1555 Central Parkway
Cincinnati, OH 45214
CincyDance!
Cincinnati Ballet (CB) serves as the region’s premier dance company and the home of the Otto M. Budig Academy, the area’s preeminent classical ballet training program with a mission to inspire excellence through the power of dance. Taught by nationally and internationally recognized faculty, the Academy offers comprehensive dance education through three school-year divisions, adult fitness classes, and specialized summer training programs. CincyDance! is CB’s cornerstone education and community engagement initiative with the goal of making ballet and dance training accessible to students who would otherwise not have the opportunity.
Cincinnati Ballet teaching artists conduct four to six-week residences in third-grade physical education and music classrooms. The residencies enforce national and state curriculum standards and twenty-first century skills including critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity through ballet exercises. In addition to the health, personal, and academic benefits of dance classes, the residency experiences are also used to identify students with the passion and aptitude to continue their dance training at a higher level. These students are invited to audition for an 18-week, tuition-free Ballet Foundations class. Thirty or more students are admitted into Ballet Foundations; the class acts as a bridge from their residency to the Academy. Five students are granted a lifetime scholarship to the Otto M. Budig Academy.
In the 2018-2019 season, Cincinnati Ballet sought to deepen their impact in the lives of students and launched the Story Choreography Project (SCP). With SCP, Cincinnati Ballet intended to drive an even deeper impact through a full-day, learning experience designed to put students into the shoes of collaborative choreographers. SCP invited students from two different schools to the ballet center with the goal of highlighting their commonalities despite their racial and socio-economic differences. The students began their day with the same writing prompt and brought their prompts to life by working in small, mixed-school groups to create a two-phrase section of a dance that they would bring together into a larger piece. The successful launch of this program has created a new education and community engagement program that will continue to grow and determine the mission of the department and organization.
Survey results from the CincyDance! students reflect that after the residency they experienced “confidence in my body” and “joy when I dance.” CincyDance! residencies were in 31 schools across the Cincinnati tri-state area focusing on Cincinnati Public Schools. This program served 2,053 students with more than 50% of those students living in low-income communities as reported by their school’s free and reduced lunch status. SCP served 250 students and 10 schools. The Ballet Foundations audition attracted 65 students to the ballet center with 36 of them admitted into Ballet Foundations; 75% of those students identify as people of color. The lifetime scholarship to the Otto M. Budig in the 2018-2019 season supported 23 students through their dance training with students in all seven levels.
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