Youth Concerts are complete ballets presented in a theater specifically for school groups. In addition to seeing a beautifully costumed and staged performance, attending schools are also provided with a Pre-Performance Education Guide aligned with the Maine Learning Results. The performance ends with a Q & A session and the opportunity to view the dancers and costumes. Schoolchildren from around the state have enjoyed performances of The Victorian Nutcracker, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Around the World with Flat Stanley, and Peter and the Wolf. Please see our performance listing for upcoming Youth Concerts. For more information or to make reservations, please contact info@portlandballet.org.
Dancers with First Lady Karen Baldacci at the Blaine House
Dancers perform at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
The Lecture-Demonstration is a two part program that PSB students bring into schools and other community organizations. The first section consists of an interactive presentation of the coordination, training, and athleticism one needs to be a dancer. Audience members are invited to the stage to try out some dance exercises, and the audience as a whole has the opportunity to test their coordination. This section is a fun time for the audience to participate with the presenter and dancers. The second section is a fully costumed performance, demonstrating the result of the training explained in the beginning of the program. The achievement of the dancers is made more accessible because the performers are youngsters themselves.
Beginning and Intermediate students perform at community events such the Town of Kennebunk's Mayday festivities, The Coastal Maine Botanical Garden Fairy House Festival, and the Children's Museum. Intermediate and Advanced students perform in our traveling Lecture - Demonstration series, bringing ballet into school systems, senior living communities, and other community arts organizations around the region, reaching several thousand each year.
“I want to thank Portland Ballet for the wonderful program. It was developmentally appropriate for the children in that it was very interactive and included lots of opportunities for movement. The children were very engaged and even practiced ballet on the playground during recess”
Breakwater School
“I just wanted you to know how much everyone enjoyed the performance of Peter and the Wolf . I've never seen my 1st and 2nd graders so attentive at a performance. The teachers all commented on how wonderful it was. The educational materials were also excellent and can be used from year to year even if the ballet is not performed”
Lyman Elementary School
“It is a tremendous personal joy and an educational honor to write this letter of accolade on behalf of PSB's recent performance of Around the World with Flat Stanley - the Case of the Red Shoes. The educational packet mailed to all attending schools explicitly bridged PSB's visual and performing arts goals with State Learning Results, geography, literacy, math, and diversity as it relates to the classroom/world experience. This pre-teaching served to prepare us for the performance, thus gleefully engaging ALL children and adults.”
Mabel I Wilson School
Breakwater School
“I just wanted you to know how much everyone enjoyed the performance of Peter and the Wolf . I've never seen my 1st and 2nd graders so attentive at a performance. The teachers all commented on how wonderful it was. The educational materials were also excellent and can be used from year to year even if the ballet is not performed”
Lyman Elementary School
“It is a tremendous personal joy and an educational honor to write this letter of accolade on behalf of PSB's recent performance of Around the World with Flat Stanley - the Case of the Red Shoes. The educational packet mailed to all attending schools explicitly bridged PSB's visual and performing arts goals with State Learning Results, geography, literacy, math, and diversity as it relates to the classroom/world experience. This pre-teaching served to prepare us for the performance, thus gleefully engaging ALL children and adults.”
Mabel I Wilson School
