With just a little movement, anyone can dance.
That’s exactly what Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre is trying to teach young children with its Ballet for Every Body program. Through easy moves and funny stories, the educational program encourages dance for body types and ages.
Along with learning simple ballet and contemporary dance moves, students will hear about body positivity, the art of storytelling through dance and how to be a good audience member. Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s marketing and communications director Christine Perkins says the program aims to break ballet stereotypes and coach children to find their inner dancers.
“Ballet kind of has this stigma about it, that you have to look a certain way and have to be a certain size,” she says. “That’s really not the case. Ballet dance can be lovely on all bodies, sizes and shapes.”
Since its start at the beginning of 2021, Ballet for Every Body has been implemented in two schools: Mayfair Laboratory School in Baton Rouge and Rollins Place Elementary School in Zachary. Because of COVID-19, the schools had limited capacities for assemblies, so Ballet for Every Body became a recurring program throughout the school year. In total, it reached 785 first and second graders in its first year.
“It was just wonderful and gratifying to see them get it and know that they understood the ideas we were trying to get across,” Perkins says. “They even went away laughing and dancing.”
Participants are instructed by professional and student-level dancers. Ballet for Every Body was created with younger students in mind, so each dance is short and simple with humorous narrations to keep children engaged.
Students learn how different body types move in their own ways and discover how to tell stories through their dance moves. But Perkins says the program is about more than ballet. It spans to include other dance genres so children can learn something about dance that they may not have known before.
“You never know what’s going to click,” she says. “Some kids will love ballet and never have an inkling that that was in their future. Some get into the art of dance and realize they love contemporary or another style, so we wanted to open those doors for kids in their minds that this was something that they could love.”
This school year, Perkins says the program will undergo some light redesigning and adjustment with new cast members after the company holds auditions—and will hopefully continue to expand.
“We want as many people as possible to appreciate the arts, because it really enriches the community as a whole,” she says.
“On Oct. 21, we’ll be bringing back our Clock Tower show, which premiered this spring. It’s a beautiful work that’s really relevant now about how we see ourselves amidst the people around us and how they see us, too. Join us after the show for some Champagne and to meet the dancers. People always say there’s not enough to do in this city, and I beg to differ. I can never see all of the amazing things that are happening here, and I’m excited to be a part of that offering!”
“After five long years, The Nutcracker – A Tale from the Bayou returns in all of its holiday glory to our home stage, the River Center Theatre for the Performing Arts, Dec. 17-18. Our dancers can’t wait to take the stage amidst the many magical sets and effects.”
—Christine Perkins, marketing and communications director
This article was originally published in the October 2022 issue of 225 magazine.