If you ever have the privilege of listening to Suzanne Pomerantzeff talk about her ballet school and students, you’ll feel her excitement and love of dance as her eyes light up and her smile grows. It’s contagious.
Pomerantzeff, also known as Ms. P, is the co-founder of the Academy of Ballet Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dance school in St. Petersburg. Previously located on 1st Avenue North, the Academy moved this spring to the Pruitt Education Center at the Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA) ArtsXchange campus.
“When WADA invited us to their campus, they asked me what my philosophy of the arts was, and I loved that,” Ms. P said. “Being here is like being in a mini arts school. We’re in a place that’s alive and we’re going to be very active in this location.”
Despite a new location, the Academy of Ballet Arts has been around for 55 years. Founded in 1969 by Lester Jacobsen and Suzanne Pomerantzeff, the Academy is one of the most established and respected ballet schools in the Tampa Bay area and is home to the St. Petersburg Ballet Company. A pre-professional ballet company is different from a typical ballet studio in that students have to audition to be in the ballet company and audition to be in performances, rather than a studio that puts on dance recitals for every class/age group.
More than 100 students from St. Petersburg Ballet Company and the Academy of Ballet Arts have gone on to become professional dancers. They’ve performed with American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Frankfurt Opera Ballet, Moiseyev Dance Company, Cirque du Soleil, Lion King on Broadway, and dozens of other prestigious dance companies.
Although the professional path is a goal for many of the Academy of Ballet Arts’ students, there are also many students who get involved with dance at the school who don’t intend to make careers out of dance. They offer adult ballet classes, they recently created a beginner’s program, they’re starting a musical theater program, and for many years they’ve worked with arts programs at local schools like Perkins Elementary, John Hopkins Middle School, and Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School.
They also just restarted a program for children with Down syndrome and autism, which they had for about a year and a half before COVID hit. “I want to give the kids a chance to explore movement and let them try a little bit of ballet, a little bit of character and theatrics,” Ms. P said. This program was inspired by work that Ms. P did with kids at Gibbs High School’s ESE program.
These various programs and partnerships with schools are just some of the examples of the Academy’s community involvement. They are also involved with American Stage, Eckerd College, Creative Pinellas, City of St. Pete, St. Pete Arts Alliance and its Performing Arts Taskforce, and more.
Students from the academy have performed at recent ArtWalks, which take place the second Saturday of every month and involve more than 45 studios and galleries throughout the city. The Academy’s performances can be seen at the ArtsXchange campus at 515 22nd Street South.
In addition to the Academy’s performances at ArtWalk, you can catch their annual performance of The Nutcracker from December 1-3 at The Palladium. Tickets will be available through The Palladium’s box office and website.
Whether you’re a longtime supporter of the Academy of Ballet Arts or this is the first you’ve heard of the school, their new location and deeper involvement with the St. Petersburg community is something that should excite every art lover. And if the gleam in Ms. P’s eyes when I spoke to her is any indication of the future of the Academy, you’ll definitely want to keep your eye on what’s happening with them!
To learn more about the ArtWalk and see upcoming dates, visit: stpeteartsalliance.org/artwalk
To learn more about the Academy of Ballet Arts, visit: academyofballetarts.org
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