• Ballet Ambassadors
  • Sleeping Beauty
  • Field Trip to Manhattan
  • Firebird, jr. version
  • The Great Gatsby
  • Othello
  • History of the Company
  • In the News
  • Our Schools
  • Applause, Applause!
  • About Us
  • Firebird, sr. version
  • FAQ
  • Romeo & Juliet
  • Don Quixote
  • Dance Around the World
  • The Unicorn's Secret
  • Swan Lake
  • The Nutcracker
  • Contact Us
  • More
    • Ballet Ambassadors
    • Sleeping Beauty
    • Field Trip to Manhattan
    • Firebird, jr. version
    • The Great Gatsby
    • Othello
    • History of the Company
    • In the News
    • Our Schools
    • Applause, Applause!
    • About Us
    • Firebird, sr. version
    • FAQ
    • Romeo & Juliet
    • Don Quixote
    • Dance Around the World
    • The Unicorn's Secret
    • Swan Lake
    • The Nutcracker
    • Contact Us
  • Ballet Ambassadors
  • Sleeping Beauty
  • Field Trip to Manhattan
  • Firebird, jr. version
  • The Great Gatsby
  • Othello
  • History of the Company
  • In the News
  • Our Schools
  • Applause, Applause!
  • About Us
  • Firebird, sr. version
  • FAQ
  • Romeo & Juliet
  • Don Quixote
  • Dance Around the World
  • The Unicorn's Secret
  • Swan Lake
  • The Nutcracker
  • Contact Us

Ballet Ambassadors

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FAQ

Q. How do your Teaching Artists manage to teach non-dancers to be performance-ready so quickly?
 

A. A video is worth a thousand words!
 


 
 
Q. How do you get boys to participate in a ballet?
 

A. Our male Teaching Artists are terrific role models and more fit than  any elite athlete. Also, the roles for the boys are very appealing to  them. Elementary school boys might be Soldiers or Russian Cossacks or  comical Elves or scary Bats. Middle and high schools boys might be  Matadors or do the sword fight scene in "Romeo & Juliet." Typically,  the boys bring the house down!
 
  
 
Q. Where do the children wait when they're not on stage?
 

A. They have front row seats! A unique aspect of Ballet Ambassadors is  that the young people who dance not only share the stage with  professional dancers but they also get to see their peers and the pros  alike bring the ballet to life. They sit in the audience in costume in  assigned spots and enter and exit from there. That's a combination of  experience and exposure unlike any other!

 
 
 
Q. Does the school have to supply anything?
 

A. We need one or two CD players for use during the workshops and we  sometimes ask that the children wear white or dark shirts and dark pants  for certain roles. We bring everything else including costumes, props, a  sound system, and a microphone.
 
 
Q. Do the teachers have to do anything to prepare students for a Ballet Ambassadors event?
 

A. That's optional. We can give the teachers our detailed Study Guide  with suggestions for activities to do before we come such as listening  to certain music selections, reading our brief history of the art of  ballet, having the students paint a backdrop on butcher paper, and using  our Dancing Through Time section to tie the experience into the social  studies curriculum. There is also a suggestion for reflection after the  event. However, using the Study Guide is not a requirement. The event is  very successful whether the students are prepared or not.
 

Q. Is there anything we need to do to be ready for you on the day of the event?
 A. If some of the workshops will be held in classrooms, you'll  save precious time if you have the chairs, desks, and tables pushed  around the perimeter ahead of time so there will be room to dance in the  center. Also, be sure to confirm any changes you may have made to your  normal daily schedule such as switching lunch periods or arranging to  have phys ed or OT classes meet somewhere other than the gym or  cafetorium.
 

Q. We don't have a stage in our school. Can you perform in the gym?
 A. Absolutely! We can tape off a "stage" area and the children  will sit cross-legged on the floor in the "audience." You can put up  folding chairs for family and friends behind the children if you like.
 
 
Q. Can Special Education youngsters participate?
 A. Yes! We have worked with children in wheelchairs and with  children who have various challenges such as autism, Fragile X Syndrome,  Down Syndrome, Spina Bifida, language processing issues, and many  others. We tailor the choreography so the children are successful but we  hold them to high standards. They invariably perform with polish and  panache and they love hearing the audience applaud!
 
 
Q. Can English Language Learners participate?
 A. Certainly! The international language of dance is a wonderful  medium for these youngsters. As one boy said with some of the few words  he knew, "Ballet is sign language! I understand all!"
 
Q. Do family members and friends have to pay to attend the performance?
 A. No, admission is free.
 
Q. Our school is more than two hours away from New York City. Can you come to us?
 A. Yes, but you will need to put us up in a hotel or have us as  overnight guests in private homes. We will arrive the day before so we  will be able to get to your school at the start of the school day. Also,  when we travel long distances we appreciate having a block of bookings  at nearby schools. If you can help us arrange for this, that would be  very helpful.
 
Q. Does the program fulfill the New York State Standards for the Arts?
 A. Yes, and we also fulfill the strands of the New York City Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance.
 
 Q. Can teachers and administrators get in on the act?
 A. Sure! We find that the youngsters love having teachers and  administrators perform with them. No dance experience necessary and the  costumes are one-size-fits-all! In "The Nutcracker," we need a Father or  an Aunt in the first and last scenes. In "Swan Lake," we need a Queen  and an Evil Sorcerer or Sorceress. In "Romeo & Juliet" and "Don  Quixote," there are optional roles for adults but these roles can also  be performed by teenagers. In "Dance Around the World," and "The  Unicorn's Secret," there are no roles for adults so choose these ballets  if your staff is stage shy! 
 
 Q. Where do the children and teens change into costumes?
 A. Most of the costumes for elementary school students go right  over the children's school clothes. We hand each teacher plastic Ziploc  "chests" with the costumes for his/her class. After lunch, he/she helps  the children pull on elastic waist tutus, put on hats, and so on. The  teacher brings the "chest" with all the unused costumes back to the  performance area. After the performance, the children take off the  costume pieces right where they are seated. The teacher puts everything  back into the chests and we load out for the next school! The process is  surprisingly quick and easy but in some schools select parents are  invited to help the teachers.
 For longer residencies, the middle school and high school  students have time to change in classrooms or rest rooms for evening  performances. See the photo above with girls in leotards and tutus. 
 
 Q. Where do Teaching Artists/Dancers change?
 A. We can change in the wings but if there is no room or if we are in a gym, we can bring pop-up "changing rooms."
 ON WITH THE DANCE!     Copyright 2020. Ballet Ambassadors. All rights reserved.    

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