The past two years have seen significant changes in the way that we navigate our lives.
While the pandemic raged and we were confined to our homes, creativity began to take center stage, as we all desperately searched for things to occupy our minds and time.
It was wonderful to see the creative resilience around the world, as we found joy in creating and witnessing impromptu balcony concerts, living room dance recitals, and an explosion of family Tik Tok videos.
While some large arts organizations and well-established companies were forced to close their doors, through a barrage of pivots and “out-of-the-box thinking”, The Wilmington Ballet Academy of the Dance has fortunately been able to weather the storm.
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The tenacious, creative, confident spirit of our founders were instilled in me as a Helene
Antonova Scholarship student, and is the driving force behind my waking up every morning to continue the legacy of The Academy of the Dance.
Since 1956, the school has passionately provided career-focused dance education in the state of Delaware. Our alumni roster includes prolific Broadway director/choreographer Susan Stroman, Mark Morris Dance Group founding member and muse Tina Fehlandt, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Dance Theater of Harlem’s Akua Noni Parker, and a host of artists working in all aspects of the entertainment industry.
We were taught to be well-rounded artists and humans, a foundational well that I have pulled from everyday day of the past two years.
We have been able to create wonderful community partnerships with other local and regional arts organizations, to create bolstered educational and performance opportunities for our students.
Our annual production of “The Nutcracker” at the Playhouse on Rodney Square was a wonderful creative success last year, receiving national and international attention, and stunning audiences with dynamic new technology, celebrating multiculturalism in cast and content.
It has been a great joy to be able to bring incredible artists like historic New York City Ballet Soloist, and friend Georgina Pazcoguin, as well as Dance Theater of Harlem’s Amanda Smith and Anthony Santos to Wilmington for performances, symposiums and masterclasses.
We are currently preparing for an invited return engagement to the Milton Theater on April 3, after a very successful showing of new and classic works in the fall.
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It is our active intention to be an incubator for innovative, thought-provoking choreographers creating new work.
Our popular Beyond the Nutcracker Masterclass Series, and multicultural-based summer Intensives, and intergenerational programming have renewed interests in the organization, and helped to welcome a new client and audience base.
We had a successful donor drive with the Do More 24 Delaware 2022 campaign, and look forward to attracting more annual support from individuals and organizations like the Tuttleman Foundation, and the Nathan M Clark Foundation to continue our mission.
The development of a professional company is currently underway, along
with a phenomenal new full-length ballet written by conductor and composer Joseph Jones.
We are looking forward to ever springing forward as an industry leader in arts education, and engaging performances in the local and surrounding regions.
I am eternally grateful to Madame Helene Antonova, James Jamieson and Victor Wesley for giving us powerfully determined legs and shoulders on which to stand, and the motivated challenge of always seeking to discover our “more”.
More is happening at The Wilmington Ballet Academy of the Dance, and there is more to come …
For more information, visit Wilmingtonballet.org
Benjamin Sterling Cannon, executive and artistic director of Wilmington Ballet Academy of Dance
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