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Frequently Asked Questions
If your question isn't answered here, please email us at info@cityballetsf.org
Do you offer classes à la carte?
We offer drop-in classes to dancers ages 13 and up (see Adult Ballet page). However, our Year-Round Program is designed to be taken in full. Once enrolled in our Year-Round Program, students are expected to attend all classes in the curriculum, as we see consistency as the only way to make true progress and avoid injury.
Do you offer scholarships?
Yes, we do! Thanks to donations to the City Ballet Foundation, we are able to provide scholarships based on financial need and/or merit. We truly believe that no kid should have to forgo their dream because of financial circumstances and have made it our goal to leave no kid behind if this is the case.
What if I'm an international student?
Come on over! We partner with Woodside International High School to help international students acquire an M-1 visa, allowing them to pursue both academics and dance here in the US. Although we cannot offer dorms, we promise to do our best finding a host family within our community and have not failed to do so as of yet. We have had students from around the globe, from Japan, Brazil, Italy and more.
Can I participate in ballet competitions?
We do not consider ourselves to be a "competition school"; however we do, at the Artistic Director's discretion, enter some students into competitions for one or more of the following reasons: to gain exposure for potential jobs, to further push a student's capabilities while rehearsing/performing, or to provide an extra performance experience. Although these are our main priorities, we have also found ourselves to be extremely successful when it comes to awards as well (see Awards page).
Do you accommodate academic responsibilities?
It is important to us for our students to continue pursuing their academics as well as ballet. That is why we schedule our classes to start after the general time local schools end. Alumni that have decided to forgo a professional career in ballet and further their education after high school have gone onto Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and Princeton, to name a few.
What if I don't have much previous ballet training?
We purposefully keep our class sizes small to ensure that students and the program enhance one another. In some cases, this means having to turn down some students that are too far behind in our curriculum for a good fit. However, we have had some success stories of naturally gifted students starting their ballet training late and going on to become professional dancers. In short, it depends!