Founded in 2001, The New Ballet Ensemble and School is a Community School of the Arts and Arts Education program with a professional performing ensemble. Unique to Memphis and to communities across America, New Ballet is a bridge-building Arts training organization that serves youth from every corner of the city and in its entirety.  Children and adults come together on a daily basis in an arts space where the common denominator is excellence and innovation in dance. The bridges that we build in the process remain a principle focus of the organization’s leadership.

Mission: The mission of New Ballet School is to bring together children from all backgrounds by providing a professional standard of training, regardless of the ability to pay.

New Ballet Ensemble is the professional company of performers and teaching artists who appear on the main stage and in our schools where students are engaged, educated and recruited for scholarships in the New Ballet School.

Philosophy: New Ballet provides opportunities to young aspiring artists from diverse backgrounds by providing the tools and training to those who seek excellence, regardless of the family's ability to pay. Class offerings and curricula are based on the ethic of sound technical ballet training with an emplasis on multiculturalism. Students will explore African, Flamenco, HipHop, Modern and Chinese dance throughout their studies at New Ballet. New Ballet students' goals cover a broad spectrum.Some have a serious desire to have access to scholarship opportunities at University dance programs, others participate in the program out of a desire to be immersed in an atmosphere of professionalism, creative freedom and serious intent.

It is our hope that young Memphis artists who grow up at New Ballet will return to the Memphis community to share their knowledge, talent and love of dance, becoming teachers and performers who will nurture those who follow.

Learn more about the culture at NBE&A, click here

"RAISING THE CAPACITY OF ALL SO THAT WE NO LONGER RECOGNIZE OUR DIFFERENCES"

Core Values: 

  • Professional Integrity: operating at a high standard in all things.
  • Personal growth: building strong character in our student dancers.
  • Innovative Teaching: focusing on each child’s unique, optimum capabilities.
  • Community Building: bridging our cultural differences through dance.
  • Partnerships: working collaboratively to achieve our goals.
  • Outreach: taking dance to students in the community as a means to discover and recruit talented young performers. 

New Ballet offers an array of programs including a professional company, a school, public performances and community partnerships. New Ballet School students are given the opportunity to perform in annual productions with the professional company. In some instances, community partners such as Girls, Inc. and participants of CityDance perform with New Ballet students and professional dancers in the main stage performances.

Citydance is an annual New Ballet summer program sponsored by NIKE, Inc.,  focusing on a cross cultural  arts experience. Ballet dancers will find themselves immersed on African dance or Hip Hop while Hip Hop dancers will find themselves at the ballet barre or studying the rhythms of Flamenco. Somewhere in the middle, the students meet on common ground in that place between expertise and the unknown. In the process, Memphis Youth come to know one another by discovering both their similarities and differences while sharing their love for the art of dance.