An intensive gives adult dancers something they rarely get in ordinary life: dedicated time to pour fully into their own technique. Instead of rushing through one class and carrying that work into the next week, dancers have the opportunity to build day after day, staying physically and mentally engaged long enough for corrections to deepen, muscles to respond, and artistry to expand. That kind of focused time can change the way a dancer understands their body, their habits, and their potential.

Ballet 5:8’s Adult Ballet Summer Intensive is built specifically for that kind of growth. The program is designed for adult dancers and dance educators ages 18+ and is framed as a weekend to train, connect, and be inspired in a welcoming, supportive environment. The schedule includes focused study with Artistic Director Julianna Rubio Slager and Ballet 5:8 faculty, offering ballet technique, pointe or pre-pointe, Progressing Ballet Technique, strength training, repertoire and partnering, contemporary, and seminars on topics like nutrition, safe stretching, and injury prevention.

That matters because adult dancers do not need watered-down training. They need serious training that is intelligent, encouraging, and responsive to where they are. Ballet 5:8 communicates that balance clearly. The Adult Intensive promises a supportive community, serious training without intimidation, and faculty corrections that stick. That combination is powerful. Adult students often grow best in spaces where high standards and genuine welcome exist together, where they are challenged as dancers while still being respected as whole people with varied backgrounds, goals, and histories in ballet.

An adult intensive is especially valuable because technique develops through consistency. One class can inspire you. Four concentrated days can recalibrate you. When dancers have repeated opportunities to work on placement, coordination, strength, musicality, and retention in close succession, they begin to notice patterns that weekly drop-in training may not reveal as quickly. They can identify where they hold tension, where they lose clarity, where they overthink, and where they need more strength or confidence. Intensive training creates the space for that kind of honest discovery.

Ballet 5:8’s structure supports that process well. The sample schedule runs through ballet technique, pointe or pre-pointe or PBT, then moves into repertoire, partnering, contemporary, or seminar work each day, creating a layered experience rather than a single isolated class. That progression allows adult dancers not only to work on fundamentals, but to carry those fundamentals into different contexts, which is where real growth often happens.

That is part of what makes this intensive such a strong opportunity. It offers adult dancers a rare chance to invest in themselves with seriousness and intention. For some, that may mean rebuilding technical confidence. For others, it may mean returning to ballet after time away, deepening artistry, improving strength, or simply remembering what it feels like to be immersed in the work they love. Whatever the starting point, the intensive creates room to go further than a normal week allows.

There is also something deeply meaningful about adults choosing to pursue excellence for its own sake. Not because they have to. Not because a syllabus requires it. Not because a career depends on it. But because discipline, beauty, growth, and embodied learning still matter. An Adult Intensive honors that desire. It says your training is worth focused time. Your technique is worth refining. Your artistry is still worth developing.

Ballet 5:8’s Adult Intensive feels especially well-suited for dancers who want exactly that: excellent instruction, meaningful variety, practical conditioning, and a studio atmosphere that is both serious and welcoming. With training in technique, strength, artistry, repertoire, and dancer wellness, it gives adult students the kind of concentrated experience that can sharpen not only how they dance, but how they think about themselves as dancers.

For adult dancers, pouring into your own technique is not selfish. It is sustaining. And sometimes a few intentional days of training are exactly what helps you return to class stronger, clearer, and more inspired than before.

Too often, dance educators are expected to keep teaching from instinct alone. Years of performance experience matter, of course, but teaching is its own craft. It requires pedagogical clarity, the ability to read a room, knowledge of progression, effective correction strategies, and the wisdom to know not only what to teach, but how to teach it to the dancers in front of you. Ballet 5:8’s Teacher Development Intensive is built around that reality. Rather than offering abstract theory alone, it brings teachers into an immersive environment of observation, participation, workshops, evaluation, and real-time faculty feedback.

A teacher intensive is important because teachers need training too. Just as dancers benefit from concentrated periods of focused study, educators grow when they step outside their normal routines and sharpen their skills with intention. An intensive setting creates space to reflect on habits, strengthen weak spots, ask better questions, and test new tools immediately. It gives teachers the rare opportunity to be both students and practitioners at the same time. That kind of concentrated development can have lasting effects, not only on one instructor, but on every student they teach afterward. This is especially true when the work includes classroom management, student engagement, parent communication, musicality, motivation, and curriculum design, all areas Ballet 5:8 explicitly includes in its schedule.

What makes Ballet 5:8 especially compelling is the hands-on nature of the program. This is not a passive conference where attendees sit, listen, and leave with a notebook full of ideas they may never apply. Ballet 5:8 has designed the intensive so teachers are actively engaged in the work of teaching. Participants observe advanced ballet, pas de deux, and pointe classes with clear areas of focus. They join workshops led by faculty. Full-program participants rotate through teaching evaluation sessions and receive real-time feedback on pacing, clarity, and technical emphasis. In other words, the learning is embodied, immediate, and practical.

That practical structure matters because good teaching is built in real time. It happens in the split-second decision to stop or continue. It happens in the wording of a correction. It happens in how a teacher manages energy, attention, musicality, discipline, and encouragement in the room. These are not skills most educators master by reading about them. They are learned in the studio, through doing, observing, adjusting, and trying again. Ballet 5:8’s Teacher Development Intensive is valuable precisely because it honors that truth. It is designed to help teachers hone classroom skills in the environment where those skills actually live.

The intensive also reflects something larger about Ballet 5:8’s overall training culture. Across the School of Ballet 5:8, the organization emphasizes classical rigor, personalized instruction, comprehensive curriculum, company faculty, and clear progression. The school describes its training as high-caliber and rooted in classical ballet while also being informed by the demands of today’s professional dance world. Its Conservatory and Trainee pathways highlight rehearsal standards, accountability, musical responsibility, adaptability, and consistency under performance demands. That broader culture makes Ballet 5:8 a strong place for teacher training because participants are not entering a vacuum. They are stepping into an existing ecosystem shaped by standards, structure, and artistry.

Just as importantly, Ballet 5:8 pairs standards with support. The school speaks not only about technique and performance opportunities, but also about mental health, emotional intelligence, confidence, and helping students thrive in body, mind, and spirit. That matters for teachers because technical knowledge alone does not build healthy classrooms. Strong educators must know how to lead with clarity and authority while still building trust, motivation, and meaningful student relationships. Ballet 5:8’s inclusion of workshops on student engagement, parent communication, and mentoring young dancers shows that the intensive is preparing teachers for the real human dynamics of the classroom, not just the technical ones.

For teachers looking to grow, that combination is rare: classical seriousness, practical evaluation, immediate feedback, and a broader philosophy that values both excellence and the whole dancer. It is one thing to say teacher development matters. It is another to build a program that actually develops teachers. Ballet 5:8 appears to be doing exactly that.

The result is an intensive that can serve both emerging and experienced educators. For newer teachers, it offers structure, feedback, and a stronger pedagogical foundation. For seasoned instructors, it offers refinement, reflection, and the chance to revisit their work with fresh eyes. In both cases, the benefit is the same: better teaching, stronger classrooms, and students who are more clearly guided, more deeply challenged, and more thoughtfully supported.

A teacher intensive should do more than inspire. It should sharpen. It should expose gaps, strengthen instincts, and make educators more effective the very next time they walk into the studio. Ballet 5:8’s Teacher Development Intensive, with its observation, participation, workshops, evaluations, and real-time feedback, is built for exactly that kind of growth. For teachers who want to hone their classroom skills in a serious, applied, and artistically grounded environment, it is an especially strong fit.

One of the most meaningful things about that world is this: so much of the music shaping Poe comes from women and BIPOC composers, voices that have too often been sidelined in conversations about classical music, even while their work has helped define its emotional depth, daring, and beauty.

That matters to us.

Poe is a ballet about grief, imagination, fracture, longing, and moral awakening. It needed a musical language that could hold complexity. It needed composers who know how to write beauty without sentimentality, darkness without emptiness, and intensity without losing tenderness. That is part of what drew us toward this body of music. It is also showing a clear commentary to the viewer that Poe’s world is built on the unseen labor of enslaved people and women.

In the inspiration world around Poe, you can hear composers such as Clara Schumann, Florence Price, Amy Beach, Adolphus Hailstork, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Gabriela Lena Frank, Kwame Akansah-Brew, and Rebekka Karijord. These are not token additions or decorative references. They help shape the emotional architecture of the piece. They widen the atmosphere. They deepen the questions. They make the world of the ballet feel larger, richer, and more human.

There is also something important about refusing the narrow idea of what “Poe” should sound like.

A work inspired by Edgar Allan Poe could easily lean toward the expected: gothic, familiar, male, European, canonical in the most predictable sense. But that would flatten the project. Our approach has been different. We are interested in building a world that is haunted, yes, but also alive with cultural breadth, historical complexity, and unexpected resonance.

Women composers bring extraordinary emotional intelligence and structural invention to this landscape. BIPOC composers bring distinct histories, textures, and ways of hearing the world that expand what the ballet can hold. Together, these voices help us create a score that does not just accompany the choreography. It challenges it, lifts it, and reveals new dimensions inside it.

That choice reflects Ballet 5:8’s larger artistic values. We care about excellence. We care about beauty. We also care about whose voices shape the stage, whose artistry gets named, and whose brilliance audiences are invited to encounter.

So when you hear the music of Poe, you are hearing more than atmosphere. You are hearing a curatorial choice. You are hearing lineage, recovery, and imagination. You are hearing a commitment to a wider, truer canon.

Ballet schools can easily blend interactive, music forward activities with high-caliber artistry when they bring on an organization like Opus Event Rentals to make their community events something that everyone in attendance can enjoy, especially the performers and families. There are no limits to what a modern audience can experience when the seats are filled, and students get to show off their skills and find out what it’s like to be in front of large crowds. It’s a winning scenario for everyone involved, and it doesn’t take months or years of planning to make it happen.

On top of that, there are plenty of creative ways for an organization like Opus Event Rentals to bring the event to your community, and it will always be a lot of fun for anyone who wants to bring families, students, community partners, church groups, and local arts supporters together. It’s also a perfect way to introduce ballet to families who are considering the options of sending their children to a ballet school. Seeing other students in action will give them every chance to see what’s in store for their prospective dancers.

Types of Events

With so many different options for showcasing your ballet event, there’s going to be something for every community to enjoy, no matter how you want to bring everyone together to enjoy what the students have to offer them. Pop-up performances and demonstrations are always a great way to involve the community in your local area, and they can be held in public spaces, such as shopping centers, libraries, and parks. Family nights at local establishments will also bring in people who want to see what ballet is about and give prospective families a chance to see the dancing in action.

Your local ballet school can also offer a night of showcasing their classes that will turn into a casual reception where families get to meet the students their children interact with when they’re at class and performing. On top of that, open rehearsals are great ways for the community to interact with the classes and see what it takes to carry out a performance by watching the classes. It can be a look behind the scenes that will give the community a greater appreciation for the art form and let the students dance and practice in front of a live audience.

Supporting Elements

One of the most important aspects of any community ballet performance is the inclusion of lights, music, and other elements to turn any recital or rehearsal into an event that fully engages the audience that came to see the class in action. It’s important to ensure that these elements are there to support the performance and not take away from it while friends and families try to watch their loved ones show off their dance skills. That means you need an organization that can provide you with everything you need, without making it the main attraction of the performance.

There are lots of ways that lighting and music can be used to add to a performance without distracting people from it, and it takes the experience of an organization that’s set up events for years and knows what it’s doing. The proper music levels and placement of speakers isn’t something that comes natural to most people, so it’s always going to be best to leave it to the professionals, and the same goes for lighting. It can easily become overwhelming, and that’s not something you want to happen at your performance or rehearsal event.

Family Friendly Atmosphere

With all this in mind, it’s also important to remember that your event must be family-friendly and everyone in the community should feel welcome and comfortable as soon as they arrive and the students take the stage. While professional artistry is a large part of what the students are accomplishing, it should still be fun and engaging for anyone in attendance, no matter their age or involvement with the world of dance or ballet. Family members should be able to find the performance accessible without feeling out of place or as if they need to explore the world of dance before they head to this family-friendly event.

That also means that other children must be involved in the event, even if they’re sitting in the audience with their parents and simply enjoying what’s going on in front of them and cheering on their loved ones on stage. From the opening moments of a performance to the curtain call and beyond, it should be a good time for the entire family, and that’s not something you can find everywhere in your community. The more effort put into the environment, the more fun it will be for people of all ages and backgrounds, and the more enjoyable it will be for the classes on stage.

Ballet 5:8 is actively recruiting a small cohort of high-potential male dancers for a dedicated scholarship opportunity designed to accelerate technical growth and professional readiness.

This scholarship is built for young men who show strong potential—but need the right environment: focused classical training, clear standards, structure, and individualized coaching to advance quickly and confidently toward a professional path.

A rigorous classical program—built to form professional dancers

At the heart of Ballet 5:8 is a demanding classical curriculum that develops both technical clarity and expressive artistry. Scholarship recipients are supported through:

• Personalized instruction and weekly goal-setting

• A comprehensive classical and cross-training curriculum

• Regular performance opportunities through our Studio Company

• Dedicated men’s coaching in allegro, partnering, conditioning, and repertory learning

• Mentorship from male professionals and company artists

• Intentional focus on mental health, resilience, and rehearsal discipline

This is not a “try it and see” program—it’s designed for dancers who are ready to train with purpose. Apply via video audition through DanceApply and you will automatically be considered for this merit-based scholarship.

Who this scholarship is for

This opportunity is for:

• Male dancers serious about pursuing a professional path

• Dancers who need an environment with clear standards, structure, and coaching to advance

• Young men who benefit from consistent feedback, accountability, and rehearsal expectations that mirror professional life

Scholarship recipients train and perform through our Studio Company, gaining the rehearsal standards, musical responsibility, adaptability, and performance consistency required for auditions and professional environments.

Why we’re doing this

We believe some dancers don’t need more access—they need deeper investment. This scholarship allows us to pour into a small number of young men and provide the time, structure, and coaching they need to truly advance.

Help us find the right dancers

If you know promising male dancers, or the teachers and studios mentoring them, we’d love your help spreading the word.

We’re happy to send materials, videos, or speak directly with interested families or teachers.

Your share could genuinely change the trajectory for the right dancer.

When I enter the studio, I do not aim to entertain. I aim to bear witness. To what we lost. To what we never named. To the way a body breaks, not from weakness, but from memory. When ballet tells the truth, it becomes a kind of prayer. Not a closing of the eyes, but an opening. Not an escape, but a reckoning.

Edgar Allan Poe arrives already burdened by caricature: the drunk, the goth, the mad genius. Look closer and another story emerges, one that mirrors our own moment with unsettling clarity. Poe lived through the slow disaster of tuberculosis and watched it claim nearly every woman he loved. He carried the ache of anticipatory grief. He moved through a nation fractured by slavery, class division, and moral blindness. His sorrow did not romanticize itself. It devastated him spiritually.

As Dr. Harry Lee Poe explained to me, Rufus Griswold, Poe’s literary executor, distorted the story and painted Poe as a drug-addled lunatic. That portrait stuck. The real Poe looked nothing like it. He worked as a critic and humorist. He loved music. He thought deeply about faith. He mourned in public before grief had respectable language. He wrestled with belief in ways that still resonate. His final words, “Lord, help my poor soul,” ask for fuller hearing.

This ballet, The Curious Life of Edgar Allan Poe, does not function as biography. It acts as an exorcism. It dismantles myth. It reaches, I hope, toward resurrection.

Grief resists the stage. It does not clean itself up or arrange itself into counts of eight. It does not behave. But it moves, often without permission, and it stays in the body long after language collapses.

While choreographing Poe’s early years, I kept returning to the loss of his mother, Eliza. Tuberculosis took her when he was two. His father had already disappeared. The Allans, a wealthy Richmond family who owned enslaved people, took him in. I imagine her absence as an open wound that never clots. In the studio, we shaped a physical vocabulary around that emptiness. Reaching gestures that never land. Spirals that cave inward. The servants and enslaved workers carry the rhythm of labor, slow and unbroken, ignored by design. They move constantly and remain unseen. They form both literal and spiritual ground.

Poe carried layered grief: personal, historical, cosmic. That complexity pulled me toward Eureka, his final and most misunderstood work. Neither poem nor essay, it moves as theology disguised as astronomy. Poe writes, “In the original Unity of the First Thing lies the cause of all things.” He names divine design. Sacred pattern. Beauty born from collapse.

That sentence anchors the ballet. We project it. We orbit it. We unravel it. Grief also has shape, and sometimes that shape leads home.

Ballet values clarity, symmetry, restraint. I honor that tradition until it stops telling the truth. When the story demands rupture, I break the form. I do not rebel for effect. I return to the spiritual core of dance.

Poe believed poetry should unfold in one sitting, powered by intensity rather than length. I think about choreography the same way. What stays in the body? What strikes like a chord and refuses resolution? I do not want dancers who pose. I want dancers who testify.

In The Tell-Tale Heart, the heart does not dance. It sounds. It presses. It haunts. We used rope pulled from Poe’s own writing quill. Creation turns into entanglement. His words ensnare him. Projections of his script flood the stage, crawl up the walls, and climb his body until only one word remains: GUILT.

That arc mirrors spiritual conviction. We begin with voice and creation. We end, if we wait too long, in confession.

Grace still remains possible.

Poe’s story refuses separation from America’s story. He grew up in the antebellum South, educated among wealth and violence, shaped by a culture that prized decorum over justice. He never publicly condemned slavery. Yet, as Dr. Poe reminded me, he felt deep sympathy for the poor and contempt for aristocratic excess.

How do we hold that contradiction? How do we choreograph brilliance alongside blindness?

I placed the servants and enslaved workers at the center of the ensemble. They do not fade. They press inward. They shape the world. In The Masque of the Red Death, they arrive not as background but as storm. Their rhythm fractures the waltz. Their presence echoes Poe’s inner reckoning.

They do not teach a lesson. They carry spirit. They stand as the unacknowledged saints of American history, the ghosts we refuse to name. In a nation still addicted to whitewashed narratives, placing their movement at the center felt sacred.

That tension reaches its peak in The Raven. The Raven does not read as bird but as voice. Memory. The presence of those crushed beneath history. The dancer is Black. Her movement cuts and claims space. She does not ask. She takes. Poe collapses not from weakness but from listening at last.

By the end of his life, everything unraveled. Virginia, his wife and muse, died after years of illness. He stopped writing. He wandered. Then something shifted. Dr. Poe points to signs of spiritual conversion. Poe spoke of heaven. He attended a Sons of Temperance meeting. His final days suggest surrender.

The final scene, Altar Call, begins in stillness. Poe stands shirtless, stripped of reputation and defense, kneeling at the front of the stage. The women of his life, Eliza, Frances, Virginia, Ligeia, circle him. They do not rescue him. They witness him. The ensemble gathers. The rope disappears. The projections fall away. Light remains.

We let the moment breathe. No choreography. Just a body cracked open.

Something sacred happens there. Not resolution. Release.

Faith, at its truest, does not flinch. It looks at the wound and stays. It listens. It makes room for contradiction. Good choreography does the same. It does not tidy loose ends. It exposes them.

When I make work, I do not preach. I remember. I trust the body to hold memory beyond language. I trust the stage to become an altar if we allow it. A place for mourning, recognition, and grace.

Poe’s story does not offer triumph. It offers ache, awakening, and ambiguity. In that ambiguity, I found faith. Not the kind that simplifies, but the kind that expands. The kind that listens to a heartbeat beneath the floorboards and asks what we still refuse to hear.

In the end, The Curious Life of Edgar Allan Poe speaks beyond one man. It speaks to all of us. Our grief. Our silences. Our hunger for light. And the God who still meets us in the dark.

Here’s the truth: You never know what you are walking into when auditioning for a company. In the current arts world and economy, open positions are few and far between. Companies, if they do have a position, are often looking for someone incredibly specific (it could genuinely be a specific height or hair color to balance out their current roster). If you’re a trainee, in a conservatory bridge, or in a second company track, it can feel like trying to board a train that’s speeding up as you run beside it. It’s frustrating. It can also mess with your head. Dancers are high achievers, and it's a difficult reality to know decisions often are arbitrary.

We don't want to reinforce any kind of narrative that your worth or skill is defined by the job you are able to land. Organizations have a myriad of factors that dictate a season's roster that go far beyond how skilled or experienced an applicant may be. That doesn't take away the disappointment or difficulty, but it changes how you frame your journey in the long run.

From our perspective as professional dancers as well as second company and trainee program directors, what we encourage you to build is a skill set that will stand the test of time. Growing into a dancer that companies can trust and rely on is huge. It’s consistency, being physically reliable enough to handle the workload, have exceptional musicality and the mind to pick up and retain whatever is thrown your way. It’s your ability to be coached, and staying curious. We want you to cultivate a mature and grounded sense of artistry, and to know yourself so that you can shine as exactly who you were created to be. 

We want to encourage you, and remind you that outside factors and opinions are just that. They are entirely outside of your control. It takes a tremendous amount of work to be in the right pool of dancers to be auditioning at a professional level. Regardless of results, you can take pride in the work you have already done, and the work you continue to do daily. Falling in love with the work, not with the results, will keep your joy for your craft alive and steadily growing as long as you choose to feed it. This is a hard industry, so a good support system is imperative. Your work and your craft belongs to you and you alone. Take pride in the gifts you've been given, and continue fortifying them so whatever opportunity does come your way, you know you're ready.

- Libby Dennen, Second Company Director & Sarah Clarke, Trainee & Conservatory Program Director

Let’s just say the quiet part plainly: in the economy today, the arts world is under fire. This reality has to influence how we advise dancers and families to wisely invest time, money, and energy. When we were training, getting into certain intensives felt like a gold star. Now we’re seeing wider nets and more “yes” emails going out because those programs need bodies in the studio. Sometimes that “yes” still reflects high standards. Sometimes it reflects a spreadsheet. Both can be true but it's hard to decipher.

What we want dancers to understand is that an acceptance letter is not a full evaluation. The staff of any given program only get to see you for a brief amount of time, and are looking through many new faces all in one class. Acceptance into one program is not a career forecast. It’s an opportunity. The real question—is whether that opportunity will help you in your individual journey. 

As teachers and training program directors, we care about the quality and substance of training. Do you get corrected in a way that’s specific and useful? Are the classes a sensible size so that you can be invested in? Who is the staff, and who will you get the opportunity to work with day to day? And what is the studio culture like? We want dancers in rooms that build them up.

And then there’s your financial investment. Going away for summer intensive can be a financial sacrifice. If a program is expensive, the value has to be there in the training, the coaching, and the structure. We want to see growth from the summer intensive and want to advise and support the best use of your resources. We're on your dancer's team!

Next in the series, we’ll talk about the job market—why it feels tighter, and what dancers can do about it without spiraling.

Next in the series, we’ll talk about the job market—why it feels tight, and practical advice for what dancers can do.

- Miranda Rubio Opsal, School Principal & Sarah Clarke, Conservatory and Trainee Program Director

Being accepted into a well-known program can feel like a clear message: you’re at that level. When interpreting what opportunities you should pursue it's never that simple. Acceptance alone doesn’t always tell the full story.

We’re not saying acceptance doesn't matter. If you earned a spot, that’s something to be proud of. But as current professionals who also run a trainee program, we invest energy into helping dancers understand what options are open to them, and which one might lead them on the right path forward. We’ve seen dancers enter big-name programs and plateau, simply because they aren’t getting real coaching or consistent feedback. We’ve also seen dancers choose alternative programs and grow quickly because they’re invested in, pushed, and supported daily.

That’s why the most important questions come after the acceptance. What level or program are you placed into? Who is the faculty? Are you getting specialized feedback and coaching? Choosing the right program based on these criteria will bring you to an environment that will shape your growth far more than a program’s reputation.

Rejections and being waitlisted can still be challenging — and we understand that deeply. But a "yes" or “no” doesn’t always show the full picture of your ability or potential. There are many deciding factors which dancers don't have privy to, and it’s important not to let one audition result define your worth.

We don’t want dancers building confidence based off of external validation or being "chosen". We want dancers to build resiliency and a foundation that will last throughout their lives and career. What lasts is solid training: consistency, work ethic, musicality, artistry, body awareness, coach-ability, and a strong sense of self.

Next in the series, we’ll talk about summer intensives—what’s worth paying for, and what’s just expensive.

- Sarah Clarke and Emma Michaux, Trainee & Conservatory Program Directors

One of the first people I interviewed was my dad.

My dad is close in age to Sandra Cisneros, and as a Chicano man who grew up in the same era, his memories offered an essential lens into the cultural landscape of the 1970s and 80s. We talked about what it meant to grow up Chicano during that time. About neighborhood life, family expectations, pride, and the quiet responsibility that often came early. About communities where kids played outside, rode bikes, and learned who they were through each other, long before the world asked them to explain themselves.

Much of what he shared came back to music.

Music was not background sound. It was identity. It poured out of car windows, living rooms, and backyard gatherings. Oldies, soul, early funk, Chicano rock, and Latin rhythms carried romance, resistance, humor, and longing all at once. As my dad spoke, it became clear that this soundscape was inseparable from the emotional world Cisneros writes into Mango Street.

That conversation shaped the playlist for this piece.

Songs by Santana, WAR, Los Lobos, Selena, KAINA, and traditional Chicano and Mexican-rooted music became anchors in the studio. The music helped ground the choreography in lived cultural memory, not nostalgia, but something embodied and present. Rhythm informed how the dancers carried weight, how they moved through space, how they listened to one another. The sound created a sense of continuity, something steady to return to.

As I worked, I realized how many of Sandra’s stories felt deeply familiar from my own childhood.

Stories like Chanclas and Hips resonated in a very personal way. Riding bikes. Playing outside. Growing up in a poor neighborhood where imagination, freedom, and community existed alongside limitation. While my childhood took place in the 1990s, much of that physical experience felt aligned. The way kids claim the street as their world. The way bodies learn confidence, embarrassment, humor, and power long before language fully forms.

When I was six years old, my family experienced homelessness. Because of that, the question of “what is home” has never been simple for me, and it has never been only about a building. Home has always been more about people than place. My culture. My siblings. My parents. My grandparents. The relationships that held us together mattered more than any address ever could.

That lived experience shaped how I entered Mango Street.

Esperanza is constantly negotiating what home means, what she longs for, what she rejects, and what she is still learning how to name. The book holds that tension honestly, the desire for a home you can claim and the reality that home can also be something you build through people, memory, and resilience. In the studio, I kept returning to that idea. What does it mean to feel rooted when place is unstable? What does it mean to find steadiness in culture, in sound, in one another?

This is where dance felt essential.

Movement allowed us to explore those questions without forcing answers. A repeated gesture, a shared rhythm, a sudden stillness could hold complexity without explanation. I wanted the dancers to understand that House on Mango Street is not only about one girl or one neighborhood. It is about growing up inside a body that is being watched, shaped, and slowly claimed as your own. It is about learning where you belong and imagining where you might go.

This piece became an intergenerational conversation. Sandra Cisneros’s voice. My dad’s memories. My own childhood. The dancers’ lived experiences. All of it layered together through movement and music.

Creating Mango Street was not about recreating the past. It was about honoring it. About recognizing how culture, sound, and memory live in the body and continue to shape who we become. This work is an offering to anyone who has ever had to define home for themselves, and to the people and stories that make that possible.

You’re not just picking “an activity.” You’re picking the place where your child will be taught, encouraged, corrected (kindly), celebrated, and—if we do this right—leave class standing a little taller than when they walked in.

And if you didn’t grow up around ballet, it can be hard to know what you’re even supposed to look for. The good news: you don’t need a dance background to make a great choice. You just need a few clear markers, and permission to ask the right questions.

Here’s a simple guide to finding a studio that fits your child—and your family.

1) Start with what you actually want for your child

Forget the Instagram tricks for a second. When parents are happiest with a studio, it’s usually because the studio supports one (or more) of these goals:

• Confidence and coordination (for the “I like moving!” kid)

• Structure and focus (for the “needs a challenge” kid)

• Joy and community (for the “I want friends” kid)

• Real training and progress (for the “I’m serious about this” kid)

There isn’t one “best” type of studio—there’s the best fit for your child right now.

A good studio can also help you figure out what your child needs, even if you’re not sure yet.

2) Look for a studio culture that’s kind and clear

One of the biggest myths about ballet is that it has to be harsh to be “real.”

Strong training doesn’t require fear. It requires consistency.

When you visit a studio (or even just watch the lobby for a few minutes), pay attention to:

• Do teachers correct students respectfully?

• Do kids look focused—but not panicked?

• Is there an obvious plan to how classes run?

• Are students encouraged to try again, not just “get it right”?

The best studios are warm without being chaotic, and structured without being cold.

3) Ask how placement works (because age isn’t the whole story)

Especially as kids get older, placement shouldn’t be based only on birth year. Two dancers can be the same age and need totally different class levels depending on experience, coordination, strength, or even confidence.

A studio that takes placement seriously will offer a simple, supportive way to find the right level—so your child isn’t bored, overwhelmed, or stuck in the wrong class just because “that’s what we had space for.”

That’s why we host Snowflakes & Slippers, our annual open house and placement week. It’s designed to take the pressure off parents (and kids) by letting dancers try a placement class and letting our faculty guide you toward the best fit.

4) Make sure beginner programs are truly beginner-friendly

If your child is new, you want a studio that understands what “new” actually means.

That includes:

• Clear expectations (and a teacher who explains them)

• Age-appropriate class length and pacing

• Basics taught step-by-step (not assumed)

• A welcoming environment where kids can learn without feeling behind

Bonus points if the studio helps parents too—because it’s much easier to support your child when you understand what they’re learning.

5) Notice the “details that become your life”

These aren’t glamorous, but they matter:

• Communication: Do you know who to contact and how quickly you’ll hear back?

• Policies: Are they clear and reasonable?

• Facilities: Is the space clean, safe, and organized?

• Schedule: Does it work for your real life (not your fantasy life)?

• Parking: You’ll care. Everyone cares. Eventually.

If you feel cared for as a parent, your child will feel cared for as a student.

6) Meet the humans who will teach your child

A studio can have a gorgeous website and still not feel right in person.

If you can, visit. Talk to the faculty. Let your child see the space. Ask questions. You’re not being “that parent”—you’re being a thoughtful one.

During Snowflakes & Slippers, families can do exactly that: studio tours + a faculty meet & greet, plus a chance to explore the studio without rushing between errands.

7) Trust the post-visit feeling

After visiting a studio, ask yourself:

• Did I feel comfortable asking questions?

• Did the staff seem like they enjoy teaching kids?

• Did my child seem curious, not intimidated?

• Do I feel like this studio has a plan for growth?

If you leave thinking, “Okay… I can see my kid here,” that matters.

Come See What the Right Fit Feels Like

Join us for Snowflakes & Slippers, our annual open house and placement week.
Dancers ages 2 through 102 can take a complimentary placement class, meet our incredible faculty, and explore the studio.

Whether you’re brand new to ballet or continuing your training, Snowflakes & Slippers is a simple, low-pressure way to find your fit as the new year begins.

What to expect:

• Complimentary Placement Classes

• Open to New & Returning Students who have not enrolled yet for Spring 2026

• Studio Tours + Faculty Meet & Greet

• Currently Enrolled Students will attend their normal classes

Pre-registration is strongly encouraged. Reserve your placement today and take your first step into Ballet 5:8.

Register: https://shorturl.at/ypOZe

This season, Ballet 5:8 is holding a national audition tour for Company, Second Company, Trainee (18+), Conservatory (14–22), and Summer Intensive (11–22). Select one or more tracks at registration—one audition covers all selected programs, and decisions are typically made within two weeks.

More info: ballet58.org/audition

At the School of Ballet 5:8, our training blends Vaganova foundations with purposeful influences from School of American Ballet and Marcia Dale Weary, building clean technique, musical clarity, and performance-ready stamina. 

60% of our current Company began at our Summer Intensive—it’s a primary route into Trainee and Second Company opportunities

“Starting my career as a trainee with Ballet 5:8 was one of the best decisions I made as a dancer. To be honest, I was really behind, but Ms. Julianna saw something in me and the whole staff poured into me; with the individual attention and rigorous class schedule, my technique grew incredibly quickly. Now, as a Soloist, I’m consistently grateful for how thoroughly the program prepared me for both classical and contemporary work. Working with Ms. Kim, Ms. Julianna, and the many guest faculty who invested in me gave me the tools to sustain myself as both an artist and a technician for the long term."
— Kayla Kowach, Soloist with Ballet 5:8

Summer Intensive = 2, 3, or 5 weeks (choose what fits your goals and budget):

• 2 weeks: June 29–July 10

• 3 weeks: July 13–July 31

• 5 weeks: June 29–July 31

If money is a real factor (we get it):

• Second Company is tuition-free, with performance stipends when cast with the professional company.

• Summer Intensive financial aid applications are accepted Nov–Feb.

• Resident Assistant roles (18+) can cover 100% SI tuition + room/board.

Audition Cities + Dates

• Los Angeles, CA: Dec 28–29, 2025—in-person audition for Company/Second Company via the National Master Audition

• Nashville, TN: Sat, Jan 10, 2026 (2:00 pm ET)

• Provo, UT: Sat, Jan 17, 2026 (10:00 am MT)

• New York, NY: Sun, Jan 18, 2026 (9:30 am ET)

• Chicago, IL (Ages 11–15): Sat, Jan 24, 2026 (10:30 am CT)

• Chicago, IL (Ages 16+): Sat, Jan 24, 2026 (2:30 pm CT) —in-person audition for Company/Second Company

• Video deadline: Mar 31, 2026 (11:00 pm CT)

So why is Giving Tuesday still relevant? And how do you choose where to give when everyone is talking at once?

What is Giving Tuesday?

Giving Tuesday is a global generosity movement held on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving. In 2025, it falls on December 2, 2025.

It started in 2012 as a simple idea: after the shopping rush of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we set aside one day to refocus on giving. Since then, it’s grown into a worldwide “group project for good,” encouraging people to give money, time, skills, advocacy, and kindness.

In the U.S. alone, Giving Tuesday has become one of the biggest days of charitable participation each year, raising billions of dollars and activating millions of donors and volunteers.

Giving Tuesday is meant to be a counter-rhythm, a reset. In a holiday season driven by consumption, it is a time to pause and invest in the good around you.

The best part about Giving Tuesday is that it is a worldwide movement of giving. It is a day of momentum. No matter who you choose to give to on this day, your gift does not just help the organization you choose to give to, it joins a wave of generosity that becomes a catalyst for more.

“How do I choose where to give with all this noise?”

If you have felt this way, you are not alone. Choosing between so many deserving organizations can be overwhelming. Here are some ways to choose with clarity instead of guilt.

• Start with what you already care about.

  • What moves you?

  • What kind of world do you want to build?

  • What kind of stories do you want more of?

• Look for impact that you can see.

  • What changes because this organization exists?

  • Who is inspired by this organization?

• Choose community over perfection.

  • What organization is investing in its community?

  • How is culture impacted by this organization?

Why we’re inviting you to give to Ballet 5:8 this Giving Tuesday

At Ballet 5:8, we are challenging who dance is for, where it belongs, and what it can say. We believe that art should welcome every community.

When you give to Ballet 5:8, you help:

• create new ballets that engage the heart and imagination

• pay artists fairly for their craft and calling

• offer outreach and training that makes dance accessible

• keep faith-inspired ballet alive and thriving

We are not the only cause worth giving to; we know that, and we know that your dollars are valuable and needed in many places. But if our work has shaped you — if our stories have stayed with you — we’d be honored to be part of your Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday 2025 Special: Pay-What-You-Want Beyond the Nutcracker Tickets

To make giving simple and joyful, we’re doing something tangible this year:

On Giving Tuesday (December 2, 2025) only, Beyond the Nutcracker tickets for the 6th and 7th performances will be Pay-What-You-Want.

That means you can combine your Giving Tuesday donation with your ticket purchase in one step:

1. Pick your seats for The Beyond the Nutcracker

2. Choose the ticket price that fits your gift

3. Know that every dollar supports Ballet 5:8

Whether you give $10 or $100, your gift helps bring this holiday tradition to life.

If you can’t attend but would still like to support the season, you can donate here.

Because Giving Tuesday is about people…

This day is not about keeping up or giving all you have to everyone. It is taking a day to pause and join something that is bigger than you. If the noise feels too loud to you, here is your permission to return to what is true.

• Give where you love.

• Give where you trust the impact.

• Give as a practice of hope.

Thank you for being part of a community that believes generosity matters — and that beauty does too.

For Kayla Kowach, a Solo Artist now in her sixth season with Ballet 5:8, dance is more than a profession — it’s a calling with eternal significance.

“Being a part of the fabric here at Ballet 5:8 has entirely altered the course of my life for the better,” Kayla reflects. “I 100% believe that this is the place that God has me, and the work we are doing here has eternal impact.”

Her journey with Ballet 5:8 has transformed her understanding of what art can do in the world. “When I was young, I used to really struggle with how I might use dance to have a real impact in the world because in my mind at the time, a dance career was just a passion project,” she explains. “Through Ballet 5:8 I have learned the inherent importance of art and artistry in our communities, and have been able to grow as an artist myself to bring impactful art to my community.”

For Kayla, Ballet 5:8’s mission — to spark discussion on life, faith, and human dignity — finds its truest expression not just onstage, but in everyday conversations. “Our mission comes to life in the conversations that I get to have with people who know nothing about ballet,” she says. “Every time I meet someone, the phrase I hear is, ‘Wait, you’re a real ballerina? No way!’ Those moments let me share why our work is important and shine light on that person’s need for the arts in their life.”

Kayla’s message to Ballet 5:8 supporters is a powerful reminder of the deeper value behind every performance and every donation:

“Supporting Ballet 5:8 is not just paying for a pretty tutu or a dancer’s pointe shoes; it is fueling a mission that brings life to our communities through one of the imperishable pillars of our society — art.”

Through her artistry, faith, and conviction, Kayla embodies the very heartbeat of Ballet 5:8 — demonstrating that beauty and purpose are inseparable when dance becomes a vessel for truth and hope.

or Jorja Pomponio, now in her third year as a Second Company Artist with Ballet 5:8, dance has become far more than movement — it’s a calling shaped by faith, humility, and community.

“Being part of Ballet 5:8 has changed me as both a person and an artist in a numerous amount of ways,” Jorja reflects. “It is where my passion for dance deepened into something so much more meaningful than just performing for an audience. Through my time as a Trainee and now a Second Company Artist, I’ve learned that excellence in dance is not just about perfect technique, but about dancing with a purpose and humility as we are called to do.”

Jorja’s growth has been both artistic and personal. “I’ve grown in discipline, determination, and courage, but more importantly, I’ve learned the importance of community, trust, and faith,” she says. “It’s been a space where I have not only improved in my craft, but also in my character, and I’m so thankful to be part of something that continually challenges me to become the person and artist God created me to be.”

Throughout her journey, Jorja has found consistent guidance from Libby Dennen, Ballet 5:8’s Second Company Director. “She has been a steady source of wisdom and encouragement to me on my dance journey,” Jorja explains. “Being at the professional level brings many challenges, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Through it all, she has encouraged me to not only trust in my abilities, but in God’s plan for my life. Libby has shown me what strength and grace look like in both artistry and leadership.”

Watching Libby perform has also shaped Jorja’s own approach to storytelling. “Seeing her connect with the audience has taught me to appreciate the gift we can give to others and to fully commit to the work. Through her mentorship, I’ve been encouraged to be rooted in confidence and faith, following the path set before me,” she says.

For Jorja, Ballet 5:8’s mission — to spark discussion on life, faith, and human dignity — is more than words on paper; it’s alive in every rehearsal and performance. “Having the opportunity to share deep and powerful stories has allowed me to connect with audiences in such a different way than I ever thought I could,” she shares. “Performing the work of Ballet 5:8 doesn’t just aim to entertain; it invites people into conversations about the deeper layer of the story… We are able to communicate with people in a way that words can’t.”

And to those who make that work possible, Jorja offers her heartfelt thanks: “Because of your support, we are able to continue creating art that speaks life, truth, and purpose into people’s lives. Thank you.”

Through her grace, faith, and dedication, Jorja embodies Ballet 5:8’s belief that dance can do more than move — it can heal, inspire, and awaken something profound in every person who encounters it.

That intentional approach to storytelling is what makes Ballet 5:8’s mission — to spark discussion on life, faith, and human dignity — so tangible for Selah. “Ballet 5:8’s mission comes alive through our work because of the deep meaning that is behind every piece we perform,” she explains. “Each ballet invites the audience to reflect, to feel, and to see the world differently.”

For Selah, being part of this community is both a privilege and a responsibility — one that’s made possible by those who believe in the company’s vision. “Your support allows dancers to pursue their dreams and allows us to share art and beauty with the community,” she says with gratitude.

Through her artistry and her faith, Selah embodies what Ballet 5:8 stands for: using dance to move hearts, spark conversation, and bring light to the stage.