--- title: The Sarasota Ballet School & Ballet Training in Sarasota description: Explore The Sarasota Ballet, its history, School, pre-professional training, faculty, adult classes and role in Sarasota’s cultural life. image: https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/hubfs/sarasota-ballet-school-training-education-sarasota.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/blog/sarasota-ballet-school-ballet-training-sarasota#main-content) ![John Acosta Real Estate Advisor | Sarasota, Manatee & Tampa Bay](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/john-acosta-real-estate-advisor-logo.png?width=2172&height=724&name=john-acosta-real-estate-advisor-logo.png)Homepage - [Home](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com) - [Property Services](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/property-services) - [Insights](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/blog) [Contact Me](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/property-services#contact) - [Home](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com) - [Property Services](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/property-services) - [Insights](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/blog) [Contact Me](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/property-services#contact) ![Editorial illustration representing The Sarasota Ballet School, with an instructor guiding students of different ages at the barre](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/sarasota-ballet-school-training-education-sarasota.jpg?width=1600&height=900&name=sarasota-ballet-school-training-education-sarasota.jpg) Ballet Training in Sarasota Sarasota Ballet School Dance Education # The Sarasota Ballet & Sarasota Ballet School: A Complete Guide ![John Acosta](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Profile%20Pic%20Cropped%20(1).jpg?width=48&height=48&name=Profile%20Pic%20Cropped%20(1).jpg) John Acosta September 30, 2026 Sarasota is frequently introduced through its coastline: Siesta Key’s sand, Gulf sunsets, barrier islands and warm winters. All of that matters. But it is an incomplete description of the community. Sarasota also supports an unusually concentrated performing-arts culture. The Sarasota Opera, Sarasota Orchestra, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, The Ringling and The Sarasota Ballet are not decorative additions to life here. Together, they help explain why Sarasota feels different from many other coastal communities. The Sarasota Ballet is a particularly revealing example. It is not simply a professional company that presents several programs each season. It is an interconnected dance institution: a professional company with a distinctive international reputation; a school where training begins at age three; a pre-professional conservatory; a trainee program; a Studio Company that helps young dancers approach professional life; year-round adult classes; summer programs; performances involving students; and community initiatives that bring dance to people who might otherwise never enter a ballet studio. What holds those parts together is not prestige alone. It is the quieter work of people who choose to pass an art form forward: teaching the same foundational movement until it becomes natural, noticing when a student needs encouragement, preserving choreography that could otherwise disappear, and making room for children and adults to discover something in themselves through dance. Those efforts rarely receive the attention of an opening night, but they are where much of a ballet institution’s heart resides. Understanding the organization therefore requires more than a performance calendar. It requires understanding how the Company developed, how its educational programs fit together, and who is responsible for carrying major ballet traditions into Sarasota’s studios. ## From a presenting organization to a resident professional company The Sarasota Ballet was founded in 1987 by [Jean Weidner Goldstein](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/our-vision-and-mission/) as a presenting organization with the ambition of creating a resident professional ballet company. That goal was achieved in 1990, when Montreal-based choreographer Eddy Toussaint became the first artistic director and the organization launched its first full season as a resident company. Goldstein’s contribution is larger than a founding date. [*Sarasota Magazine* later described her as the “real hero” of The Sarasota Ballet](https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/arts-and-entertainment/2019/02/eight-sarasotans-who-shaped-our-past), recognition that feels fitting when both the professional Company and its most consequential community program trace back to her determination to build something Sarasota did not yet have. What began as her ambitious idea became an institution capable of carrying that vision far beyond one person or one generation. Robert de Warren—formerly Director of Ballet at Teatro alla Scala in Milan and Northern Ballet—became Artistic Director in 1994 and led the Company for 13 years. The decisive change in its modern identity came in 2007, when [Iain Webb](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/people/webb-iain/) was appointed Director. Webb brought experience from the Rambert School, The Royal Ballet School, Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet and The Royal Ballet. As a performer, he danced leading and character roles across works by Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Sir Peter Wright and other major choreographers. After leaving the stage, he worked on productions with Sir Matthew Bourne, helped develop K-Ballet in Japan, and produced or directed international performances involving artists from many of the world’s leading companies. When Webb arrived in Sarasota, he used those relationships and that knowledge of repertoire to change what the Company could present. Instead of being defined principally by works created by its own directors, The Sarasota Ballet increasingly became known for reviving important ballets—some rarely performed in the United States—while also commissioning new work. [Margaret Barbieri](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/people/barbieri-margaret/), Webb’s wife and a former principal dancer with what is now Birmingham Royal Ballet, had already staged works for the Company before becoming Assistant Director in 2012. Her career connects Sarasota directly to significant figures in 20th-century ballet. Barbieri trained at The Royal Ballet School, danced many of the central classical and dramatic roles, and worked closely with choreographers and teachers including Ashton, MacMillan, Dame Ninette de Valois, Antony Tudor and Rudolf Nureyev. She later taught at institutions including The Royal Ballet School and English National Ballet School and developed graduate-level ballet training in London. That experience is not simply impressive biography. Ballet is transmitted through coaching, staging, musical detail and stylistic knowledge. When a work is revived, the people who learned it from its creators can preserve information that notation or video alone cannot fully capture. Webb and Barbieri made that continuity central to Sarasota’s artistic identity. As of the 2026–27 season—Webb’s 20th season as Director—the organization reports that Webb and Barbieri have introduced 197 ballets and divertissements into the repertoire, including 63 world premieres. The list spans Ashton, Balanchine, de Valois, MacMillan, Tudor, Bourne, Christopher Wheeldon, Sir David Bintley, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor and other major choreographers. The Company’s first international residency, at London’s Royal Opera House in 2024 as part of the Ashton Worldwide celebration, provided important outside validation. British critics did not treat Sarasota as a regional curiosity. They recognized the Company’s role in preserving and performing rarely seen Ashton works with stylistic care. [*The Guardian* wrote](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/article/2024/jun/09/sarasota-ballet-review-tribute-frederick-ashton) that lovers of Ashton owed The Sarasota Ballet and Webb “a great debt” for that loving preservation, while describing the program as both a history lesson and a delight. It is difficult to imagine warmer confirmation of what Webb, Barbieri, the dancers and the wider artistic staff have built together: scholarship without dryness, fidelity without stiffness and history made joyfully alive. ## The Sarasota Ballet School is the educational foundation The professional Company may be the organization’s most visible public face, but [The Sarasota Ballet School](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/the-sarasota-ballet-school/) serves local families while the organization’s wider education system attracts serious students from across the United States and connects Sarasota dancers with training and exchanges abroad. The School’s own materials describe its teachers as nurturing and experienced, but the most persuasive praise comes from dancers who have lived inside the program. [Former students interviewed by *Pointe*](https://pointemagazine.com/sarasota-ballet-margaret-barbieri-conservatory/) remembered faculty members as role models who cared about their spirits as well as their technique and treated them as “humans, not robots.” [Former Sarasota principal dancer Victoria Hulland](https://pointemagazine.com/sarasota-ballet-summer-intensive-2/) offered an equally telling description: the staff notice their students and become their biggest cheerleaders. Those accounts give warmth to the program’s statistics. They suggest that being seen as an individual is not incidental to Sarasota’s training philosophy; it is part of the education. Training begins with Primary Levels for children ages three through seven. At this stage, movement, music, imagination and coordination introduce the principles of ballet without treating young children as miniature professionals. Levels 1 through 4 begin at age eight and progressively develop classical technique, strength, discipline, musicality and artistry. Depending on level, training can also include Character, Progressing Ballet Technique, pre-pointe and pointe work. The School teaches the [American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum](https://www.abt.org/training/teacher-training/national-training-curriculum/), a nine-level system that combines age-appropriate, outcome-based ballet instruction with attention to dancer health and child development. That gives the School a defined pedagogical framework while still allowing teachers to bring their own professional experience and artistic traditions into the studio. The important point for families is that the School is not synonymous with the organization’s pre-professional Conservatory. A young child can begin ballet here without entering a career track. Students can develop progressively within the School, while dancers seeking more intensive preparation may later audition for a different program. ## The teachers behind the training A curriculum matters, but a ballet school is ultimately defined by the people teaching it. The Sarasota Ballet’s 2026–27 education leadership includes Education Director Christopher Hird, Assistant Education Director Dierdre Miles Burger and School Principal Alberto Blanco. The [faculty roster](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/education-staff/) also includes Risa Kaplowitz, Addul Manzano, Kim Marsh, Diane Partington and Maria Ferraro as full-time faculty, together with Kaylin Carrera, Rita Duclos, Colin Hathaway, Gaida Paulovska and Amy Wensley as part-time faculty. [Christopher Hird](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/people/hird-christopher/) trained at The Royal Ballet School and toured Europe with a company headlined by Sylvie Guillem. He later earned a dance degree from the University of Roehampton and completed the teacher-training program at Canada’s National Ballet School. Before coming to Sarasota in 2016, he spent 13 years at Boston Ballet School, ultimately serving as Artistic Manager and Head of Adult Programming. His guest-teaching and adjudication experience has included Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Canada’s National Ballet School, Harvard University and international ballet competitions. Under Hird, Sarasota’s education programs expanded to include a more developed Trainee Program, exchanges with Canada’s National Ballet School and The Royal Danish Ballet, growth of the Adult Program, and a clearer bridge between advanced training and the Studio Company. Yet his most revealing language is not about scale. [He has said](https://pointemagazine.com/the-sarasota-ballet-2026/) that the intention is to make every dancer feel known, to celebrate individual progress and to create an environment where nervous students become comfortable enough to explore their own artistry. Former students have credited his thoughtful, practical guidance with helping them prepare for professional life. That combination—high standards joined to the feeling of being genuinely noticed—may be one of the most valuable things a teacher can give. [Dierdre Miles Burger](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/people/miles-burger-dierdre/) brings another substantial combination of performance, school leadership and teacher training. A former Boston Ballet dancer who performed numerous principal roles, she later became Principal of Boston Ballet School, directed Orlando Ballet School for eight years, became an ABT Certified Teacher and served on the ABT National Training Curriculum Board of Examiners. She joined Sarasota as Assistant Education Director in 2019. [Her earlier leadership also extended beyond conventional pre-professional training](https://www.adcibc.com/2023): she helped establish programs for students with Down syndrome, children with physical challenges and young people recovering from cancer. That history reveals something a résumé of principal roles cannot fully show—a belief that the dignity and joy of dance should reach students with very different bodies, circumstances and ambitions. She models leadership not simply as authority, but as service: the patient work of widening the doorway while protecting the excellence of what lies beyond it. [Risa Kaplowitz](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/people/kaplowitz-risa/) brings a similarly rare breadth, but from a different path. A former principal dancer with Dayton Ballet and a former member of Houston Ballet and Ballet Manhattan, she also performed with Pennsylvania Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet and companies across the country. Her influence as an educator extends well beyond one studio: with former American Ballet Theatre principal Susan Jaffe, she [founded Princeton Dance and Theater Studio and the nonprofit now known as Princeton Youth Ballet](https://princetonyouthballet.org/about/), where high-level training was joined to professional-quality performance and community outreach. Kaplowitz has choreographed more than 20 original works, including full-length productions of *The Secret Garden*, *The Snow Queen*, *Cinderella* and *The Nutcracker*. After completing the ABT National Training Curriculum’s teacher training through Level 7 and Partnering, she was selected by the curriculum’s co-authors in 2013 to become an Examiner. At Sarasota, that convergence of stage experience, choreography, institution-building and national-level assessment gives students something unusually complete: a teacher who understands not only how ballet should look, but how young artists—and the environments that sustain them—are built over time. [The clearest tribute comes from former student Jillian Davis](https://dance-teacher.com/what-my-teacher-taught-me-jillian-davis-on-risa-kaplowitz/) of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, who remembered Kaplowitz as warm, honest and unwavering in her belief. Davis credited that faith with rebuilding her confidence during a difficult period and helping her return to the professional path. Her gratitude extended beyond her own career: she wrote that generations of dancers, including those who did not become professionals, continued to carry Kaplowitz’s influence in their lives. [Alberto Blanco](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/people/blanco-alberto/) brings a particularly valuable bridge between performance and pedagogy. Born in Spain, he trained in Gijón, at the Víctor Ullate Ballet School in Madrid and at Boston Ballet School before joining Orlando Ballet II in 2010 and advancing to the main company two years later. His repertory crossed traditions and generations—from Bournonville, Balanchine and Robbins to work by Jessica Lang and other contemporary choreographers—and a formative full scholarship brought him to Jacob’s Pillow in 2014 for intensive work in Bournonville repertory and with Lang. That concentrated exposure beyond his home institution broadened the artistic vocabulary he later carried into performance and teaching. Blanco became an ABT Certified Teacher in 2016 after completing the National Training Curriculum from Pre-Primary through Level 7 and Partnering. When [The Sarasota Ballet School appointed him Principal in 2025](https://www.yourobserver.com/news/2025/aug/05/sarasota-ballet-school-new-principal/), Hird expressed confidence that the School would thrive under Blanco’s thoughtful leadership. Blanco’s own stated aim is equally generous: to nurture a love of dance while preparing students not only for success in the studio, but in life. His importance to the School is therefore not simply administrative: he represents the daily translation of professional experience, rigorous method and humane mentorship into a culture in which young dancers can grow. That philosophy received a concrete validation in 2026: every Sarasota student entered in the School’s first ABT National Training Curriculum examinations passed, and the quality of the students presented led ABT to award Blanco Affiliate Teacher status. The ABT connection became even more significant in 2026. [Kim Marsh](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/education-staff/) joined Sarasota’s full-time faculty after 23 years at Orlando Ballet School, where her responsibilities included leadership of its Preparatory Training Center, student services, housing and certification work. Marsh is an ABT National Training Curriculum Examiner. [*Pointe* has sought her guidance](https://pointemagazine.com/making-the-most-of-corrections-individual-or-group/) on subjects ranging from helping growing dancers navigate rapid physical change to receiving corrections productively. Her belief that every correction can serve every student captures an educator attentive not only to exact technique, but to how young people learn, change and remain confident while doing difficult work. For students, that makes her a powerful kind of role model: an authority who shows that correction is not a verdict on talent, but a tool for growth that thoughtful dancers can learn to welcome and use. With Marsh’s appointment, The Sarasota Ballet announced that it had three ABT National Training Curriculum Examiners on its faculty: Marsh, Miles Burger and Risa Kaplowitz. According to the Ballet’s September 2026 announcement, Sarasota became one of only two schools in the United States with three ABT Examiners on staff; the other is American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in New York. That distinction is specific and meaningful. Examiners do more than complete a teacher-certification course. They are entrusted with assessing students within the ABT curriculum. The same 2026 recognition extended to [Maria Ferraro](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/education-staff/), who also received ABT Affiliate Teacher status after every Sarasota student entered in the School’s first examination cohort passed. Ferraro [earned her master’s degree in Teaching Dance in the Professions: ABT Pedagogy from NYU Steinhardt in 2025](https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/news/faculty-and-alumni-attend-second-world-dance-education-alliance-event-beijing), completing a program that integrates ballet pedagogy, research, arts management and technique while providing ABT certification from Pre-Primary through Level 7 and Partnering. She is also certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. During her graduate studies, Ferraro co-created and performed an original contemporary-ballet work at a World Dance Education Alliance gathering hosted by Beijing Dance Academy. Ferraro described the demanding visit as fulfilling and spoke with wonder about sharing movement with artists from many countries and traditions. For any dance educator, that is a substantial professional foundation: graduate-level study devoted specifically to how dance is taught, comprehensive ABT curriculum preparation, recognition connected to successful student examinations, international artistic exchange and a full-time faculty position within The Sarasota Ballet. Those achievements deserve recognition on their own terms. Together, they show how much purposeful preparation Ferraro brings to the studio. Her example tells students that excellence is not only a distant legacy to admire; it is something a person continues to build through disciplined study, curiosity, humility and daily care for the work. [Addul Manzano](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/people/manzano-addul/) embodies another major ballet lineage. He began training at age 11 in Santiago de Cuba and was soon selected for the National School of Ballet in Havana. Upon graduation, he joined the National Ballet of Cuba under the direction of Alicia Alonso, touring North and South America and performing soloist roles in works including *Swan Lake*, *Don Quixote*, *Giselle*, *Coppélia* and Balanchine’s *Theme and Variations*. [After arriving in the United States](https://www.philadancetheatre.org/pdt-faculty-addul-manzano), Manzano danced as a principal with Columbia City Ballet and performed with Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Washington Ballet, BalletNY, Sarasota Ballet of Florida and North Carolina Dance Theatre, now Charlotte Ballet. His repertory has ranged from Balanchine’s *Agon*, *Apollo*, *The Four Temperaments* and *Rubies* to works by Alonzo King and Dwight Rhoden; he has also taught and choreographed for schools and companies around the country. At Sarasota, Manzano brings students more than a distinguished performance résumé. He carries direct knowledge of the Cuban classical tradition together with broad experience in American neoclassical and contemporary repertory. Just as meaningfully, Sarasota also [lists him among the faculty serving Dance – The Next Generation](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/community-engagement-staff/). Knowledge gathered across renowned companies is therefore not reserved only for dancers already on a professional track; he also helps place it within reach of local young people whose first opportunity may begin in a tuition-free program. That generosity makes his career a living lesson for students: artistic tradition remains most powerful when it is carried forward and placed into new hands. [Diane Partington](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/people/diane-partington-2/) carries perhaps the deepest local continuity of any current faculty member. She danced for six seasons as a principal with The Sarasota Ballet, then established the Diane Partington Studio of Classical Ballet in 2000. For nearly a quarter-century, her school became part of Sarasota’s own dance infrastructure, training local students and presenting an annual *Nutcracker* at the Sarasota Opera House for more than 20 years. [When her studio closed in 2025, The Sarasota Ballet welcomed back the person it publicly called a “beloved dance teacher”](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/press-releases/) and invited her former students to continue with her inside the School. The word *beloved* is earned here by duration and relationship: families entrusted generations of young dancers to her, and former students can now be found teaching, performing and carrying their training into new communities. The significance of her return goes well beyond one appointment. It preserved a teacher-student lineage built in Sarasota over decades and reconnected the present School to an earlier era of the professional Company. [Kaylin Carrera](https://kaylincarrera.com/about) brings an essential contemporary dimension to that faculty. Trained in dance education at SUNY Brockport, she developed a somatic approach through study with modern-dance pioneer Bill Evans, while work with world-renowned choreographer Monica Bill Barnes helped shape her own compositional voice. At Sarasota’s Margaret Barbieri Conservatory and Trainee Program, Carrera bridges rigorous classical training with contemporary practice. Her master classes ask students to develop not only new movement vocabulary, but also musicality, presence, physical intelligence and the confidence to move with genuine intention. That work helps shape versatile artists who can adapt without losing their individuality—a vital preparation for a professional world in which classical and contemporary repertory increasingly meet. Her original choreography has earned First Place and Grand Prix recognition at Youth America Grand Prix, while [the National Ballet Competition praises](https://www.nationalballetcompetition.org/jury-2027) its emotional honesty and refined physicality. Like Manzano, Carrera also teaches through Dance – The Next Generation, using contemporary movement to widen access and help young people discover a creative voice that belongs to them. She offers students an important example of what contemporary training can be at its best: not movement for novelty’s sake, but disciplined exploration that gives young artists the courage to move with a voice unmistakably their own. Sarasota’s other part-time faculty members add four more valuable perspectives. [**Rita Duclos**](https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/arts-and-entertainment/2026/05/ringling-microwip-fosters-new-work-by-local-artists) returned to Sarasota with an international performance life behind her: she danced with The Sarasota Ballet from 2008 to 2013, spent the following decade performing in Germany and has continued developing her own choreographic voice. Her path shows students that an artistic life can evolve, cross borders, absorb new influences and ultimately return home in a new form. That combination of Sarasota roots and substantial international experience gives students a perspective shaped both by the institution in which they are training and by a professional life developed well beyond it. [**Colin Hathaway**](https://www.slickmotionstudios.com/staff/colin-hathaway)brings experience shaped by training at Canada’s National Ballet School and Ballet West, professional performance and a teaching approach centered on technique, dancer safety, confidence and artistry. That breadth of experience gives students access to an instructor who understands both the demands of serious ballet training and the importance of developing dancers with confidence and care. His presence adds another valuable dimension to the School’s faculty, particularly for students learning how disciplined technique, physical awareness and individual artistry can develop together. [**Gaida Paulovska**](https://www.cindecarroll.com/about-gaida) joins extensive international ballet experience to more than 25 years of study and practice in Pilates, Gyrotonic, Gyrokinesis and movement rehabilitation. That unusual breadth allows her to approach dancers not simply as performers executing movement, but as artists whose bodies must be understood, protected and sustained over time. For developing dancers, that perspective can complement technical training with an awareness of longevity, physical intelligence and the demands that a life in dance places on the body. [**Amy Wensley**](https://smtd.umich.edu/learning-how-to-excel-in-nyc/) brings university dance training and continued professional development, including [**ABT National Training Curriculum certification through Levels 4 and 5**](https://www.abt.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/PPL3-Certified-Teacher-list-up-July-2024.pdf). Her continued investment in her own education offers students another useful example: teaching itself requires curiosity, discipline and a willingness to keep learning. Her presence reinforces the idea that an educator’s development does not end when she begins teaching; it continues alongside the development of her students. Part-time should never be read as peripheral. These teachers broaden the knowledge available to students and allow the School to draw upon professional performance, choreography, contemporary practice, conditioning, injury awareness and developing pedagogical study. Their presence is another reminder that a strong school is not built by one impressive biography, but by a community of people willing to place what they know in service of someone else’s growth. Public profiles naturally vary. A senior educator with decades of leadership will leave a longer trail of interviews, reviews and former-student testimony than a teacher whose career is still unfolding. A shorter public biography should never be mistaken for a smaller contribution. Much of a teacher’s most consequential work happens quietly: remembering what unsettles one student, finding the image that finally makes a correction understandable, noticing progress before the dancer can see it and offering belief on the day it is most needed. In that sense, every member of this faculty can be a role model—not because their journeys look alike, but because each demonstrates a different way to build a life around discipline, artistry, generosity and service. Across the roster, the common thread is not one identical résumé. It is the combination of professional stage experience, formal teacher preparation, institutional leadership and familiarity with developing students over time. The faculty’s different traditions do not mean that Sarasota teaches one uniform “ABT style.” They illustrate how ballet knowledge travels through generations of dancers and teachers before being adapted responsibly for the students in front of them. Their real achievement is not that students simply reproduce what these teachers once learned. It is that students are encouraged to become stronger, more expressive and more fully themselves. That depth helps explain why the School should not be understood merely as a set of recreational classes attached to a performing company. The educational operation has its own leadership, standards and progression. ## School, Conservatory, Trainee Program and Studio Company: what is the difference? The names can be confusing to someone encountering the organization for the first time. They represent distinct parts of the training structure. ### The Sarasota Ballet School The School provides foundational and progressive training beginning at age three. It serves children with different levels of experience and ambition. Participation in the School does not mean a student is automatically pursuing a professional career. ### The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory [The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/the-margaret-barbieri-conservatory-26/) is the organization’s audition-based pre-professional program for dancers ages 12 and older. Its stated aim is to develop technical strength and versatility together with classical artistry, musicality and style. The Conservatory’s curriculum includes classical and contemporary technique, pointe, men’s allegro and virtuosity, classical and contemporary partnering, variations and repertoire, Progressing Ballet Technique and choreography. Sarasota also lists an exchange program with Canada’s National Ballet School and wellness resources provided through a partnership with Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, including access to sports medicine, psychology and nutrition support. The Conservatory’s afternoon program allows serious students to train extensively during the week. Its Trainee Program is the Conservatory’s highest level and is designed to prepare dancers for the next step in a professional career or higher education. Trainees receive a fuller daily schedule, substantial performance experience and opportunities to work alongside the Studio Company. The results offer useful evidence without requiring inflated language. At the 2026 Youth America Grand Prix Tampa semifinals, Conservatory students appeared across individual and ensemble placements, while the Conservatory faculty received an Outstanding Teacher Award. The School’s own published graduate list includes dancers who have progressed to second companies and professional organizations as well as students who have continued into universities. No pre-professional program can promise a career, and not every serious student should follow the same route. What Sarasota can document is a functioning pathway, meaningful performance experience and alumni moving into the broader dance world. ### The Sarasota Ballet Studio Company [The Studio Company](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/the-sarasota-ballet-studio-company/) sits within the Education Department and brings emerging dancers closer to professional company life. Members refine technique and artistry while accumulating stage experience. They may rotate into the professional Company’s class and understudy Company roles. Many members of the 2026–27 Studio Company came through the Margaret Barbieri Conservatory’s Trainee Program. Former Studio Company dancers have gone on to The Sarasota Ballet and established professional ballet companies throughout the United States and Europe. That larger ballet world sometimes becomes visible in unexpected ways. While watching the [2026 International Ballet Masterclasses in Prague](https://www.balletmasterclass.com/pages/classes/) on YouTube, I was surprised and delighted to recognize some Sarasota Studio Company dancers training among young artists from around the world. I had not known they would be there. It was a small discovery, but a revealing one: the dancers developing in Sarasota are also entering international rooms, learning beside peers who may become the next generation of ballet professionals. The progression can therefore be understood as: **School → Conservatory → Trainee Program → Studio Company → possible professional career** It is a pathway, not an automatic promotion system. Students enter at different points, advance according to readiness and may ultimately pursue opportunities elsewhere. ## What does connection to a professional company mean for students? Affiliation with a professional company can be little more than a shared name, or it can materially influence training. In Sarasota, the relationship is visible in faculty experience, exposure to professional standards and performance opportunities. The organization’s annual *Nutcracker* productions, for example, bring together members of the Studio Company and students from both the School and Conservatory. Advanced students do not encounter performance only as a year-end recital; the education programs present staged productions and showcases with professional expectations. The production also creates a rare opening for adult students. Sarasota’s 2025 announcement described a cast ranging in age from six to 76, confirming that participation can extend beyond children and pre-professional dancers. For an adult who began ballet later in life—or returned after training in youth—the chance to rehearse and perform in a fully staged *Nutcracker*, with guidance from Senior Faculty member Risa Kaplowitz and the School’s teaching team, can be deeply meaningful, even life-changing. It transforms weekly classwork into a shared artistic achievement and makes possible an experience many adults may never have imagined they could claim for themselves. *Images of Dance* highlights the Studio Company and Conservatory, while School productions give younger students their own performance experience. Conservatory and trainee dancers also participate in community appearances and other collaborations. The professional Company’s repertoire matters here too. Students are training within an institution where dancers, directors and coaches are actively working with choreography by Ashton, Balanchine, MacMillan, Tudor, de Valois, Wheeldon and contemporary creators. That does not mean School students spend every day beside principal dancers. It means the standards, vocabulary and artistic memory of an active professional company are present within the larger organization. ## Summer ballet training in Sarasota The Sarasota Ballet’s summer offerings mirror its year-round progression. The Junior Summer Intensive is designed for dancers ages eight through 12 and combines ballet technique with work that can include pre-pointe or pointe, boys’ training, Character, contemporary or jazz, mime, dance history and conditioning. The main Summer Intensive serves dancers ages 12 through 21. It emphasizes both technique and artistry and can function as an introduction to the organization for dancers interested in future Conservatory, Trainee or Studio Company opportunities. Younger children have separate summer camps, while adult dancers have their own intensive. Dates, audition requirements, tuition and housing arrangements change from year to year, so families should rely on the Ballet’s current program pages rather than an older third-party listing. ## Adult ballet is a real part of the institution The [Adult Program](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/adult-program-2/) is open to dancers ages 16 and older and operates year-round. It includes six class levels, from instruction for complete beginners through advanced ballet and pointe. That range is important. “Adult ballet” can describe anything from a ballet-inspired fitness class to serious continuing dance education. Sarasota’s structure gives first-time students an entry point while allowing experienced adults and returning dancers to take progressively more demanding classes. Drop-in classes and class cards provide flexibility, while workshops and an [Adult Summer Intensive](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/adult-summer-intensive2026/) offer more concentrated study. Ballet joins art and athletic discipline. It demands strength, stamina, coordination and precision, yet those physical qualities are ultimately placed in the service of music, character and expression. Sarasota’s adult program respects both sides of that equation: participants are not merely exercising to ballet music; they are learning the technique and artistic language of ballet. The Adult Summer Intensive goes further than simply adding more weekly classes. Sarasota’s 2026 program combined daily technique with focused study of terminology, port de bras, pirouettes, allegro and, for dancers with experience, pointe work. Those specialized sessions allow adults to examine elements that an ordinary weekly class may not have time to isolate. That breadth distinguishes Sarasota’s offering within adult ballet education: adults are treated as serious students while remaining welcome at different experience levels and with different goals. The practical experience of walking into these classes—the atmosphere, clothing, corrections, age range, the initial nerves many adults experience, how welcoming the environment feels and what adults actually learn—deserves its own firsthand treatment. For purposes of this institutional guide, the essential fact is that adults are not an afterthought. They form a continuing-education program with a defined progression inside the School. ## Dance – The Next Generation and community access An institution should also be understood by whom it reaches beyond its tuition-paying students and ticket buyers. [Jean Weidner Goldstein](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/dance-the-next-generation/) established Dance – The Next Generation in 1991. The tuition-free after-school program serves eligible students in grades three through 12 from Sarasota and Manatee counties. Dance training is combined with academic support, mentoring and enrichment, with the larger objective of supporting the whole child through high-school graduation and beyond. The Ballet reports that DNG serves approximately 150 students each year. Its continuing presence matters because it expands the institution’s educational role beyond the traditional private ballet-school model. Programs like DNG also make the importance of philanthropic support concrete. The Ballet states that charitable giving helps sustain its dance-education and community-engagement work, including DNG. Here, support is not an abstract appeal to “keep the arts alive”: it helps preserve tuition-free training, transportation, academic support, mentoring and performance opportunities that remove barriers between young people and serious arts education. A gift cannot determine a child’s future, but it can make access possible—and access can influence confidence, discipline, relationships, academic persistence and the direction of a young life. The organization’s broader community work also includes educational performances for area schoolchildren and adaptive programs such as movement classes for people with Parkinson’s and Silver Swans programming for adults 55 and older. These initiatives do not all lead toward the stage. They recognize dance as an artistic, educational and human experience available at different ages and levels of ability. ## Where training and performances take place The Sarasota Ballet should not be pictured as one self-contained building where every class, rehearsal and performance occurs. The organization’s public address and primary performance base are at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 North Tamiami Trail. The Sarasota Ballet School operates across multiple locations, including the Patricia A. Golemme Studios at 1400 Boulevard of the Arts in Sarasota’s Rosemary District and the Ballet’s Tallevast studios at 500 Tallevast Road. Major performances may be presented at the FSU Center, Sarasota Opera House, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and other regional venues. For families, this is more than a logistical footnote. The location listed on a general organization page may not be the location of a particular class, audition or rehearsal. Anyone comparing programs—or considering a move partly around a dancer’s schedule—should confirm the exact studio, weekly timetable and performance expectations directly with the School. ## Ballet within Sarasota’s larger cultural life Visit Sarasota County describes the region as Florida’s Cultural Coast and notes 13 stages within a one-mile radius of downtown. The phrase can sound like tourism branding until one examines the institutions behind it. Sarasota sustains professional opera, orchestra, ballet and theater; museums and historic collections; arts education; touring performers; and numerous smaller cultural organizations. These institutions collaborate as well as coexist. The Sarasota Ballet performs with live accompaniment from organizations such as the Sarasota Orchestra, Venice Symphony and Sarasota Music Conservatory, while education programs connect with other local performers and venues. The significance is not that every Sarasota resident attends ballet, nor that culture can be converted into a simple claim about property values. It cannot. The more defensible point is that a community’s character is shaped partly by the quality and range of experiences available within it. For some households, beaches and boating will remain central. For others, the possibility of seeing a professional ballet, enrolling a child in structured classical training, returning to dance as an adult, attending opera, hearing an orchestra or visiting a museum will materially affect daily life. Sarasota offers those experiences with a depth that may surprise people who know the area only as a vacation destination. ## What families considering Sarasota should understand A family relocating with a serious young dancer should begin with the dancer’s needs, not a list of neighborhoods. Important questions include the student’s present level; whether the School or audition-based Conservatory is the appropriate setting; weekly training hours; academic arrangements; performance commitments; summer expectations; the exact studio location; and whether the faculty believes the program is a good fit. Parents should also distinguish between access and outcome. Living near a respected institution does not guarantee admission to its advanced programs or a professional future. What Sarasota offers is the presence of a documented training structure—from early childhood and recreational study through pre-professional preparation and emerging professional experience—inside a city with an active performing-arts ecosystem. Only after the training schedule and program fit are understood does it make sense to compare commute patterns, schools, housing and the rest of family life. ## A fuller picture of Sarasota The Sarasota Ballet’s story begins with Jean Weidner Goldstein’s effort to build a resident company, but it now extends far beyond the professional stage. A three-year-old can encounter music and movement for the first time. A School student can build technique within the ABT National Training Curriculum. A serious young dancer can audition for a Conservatory that combines intensive training, performance and wellness resources. A trainee can work beside the Studio Company; a Studio Company member can enter professional class and understudy roles. An adult can begin ballet from scratch or return after decades away. An underserved student can receive sustained tuition-free dance education through Dance – The Next Generation. Meanwhile, the professional Company preserves choreography that might otherwise disappear, commissions new work and carries Sarasota’s name to stages well beyond Florida. That combination—performance, education, preservation and community access—is what makes The Sarasota Ballet more than an attraction. It is part of the institutional fabric that makes Sarasota more than beaches, weather and real estate. There is also a simpler reason to value it. Every class represents a teacher choosing to invest knowledge, patience and imagination in another person. Every student performance reflects hours of corrections offered, tried again and finally understood. Every restored ballet carries the generosity of artists handing forward something they once received. The Sarasota Ballet’s accomplishments deserve recognition, but so do the people behind them—the directors, faculty, dancers, musicians, accompanists, production teams, administrators, families, volunteers and supporters whose largely unseen work allows beauty to reach the stage and the studio. Taken as a whole, that breadth helps explain The Sarasota Ballet’s distinctive place within Sarasota’s cultural and educational landscape. The conclusion does not rest on the Adult Program—or any single program—alone. It rests on the rare combination of a nationally and internationally acclaimed professional company, the preservation and creation of significant repertoire, structured education from early childhood toward professional life, serious opportunities for adult dancers, and sustained community access through programs such as Dance – The Next Generation. *Program structures, personnel, schedules and eligibility requirements can change. This guide reflects information verified as of September 28, 2026; readers should confirm current details directly with The Sarasota Ballet.* ## Sources & Further Reading - [The Sarasota Ballet — History, Mission and Leadership](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/our-vision-and-mission/) - [Sarasota Magazine — Jean Weidner Goldstein and the Founding of The Sarasota Ballet](https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/arts-and-entertainment/2019/02/eight-sarasotans-who-shaped-our-past) - [The Sarasota Ballet — The Company](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/the-company/) - [The Sarasota Ballet — Iain Webb](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/people/webb-iain/) - [The Sarasota Ballet — Margaret Barbieri](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/people/barbieri-margaret/) - [The Sarasota Ballet School](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/the-sarasota-ballet-school/) - [The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/the-margaret-barbieri-conservatory-26/) - [The Sarasota Ballet Studio Company](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/the-sarasota-ballet-studio-company/) - [International Ballet Masterclasses in Prague — 2026 Classes and Videos](https://www.balletmasterclass.com/pages/classes/) - [The Sarasota Ballet — Education Staff](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/education-staff/) - [Kaylin Carrera — Contemporary Educator and Choreographer](https://kaylincarrera.com/about) - [The Sarasota Ballet — 2026 Summer Intensive Faculty](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/summer-intensive-2026/) - [Pointe — Individual Attention and Community at The Sarasota Ballet Summer Intensive](https://pointemagazine.com/sarasota-ballet-summer-intensive-2/) - [Pointe — The Sarasota Ballet Summer Intensive and Its Student-Centered Approach](https://pointemagazine.com/the-sarasota-ballet-2026/) - [Pointe — Alumni on the Margaret Barbieri Conservatory’s Humanistic Training](https://pointemagazine.com/sarasota-ballet-margaret-barbieri-conservatory/) - [The Sarasota Ballet — 2026 Education and School Appointments](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/press-releases/) - [ADC IBC — Dierdre Miles Burger’s Education and Community Programs](https://www.adcibc.com/2023) - [Princeton Youth Ballet — Risa Kaplowitz Biography](https://princetonyouthballet.org/about/) - [Dance Teacher — Jillian Davis on Risa Kaplowitz’s Lasting Influence](https://dance-teacher.com/what-my-teacher-taught-me-jillian-davis-on-risa-kaplowitz/) - [Alberto Blanco — Biography](https://bertoblanco.com/about-1) - [Your Observer — Alberto Blanco Appointed School Principal](https://www.yourobserver.com/news/2025/aug/05/sarasota-ballet-school-new-principal/) - [Pointe — Kim Marsh on Helping Students Receive Corrections](https://pointemagazine.com/making-the-most-of-corrections-individual-or-group/) - [NYU Steinhardt — Maria Ferraro and the World Dance Education Alliance](https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/news/faculty-and-alumni-attend-second-world-dance-education-alliance-event-beijing) - [Philadelphia Dance Theatre — Addul Manzano Biography](https://www.philadancetheatre.org/pdt-faculty-addul-manzano) - [The Sarasota Ballet — Diane Partington Returns to the Education Faculty](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/press-releases/) - [National Ballet Competition — Kaylin Carrera Biography](https://www.nationalballetcompetition.org/jury-2027) - [Sarasota Magazine — Rita Duclos Returns to Performance and Choreography](https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/arts-and-entertainment/2026/05/ringling-microwip-fosters-new-work-by-local-artists) - [Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe — Rita Duclos Biography](https://www.staatstheater-karlsruhe.de/media/programmheft/bast_pgh_zukunft_choreografie_web.pdf) - [Slick Motion Studios — Colin Hathaway Biography](https://www.slickmotionstudios.com/staff/colin-hathaway) - [Gaida Paulovska — Movement and Performance Biography](https://www.cindecarroll.com/about-gaida) - [University of Michigan — Amy Wensley and Arts Leadership Study](https://smtd.umich.edu/learning-how-to-excel-in-nyc/) - [Amy Wensley — ABT National Training Curriculum Levels 4–5 Certification](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/amy-wensley_levels-45-june-2024-ny-amy-wensley-american-activity-7218984146709221376-HdbK) - [American Ballet Theatre — National Training Curriculum](https://www.abt.org/training/teacher-training/national-training-curriculum/) - [Youth America Grand Prix — 2026 Tampa Results](https://yagp.org/yagp-2026-tampa-fl-winners/) - [Dance – The Next Generation](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/dance-the-next-generation/) - [The Sarasota Ballet — Community Engagement Faculty](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/community-engagement-staff/) - [The Sarasota Ballet — Support Dance Education and Community Engagement](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/support/) - [The Sarasota Ballet Adult Program](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/adult-program-2/) - [The Sarasota Ballet Adult Summer Intensive](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/adult-summer-intensive2026/) - [The Sarasota Ballet — The Nutcracker](https://www.sarasotaballet.org/the-nutcracker/) - [The Guardian — The Sarasota Ballet at the Royal Opera House](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/article/2024/jun/09/sarasota-ballet-review-tribute-frederick-ashton) - [Visit Sarasota County — Florida’s Cultural Coast](https://www.visitsarasota.com/floridas-cultural-coast) [𝓙𝓸𝓱𝓷 𝓐𝓬𝓸𝓼𝓽𝓪 Real Estate Advisor Keller Williams On The Water Sarasota • Manatee • Tampa Bay JohnAcostaRealEstate.com](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/) ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnacostarealestate.com%2Fblog%2Fsarasota-ballet-school-ballet-training-sarasota](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.johnacostarealestate.com%2Fblog%2Fsarasota-ballet-school-ballet-training-sarasota) ## Keep reading ### [![Small-bay industrial warehouses representing the Tampa, Bradenton and Sarasota commercial real estate markets](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/tampa-small-bay-industrial-sarasota-bradenton-2026.png?width=1672&height=941&name=tampa-small-bay-industrial-sarasota-bradenton-2026.png) Tampa Bay Commercial Real Estate Industrial Real Estate Tampa Small-Bay Industrial: What It Means for Sarasota-Bradenton](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/blog/tampa-small-bay-industrial-sarasota-bradenton) ### [![Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Nick%20Bollettieri%20To%20IMG%20Sep%2027%2c%202026%2c%2002_00_11%20PM.png?width=1672&height=941&name=Nick%20Bollettieri%20To%20IMG%20Sep%2027%2c%202026%2c%2002_00_11%20PM.png) Bradenton Real Estate IMG Academy Bradenton IMG Academy Bradenton: From Bollettieri to a Global Sports Campus](https://www.johnacostarealestate.com/blog/img-academy-bradenton-florida) - 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