New Albany Ballet Company moves to larger building

September 1, 2016

12:00 AM

Photography by Wes Kroninger

In June 1999, New Albany youth were given the opportunity to pursue a new form of exercise, activity and artistic expression.

That’s when the New Albany Ballet Company opened its doors. Owner and Artistic Director Tara Miller says she was surprised with the feedback and immediate acceptance she received after opening the company.

“We were very lucky, we were filling a niche with our programming,” says Miller. “We were in the 300s (in student enrollment) when we first started. We started pretty full from the beginning, and it’s only increased from there.”

The company offers students a variety of classes, not just ballet and not just for young children. From tap and jazz to hip-hop, and from classes starting age 2 to pre-professional classes offered to high school students, the company has catered to a wide audience of aspiring dancers throughout the community. And, as Miller says, the company has only expanded since its opening in 1999.

On Aug. 5, the company moved from its location in the Smith’s Mill Business Park to 5161 Forest Dr. The difference in size is staggering: from the old 9,000-square-foot building, the size more than doubled to a whopping 19,000 square feet. The largest room alone is more than 3,000 square feet.

And not a single square foot of that space will be wasted. The company now sees more than 700 students, which is an extra 200 students from the 2015 season alone, and “I wouldn’t be surprised if we hit over 1,000 by fall,” Miller says.

The old studio only had four classrooms. Trying to fit each of the classes in after school proved to be a major problem, especially considering that the four divisions of pre-professional classes train each day.

“Now we can service it,” says Miller. “I think now you’ll really start to see the level of the students that are really getting out there.”

In addition to continued growth in enrollment, Miller has hired new faculty members and is expanding the season to include a second ballet series in the spring. The building is so large that Miller has even been contacted by people outside the company interested in renting the building out for events.

“We’ll be able to bring in a lot of guest artists to do workshops,” says Miller. “We’ll be able to move more classes around.”

Another major development that comes with the studio is more extensive and involved work with pre-professional students. Although some pre-pro students are involved because of their skill level and passion for ballet, most pre-pro students are interested in continuing their ballet through college, and some even look toward starting professional careers in ballet. The new building will emphasize the quality of the dancers there and shine light on the New Albany community as one with a skilled ballet program.

“One of the things we pride ourselves on is a lot of our pre-professionals are all over the country because they’ve just gotten so good,” says Miller, listing summer programs at which New Albany students are studying. The American Ballet Theatre in New York, Juilliard, the San Francisco Ballet and Chautauqua Institution are just a few that make the list. “When they come home, they won’t be coming home to a small studio; they’ll be coming home to the same level they were in. They grew, and we’re keeping up with them.”

Though the company offered more than just ballet prior to the new building’s opening, the new building offers an opportunity to do even more with those programs.

“We’ve predominantly been a ballet school,” says Miller. “Now we’re going to have the capacity to really broaden those, so we’ll have a lot more emphasis on the other types of dance.”

Among the other classes are hip-hop, notably an all-boys’ hip-hop class, as well as jazz, tap and contemporary. The company also offers beginning teen and beginning adult classes for people who are curious about ballet at a more mature age.

As the company settles into the new building, it will continue to expand. Now it has a building to accommodate that expansion and allow the company to offer more to the New Albany community.

“The school itself has grown way larger than I thought it would be,” says Miller. “I think you’ll see that our programming is really going to expand.”

Amanda DePerro is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.