Brooklyn Ballet

Last week we celebrated 10 years of working with students in Brooklyn's public schools. Elevate @ 10!, a fundraiser for Brooklyn Ballet's Scholarship Fund, included two special performances for excited parents, fans and dance aficionados. Thanks to all who attended for celebrating with us! We're so grateful to those who gave generously to our Elevate Scholarship Fund.

Elevate @ 10! was electric - just super fun! John Michael Abenanty and Naazir and Shaakir Muhammad's reprisal of Caridad Martinez's "3 Toreros," a trio they originally performed in 2007, was one of the celebration's many highlights. What a treat to see firsthand how much these young men have grown in their technique and performance. All the dances performed by our Elevate All-Stars, Company, Youth Ensemble and dance school students were phenomenal. They blew us all away!

After the amazing performances we had a delicious feast of pumpkin vegetable soup, jerk chicken, and rice & peas catered by the amazingFisherman's Dawta (407 Atlantic Ave). To work it all off, we danced to terrific reggae, hip hop, latin, disco and R&B tunes in the studio. It was a true celebration of the positive impact that dance can have.

Conservatory student M'Shiari Gonzales dancing it up with her dad

The event honored Corcoran Cares for their long-time support of Brooklyn Ballet's education programs, with a gift of appreciation presented by Artistic Director Lynn Parkerson and Board Chair Geri Armine-Klein.

Geri Armine-Klein with Lynn on stage at Saturday's performance

Liz Koch, Arts & Culture Specialist at the Brooklyn Borough President's Office, attended the Elevate @ 10! celebration and made the announcement that the Borough President, Marty Markowitz, had proclaimed Saturday, June 8, as Brooklyn Ballet Hall of Fame Day!

John Michael Abenanty inducted into the Brooklyn Ballet Hall of Fame

We couldn't be happier to announce that our first inductee is John Michael Abenanty! John Michael got his start in our Elevate program at PS 207, trained at Brooklyn Ballet and has now completed his pre-professional training at the prestigious Harid Conservatory in Florida. He just signed his first professional contract with Columbia Classical Ballet in South Carolina and was one of 20 students chosen internationally to participate in the highly competitive and renowned Ballet program at the School at Jacob's Pillow.

Naazir Muhammad with his All-Star medallion

We know John Michael is the first of many who will enter the professional ballet world with roots planted firmly in Brooklyn. And we honored seven more of our promising Elevate All-Stars that evening for their hard earned achievements, too! Thank you for helping us reach our $5,000 Kickstarter goal that made these All-Star shows a reality, so we could honor these young dancers.

Elevate and Brooklyn Ballet School instructor Meagan Brunke dancing with conservatory students after the performance

We're on our way to reaching our target of $30,000 in order to maintain our Elevate Scholarship program. We have $15,000 in contributions to the Fund so far - please continue to help us spread the word about our terrific public school program and the great benefit a scholarship provides for a young dancer.

Elevate Education Director Catherine Green with Elevate student Olivia Jervise (PS 312)

"Elevate certainly brings ballet to thousands of children who would not otherwise have access and among this wide pool of Brooklyn children there are those with extreme, even stunning aptitude for ballet. Without Elevate scholarships, these children would very likely never consider ballet. The program opens doors."
-Elevate Education Director Catherine Green

Roxana Vadia, Company Dancer J-Floats & All-Star Daniel Falkin 

It's been truly inspiring to work with these supremely talented young dancers, watching them move from discovery in the classroom, to professional performance experiences.

Thanks to your support of Brooklyn Ballet, we'll can continue to discover and educate many more talented and driven young artists budding in Brooklyn's Public Schools. We can't wait to meet them!