And Studio 61 once again,
that the New England Ballet Theater
was founded in January 2020,
right before the pandemic,
but it is now celebrating its third year.
So for more on that,
we are joined by the executive and
Artistic Director and cofounder,
Rachel Gutowski and the Director
of the school, Victoria Manning.
And we also have another visitor
here this morning for support.
Mutual support for the team.
Thank you, ladies, for joining us.
Thank you so much.
So you guys have a lot going on
and some exciting news coming up.
One of your crews are troops.
Rather, they're gonna be performing
at a pretty big theater in New York.
A legendary choreographer
behind this theater.
Yes.
March 12th,
we will be performing at the
Alvin Ailey Theater in New York,
and we will be performing a triple
bill called Directors Choice.
And it will feature 3 new pieces.
Biography by emerging female choreographers.
Awesome. Highlighting the work of women.
Yes. OK, good stuff.
I bet they're all looking forward to it.
We were talking about that in the break.
And I said I bet you guys are excited.
And they were like,
excited is an understatement.
But exciting stuff to look forward to.
Now, people often think about,
you know, dance classes,
and they may think this is something
that's more geared toward little ones,
but that's not the case.
You guys have something for everybody?
Yes. Yeah,
absolutely. We have a school.
We start with ages 3 all the way through 18.
And our goal is for them to be
able to either train to matriculate
into a professional company or
for recreational enjoyment.
Nice. Nice. My mom comes from a
background of dancing. Unfortunately,
I didn't really get that skill, you know?
Rhythm. I can do a little two step.
But me and my mom,
we wouldn't be able to do the same things.
She's she. She'll blow it.
Yeah, she'll **** ** in the water.
Alright. You guys are currently
operating out in Windsor or Avon.
Yes, both.
We have programs operating
out of Avon at the Magna PT facility and
then also in Windsor at Dance Crazy in
studio and we're looking to open our own
space for the first time in Farmington.
Awesome, awesome.
Now what are you hoping to have
that open as soon as possible,
but realistically probably
in upcoming months, great.
So I guess the demand has just been so
high and you guys are getting a lot of.
Eyes on you. So it's time to expand.
Yes, it's time.
What has it been like for you for you
all to see you know just the growth
over the years especially, you know,
surviving through the pandemic,
it's very rewarding.
It is been very stressful though
obviously operating through pandemic
and starting this, this company.
But these ladies who are with
me have been huge and parts
reasons why it's succeeding.
So Fiona is our costume maker.
Every costume that you've seen has
been created by her and she helps with
grant writing and donor relations,
everything development.
And Victoria has been amazing with
starting the school from nothing.
So it's really helped the company grow.
Yeah, so you guys literally
started from square one.
You have everything
together the way it is now.
Awesome, awesome.
Now, are there other
services that you all offer?
So we have basically three
big branches of the company.
The performing company,
which is the professional dancer,
so the ones that are going to New York and
will be performing in Cinderella in April.
And then there's the school.
So any classes that you would be interested
in would come from the school branch.
And then we also have a
community engagement branch.
So we are, we work with other
nonprofits like the boys and
Girls Club Arts for Learning,
Connecticut and local senior
centers to offer programs,
engagement programs in the community.
Nice, nice. Oh, I bet they enjoy that.
It's fun. It's a lot of fun. Awesome.
OK, so before we head out and go
ahead and let our audience know how
they can get in contact with you,
whether you know they want to put
their little ones in the class or,
sorry, not just the little ones.
Yeah, put their child in the class.
Little ones.
Or maybe it's teenagers or they just want
to get involved and help you guys out.
How can they get in contact with you?
The best way is through our website,
annieballettheatre.com,
so that you can register for classes,
buy tickets to our shows.
We're also holding a campaign.
For our third birthday,
trying trees 3000 for
our third birthday. So more information
on that. You can text the number
44321 and text support NBT.
OK, sounds good. Well,
good luck to you guys on that
big performance in New York City.
And the future of the program.
Thank you for joining us. Thank you.