arts union, secondly Lynn Swann, was nominated to join PBT board of trustees.
PBH started welcoming the public to sign up for open classes regardless of age or whether or not any previous training had been undertaken. Classes ranged from tap, all the way through to hip hop. A substantial monetary donation enabled the realization of expanding into an art school; the first year saw six thousand children being reached attracting the attention of generous donors, volunteers and partnerships.
To date the scholastic program has developed into a phenomenal amount of approximately 65 000 children. It reaches some four regions and over two hundred schools yearly. 300 students per year become part of the school which also offers 12 different levels of dance over a 6 day week.
Highly gifted young dancers are invited to audition for free to join the Schenley High School Program; here the students are able to complete a high school certificate, while being able to train for a future career as a professional dancer. This is achieved by taking extra dance classes, in order to achieve enough academic points. Included in the syllabus is a variety of different dance classes incorporating a broad spectrum of styles and techniques.
Graduate Programs differs in that it is aimed at training dancers at a higher level, after graduation so as to prepare students for entrance into professional dance groups or companies. A difference between the grad program and the Schenley Program is that in the first mentioned, attention is mainly on learning and rehearsing of choreography. As a result many are quickly established in a successful career.
The schools have two chief shows per annum. May kicks of the first of the two; the Schenley Showcase, which in general only features talented dancers trained by the Schenley or Graduate Programs. Then habitually the first Saturday in June sees the second show, called the Spring Performance, as a norm this is showcased at the Byham Theater in Pittsburgh city center. Some students are invited to take part in the bigger productions as an added bonus.
Over the decades Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre has built a strong ethos of undeniable excellence. Overseen, for the last 40 years by four well known artistic directors over. Undeniably establishing this as one of the top exhilarating ballet companies in the USA to this day has not been easy, but a well worth while effort, none the less.
Mr. Orr established the creation of a powerful and diverse repertoire. An eclectic and diverse style was established which transformed the way dance was presented. There were two developments which emerged on the celebration of the 10th anniversary, which changed the path that was taken, initially the dancers endeavored to become associated with the American Guild of Musical Artists, a performing arts union, secondly Lynn Swann, was nominated to join PBT board of trustees.
PBH started welcoming the public to sign up for open classes regardless of age or whether or not any previous training had been undertaken. Classes ranged from tap, all the way through to hip hop. A substantial monetary donation enabled the realization of expanding into an art school; the first year saw six thousand children being reached attracting the attention of generous donors, volunteers and partnerships.
To date the scholastic program has developed into a phenomenal amount of approximately 65 000 children. It reaches some four regions and over two hundred schools yearly. 300 students per year become part of the school which also offers 12 different levels of dance over a 6 day week.
Highly gifted young dancers are invited to audition for free to join the Schenley High School Program; here the students are able to complete a high school certificate, while being able to train for a future career as a professional dancer. This is achieved by taking extra dance classes, in order to achieve enough academic points. Included in the syllabus is a variety of different dance classes incorporating a broad spectrum of styles and techniques.
Graduate Programs differs in that it is aimed at training dancers at a higher level, after graduation so as to prepare students for entrance into professional dance groups or companies. A difference between the grad program and the Schenley Program is that in the first mentioned, attention is mainly on learning and rehearsing of choreography. As a result many are quickly established in a successful career.
The schools have two chief shows per annum. May kicks of the first of the two; the Schenley Showcase, which in general only features talented dancers trained by the Schenley or Graduate Programs. Then habitually the first Saturday in June sees the second show, called the Spring Performance, as a norm this is showcased at the Byham Theater in Pittsburgh city center. Some students are invited to take part in the bigger productions as an added bonus.
Over the decades Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre has built a strong ethos of undeniable excellence. Overseen, for the last 40 years by four well known artistic directors over. Undeniably establishing this as one of the top exhilarating ballet companies in the USA to this day has not been easy, but a well worth while effort, none the less.
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