After Years of Measured Growth, Ballet Palm Beach Is Hitting Its Stride
Like many ballet companies in the U.S., Ballet Palm Beach grew out of its affiliate dance academy. Begun in 2001 by founding artistic and executive director Colleen Smith, the company has its roots in Smith’s dance school, the Esther Center, and its subsequent student troupe, Florida Classical Ballet Theatre. In 2013, the organization rebranded to Ballet Palm Beach and began solidifying its transition into a professional company. Now, it boasts a total of 18 company members and apprentices, four main-stage performance series, and a mixed repertoire featuring in-house creations and works by guest choreographers.
Smith, a native of Palm Beach County, received her dance training at various area danceschools from age 6 to 16. She then attended The Washington School of Ballet under Mary Day before embarking on a brief performance career with BalletMet.
After returning to Palm Beach County, Smith says, the genesis of Ballet Palm Beach started with her bringing in guest artists to perform in Florida Classical Ballet Theatre’s productions. “I quickly realized that it would be more advantageous for the students’ mentoring to have a few full-time professionals instead of infrequent guest artists,” says Smith.
In 2009, Smith hired three full-time dancers. They performed in the troupe’s roughly dozen performances per year and its outreach efforts, and worked with and coached the student dancers.
One of those first professionals was Lily Ojea Loveland, who is now in her 16th season and is the company’s longest-tenured dancer.Loveland, also a Palm Beach County native who trained at Ballet Palm Beach Academy, danced with Alabama Ballet before joining the company.
“I joined the company because it was smaller, and I knew I would get to dance a lot in principal roles and act, which I love to do,” says Loveland. “Ballet Palm Beach has gotten much more established since I joined, and we are reaching many others who didn’t know we existed.”
Expanding Horizons
Madeleine Miller, a 12-year company member who came up through the Ballet Palm Beach Academy, says 2017 marked a real transition year. “We had more talented dancers joining the company and were getting repertory works from outside choreographers that were different and challenging.”
Along with the company’s measured growth, Smith’s vision for it also evolved. Smith says Palm Beach County audiences favor traditional ballet programming. The company’s repertoire consists primarily of classic story ballets, including The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, and The Nutcracker, which Smith has choreographed.
“Our story ballets are not necessarily classical in style,” says Smith. “They are often neoclassical or contemporary and even blend several styles.” Miller describes Smith’s choreographic approach as assured yet collaborative. “She knows what she wants things to look and feel like. She communicates a lot with the dancers and welcomes their feedback. She likes us to feel as if we are molding something together.”
In recent years, Smith has broadened the company’s repertoire, programming ballets by choreographers like George Balanchine, Christopher Huggins, Roger VanFleteren, Gina Patterson, and Dennis Nahat. It’s a direction she is looking to expand on in the coming seasons.
According to Miller, the company has also recently made a big leap in the number of dancers, with 12 contracted artistsand 6 paid apprentices. They are joined by 13 Ballet Palm Beach Academy trainees who supplement the corps de ballet.
Miller appreciates Ballet Palm Beach’s size and atmosphere. “The company is family-like and not overly competitive,” says Miller. “Everyone is kind and wants the best for each other.”
Part of the reason for that dynamic may be Smith’s approach to hiring new dancers. In addition to artistry, technical ability, musicality, and fluidity, Smith is interested in their collaborative spirit and how they fit in with the other company members. She says one of the best ways to get hired is through Ballet Palm Beach Academy’s trainee program.
“Having dancers come up from our Academy into the company makes the most cohesive look,” says Smith. The school follows the Revolutionary Principle of Movement syllabus, which is designed to develop dancers using principles of kinesiology and physics and draws from the heritage of Vaganova, Cecchetti, and Royal Academy of Dance schools.
Outreach also plays a vital role in the Ballet Palm Beach’s mission. In addition to local outreach, the company engages internationally through its Ballet Ambassadors program. Since 2009, the company has performed for audiences in Cuba, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, and Russia.
As for her long-term goals, Smith plans to expand the organization’s three-studio building, further grow the company’s annual operating budget of $1.3 million (up from $650,000 just before the pandemic), and expand the number of contracted dancers to 15, as well as increase their pay and the number of contract weeks.
Smith says it’s an exciting time for the company, especially since an influx of new residents from areas with strong arts programming has bolstered the local arts community and made Ballet Palm Beach “a fixture of cultural excellence attracting new audience members and new supporters.”
Ballet Palm Beach at a Glance
Number of company dancers: 12
Contract length: 32 weeks
Starting salary: $300/week
Performances per year: 20
Website: balletpalmbeach.org
Audition Information
Auditions for Ballet Palm Beach’s 2025–26 season will be announced in the spring on the company’s website. Dancers must be classically trained and willing to adapt to modern, neoclassical, and contemporary choreography. Height requirementsfor women are 5′ 1″ to 5′ 6″ and for men, 5′ 8″ and above. Salaries are based on experience.
Smith’s advice for auditioning dancers? “Be prepared to be taught and show a willingness to take direction in the audition. Have references; we always check them,” says Smith.
