History and Future

Classical Ballet Academy and Theatre provides a space for students to reach their potential in everything ballet.  Centered in promoting confidence, grace, and responsibility, classes follow a structured progression through the stages of ballet technique and performance quality that culminates knowledgeable dancers.  Ballet is the main event, but students will also learn how ballet enhances all other styles of dance, be it jazz, contemporary, modern, etc., and they have the opportunity to take piano lessons that illuminate how musicality enhances movement.  Valuing care and love for oneself and promoting the accomplishments of others, this studio offers a supportive community of driven creatives.

It is amazing how life can expand our dreams in unexpected ways.  This is exactly what happened for our director, Kristi Bell, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world.  All of Ms. Kristi’s life, she was eager to get to ballet class, asking her mother every day in pre-school, “is today ballet day, Mommy?”  That initial spark for this beautiful art form developed into the ambition to become a professional ballerina; and so, she made it happen.  Ms. Kristi danced professionally with Ballet Pensacola and Ballet Theatre of Maryland until the global shutdown in 2020.  It was then that she realized, she missed teaching her students and watching them grow into gracious, diligent young people who have the confidence to reach for their dreams.  She decided to return to Baldwin County, where she was first trained, to create her own studio where students could flourish and fully understand the beauty of ballet.  Unlike the dance schools that divide attention between multiple genres, Classical Ballet Academy and Theatre offers students the opportunity to properly develop their ballet technique with multiple ballet classes offered each week.

As a budding ballet school, Classical Ballet Academy and Theatre is spending its first years in a progressive stage.  Dancers will have the special opportunity to perform at community events, such as art and seasonal festivals, while developing the necessary style specifics and teamwork the company will eventually possess when performing on grander stages.  We excitedly anticipate expanding the studio in the future and adding more classes and instructors.  Future productions will include some of the most adored classics, including The Nutcracker, Coppelia, and The Sleeping Beauty, and original works choreographed by director, Kristi Bell.  Students will experience the wonders of performing a complete production on a full stage with an audience and Classical Ballet Academy and Theatre will be known for its impeccable dancers who move with artistic balance.