Minnesota Ballet, based in Duluth, MN, is the premier classical ballet company and dance education organization in upper Midwest region, providing high-quality performances, pre-professional ballet training, and lively outreach programs.
To give audiences a dynamic array of dance, Minnesota Ballet builds vibrant new versions of classic works including Coppélia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Firebird, and the upcoming premiere Sleepy Hollow.
To bring the world’s masterworks to new audiences, Minnesota Ballet acquires works such as George Balanchine’s Who Cares? and Tarantella, Agnes de Mille’s Three Virgins and a Devil, Antony Tudor’s Continuo and Little Improvisations, Twyla Tharp’s Sinatra Suite, and Salvatore Aiello’s Clowns and Others and The Waiting Room.
To keep dance relevant in the 21st century, Minnesota Ballet commissions established and emerging choreographers to create works in a range of dance styles.
To bring dance to the people, Minnesota Ballet yearly tours its repertoire and full-length ballets, including its popular Nutcracker production, casting children at the tour sites in traditional young dancer roles.
To bring ballet to the community, Minnesota Ballet offers outreach programs, while the annual Student Enrichment Matinée brings children to the ballet—a one-hour performance at Symphony Hall in the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.
To train future professionals and art-lovers, School of the Minnesota Ballet offers fine ballet training and performance opportunities during the school year and in their Summer Intensive, taught by former and current professional ballet dancers. The ABLE Dance class provides adaptive instruction to children with motor, sensory, and cognitive challenges. The Open Class Division offers dance and conditioning classes to those with or without dance experience.
Minnesota Ballet is passionate about inclusively drawing all into the delight and drama of dance.
The Mission of Minnesota Ballet is to inspire appreciation of the art of dance through performing and educating.
Our Vision: As the premier dance company of the Upper Midwest, Minnesota Ballet will engage, enlighten and inspire the community and beyond with the beauty and passion of dance.
In all of its endeavors Minnesota Ballet advances and celebrates diversity, inclusion, and equity, which richly nourish the art of dance.
This activity is made possible in part by a grant provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature from the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Operational support is also provided by the McKnight Foundation and the Wildey Mitchell Family Foundation.