Founded by Katie
Smythe in 2001, New Ballet Ensemble and School (NBE) in Memphis, Tennessee, is a Community School of the Arts that provides a professional standard of dance training to children regardless of their ability to pay. Katie, who is also their Artistic Director and CEO, tells us their instruction is based in classical ballet, but includes exploration and training in other cultural forms of dance. At their studio and in thriving after-school programs, they work with community partners to create human environments where children can learn and grow their unique talents.
In Katie’s opinion, their dance studio stands out from other dance studios because they welcome both dancers and “could be” dancers from throughout their community and work to create a conversation across cultures through dance. This gives students the ability to marry the values of their communities and their street technique with the formal training in classical ballet and other styles. When they combine ballet with hip hop, Memphis Jookin’, jazz, flamenco and African styles, amazing new dances – and dancers – come to life!
One of Katie’s proudest moments was when they were commissioned by the Kennedy Center and National Symphony Orchestra in 2014 to create a new dance to one of Duke Ellington’s rarely performed works – A Portrait of Harlem. They performed it twice with the orchestra in the big hall at the Kennedy Center. The second night, she decided to take a seat out front to watch, and she suddenly had the ultimate realization: These dancers are world class, and their diversity is as remarkable as their performance. The rave review from the Washington Post was just icing on the cake.
The biggest mistake Katie has seen dancers make is judging and perceiving themselves based on YouTube videos. Another big mistake is not getting out there to summer programs, auditions and master classes. Everyone needs positive reinforcement from people other than their home studio teacher. It is especially needed when most dancers assume that they, dance teachers, are biased in favor of their longtime students. Even Katie assumed that as a young dancer when it came time to believing in her own ability. Robert Joffrey looked straight at her and told her to believe that she could get into American Ballet Theatre and . . . she does not think she ever truly believed.
As dancers, they tend to listen to the negative. Ballet, historically, has been an art form where people in power put down dancers. After constantly being told that you are not good enough, that someone else is better, or that you will only make it so far, it is easy to understand why dancers do not feel empowered. Katie has heard too many stories from dancers, including their own teaching artists, who were told by other teachers that they would “never make it.”
Katie’s goals for this year are to promote students to professional roles and to promote the professional ensemble to roles that guest artists were performing. She is really excited about it!
Early in her career, Katie got the teaching bug and moved to Los Angeles and New York to dance and teach. She was active in programs that toured schools, but they were one-off performances — they came, they danced, and they left. She met many students who were clearly motivated by what they had seen, but there was no follow up and no place for them to study dance.
When Katie moved home to Memphis, she had a purpose . . . to break down the walls that had so long separated the black and white communities using the tool she knew best: DANCE. From the very beginning New Ballet Ensemble and School has been a place where kids come together regardless of cultural barriers or self-perceptions . . . to work hard, to create new work, and to develop mutual respect, regardless of the ability to pay.
Dance is at the center of New Ballet Ensemble’s mission, but it is not their whole mission. They believe that the best way to develop fine, young dancers is to also support them in reaching their potential as human beings. So they have evolved to become a Creative Youth Development organization, too – offering mentoring, homework assistance, SAT/ACT prep and a whole range of other personal development and educational resources that are available to all their students at no charge.
One of their proudest achievements is that, since 2008, every New Ballet student who has worked with them through high school has gone on to college. Every one!
If you would like more information about New Ballet Ensemble, visit their website at http://www.newballet.org, contact them through their website, or call them at 901-726-9225. You can also “Like” them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and watch them on Vimeo and view them on YouTube.
Anyone who has danced at New Ballet Ensemble is invited to comment on their blog.
The biggest mistake . . . dancers make is judging and perceiving themselves based on YouTube videos.
