Milwaukee Ballet School & Academy Has Something for Every Type of Dancer

The first thing you might notice about Milwaukee Ballet is the people—charmed by Wisconsin, they never want to leave. Director Michael Pink has been there 25 years, and school and academy director Kristin Dimmer is nearing 20. In fact, some dancers and students go back multiple generations. “My mom and my uncle both danced with Milwaukee Ballet,” says alumnus Sage Simons. “That’s why I started here, when I was 8 years old.” 

Nestled in the upper Midwest with a new building along the shore of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee Ballet company and the Milwaukee Ballet School & Academy (MBSA) are recognized across the country for high-level technique, rigorous performance opportunities, and long-running community outreach. “[Milwaukee is] an extremely underrated city to live in,” Simons says. “It has everything you can ask for.”

Professional Training With Local Connections

Advanced students who need elite training don’t have to leave the Midwest to find it. The MBSA is the only accredited school in the Midwest, with its Rolando Yanes Pre-Professional Program (PPP) featuring up to 40 hours a week of classes for eligible high school students or recent high school graduates. The program lasts one to two years and includes daily ballet classes alongside Pilates, flamenco, hip-hop, African, contemporary, musical theater, jazz, character, and more. 

“You’re going to have amazing classical training, but you’re also going to have a really good depth of knowledge in these other styles,” Dimmer says. The result is Milwaukee students can explore everything that interests them and graduate ready to take advantage of the opportunities coming their way.

Company Experience and Faculty Support

Above the PPP is Milwaukee Ballet II (MBII), Milwaukee Ballet’s second company, in which dancers take dedicated classes with school faculty while gaining experience in professional rehearsals and company performances. “To be able to be in MBII and work with the dancers and teachers I had looked up to since I joined the school was very surreal,” Simons says. “It was a full-circle moment—I had made it!” 

Sixty percent of current Milwaukee Ballet dancers joined the company through MBII, but the school also supports students making different career choices. Faculty help facilitate audition videos for universities and other companies, and when Simons left his hometown for Indianapolis Ballet, MBII’s valuable lessons helped him manage the transition. “I knew what to expect from a company environment, and I was able to absorb everything quickly because of my time in Milwaukee,” he says.

Something for Everyone

Across three locations in the Milwaukee metro area, MBSA offers nearly 200 weekly classes and a variety of summer programs. The programming serves baby ballerinas, amateur adults, and everyone in between. 

In addition to hundreds of roles available for the company’s Nutcracker, students perform annually at the company’s Studio Theater. The summer intensive also culminates in a performance. For young students, these early moments onstage often provide inspiration which follows them into adulthood. 

“Last season at Indiana Ballet, I performed the Bluebird from Sleeping Beauty, which was the first variation I learned in Milwaukee,” Simons says. “Tatiana Jouravel-Malinkine taught me that when I was a little boy, so I got to [call her] and talk to her about that.” Jouravel-Malinkine, formerly a principal with Milwaukee Ballet, is the head of training in the Academy and pre-professional divisions.

A Company Built for Its Community

At the heart of Milwaukee Ballet’s mission is unrivaled community outreach—“we’re everywhere,” Dimmer says. MBII dancers facilitate education programs at libraries, senior centers, and the Boys & Girls Clubs. Plus, the school’s Relevé program provides all second-, third-, and fourth-graders at Milwaukee Public Schools with weekly ballet classes.

​MBII dancers also work with children with special needs through the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Simons, for example, mentored a young student with Down syndrome. “She loved being in the studio, and we built a great relationship,” he says. “It was always great seeing her after our performances and building that relationship with the community.”

Pink says this outreach creates a city that loves coming to the theater: “Our fans and our community have become great admirers of [dance], and we always like to appeal to a wide range of audiences.”

Performances for Every Type of Audience

In addition to Pink’s original Nutcracker, the company presents four programs each year, two or three of which are full-length story ballets. This season, these include Pink’s Mirror Mirror, a Snow White spin-off; Pink’s Dorian Gray; and Bruce Wells’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

Pink also stages an international choreography competition, Genesis, every other year. “The winner always comes back and does another work, so there are probably about 60 that we’ve created since I’ve been here,” he says. “We like to maintain that balance between heritage performances and forward-thinking new things to educate our community and bring them along with us.” 

To learn more about Milwaukee Ballet’s high-quality dance and MBSA’s programs, visit here.