ORLAND PARK, IL – Ballet 5:8 has moved its nationally-recognized professional performing company and dance education center from its seven-year home in Frankfort, IL, to a newly remodeled 12,000 square foot building in Orland Park, IL. The new location, just minutes from I-80 and LaGrange Road and a 35-minute drive from downtown Chicago, is a step up from the company’s previous home and includes five state of the art studios and a dedicated cross-training studio, plus added space and amenities for the company’s 13 professional dancers, expanding local student population, and administrative staff. The new and larger studios will allow Ballet 5:8 to continue to increase the size of its professional performing company - which was recently called the “suburbs’ best kept dance secret” by See Chicago Dance Editor Lauren Warnecke - over time. The new building will also foster continued growth for Ballet 5:8’s education programs for all ages which include hundreds of after-school classes, adult dance and fitness classes, monthly workshops for special needs dancers, and a range of intensives and conferences that attract students, choreographers and dance education leaders from across the country during the summer months. A ribbon cutting ceremony at Ballet 5:8’s new location, facilitated by the Orland Park Chamber of Commerce, will be held on Thursday, February 21 from 5-7pm and is open to the public.

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. 

Oct 27, 2018 | By Lauren Warnecke

Every so often, Ballet 5:8 ventures into Chicago, sharing what might be the suburbs’ best kept dance secret. But it won’t be long until Ballet 5:8 is a secret to no one. The seven-year-old, faith-based professional ballet company is a decidedly robust operation serving dance fans and students across the south suburbs of Frankfort, Palos Heights and Beverly, and in Valparaiso, IN.

Ballet 5:8, a Frankfort-based nonprofit arts organization, has been awarded a second grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency in the amount of $12,900 for general operating support. The grant will be partially supporting operations between September 2018 and August 2019. Ballet 5:8 is committed to investing in Illinois communities, artists and residents through high-quality, accessible dance education and performance and is thrilled to have this operating support for the 2018/19 season.

Ballet Five Eight NFP (Ballet 5:8), a Frankfort-based nonprofit arts organization, has been awarded a second grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency in the amount of $12,900, for general operating support.

The grant will be partially supporting operations between September 2018 and August, 2019. Ballet 5:8 is committed to investing in Illinois communities, artists and residents through high-quality, accessible dance education and performance and is thrilled to have this operating support for the 2018/19 season.

FRANKFORT, IL - Ballet Five Eight NFP (Ballet 5:8), a Frankfort, Illinois based nonprofit arts organization, has been awarded a second grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency in the amount of $12,900, for general operating support. The grant will be partially supporting operations between September, 2018 and August, 2019. Ballet 5:8 is committed to investing in Illinois communities, artists and residents through high-quality, accessible dance education and performance and is thrilled to have this operating support for the 2018/19 season.

Returning to Las Cruces for the first time since 2015, Ballet 5:8 is bringing the visually stunning performance of “Scarlet” to New Mexico State University’s Atkinson Recital Hall, 1075 N. Horseshoe St., on Tuesday, March 6. With a combination of original choreography, music, film elements and spoken word, this is truly a one-of-a-kind experience.

The powerful portrayal of a classic American story inhabited the stage at the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin as Ballet 5:8 revisited Scarlet, a fully developed two-act ballet choreographed by Artistic Director Juliana Rubio Slager.

A book from high school English inspired Julianna Rubio Slager to write a full-length ballet.

Slager is the artistic director at Ballet 5:8 in Frankfort. She created and choreographed "Scarlet," a ballet-film hybrid adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel, "The Scarlet Letter."

Ballet 5:8 has been located in the Chicago South Suburbs since its creation in 2012 and has a mission to engage communities in Chicago, the Midwest, and the nation in conversation of life and faith through innovative storytelling and breathtaking dance.

Ballet Five Eight NFP (Ballet 5:8), a nonprofit arts organization located in Frankfort, has been awarded a $8,800 grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency for general operating support. Ballet 5:8 has been located in the Chicago South Suburbs since its creation in 2012 and has a mission to engage communities in Chicago, the Midwest, and the nation in conversation of life and faith through innovative storytelling and breathtaking dance. The IACA grant will be partially supporting Ballet 5:8’s operations between Jan. 1, 2017 and Aug. 21, 2018.

For Amy Kozol Sanderson, ballet is much more than a transcendent art form. It's a spiritual mission.

The 29-year-old Eldridge native is the executive director and co-founder of Ballet 5:8, which will perform in the Quad-Cities for the third time, on Saturday in Moline, after previous stops at Davenport Junior Theatre in 2014 and 2015.