Grand Rapids Ballet School welcomes students to register for classes beginning September 8, 2026.
Grand Rapids, Michigan – August 18, 2026
Grand Rapids Ballet is Michigan’s home for professional ballet. Celebrating a successful training program for over 50 years in downtown Grand Rapids, the organization is proud to expand access to ballet training with a new campus opening in Ada at 495 Pettis Avenue.
“I am very excited about this opportunity to expand our Grand Rapids Ballet School programming to the eastern Kent County community,” said Attila Mosolygo, School and Junior Company Director. “The Grand Rapids Ballet School faculty looks forward to inspiring and working with the next generation of young dancers, as well as welcoming adult and senior dancers to the campus.”
As part of the organization’s commitment to a long-term strategy under recently named CEO Leah Voigt, Grand Rapids Ballet is excited to expand its area footprint to the eastern edge of Kent County in the heart of Ada. Offering its Young Dancer Program, Adult Ballet Classes, and the successful Moving With Parkinson’s Program, Grand Rapids Ballet School faculty are thrilled to announce a new Senior Movement Class, which focuses on building coordination and balance through low-impact, ballet-inspired movement.
The Ada campus joins the downtown Grand Rapids Meijer-Royce Center for Dance in furthering the organization’s mission to enrich, educate, and inspire through the experience of ballet. Registration for classes at the new location is available now at grballet.com.
An open house will be held on Friday, August 28, from 6-8 pm, with a mini-performance from the Company of the Grand Rapids Ballet at 7 pm.
About Grand Rapids Ballet
Grand Rapids Ballet is Michigan’s home for world-class ballet experiences that enrich, educate, and inspire. Celebrating over 50 years of artistic excellence, the organization is committed to uplifting and engaging the human spirit through the art of dance. Headquartered at the Meijer-Royce Center for Dance in downtown Grand Rapids, the organization serves as a cultural cornerstone of the region, training the next generation of professional dancers and providing diverse movement opportunities for all ages and abilities.
At Grand Rapids Ballet the dancers are back to it! Even though summer doesn’t officially end until September, the migration back to the studio signifies the changing of our season. With the dancers back in our midst and rehearsal music trickling throughout the offices, I feel a renewed energy for what lies ahead. There is a lot of work to be done, including new repertoire to learn, new dancers to teach, and a tour of our beloved Nutcracker to Detroit for the first time. This summer, our subscription numbers have continued to climb even higher, bucking national trends. Now more than ever, in my ninth season of artistic directorship, I feel the responsibility to deliver world-class ballet to our community and state.
We welcome two new company members to our studios, Vinicius Lima and James Andrew Powell-Arellano. Vinicius is Brazilian and comes to us from Salt Lake City’s Ballet West, where he was a soloist dancer and has performed for the past eight seasons. James Andrew most recently was dancing with Milwaukee Ballet II, after having studied at San Francisco Ballet School, and this is his first main company position. I am very excited to have them both here and I know that audiences will welcome their artistry on our stage.
Every year also brings in a new group of apprentices and trainees, those younger dancers on the cusp of their career, who come to us from all over the country to work with our company and in our repertoire. They come to us from numerous institutions and schools, including Pacific Northwest Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, Charlotte Ballet School, Indiana University, Butler University, Cincinnati Ballet School, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School. You will see these dancers perform in Nutcracker and other larger works, and their passion for and dedication to dance is always inspiring.
To kick things off, we are working on the program for our annual performance at Frederik Meijer Gardens, on August 25th. This program will feature, among other ballets, Justin Peck’s and Sufjan Stevens’ In The Countenance of Kings, which received its GRB premiere last April and Revue Magazine called “exquisitely high-octane.” With Peck’s signature athleticism and musicality, and Stevens’ exhilarating score, I tend to agree, and I am excited to see the dancers already pushing themselves further than before.
Also for Meijer Gardens, I am bringing back my world premiere Yearning, with music by Ray LaMontagne, and I am choreographing an additional song for our apprentices and trainees to perform. So even though the ballet has already had its official premiere, this additional song will constitute a new version, “Yearning 2.0” if you will. Perhaps there are even more songs to add in future versions!
Looking just a little further forward, we have our Gala on October 3rd and our company premiere of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Broken Wingslater that month, inspired by the life and art of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. It is the beginning of another year full of excitement, and the dancers are eager to perform again. Thank you to all of our donors and subscribers who are cherished members of our GRB family. We plan to deliver to you another wonderful season of world-class ballet.
As we begin to implement our five-year strategic plan, we want to tell you more about our commitment to build the Grand Rapids Ballet School into Michigan’s premier destination for ballet education. Our strategic pillar is more than just a tagline — it’s a five-year roadmap for how we train the next generation of dancers and deepen our roots in our community.
We’re starting with the fundamentals: analyzing enrollment trends, benchmarking tuition, and listening closely through regular family surveys and other feedback mechanisms, so every program reflects what our students actually need. We’re also expanding what the School offers — growing programs like our Parkinson’s and senior movement classes, launching a Masterclass series, and exploring new School locations in nearby communities. (We’re thrilled to announce the opening of our new Ada school location in September 2026!)
We’re also strengthening the pathway from student to professional. That means structured Trainee Program development, evolution of our Junior Company model, and possibly pursuing accreditation that lets us welcome talented students from around the world.
None of this happens without community. Over the next five years, we’re looking to build an alumni and mentorship network, launch a Parent & Family Council, and create new ways for school students and families to connect with our professional company.
Our goal is simple: every student and family who walks through our doors becomes part of the GRB story for life. And every student and family in our School takes with them the gift of an artform that truly transforms everyone who studies and experiences it!
Last month, we introduced Grand Rapids Ballet’s five-year strategic plan and shared our refreshed mission, vision, and values for the first time. That announcement was really an overview — three strategic pillars, one big direction for the future. Now, we want to focus on the foundation underneath all of it, because a strategic plan is only as strong as the mission, vision, and values it stands on.
A Quick Refresher
As a reminder, here’s where we landed:
Our Mission — To be Michigan’s home for world-class ballet experiences that enrich, educate, and inspire.
Our Vision — To engage and uplift the human spirit through dance.
Our Values — Excellence, Innovation, and Gratitude.
These aren’t new taglines we picked because they sounded good. They’re the product of examining our history and engaging in months of reflection on who we are today, what sets us apart, and the impact we want to have in this community and beyond. And they’re the reason our strategic pillars — training the next generation, delivering artistic excellence, and strengthening our foundation — look the way they do.
Why This Work Matters
It’s fair to ask: why does an arts organization spend time wordsmithing a mission statement instead of just making great ballet? The honest answer is that great ballet doesn’t happen without an organization that knows exactly who it is and why it is making ballet in the first place.
Our mission is our “why.” It’s the reason Grand Rapids Ballet exists, and it’s the filter every major decision passes through. When we’re deciding which productions to stage, which communities to bring dance to, or which partnerships to pursue, the mission tells us whether an opportunity is actually ours to pursue — or whether it’s simply a distraction dressed up as an opportunity.
Our vision is “where” we want to be. It’s the future we’re working toward, described vividly enough that everyone — dancers, school families, staff, board members, donors, audiences — can picture the same destination. A shared vision is what lets dozens of people make independent decisions on any given day and still end up rowing – or dancing – in the same direction.
Our values are the “how.” They govern the way we pursue our mission and vision, especially when it would be easier to cut corners. Excellence, Innovation, and Gratitude aren’t just words on a wall; they’re the standard we hold ourselves to when a decision is hard or a shortcut is tempting.
Together, mission, vision, and values are what turn a strategic plan from a document into a compass. Strategy answers “what are we going to do?” But without a clear mission, vision, and values behind it, strategy has no way to answer the much harder question: “what are we going to say no to?” Every organization — nonprofit or otherwise — that has tried to be excellent at everything has ended up being excellent at nothing. Our mission, vision, and values are what give us the courage and clarity to focus.
This is especially true when we’re planning not just for next season, or the next five years, but for the next fifty years. Trends in the performing arts will shift. Funding landscapes will change. Audiences will evolve. What won’t change, if we’ve done this work well, is why we exist and what we stand for. That stability is what allows us to adapt our tactics confidently without losing our identity.
Looking Ahead
Over the coming year, we’ll be sharing more about each of our three strategic pillars — how we’re building Grand Rapids Ballet School into Michigan’s premier destination for ballet education, how we’re producing world-class work that establishes our company and our organization as a whole as a leading cultural force in our state, and how we’re strengthening the fundraising, governance, and infrastructure that will sustain this mission for generations to come.
But we wanted this refreshed mission, vision, and values to have a moment of their own first, because everything else we do — every pillar, every initiative, every performance — is built on this foundation.
In recent months, we’ve shared previews of our five-year strategic plan through program messages, emails, and other communications. Our commitment to shaping the future of ballet has been a consistent focus throughout these updates.
Now, following review and approval by our Board of Directors, the final plan is ready to launch. This post introduces the plan, and over the coming year we’ll provide additional updates designed to give you a closer look at the goals and initiatives we aim to achieve over the next five years. There is so much to look forward to at Grand Rapids Ballet, and we’re glad to have you on this journey with us!
Introducing Our Mission, Vision, Values, and Strategic Plan
As we created our plan for the future of Grand Rapids Ballet, we began by reflecting on who we are today—what sets us apart from other arts organizations and the positive impact we hope to make in our community and beyond. Our refreshed mission is to be Michigan’s home for world-class ballet experiences that enrich, educate, and inspire. Our vision is to engage and uplift the human spirit through dance, and our values—Excellence, Innovation, and Gratitude—shape who we are as an organization.
To position Grand Rapids Ballet as Michigan’s home for professional ballet, we’ve identified three strategic pillars:
Train the next generation by building GRB’s School into Michigan’s premier destination for ballet education.
Deliver artistic excellence by producing world-class ballet and establishing GRB as Michigan’s leading cultural force.
Strengthen our foundation and sustain our mission by expanding fundraising, board capacity, and infrastructure for the next 50 years.
Caring for and advancing ballet as an art form is not optional for our community—it is essential cultural work. At Grand Rapids Ballet, we are proud to help lead that work for our community and the entire state of Michigan.
Reflecting on the conclusion of our 25/26 season, I am so proud of our company, and the ability of our art form to remain powerful and relevant. I am truly excited about the momentum we have built this year, and we’re harnessing that energy moving into 26/27.
This season our subscriptions hit an all-time high, we sold out all performances of our world premiere of Sherlock (for which we received mention in the Washington Post), we broke ticket sales records for our world premiere of Swan Lake, and we brought New York City Ballet resident choreographer Justin Peck’s work to Grand Rapids for the first time ever, paired with music from Michigander Sufjan Stevens. We performed at Frederik Meijer Gardens, the new Acrisure Amphitheater, the Great Lakes Center for the Arts in Petoskey and the Econ Club’s 50th anniversary gala with keynote speakers Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. (Strikingly, both Presidents spoke about their renewed love for the arts in their retirement). The New York Times reported on Grand Rapids’ status as a “City on the Rise” and they felt it pertinent to mention that Grand Rapids is the home of “Michigan’s only professional ballet company.”
None of these accomplishments happen on their own. Each performance, each ballet, each event requires countless hours of organizing by our staff – including rehearsals, meetings, emails, and not least, fundraising. Thank you to Chris Jabin, our Senior Director of Advancement and Engagement, and our interim CEO Leah Voigt, for leading the way to increase our fundraising efforts in order to sustain our operations into the future.
In our current world dominated by technology, and increasingly AI, this season increased my optimism about the ability for art, and specifically ballet, to break through the digital hold that our devices have on us. We are uniquely poised to provide an experience that offers something more than anyone can get on a screen. Our dancers are full of life, and a performance at GRB, while meticulously rehearsed, is not edited or photoshopped. You cannot go back and watch it again, you must sit up and pay attention. We offer an antidote to a digital life that I think people, and especially young people, are craving.
Grand Rapids Ballet is 100% human and always will be! There are no AI dancers (and I don’t think we’re in danger of that any time soon)! Not that we don’t embrace technology, and use it to stimulate artistic innovation (think: our performances at Meijer Gardens Winter Nights), but we will always celebrate the best of human creativity and ability.
Our 26/27 season upholds that promise of creativity and ability, and I invite everyone to join us for what will certainly be a “Season of Wonder.” From the powerful imagery of Frida Kahlo in Broken Wings to the happy-go-lucky sailors in Fancy Free to the charming storybook characters in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, next season demonstrates our company’s range, and shows off our world-class dancers in challenging and engaging works of art. I hope you will consider renewing your subscription (if you haven’t already) to enjoy the best pricing, guaranteed seats, and flexible ticket options.
Until then, our building is full this summer with aspiring students who visit from all over for our School’s annual 5-week Summer Intensive with renowned guest faculty. We also offer two Adult Summer Intensives, and new summer dancer camps (ages 3-10) in Ada, MI as well as at our downtown location. Research shows that art and movement is beneficial for our happiness and well-being, whether you are experiencing it, or participating!
For all these reasons, the case for ballet is strong. Our organization strives to promote the best of humanity: beauty, joy, and creativity. I hope you agree that these are concepts worth fighting for. As artists, we have the power to change the world for the better!
Thank you for reading, and I wish you a wonderful West Michigan summer!
Sincerely,
James Sofranko
Artistic Director
In the words of the late Steven Hawking, “We are all time-travelers, journeying together into the future, but let us work together to make that future a place we want to visit.”
We’d like to share with you several GRB team updates.
First, we’re excited to share the creation of the Advancement & Engagement Department. This new Department is responsible for GRB’s community-facing and revenue-generating functions. This change integrates four functions that already operate closely together: Development & Fundraising; Marketing & Communications; Box Office & Patron Experience; and Community Engagement & Events.
This new Department will be led by our Senior Director, Chris Jabin. Chris will foster a collaborative, high-performing team focused on building and sustaining the external relationships that enable GRB to thrive — with donors, audiences, school families, community partners, and the public. Chris will also continue to be responsible for the planning and implementation of our fundraising and development program.
Reporting to Chris will be Christopher Klapwijk, Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications and Melissa Anderson, Manager of Box Office and Patron Experience. Also part of the Advancement & Engagement team will be a new position: Manager of Community Engagement & Events. Recruitment for this new position will begin in the coming weeks.
Next, we have two retirements to share with you. While we will deeply miss these incredible colleagues, we are so excited for them and their next life’s adventure!
John Ferraro, Company & Facilities Manager will retire at the end of 2026, after almost 19 years with the Grand Rapids Ballet. John has been GRB’s heart and soul—he supports everyone here in ways that we couldn’t even begin to enumerate. John is undeniably irreplaceable, so plans are being made to transition John’s areas of responsibility to several other team members.
Chris Jabin will also be retiring at the end of 2026, after a stellar career in fundraising and development for nonprofit arts and culture organizations. Chris joined the Grand Rapids Ballet in 2024 and has elevated our fundraising and development efforts in just two years. Over the next several months, Chris will continue to help us plan for our future – while he’s shaping our new Advancement & Engagement team, he will also advise on the skills, attributes and experiences we should consider when choosing his successor.
We are looking forward to celebrating these two incredible individuals as they embark on their next adventures. We will be sure to share more information about retirement celebrations, as those plans take shape.
Next, we’re excited to share a promotion as well as the addition of two familiar faces to our administrative team.
Shanikqua Spears has been promoted to the role of Manager of Operations and Facilities. Shanikqua joined the GRB team in 2025 as Executive Administrator and she has quickly become an integral part of our organization. In her new role, Shanikqua will develop, maintain and improve internal administrative systems, processes, and workflows to support both the company and school. She will also serve as the primary point of contact for all facility-related matters across studio, performance, and administrative spaces.
This summer, Nathan Young – company dancer and GRBS teacher – joins our administrative team as an Advancement & Engagement Associate. Nathan will support a range of donor and patron relations activities and will also help guide our marketing and branding efforts, providing insight on what it means to be a professional dancer at Grand Rapids Ballet.
Last but not least, we are excited to announce that Jimmy Cunningham – also a company dancer and GRBS teacher – will serve as our inaugural Professional Development (PD) Program Coordinator. Earlier this year, GRB received funding from the Pamella and Dan DeVos Foundation to create a professional development program for our dancers. This program aims to provide our dancers with additional experiences and skills they can rely on during the professional dance career and beyond. The program will allow dancers to select internship opportunities at GRB and to participate in a seminar series ranging from nutrition and injury prevention to public speaking. Jimmy will create the infrastructure and lead the implementation of this program, which will support our company dancers today and into the future.
Grand Rapids Ballet School Expands Access to Ballet Training with New Campus in Ada
Grand Rapids Ballet School welcomes students to register for classes beginning September 8, 2026.
Grand Rapids, Michigan – August 18, 2026
Grand Rapids Ballet is Michigan’s home for professional ballet. Celebrating a successful training program for over 50 years in downtown Grand Rapids, the organization is proud to expand access to ballet training with a new campus opening in Ada at 495 Pettis Avenue.
“I am very excited about this opportunity to expand our Grand Rapids Ballet School programming to the eastern Kent County community,” said Attila Mosolygo, School and Junior Company Director. “The Grand Rapids Ballet School faculty looks forward to inspiring and working with the next generation of young dancers, as well as welcoming adult and senior dancers to the campus.”
As part of the organization’s commitment to a long-term strategy under recently named CEO Leah Voigt, Grand Rapids Ballet is excited to expand its area footprint to the eastern edge of Kent County in the heart of Ada. Offering its Young Dancer Program, Adult Ballet Classes, and the successful Moving With Parkinson’s Program, Grand Rapids Ballet School faculty are thrilled to announce a new Senior Movement Class, which focuses on building coordination and balance through low-impact, ballet-inspired movement.
The Ada campus joins the downtown Grand Rapids Meijer-Royce Center for Dance in furthering the organization’s mission to enrich, educate, and inspire through the experience of ballet. Registration for classes at the new location is available now at grballet.com.
An open house will be held on Friday, August 28, from 6-8 pm, with a mini-performance from the Company of the Grand Rapids Ballet at 7 pm.
About Grand Rapids Ballet
Grand Rapids Ballet is Michigan’s home for world-class ballet experiences that enrich, educate, and inspire. Celebrating over 50 years of artistic excellence, the organization is committed to uplifting and engaging the human spirit through the art of dance. Headquartered at the Meijer-Royce Center for Dance in downtown Grand Rapids, the organization serves as a cultural cornerstone of the region, training the next generation of professional dancers and providing diverse movement opportunities for all ages and abilities.
Dancer Spotlight: Talia Lebowitz
Back to the Studio
By James Sofranko, Artistic Director
At Grand Rapids Ballet the dancers are back to it! Even though summer doesn’t officially end until September, the migration back to the studio signifies the changing of our season. With the dancers back in our midst and rehearsal music trickling throughout the offices, I feel a renewed energy for what lies ahead. There is a lot of work to be done, including new repertoire to learn, new dancers to teach, and a tour of our beloved Nutcracker to Detroit for the first time. This summer, our subscription numbers have continued to climb even higher, bucking national trends. Now more than ever, in my ninth season of artistic directorship, I feel the responsibility to deliver world-class ballet to our community and state.
We welcome two new company members to our studios, Vinicius Lima and James Andrew Powell-Arellano. Vinicius is Brazilian and comes to us from Salt Lake City’s Ballet West, where he was a soloist dancer and has performed for the past eight seasons. James Andrew most recently was dancing with Milwaukee Ballet II, after having studied at San Francisco Ballet School, and this is his first main company position. I am very excited to have them both here and I know that audiences will welcome their artistry on our stage.
Every year also brings in a new group of apprentices and trainees, those younger dancers on the cusp of their career, who come to us from all over the country to work with our company and in our repertoire. They come to us from numerous institutions and schools, including Pacific Northwest Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, Charlotte Ballet School, Indiana University, Butler University, Cincinnati Ballet School, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School. You will see these dancers perform in Nutcracker and other larger works, and their passion for and dedication to dance is always inspiring.
To kick things off, we are working on the program for our annual performance at Frederik Meijer Gardens, on August 25th. This program will feature, among other ballets, Justin Peck’s and Sufjan Stevens’ In The Countenance of Kings, which received its GRB premiere last April and Revue Magazine called “exquisitely high-octane.” With Peck’s signature athleticism and musicality, and Stevens’ exhilarating score, I tend to agree, and I am excited to see the dancers already pushing themselves further than before.
Also for Meijer Gardens, I am bringing back my world premiere Yearning, with music by Ray LaMontagne, and I am choreographing an additional song for our apprentices and trainees to perform. So even though the ballet has already had its official premiere, this additional song will constitute a new version, “Yearning 2.0” if you will. Perhaps there are even more songs to add in future versions!
Looking just a little further forward, we have our Gala on October 3rd and our company premiere of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Broken Wings later that month, inspired by the life and art of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. It is the beginning of another year full of excitement, and the dancers are eager to perform again. Thank you to all of our donors and subscribers who are cherished members of our GRB family. We plan to deliver to you another wonderful season of world-class ballet.
Sincerely,
James Sofranko
Artistic Director
Building Michigan’s Premier Destination for Ballet Education
As we begin to implement our five-year strategic plan, we want to tell you more about our commitment to build the Grand Rapids Ballet School into Michigan’s premier destination for ballet education. Our strategic pillar is more than just a tagline — it’s a five-year roadmap for how we train the next generation of dancers and deepen our roots in our community.
We’re starting with the fundamentals: analyzing enrollment trends, benchmarking tuition, and listening closely through regular family surveys and other feedback mechanisms, so every program reflects what our students actually need. We’re also expanding what the School offers — growing programs like our Parkinson’s and senior movement classes, launching a Masterclass series, and exploring new School locations in nearby communities. (We’re thrilled to announce the opening of our new Ada school location in September 2026!)
We’re also strengthening the pathway from student to professional. That means structured Trainee Program development, evolution of our Junior Company model, and possibly pursuing accreditation that lets us welcome talented students from around the world.
None of this happens without community. Over the next five years, we’re looking to build an alumni and mentorship network, launch a Parent & Family Council, and create new ways for school students and families to connect with our professional company.
Our goal is simple: every student and family who walks through our doors becomes part of the GRB story for life. And every student and family in our School takes with them the gift of an artform that truly transforms everyone who studies and experiences it!
Why Mission, Vision, and Values Matter: A Closer Look at Our Foundation
Last month, we introduced Grand Rapids Ballet’s five-year strategic plan and shared our refreshed mission, vision, and values for the first time. That announcement was really an overview — three strategic pillars, one big direction for the future. Now, we want to focus on the foundation underneath all of it, because a strategic plan is only as strong as the mission, vision, and values it stands on.
A Quick Refresher
As a reminder, here’s where we landed:
Our Mission — To be Michigan’s home for world-class ballet experiences that enrich, educate, and inspire.
Our Vision — To engage and uplift the human spirit through dance.
Our Values — Excellence, Innovation, and Gratitude.
These aren’t new taglines we picked because they sounded good. They’re the product of examining our history and engaging in months of reflection on who we are today, what sets us apart, and the impact we want to have in this community and beyond. And they’re the reason our strategic pillars — training the next generation, delivering artistic excellence, and strengthening our foundation — look the way they do.
Why This Work Matters
It’s fair to ask: why does an arts organization spend time wordsmithing a mission statement instead of just making great ballet? The honest answer is that great ballet doesn’t happen without an organization that knows exactly who it is and why it is making ballet in the first place.
Our mission is our “why.” It’s the reason Grand Rapids Ballet exists, and it’s the filter every major decision passes through. When we’re deciding which productions to stage, which communities to bring dance to, or which partnerships to pursue, the mission tells us whether an opportunity is actually ours to pursue — or whether it’s simply a distraction dressed up as an opportunity.
Our vision is “where” we want to be. It’s the future we’re working toward, described vividly enough that everyone — dancers, school families, staff, board members, donors, audiences — can picture the same destination. A shared vision is what lets dozens of people make independent decisions on any given day and still end up rowing – or dancing – in the same direction.
Our values are the “how.” They govern the way we pursue our mission and vision, especially when it would be easier to cut corners. Excellence, Innovation, and Gratitude aren’t just words on a wall; they’re the standard we hold ourselves to when a decision is hard or a shortcut is tempting.
Together, mission, vision, and values are what turn a strategic plan from a document into a compass. Strategy answers “what are we going to do?” But without a clear mission, vision, and values behind it, strategy has no way to answer the much harder question: “what are we going to say no to?” Every organization — nonprofit or otherwise — that has tried to be excellent at everything has ended up being excellent at nothing. Our mission, vision, and values are what give us the courage and clarity to focus.
This is especially true when we’re planning not just for next season, or the next five years, but for the next fifty years. Trends in the performing arts will shift. Funding landscapes will change. Audiences will evolve. What won’t change, if we’ve done this work well, is why we exist and what we stand for. That stability is what allows us to adapt our tactics confidently without losing our identity.
Looking Ahead
Over the coming year, we’ll be sharing more about each of our three strategic pillars — how we’re building Grand Rapids Ballet School into Michigan’s premier destination for ballet education, how we’re producing world-class work that establishes our company and our organization as a whole as a leading cultural force in our state, and how we’re strengthening the fundraising, governance, and infrastructure that will sustain this mission for generations to come.
But we wanted this refreshed mission, vision, and values to have a moment of their own first, because everything else we do — every pillar, every initiative, every performance — is built on this foundation.
A Bold New Vision for Grand Rapids Ballet
The Case for Ballet
By James Sofranko, Artistic Director
Reflecting on the conclusion of our 25/26 season, I am so proud of our company, and the ability of our art form to remain powerful and relevant. I am truly excited about the momentum we have built this year, and we’re harnessing that energy moving into 26/27.
This season our subscriptions hit an all-time high, we sold out all performances of our world premiere of Sherlock (for which we received mention in the Washington Post), we broke ticket sales records for our world premiere of Swan Lake, and we brought New York City Ballet resident choreographer Justin Peck’s work to Grand Rapids for the first time ever, paired with music from Michigander Sufjan Stevens. We performed at Frederik Meijer Gardens, the new Acrisure Amphitheater, the Great Lakes Center for the Arts in Petoskey and the Econ Club’s 50th anniversary gala with keynote speakers Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. (Strikingly, both Presidents spoke about their renewed love for the arts in their retirement). The New York Times reported on Grand Rapids’ status as a “City on the Rise” and they felt it pertinent to mention that Grand Rapids is the home of “Michigan’s only professional ballet company.”
None of these accomplishments happen on their own. Each performance, each ballet, each event requires countless hours of organizing by our staff – including rehearsals, meetings, emails, and not least, fundraising. Thank you to Chris Jabin, our Senior Director of Advancement and Engagement, and our interim CEO Leah Voigt, for leading the way to increase our fundraising efforts in order to sustain our operations into the future.
In our current world dominated by technology, and increasingly AI, this season increased my optimism about the ability for art, and specifically ballet, to break through the digital hold that our devices have on us. We are uniquely poised to provide an experience that offers something more than anyone can get on a screen. Our dancers are full of life, and a performance at GRB, while meticulously rehearsed, is not edited or photoshopped. You cannot go back and watch it again, you must sit up and pay attention. We offer an antidote to a digital life that I think people, and especially young people, are craving.
Grand Rapids Ballet is 100% human and always will be! There are no AI dancers (and I don’t think we’re in danger of that any time soon)! Not that we don’t embrace technology, and use it to stimulate artistic innovation (think: our performances at Meijer Gardens Winter Nights), but we will always celebrate the best of human creativity and ability.
Our 26/27 season upholds that promise of creativity and ability, and I invite everyone to join us for what will certainly be a “Season of Wonder.” From the powerful imagery of Frida Kahlo in Broken Wings to the happy-go-lucky sailors in Fancy Free to the charming storybook characters in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, next season demonstrates our company’s range, and shows off our world-class dancers in challenging and engaging works of art. I hope you will consider renewing your subscription (if you haven’t already) to enjoy the best pricing, guaranteed seats, and flexible ticket options.
Until then, our building is full this summer with aspiring students who visit from all over for our School’s annual 5-week Summer Intensive with renowned guest faculty. We also offer two Adult Summer Intensives, and new summer dancer camps (ages 3-10) in Ada, MI as well as at our downtown location. Research shows that art and movement is beneficial for our happiness and well-being, whether you are experiencing it, or participating!
For all these reasons, the case for ballet is strong. Our organization strives to promote the best of humanity: beauty, joy, and creativity. I hope you agree that these are concepts worth fighting for. As artists, we have the power to change the world for the better!
Thank you for reading, and I wish you a wonderful West Michigan summer!
Sincerely,
James Sofranko
Artistic Director
In the words of the late Steven Hawking, “We are all time-travelers, journeying together into the future, but let us work together to make that future a place we want to visit.”
Dancer Spotlight: Emily Reed
Building Forward
By Leah Voigt, Interim CEO
We’d like to share with you several GRB team updates.
First, we’re excited to share the creation of the Advancement & Engagement Department. This new Department is responsible for GRB’s community-facing and revenue-generating functions. This change integrates four functions that already operate closely together: Development & Fundraising; Marketing & Communications; Box Office & Patron Experience; and Community Engagement & Events.
This new Department will be led by our Senior Director, Chris Jabin. Chris will foster a collaborative, high-performing team focused on building and sustaining the external relationships that enable GRB to thrive — with donors, audiences, school families, community partners, and the public. Chris will also continue to be responsible for the planning and implementation of our fundraising and development program.
Reporting to Chris will be Christopher Klapwijk, Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications and Melissa Anderson, Manager of Box Office and Patron Experience. Also part of the Advancement & Engagement team will be a new position: Manager of Community Engagement & Events. Recruitment for this new position will begin in the coming weeks.
Next, we have two retirements to share with you. While we will deeply miss these incredible colleagues, we are so excited for them and their next life’s adventure!
John Ferraro, Company & Facilities Manager will retire at the end of 2026, after almost 19 years with the Grand Rapids Ballet. John has been GRB’s heart and soul—he supports everyone here in ways that we couldn’t even begin to enumerate. John is undeniably irreplaceable, so plans are being made to transition John’s areas of responsibility to several other team members.
Chris Jabin will also be retiring at the end of 2026, after a stellar career in fundraising and development for nonprofit arts and culture organizations. Chris joined the Grand Rapids Ballet in 2024 and has elevated our fundraising and development efforts in just two years. Over the next several months, Chris will continue to help us plan for our future – while he’s shaping our new Advancement & Engagement team, he will also advise on the skills, attributes and experiences we should consider when choosing his successor.
We are looking forward to celebrating these two incredible individuals as they embark on their next adventures. We will be sure to share more information about retirement celebrations, as those plans take shape.
Next, we’re excited to share a promotion as well as the addition of two familiar faces to our administrative team.
Shanikqua Spears has been promoted to the role of Manager of Operations and Facilities. Shanikqua joined the GRB team in 2025 as Executive Administrator and she has quickly become an integral part of our organization. In her new role, Shanikqua will develop, maintain and improve internal administrative systems, processes, and workflows to support both the company and school. She will also serve as the primary point of contact for all facility-related matters across studio, performance, and administrative spaces.
This summer, Nathan Young – company dancer and GRBS teacher – joins our administrative team as an Advancement & Engagement Associate. Nathan will support a range of donor and patron relations activities and will also help guide our marketing and branding efforts, providing insight on what it means to be a professional dancer at Grand Rapids Ballet.
Last but not least, we are excited to announce that Jimmy Cunningham – also a company dancer and GRBS teacher – will serve as our inaugural Professional Development (PD) Program Coordinator. Earlier this year, GRB received funding from the Pamella and Dan DeVos Foundation to create a professional development program for our dancers. This program aims to provide our dancers with additional experiences and skills they can rely on during the professional dance career and beyond. The program will allow dancers to select internship opportunities at GRB and to participate in a seminar series ranging from nutrition and injury prevention to public speaking. Jimmy will create the infrastructure and lead the implementation of this program, which will support our company dancers today and into the future.
With gratitude,
Leah
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