User:Ballet Etudes, Arizona

[Ballet Etudes of Arizona] was created by Sharon Seder Meko in 1986. Company members, ages 9 - 18, are selected through open auditions by a panel adjudicators each August, and if selected, the dancers strive to meet the same high artistic standards of a professional company in their dance training, rehearsals, and performances.

Guest teachers have included Leslie Browne (American Ballet Theater and the film Turning Pointe), Pamela Robinson (Ballet West), Dane Lafontsee (Milwaukee Ballet), Lydia Torea, Jeremy Blanton (Joffrey), Francia Russell (Pacific Northwest Ballet), Sherry Zunker (River North Chicago), Christiana Fungarino (Ballet Nacional de Caracas), and Raymond van Mason (Ballet West).

The performance schedule of Ballet Etudes includes The Nutcracker, Peter Pan, Cinderella, and spring repertoires. Additionally, the company has performed with The Phoenix Symphony for their Christmas POPS, Spring POPS, and New Year’s Eve Gala performances, the Phoenix Boys Choir, The Phoenix Girls choir, The Arizona Renaissance Festival, the Symphony of the Southwest (formerly the Mesa Symphony) and the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. In addition to its regular performing schedule, Ballet Etudes strives to bring dance to the Phoenix community through its lecture/demonstration series in Valley schools.