MESA, AZ — Ballet Arizona has teamed up with Child Crisis Arizona and their new Center for Child and Family Wellness in Mesa with the goal of breaking down barriers to dance education in the East Valley.
The Center opened last year and has a state-of-the-art dance studio on campus.
"This community truly needs us and dance and arts and culture are sometimes missing in the neighborhoods that we are in," said Child Crisis Arizona CEO Torrie Taj. "At Child Crisis Arizona, we wanted to invite in dancing and Ballet Arizona so that we could offer services to all the children and youth and families here in the neighborhood that we are in."
At the start of the year, the School of Ballet Arizona expanded several of its classes to the East Valley area. These classes include “Dance with Me” sessions for ages 18 months to two years old with a parent or guardian, “Creative Movement” for ages three to four, and introductory ballet classes serving students ages four through seven.
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“Ballet Arizona’s vision is ‘ballet for everyone,’ and this wonderful expansion is taking a significant step toward achieving that vision with this new satellite campus,” said Ballet Arizona Artistic Director Daniela Cardim. “We are thrilled to bring our world-renowned faculty and teaching artists further into our community with these new programs and look forward to discovering young talent eager to pursue their love for dance. It has been a shared dream to bring the performing arts and dance education into this space. Healthy and vibrant communities have strong roots in arts education. Having access to this serves both Ballet Arizona’s mission, as well as the mission of Child Crisis Arizona.”
For adults in the Mesa area looking to get moving and learn new skills in 2025, Ballet Arizona will also add adult open classes to its roster at the center later in the year.
Earlier this month, beginner and intermediate Native American Hoop Dance classes also made their Mesa debut for Native American youth of various ages and levels.
