In 1994, Maria Hirsch and Beth Griffin (currently of Arizona Ballet) founded a privately-owned ballet school called The Ballet Workshop to renew the interest of classical dance in the Chattahoochee Valley area. In 1996, as The Ballet Workshop, Mrs. Hirsch and Mrs. Griffin produced the first full length Nutcracker in the Chattahoochee Valley area in a generation. They repeated this endeavor in 1997
as well as a spring repertory in 1998 that included the second acts of both ballet classics Giselle and Swan Lake. By the winter of 1998 The Ballet Workshop had incorporated into a 501(c) (3) and officially changed its name to The Columbus Ballet. In 2002 The Columbus Ballet partnered with The Columbus State University department of Continuing Education in the creation of the CSU Dance Conservatory, the official school of The Columbus Ballet. This program has grown to reach over 150 students per week providing master classes, school lecture-demonstrations, mini-performances, and professional caliber ballet performances that promote, educate and entertain the residents of the Chattahoochee Valley area. Over the past 15 years, The Columbus Ballet has performed several full length classics including Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, Prokofiev’s Cinderella, Léo Delibes Coppélia, and the annual Christmas classic Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker as well as classic ballet productions such as Paquita, Graduation Ball, Peter and the Wolf, Les Sylphides, and Meyerbeer’s The Ice Skaters. In 2011 The Columbus Ballet was chosen by the internationally renowned composer Robert Bradshaw to create and debut the world première of his new ballet, The Girl in White, for the International Trumpet Symposium. The collaboration was received with much acclaim and helped to solidify The Columbus Ballet’s strong presence as the premiere dance institution in Southwest Georgia. The mission of The Columbus Ballet is to be an advocate for the artistic achievement of classical dance through the joy, spirit, and celebration of dance instruction and performance. The Columbus Ballet strives to provide the most distinctive dance experience to the community through the development of a diverse curriculum for dancers of all ages and a season program that promotes art, education and culture. In 2008 The Columbus Ballet’s strategic plan focused on two areas:
- Providing outstanding dance education and performances to Columbus and the surrounding areas, and
- Increase the understanding and appreciation of dance by ensuring high quality dance performances and the support necessary to make these performances possible. Due to the economic recession that began in 2008 the strategic plan was placed on hold and since that time The Ballet has only raised funds to produce The Nutcracker. Unfortunately this reduced the exposure of the Ballet in the community. However, The Nutcracker is a successful production and has become a holiday tradition in our community. By leveraging the success of The Nutcracker we want to again expand our season to include a full-length spring productions. Our strengths include the quality instruction provided by the CSU Dance Conservatory that is unmatched in our community, the qualifications of our staff, the dedication of our students and the support of the parents and the Board. Our major weakness is the lack of awareness and exposure in the community as a viable arts organization. However, we see many opportunities to remedy this issue with professional and quality productions and partnering with other art organizations in our region.
