For Immediate Release

Contact:Deidre Byrne
926 Ellsworth Drive
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-608-2232
dbyrne@marylandyouthballet.org

Maryland Youth Ballet’s Dream Comes True in
Downtown Silver Spring

New Studios Open, Classes Underway in Arts & Entertainment District

On the heels of their 16th Annual Nutcracker season, students of the Maryland Youth Ballet (MYB) are on their toes in their beautiful, brand-new custom-designed studios in Downtown Silver Spring’s designated Arts & Entertainment District, after spending 31 years in Bethesda’s Woodmont Triangle.

“This is a dream come true for us,” says Michelle Lees, MYB’s Artistic Director. “We are thrilled we have five studios, affording us new opportunities for expanding our dance program to reach out to even more children and adults in the community.” Maryland Youth Ballet currently has 350 children and teens enrolled in a comprehensive school-year program for ages 4 through 19, as well as a summer program for beginners thru pre-professional. Meanwhile, adults attend morning, midday and evening classes ranging from beginner to advanced levels, 7 days per week, year-round.

Since 1971, the mission of Maryland Youth Ballet has been to provide the highest caliber of training and performance opportunities to prepare young dancers for a career in the performing arts as well as to provide classes to dancers of all ages and levels in the community. Although MYB has always been located in Montgomery County, their internationally renowned faculty has attracted pre-professional students from Baltimore, Howard and Prince George Counties in Maryland as well as Fairfax, Loudon and Prince William Counties in Virginia and from Washington, DC.

Considered one of the finest ballet schools in the nation, MYB has produced numerous graduates who continued on to successful professional dance careers, including principals and soloists with American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Joffrey Ballet. Other graduates are routinely accepted into the most competitive universities in the country, including Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Duke, and Juilliard. No matter what direction their lives may take, MYB students develop lifelong values of discipline, hard work and perseverance.

Training programs for children include: Creative Movement for 4 year olds; Music and Motion for physically-disabled youth; Introductory Division for 5-7 year olds; Junior Division for 8-12 year olds; Advanced Division for 12-15 year olds; Pre-Professional Release-Time Division for 15-19 year olds and a Program for Boys and Young Men ages 7-20. Students of the school perform in a Spring Repertory Program each May, a program at Wolf Trap Park for the Performing Arts in August, and in the award-winning Nutcracker each December.

Classes for adults include Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Ballet; Stretch; Modern; and Jazz. Adult classes are open enrollment and walk-ins are welcome. For more information about MYB programs, classes and performances, please visit www.marylandyouthballet.org or call (301)608-2232.

| 926 Ellsworth Drive | Silver Spring, MD 20910 | (301) 608-2232 |

Maryland Youth Ballet is supported in part by grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Montgomery County Executive’s Ball, the Princess Grace Award, and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.

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