Third Illinois Arts Council Agency Grant Supports Ballet 5:8's Ongoing Investment in Illinois Communities

ORLAND PARK, IL - Ballet Five Eight NFP (Ballet 5:8), a nonprofit arts organization has been awarded a third grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency (IACA): $10,900 for general operating support. The grant will be partially supporting Ballet 5:8 operations between September, 2019 and August, 2020. Ballet 5:8 is committed to investing in Illinois communities, artists and residents through innovative storytelling and breathtaking dance, as well as high-quality, accessible dance education. Ballet 5:8 is looking forward to continuing its work in Illinois in part through this support. 

Heading into its eighth season of performances and dance education, Ballet 5:8 is grateful for the support of IACA, as well as the hundreds of local community members and fans from across Illinois and beyond. Ballet 5:8’s capacity for local arts impact has grown exponentially through its recent move to a larger space in Orland Park, IL. Ballet 5:8’s dance education center is already serving 20% more area children and youth than in the previous year thanks to the increased capacity. Several exciting public events will also be available at the studios this fall and throughout the coming year, serving Illinois residents through professional dance in highly accessible setting in Orland Park. 

On October 12-13, the Ballet 5:8 professional company will be presenting four intimate in-studio showings of Artistic Director Julianna Rubio Slager’s brand new work Butterfly, an original ballet and story of hope inspired by the children is WWII Terezin (more at balet58.org/butterfly). The poignant and powerful work is a reminder that every human - beautiful or plain, desirable or marginalized - is precious and created with purpose. Ballet 5:8 and Slager’s choreography have consistently received high praise from critics, such as “spectacular and mature” from Jeffrey Pierce of the Elgin Review on Scarlet. Tickets to the Oct. 12-13 performances are just $15, thanks to operating support from sources like the IACA. With the Orland Park location and free onsite parking, the performances will be easily accessible for community members from across the Chicago Southwest Suburbs.

On October 12, local youth and aspiring professional dancers ages 10-18 will also have a chance to peek into a day in the life of the professional dancers thanks to Ballet 5:8’s “Backstage Pass” event. Attendees will get to watch the professional dancers during their warm up class and pre-performance routine and will attend a Q&A with the dancers before viewing the 3pm in-studio performance of Butterfly. Later in November, Ballet 5:8 Trainees will be presenting excerpts from Beyond the Nutcracker in the studios in a short one-hour format designed especially for children and families.

Ballet 5:8’s professional company currently consists of 14 adult, professional dancers who have relocated to Illinois from across the U.S. to work with Ballet 5:8. These artists - recently called “serious, talented dancers” by Lauren Warnecke of See Chicago Dance - spend their days maintaining their craft and preparing all-new ballets for performances. Several artists of the company have now worked with Ballet 5:8 for five or more years, including Lead Artists Brette Benedict and Lorianne Barclay. Benedict joined Ballet 5:8 as a Company Artist in 2014 and now works as the company’s Répétiteur and Trainee and Conservatory Programs Director in addition to performing. Barclay, who originally joined in 2013 as an Apprentice, has also steadily climbed through the artistic ranks and was promoted to Lead Artist this spring; in addition to performing, she manages the company’s wardrobe department and both designs and creates costumes for each of the company’s new works.    

Ballet 5:8 performances invite community members from all walks of life to participate in open conversation about life and faith topics, regardless of what viewpoint they hold. This season, Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Rubio Slager will be be creating new works based on a range of topics including the Holocaust, the beauty and contrast of men and women, and literary works by C.S. Lewis. Renowned choreographer Kevin Jenkins will also create a new work for the company this season. Jenkins’ choreography has been called “riveting” by Dance Magazine and is the recipient of multiple Editors Choice awards from both Dance Magazine and Pointe Magazine. Ballet 5:8 professional artists will also perform select roles in Illinois performances by our dance education center. These performances, held at Lincoln-Way West High School in New Lenox, include Beyond the Nutcracker (December 21-22), a holiday tale and local favorite in the Chicago South Suburbs, set to Tchaikovsky’s famous Nutcracker score. 

Ballet 5:8 serves more than 20,000 audience members in Illinois and across the U.S. each season. Thanks to funding from individual donors and sources like the IACA, prices for ticketed performances are kept under $35 for most performances, averaging around $25 - and the company is also able to take part in many free-to-the-public performances. Ballet 5:8 Trainees recently performed in Millenium Park during See Chicago Dance’s Summer Dance Celebration and a Books and Ballerinas event at the Orland Park Public Library; the company also this month gave an outdoor performance at the Daley Plaza Farmers Market downtown Chicago. Performances like these ensure that Ballet 5:8’s work remains accessible to community members from many different socioeconomic backgrounds. Donor funding additionally makes it possible to provide reduced-cost and donated performance tickets to the homeless, families who have children with mental and physical disabilities, inner-city schools, military veterans, and others.

Ballet 5:8’s dance education center, Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts provides affordable, high caliber dance training to students of all ages and levels of ability. Divisions within the School include a nationally-recognized pre-professional training program for aspiring professional dancers, called the Conservatory, where students attend classes 25 hours per week. Other divisions include programs for children as young as two (which includes special classes designed just for boys), youth interested in non-competitive dance as after-school activity, and adult classes. Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts’ teaching staff includes many artists who also perform with the professional company, as well as other seasoned artists, instructors and former professional dancers who bring extensive experience and knowledge to their classrooms. 

Over 325 Illinois children and youth receive dance instruction and professional performing opportunities from our artists each year - and many of these young dancers will become professional artists of tomorrow. In our School, which also attracts students from across the U.S., the wellbeing of each individual dancer is valued just as much as the dancer’s potential in the field. In time, the young artists who participate in these programs will be ready to go out into the state and across the country: whole, healthy, strong and creative artists who can continue Ballet 5:8’s work of bringing the joy and beauty of dance and meaningful discussion into our communities. Thanks to funding from individual donors and sources such as the IACA, Ballet 5:8 keeps tuition rates accessible to families from many socioeconomic backgrounds. In the Pre-Professional and Conservatory programs, Ballet 5:8’s tuition is as little as ⅓ of the amount charged for other comparable programs in the Chicagoland area; financial aid is also available to families in need.

Ballet 5:8 is proud to be an Illinois-based nonprofit and is honored to be the recipient of this Illinois Arts Council Agency grant for general operating support. We are incredibly grateful to the support of the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and to the many individual donors and local community members who support our mission. This support will be making it possible for us to continue investing in the state of Illinois, the Midwest and the nation through Illinois arts and artists this season and for years to come.