Welcome to Durham School for Ballet & the Performing Arts, Durham’s premier academy for classical ballet, pointe, modern, contemporary, tap, jazz and aerial dance — both silks & lyra. We offer three class divisions: children’s classes, student-level classes, and recreational classes for teens and adults. Our instructors have been individually selected for their outstanding teaching and artistic abilities.

Our aim is to provide a space for the cultivation of creativity through dance. Dance is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun. Our role as Dance Educators is to help children climb their own mountains.

All of our ballet and pointe classes are taught using the American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum. This is an 8-level program that combines high-quality artistic training with the basics of dancer health and child development using a comprehensive set of age-appropriate, outcome-based guidelines to provide the highest quality ballet training to dance students of all ages and skill levels.

• Children’s Division classes introduce children to music and movement through a progressive curriculum that stresses creativity and group interaction
• Student Division classes are taught with recognized methods designed to prepare our students for success in the performing arts
• Recreational Division classes are open to teens and adults of any age who enjoy dance and wish to begin or continue their training in any of our available disciplines

While we are not a “competition” studio, our faculty are available to coach students who wish to compete. We are proud that our DSBPA students have performed with professional companies, been accepted at nationally recognized arts programs and participated in international competitions.