Week of September 14-18, 2020
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Welcome to ABTKids Daily, American Ballet Theatre’s new home for families and educators to discover digital content for their virtual classrooms. Join us each day to Meet an ABT Dancer, engage with an ABT Teaching Artist, learn fun facts and enjoy ballet-themed activities from the comfort of your own home.
As America’s National Ballet Company®, ABT is dedicated to preserving and extending the great legacy of classical dancing, through exciting performances and educational programming of the highest quality, presented to the widest possible audience.
Join us each Monday morning to bring the joy of classical ballet to your family. A weekly curriculum will be posted for your discovery!
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Explore this week’s materials below or view the archive here.
To Read
To Watch
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This month the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School proudly welcomes back over 300 talented young dancers, with the entire student body participating weekly in online ballet classes.
While we are all eagerly awaiting the opportunity to return to the studios, virtual classes allow young dancers to continue their training at home in a safe environment. For two young life-long ABT JKO School dancers, sisters Eva and Clara, the online classes allow them to continue their training after their recent move from Brooklyn, New York to Birmingham, Alabama.
Meet Eva and Clara to hear about their feelings about the first day of classes and what they are looking forward to this year!
Join one of ABT’s Teaching Artists as they introduce you to one of ABT’s fabulous ballets. Learn a dance, stop and sketch, and don’t forget to have fun!
Up this week: ABT dancer Luigi Crispino!
Every Thursday we pull a photo from our archives and share it with one of our ABT dancers. You never know what stories may come from a single snapshot!
“In January 2004, I took the very first technique class offered by the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company Associate Program. Not many recognize this name but this small class of nine dancers would slowly evolve into what is now the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. This was not your average first day of school. Arriving in the studio for class, with an outfit I probably planned out the night before out of extreme anticipation, I realized I didn’t know anyone in the room and our first teacher was Ethan Stiefel, a Principal Dancer with the Company and someone I greatly looked up to. Of course, I had the usual nervousness and doubts. Am I good enough to be here? Will people like me? But there was also lots of exciting energy circulating around that only a first day to a new program can bring.
Looking back on it, I had nothing to worry about and the ABT Studio Company Associate Program greatly improved the trajectory of my dance career. I could not imagine my life venturing down another path. The program ended up growing up to be so much more than the nine dancers who started it, and it makes me smile to think that I had a part in the very beginning of a school that continues to inspire and offer a high level of dance education… just with a new and improved name.”
Write about a memorable first day (of school, camp, sports team, etc.).
In the Spring of 2020, @ABTSchool launched virtual classes taught by former ABT dancers, ABT JKO School faculty and ABT teaching artists – all certified in the ABT National Training Curriculum.
Recommended for ages 2-4 and 5-8, these classes engage ABT’s youngest students and their families, as well as the global community at large, by exploring musicality, fostering creativity and imagination, and teaching ballet fundamentals.
View the full series on @ABTSchool IGTV or ABT’s YouTube Channel.