Brighton Ballet Theater Inc.

About Brighton Ballet Theater/School of Russian-American Ballet:

Brighton Ballet Theater was founded in 1988 with a simple premise: all children should be given a chance to dance. At that time, South Brooklyn had limited opportunities for young children to be exposed to professional dance instruction and BBT was one of the first community schools to develop a professional dance instruction program that was open to all children who wanted to study dance with professional trained instructors. Since then, over 10,000 have studied at BBT, many of the first students now returning to the school with their own children.

Today, BBT instructs over 500 students annually in all dance forms but is best known for its Vagonova based pedagogy for children ages 3-14 years old and its innovative children’s ballets that entertain families and expose children to the beauty of dance.

Our mission is to:

1) Provide professional dance instruction to children that allows them to grow their imagination, develop healthy bodies, and enhance developmental and behavioral skills; and

2) Foster a common ground through dance by exposing children to folk and ethnic dances from throughout the world; and

3) Expose low-income and working class children and families to the beauty of ballet by providing low cost performances at community theaters and parks throughout New York City; and

4) Create innovative children’s ballets that are especially tailored for young audiences and families and are performed mostly by children.