• COVID-19 Update - April 20
• Announcements: In-Home Choreography Competition, NHSDA Congratulations, Evaluations and Fall Registration, Faculty Updates, Adult Virtual Ballet Classes
• Healthy Dancer: Coronavirus Anxiety and Parent's Top Questions on COVID-19
CBA Closed for Semester
Continuing online classes through May 30
Options for ticket purchasers
April 20, 2020
Dear Colorado Ballet Academy Families,
We would like to take this time to thank everyone for their patience and understanding as Colorado Ballet Academy (CBA) has taken time to determine the best plan of action for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.
As we continue to navigate this pandemic as a community, with a heavy heart, CBA feels that it is our social responsibility to continue our transition to online classes for the remainder of the Academy year to help ensure the health and safety of our families, instructors and staff. Like Denver's public schools, we will not hold in-person classes for the remainder of the semester.
Our faculty and staff believe consistent dance training and continued connection with teachers and peers is extremely important during this time. To this end, CBA will be offering three additional weeks of virtual classes beyond the end of the semester using Zoom Video Conferencing through May 30. We have increased our offerings for each level of the Academy through May 9 and will continue to offer this schedule from May 11 - 30. All classes through May 30, as well as our YouTube Video Library, are offered at no additional cost to our Academy families. Your tuition is being applied towards costs associated with running our virtual classes, paying our teachers and keeping our administrative staff employed.
With the absence of in-person classes and the continued closure of the Denver Performing Arts Complex, sadly the year-end performance of Coppélia will not take place. Additionally, Saturday Soirees, Creative Dance and Pre-Ballet Showcases will also be cancelled. Please see below options for ticket purchases.
Ticket holders may:
1.) Turn your ticket(s) purchase into a donation and help us finish the season strong. All ticket donations are considered charitable contributions. Thank you for your support!
2.) Receive an on-account credit that can be applied to tickets for the 2020/2021 season. This credit can be used for subscriptions or single tickets when purchased by phone. The credit will be good for one year for the value of the tickets, if purchased through Colorado Ballet.
3.) Exchange your tickets for a gift certificate for a performance during the 2020/2021 season.
4.) Receive a refund for your tickets to be applied to the original method of payment.
In order to request one of these four options, please fill out our online form.
If we do not receive a form for option 1, 3 or 4 above, option 2 will automatically be applied to your ticket purchase.
We are currently in discussions regarding our summer programs and are developing a plan of how we may be able to responsibly execute our Summer Intensive, Young Dancer Workshop, camps and classes. A decision regarding CBA Summer Intensive will be announced by the end of next week. All May 1 auto-payments for Summer Intensive will be delayed until a decision has been made. If you are a current Colorado Ballet Academy student and have received word that your planned summer program at another school has been cancelled, please reach out to summerintensive@coloradoballet.org.
We understand that everyone is feeling the effects of this situation and many are facing financial hardships that could not have been foreseen. CBA is here to help support our families in any way possible. Our staff is here to speak with you at any time about all available options. Please reach out to us through the Academy email address, academy@coloradoballet.org, so that we may set up the best way to contact you directly.
On behalf of the entire Colorado Ballet, we appreciate everyone’s continued support. We anticipate a joyful, eventual return to the studios and cannot express enough how much we miss our students!
Sincerely,
Colorado Ballet Academy Staff
The Del Ciotto Family
In-Home Choreography Contest
We all know there is a lot of dancing and choreographing happening in everyone’s homes, and CBA would like to harness this wonderful energy and hold a Choreography Contest for our students! Please see the rules and requirements at the link below. There is no cost to enter this competition. We hope creating this opportunity will foster more dancing and artistic growth for our students and family members!
NHSDA Congratulations
Colorado Ballet Academy has been a chapter sponsor of National Honor Society for Dance Arts since 2015. The National Honor Society for Dance Arts™ (NHSDA) program of the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) was created to recognize outstanding artistic merit, leadership and academic achievement in students studying dance. Colorado Ballet Academy sponsors NHSDA for two levels of induction: The Junior Program for grades 6-8, The Secondary Program for grades 9-12. Colorado Ballet Academy is proud to honor our students and help advance the field of dance education.
Congratulations to (L-R) Jacqueline Del Ciotto, Grant Gonzalez, Jenna Hellmann, Saige Ju and Lauren Thomas for being our latest inductees to the National Honor Society for Dance Arts.
For more information about NHSDA visit www.nhsda-ndeo.org.
Faculty & Staff Updates
Welcome Ashley Kohl Adler,
Academy Administrator
We are changing things around slightly in the Academy and are thrilled to have Ashley Kohl Adler join our Academy team as our new Academy Administrator. Ashley comes to us with years of dance, creative and administrative experience with Atlanta Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Steps on Broadway and Colorado Conservatory of Dance, to name a few. Learn more about Ashley's background.
Farewell, Elisabeth Link!
We are saddened to announce the departure of Elisabeth Link, our Academy Business Manager. Elisabeth will be moving on to pursue another career path. We thank her for her incredible work with the Academy and wish her well in her next endeavor. Please help us say “Farewell” by sending any well wishes to academy@coloradoballet.com.
More Updates
Megan Lay has moved into the position of Pre-Professional Division and Summer Intensive Administrator. These are two huge programs in the Academy that require year-round attention, and while she will still have many other responsibilities, her main focus will be maintaining and increasing the caliber of executing these programs.
Michael Williams, CB’s receptionist, has been promoted to Academy Business Administrator. He will keep his current schedule at CBA and continue to perform his receptionist duties along with helping to bring a higher level of organization and growth to the Academy.
Adult Virtual Ballet Classes
Through May 30 | $10 per class
CBA is excited to offer Virtual Open classes for all of our Adult Open students. We know this is not a direct replacement for our in-studio classes but hope it gives everyone a chance to stay somewhat up to speed with their Ballet training!
We are not applying previously purchased classes (online drop-in registration or punch cards) to online classes at this time. We plan to honor any in-person classes purchased online during the closure once we return to classes in the studios.
All Class Punch Cards’ expiration dates will be extended at least 2 months. Anyone that has paid for a drop-in class online, that did not occur due to the closure, will be able to apply that registration to a future class in studio.
Please follow the link below to register and pay for your class. After you have paid for your class you will be sent an email from tickets@coloradoballet.org with a receipt, Zoom Video Conferencing Link and password.
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