Despite being closed for over eight months during the unprecedented pandemic and after the pandemic times, Brighton Ballet Theater continues to shine and stand out as one of the most prestigious schools and cultural oasis for South Brooklyn by providing scholarships, creating new ballets and producing low-cost family-friendly performances.
Founded in 1987, Brighton Ballet Theater is a not-for-profit (501-(c)3) organization serving Community's immigrant and economically challenged individuals with a simple premise: all children should be allowed to dance.
"I love my Community because it unites children from all backgrounds and religions, and we can all speak one language of dance. I'm surrounded by love and smiling faces, and that is what my life is all about." - said founder and Executive director Irina Roizin at the Neighborhood Achievement Awards in 2005, identifying the rest of the Brighton Ballet staff and students.
BBT programs give our students a sense of purpose in sharing the art of dance and mastery with their Community.
Brighton Ballet Theater is happy to announce returning to the Leon M. Goldstein Performing Arts Center, on a professional stage, with a new full-scale ballet Mavka and the 36th Annual Children's Dance Festival, "The World of Dance."
The original ballet "Mavka," based on a folktale by Lesya Ukrainka, "The Forest Song," celebrates BBT Artistic Director Mr. Kouchnarev's Ukrainian heritage.
The performance supports literacy for children and youths by demonstrating narrative techniques in 3-D, from setting details to plot elements like conflict and resolution, character development, and themes of peace and harmony. The forest setting provides lovely visual dynamics and prompts audiences to connect with the natural world as the ballet tells a story centered on the triumph of love against forces of evil. These themes are reassuring to children and relevant to the current global cultural and political climate. Because understanding and appreciating ballet is independent of having a standard literary language, it is well-suited for dancers and audiences whose primary language is not English. Thus, it can build a community between children and families from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds who may not otherwise have opportunities to connect.
This ballet "Mavka" is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Local Arts Supports (NYSCA) is made possible with public funds from the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered in Kings County by the Brooklyn Arts Council.
Those interested in attending the performance can purchase tickets online at www.bbtballet.org or in person at the office of BBT by appointment.