Welcome Families, to your summer pre-college schedule!
The Mission: The mission of the Pre-College Ballet program is to educate and train students in the art of classical ballet while inspiring an appreciation for music and movement. An artistic asset of the Bloomington community and Southern Indiana counties for over 25 years, we offer dance education for both avocational and pre-professional students. All levels study with senior professional faculty as well as IU JSoM Ballet majors. We emphasize developmentally correct ballet technique, strength-building body conditioning, a diverse repertory, and artistic expression.
The Program: Our program features outstanding artistic content to bring the best in ballet to each student. Content is specifically tailored to meet the developmental needs of each level. In ballet technique classes, focus is placed on alignment, posture, coordination, and musicality through the traditional structure of barre and center work. In pre-pointe and pointe classes, we look at strengthening the articulation of the foot and ankle safely as dancers explore the new medium of expression the pointe shoe provides. In variations class, dancers explore repertoire that will challenge their artistry in level-appropriate ways as well as enhance their understanding of the beautiful artistry ballet can create. Virtuosity class is designed for the male bodied dancer and challenges jumping and turning skills while refining classical ballet presentation. Contemporary class rounds out our program and allows dancers to fully explore their range of movement while preparing them to dance beyond their classical range of motion.
PLEASE NOTE! There is now an ADULT class on Tuesday evenings for those of you who have always wanted to join-in the ballet fun! This class will challenge all level of age and ability while pushing artistic expression in a fun and welcoming environment.
New Levels: Our Levels are preliminarily based on age. Adjustments will be made in certain cases, in coordination with families, and always monitoring what is best for the dancer’s health and well-being. Please assure your dancer that these are in an effort to establish a schedule that offers the resources needed to train in ballet at the highest level. This SUMMER we will welcome our new Director of Pre College, Glenda Lucena, to the program. She is eager to work with you and meet all of your family's artistic needs for the best ballet future possible. If you have any questions, please reach out to balletpc@indiana.edu.
Dress Code: All dancers and families joining us for our Jacobs Academy Pre-College Program may optionally mask while attending classes in our facilities. Adaptations to masking requirements will be communicated as needed and follow the university’s directives for health and safety. You will notice that we will be differentiating levels in our classes through the dress code and, in coordination with the ballet department of the Jacobs School of Music, we are making significant changes to the ballet attire as the art form moves towards a more inclusive future. Dancers have a choice of wearing either a leotard in the color of their designated level and flesh toned tights or thick black fitted tights and a fitted white t-shirt, shoe color should match tights whenever possible. We recognize the economic implications of this shift in dress code, and we are happy to grant families the time it takes to make these changes. Please reach out to the ballet department at balletpc@indiana.edu for guidance or questions.
For introductory Ballet Classes for children ages 2 to 6 years, please visit
