Next Generation Ballet’s New Director Maximizes Success with Versatile Program

As the new artistic director of Tampa’s Next Generation Ballet (NGB), Antonio Douthit-Boyd says he brings a “smorgasbord of all the things”—Vaganova and Balanchine training, a prestigious career with Dance Theatre of Harlem and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and over a decade of American Ballet Theatre–certified teaching experience. 

For NGB students, this means Douthit-Boyd understands the versatility required of today’s dancers. “You want to be employable, and you want to be castable,” he says. “We have to be able to take this hat off and put this hat on.”

Classical and Contemporary Curriculum

When he joined NGB last August, Douthit-Boyd recognized the program was already strong in its classical foundation: Students train for 30 to 35 hours each week in small groups, with two daily technique classes as well as men’s, pointe, partnering, and conditioning. 

Since his arrival, Douthit-Boyd’s main focus has been to expand these opportunities beyond the ballet base. “We’ve done a lot of work getting students into contemporary work, bringing in choreographers they can work with before going off into the professional world,” he says. 

This year, Kirven Douthit-Boyd, Antonio’s partner and the artistic director of Saint Louis Dance Theatre, choreographed a contemporary piece on NGB students called Strings, and it won second place at Youth America Grand Prix’s Tampa competition. And Alexander Jones, who received training from the LINES Ballet BFA Program,  joined NGB as a full-time contemporary teacher, expanding the day-to-day curriculum. 

“I want to make sure these students are going to be able to do everything,” Douthit-Boyd says. “When they get out into the professional field, [they’ll be able to say], ‘Oh, I remember working this way.’ ”

Performance Opportunities

In addition to annual Nutcracker performances, which attract thousands to the Straz Center’s Morsani Hall, NGB’s dancers perform full-length ballets each year. This year, student Sadie Barrett will dance Swanhilda in NGB’s upcoming Coppélia. Previous performances include The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, as well as Balanchine favorites like Who Cares? and Donizetti Variations. 

“I’m incredibly grateful for it,” Barrett says of her upcoming principal role. “When I came here, I was more of a cookie-cutter dancer, but NGB has taken me out of my comfort zone and improved my artistry and my storytelling.” 

And fellow student Jackson Babanats comments, “A lot of places don’t get stage time like us. It’s a really big opportunity.” 

The results speak for themselves. “Learning how to bring that performance quality is instrumental to a young artist,” Douthit-Boyd says, and former NGB students have gone on to study at The Royal Ballet School and the School of American Ballet. Alumni now dance professionally for Boston Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, and New York City Ballet.

Rigorous and Rewarding Summers 

Many students—including Barrett—arrive at NGB through the school’s summer intensive. “It’s one of the best times for young people to learn and grow,” Douthit-Boyd says. 

NGB’s summer-intensive program is presented in partnership with Ballet West Academy, and summer students take classes in ballet, partnering, conditioning, repertoire, jazz, flamenco, Broadway, tap, and contemporary. Douthit-Boyd sources guest teachers for each style, and faculty from Ballet West Academy also travel to Florida for the program. At the end of the summer, students get a taste of a large-scale performance at the Straz Center’s Ferguson Hall, which has a thousand-plus seating capacity. “It is incredible,” Barrett says. “The stages here are wonderful.” 

Each of NGB’s two-, three-, and five-week summer intensives includes six hours of classes a day in addition to wellness seminars and Sunday trips to theme parks, the beach, and other adventures around Florida. The result, Douthit-Boyd emphasizes, is friends for life. “They get to do this rigorous training and have a joyful summer,” he says. “That’s what summer’s all about.” 

Barrett agrees: “When I came here, I just fell in love with it. This program is unlike anything I’ve done.” 

Learn more about Next Generation Ballet’s versatile program and register for the summer intensive here.