Chelsea Piers and Ballet School of Stamford Form Partnership

August 23, 2017

Partnership Creates Most Comprehensive Dance Facility in Fairfield County

(Stamford, CT – August 23, 2017) – Chelsea Piers Connecticut and the Ballet School of Stamford are pleased to announce that they have created a partnership moving the Ballet School to a new home within Chelsea Piers Connecticut. The result is the most comprehensive dance program in Fairfield County.

Beginning with the fall semester in September, The Ballet School of Stamford at Chelsea Piers will offer leveled classes in ballet, modern and jazz to the already robust youth dance program at Chelsea Piers Connecticut. The dance program will now have more than 40 classes per week with a focus on ballet, while offering excellent modern, jazz, hip-hop, musical theater and ballroom classes for children aged three and older, as well as ballet classes for adults.

Dancers and athletes alike will benefit from access to the quality cross training that this partnership promotes. Competitive gymnasts and figure skaters may also receive training through the Ballet School.

Placement classes for new ballet students ages eight and up will be held on Saturday, August 26th and Thursday, August 31st at 4:30pm at Chelsea Piers Connecticut. Please email dance@chelseapiersct.com to reserve a spot in one of our placement classes. Additional placement classes can be arranged by calling 203.358.8853.

“We are thrilled to expand and bring in such a high-level of expertise to our programming,” commented Greta Wagner, Executive Director, Chelsea Piers Connecticut.  “We share a love of the performing arts and a passion for teaching youth in the Stamford community and beyond.  This is a wonderful addition to our youth and adult programming.”

Marti Etter, Executive Director of the Ballet School of Stamford, said, “This partnership will help our school expand our offering of quality training to a larger community. We are sure that our students will benefit from the state of the art facilities at Chelsea Piers and that this move will better enable us to fulfill our mission to create healthy, well-rounded dancers.”

About Ballet School of Stamford

The Ballet School of Stamford was founded in 1998 as a non-profit organization with a mission to foster the art of ballet. The current student body is comprised of two hundred and fifty students representing the diverse backgrounds of its Fairfield County community. The school has earned a reputation of nurturing young dancers through a disciplined and focused training program that brings out the best of their natural talent. The faculty is a dedicated and knowledgeable group of professionals who are passionate about teaching. They have danced with Frankfurt Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Hispanico and the Metropolitan Opera, and hold BFAs from New York University, New World School of the Arts and University of Hartford’s Hartt School. "Dance for All,” the school’s foundational outreach program, provides training opportunities for all students and has enabled over 20,000 youth to attend the school’s annual Spring production at Stamford’s Palace Theatre.

In the last thirteen years, 100% of graduates, including those that have danced professionally, have gone on to colleges such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Princeton University, Columbia University, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Indiana University and University of Pennsylvania. Alumni have gone on to dance with the Joffrey Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Sacramento Ballet and numerous modern companies, and have been recipients of awards like the Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship for Women Choreographers at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU.

About Chelsea Piers Connecticut

Chelsea Piers provides an unprecedented opportunity for athletes and fitness enthusiasts to train and compete in dozens of sports under one roof. The world-class facilities attract top-level instructors and trainers from around the world, including seasoned and certified youth and adult coaches with Olympic, NCAA and professional backgrounds. Their goal is to help customers and members achieve success in sports and fitness. 

The 500,000 square-foot facility features indoor ice rinks, an Olympic pool and adjacent indoor water park, a gymnastics training center, squash courts, indoor tennis courts, an indoor turf baseball/softball training facility with five batting cages, an Adventure Center featuring a recreational trampoline center, a rock wall and Little Athletes gym, and a Field House with a 100-yard turf field, hardwood basketball/volleyball courts and a 1/5-mile track. Chelsea Piers Connecticut also houses a world-class health & fitness facility and clubhouse called “CP-AC Fitness.” The members-only fitness facility features strength and cardio equipment, a dedicated mind/body area, and more than 100 weekly fitness classes and programs. CP-AC is also home to nationally competitive teams in eight sports.

In addition to sports & fitness programming, Chelsea Piers Connecticut is home to a childcare facility and preschool, THE LOFT, a 4,000 square foot event space, a grab-and-go café, a sports bar, Stamford Hospital’s 18,500 square-foot Orthopedic Spine Institute, CrossFit S-Town, and a BlueStreak Sports athletic training center.

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