As our company dancers are returning to the stage at Peter Martin Wege Theatre and a new season is taking shape, I find myself thinking about a word we use often at Grand Rapids Ballet: world-class. It’s easy to say and perhaps harder to explain. I want to share with you some reasons why I believe world-class matters not just for this organization, but for our community and for the state of Michigan.
“World-class” isn’t just a marketing word. It’s a description of caliber — the years of training behind every extended line, the precision behind every turn, the artistry that turns steps into storytelling. Our dancers are recruited from across the country and around the world, chosen not simply because they can dance, but because they can move an audience. When you sit in our theater, you are watching artists who could be on stages in New York, in Europe, anywhere in the world — and they have chosen to build their careers here, in Grand Rapids.
That choice matters more than people sometimes realize. A professional ballet company is not a luxury for a community — it’s cultural infrastructure, on the same order as our museums, our universities, our concert halls. It tells the world that Michigan is a place where world-class art lives, not just a place people leave to go find it. Every family who experiences a live, professional ballet performance without leaving Michigan is experiencing something our state deserves and something we intend to keep building.
But I want to be careful not to let “world-class” become an abstraction, because it isn’t one. It lives in the bodies of our dancers. Ballet is one of the only artforms where the artist’s own body is the instrument, the medium, and the message, all at once. A painter can set down the brush at the end of the day. A dancer’s body is always the work — shaped by years of training, sustained by discipline most of us can barely imagine, and vulnerable to injury and time in a way few other professions are. When we call our dancers world-class, we are talking about elite athletes and consummate artists in the same breath, because that is exactly what they are.
That recognition is exactly why, this year, we launched a new professional development program for our company dancers — one that places them in administrative and artistic internships across the organization, giving them hands-on experience in arts administration alongside their performing careers. The program is coordinated by Jimmy Cunningham, one of our own company dancers, who understands firsthand what it means to build a life around this artform.
Jimmy shared with us a recent op-ed in Dance Magazine which makes the case that dance organizations have an ethical responsibility to invest in their artists’ futures, not only their performances — to be, in the author’s words, a bridge rather than a precipice. That is precisely the spirit behind this program. Our dancers give us everything on that stage. The least we can do is help build a future that extends beyond it.
So when we say Grand Rapids Ballet is committed to artistic excellence and world-class dance, this is what we mean: extraordinary work on our stage, created by extraordinary artists, supported by an organization that sees them as whole people — not just for the length of a performance, but for the length of a career. That is the kind of company Michigan deserves. It’s the kind of company we intend to be.
Thank you for being part of our journey as we build the future of this art form we love, right here at Michigan’s home for professional ballet.
As we roll out our five-year strategic plan, we want to share more about our commitment to producing world-class ballet and establishing Grand Rapids Ballet as Michigan’s defining artistic force. This isn’t just an ambition — it’s a five-year roadmap for how we create extraordinary work on stage while making sure that work, and the joy of ballet itself, is truly within reach for everyone in our community.
Here’s more about this pillar of our strategic plan: We’re sustaining and elevating our artistic programming through multi-year rolling artistic plans and a commitment to developing major new productions every several years, so our stage continues to reflect ambition and artistic growth. We’re also expanding our reach across the state, building a touring plan with Detroit as a priority market, and continuing to forge high-profile partnerships with cultural and educational institutions across Michigan — all part of building a brand presence that makes the claim undeniable: Grand Rapids Ballet is Michigan’s home for professional ballet.
None of this matters if ballet isn’t welcoming to everyone who wants to experience it. That’s why accessibility and inclusion are at the heart of this pillar, too. We’re growing programs like our GRBeKids series and Seniors at the Ballet and deepening how we engage new and diverse audiences — because ballet is for everyone, regardless of age, background, or experience with the artform.
Whether you’re seeing your first performance or your fiftieth, walking through our doors — or welcoming us into your community — should feel like an invitation, not a barrier. Every audience member who experiences Grand Rapids Ballet should feel the same thing our dancers do on stage: that this artform truly transforms everyone who experiences it!
Grand Rapids Ballet is expanding the ways it supports dancers beyond the stage with the launch of a new Professional Development Program that began in summer 2026. Underwritten by a generous grant from the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation, the program is designed to help dancers build practical career skills, explore new professional pathways, and prepare for long-term success both within and beyond the performing arts.
The program combines paid internship opportunities for company dancers with seminar experiences open to company dancers, apprentices, trainees, school students, and select teachers and staff. Seminar topics for the 2026–27 season will include nutrition, injury prevention, sports psychology, and personal finance, reflecting a holistic approach to supporting dancers as artists, athletes, and professionals.
Coordinated by James Cunningham, a professional dancer with 18 years of experience, including seven seasons with Grand Rapids Ballet, the initiative brings together mentorship, hands-on learning, and organizational collaboration. Cunningham also serves on the faculty of Grand Rapids Ballet School and is working with leadership across the organization to create meaningful opportunities for dancers to learn from staff members in administration, marketing, advancement, education, and production.
“I’m excited to be an engineer of this new professional development program at Grand Rapids Ballet,” Cunningham said. “I’m proud to be part of an organization that is beginning to invest in its dancers and help set them up for success beyond their performing careers.”
The inaugural internship cohort highlights the many directions a dancer’s professional skills can lead. Natalia Garcia, serving as an administrative intern, will work with CEO Leah Voigt and members of the administrative team on projects connected to the Board of Directors, school leadership, artistic administration, and community impact. Garcia said the experience will help her better understand “the behind-the-scenes work of an arts organization” and how ballet connects with the broader community.
Marketing and communications internships will give Wade Mesecar and Nigel Tau hands-on experience in audience engagement. Mesecar is helping organize social media systems, plan content, and highlight new company dancers, while Tau is contributing to website modernization and accessibility. Tau described the program as “a stellar opportunity to pick up skills we otherwise might not have while simultaneously giving our staff some sorely needed breathing room.”
In advancement and engagement, William Wisneskey is working with Senior Director Chris Jabin on donor outreach, subscriber renewal, and research for recurring giving. With experience in accounting, data, statistics, and programming, Wisneskey sees the internship as a way to support the art form he loves while exploring future opportunities in arts administration and development.
Other internships deepen artistic, educational, and production skills. Talia Lebowitz is working in wardrobe and costuming with costume shop manager Ronald Altman, learning sewing and wardrobe techniques while supporting costume builds for the company and school. Yuka Oba-Muschiana and Rowan Allegra are serving as artistic and Grand Rapids Ballet School interns, drawing on performance, teaching, and choreographic experience to support students.
Together, these internships mark a meaningful expansion of how Grand Rapids Ballet invests in its artists. The Professional Development Program recognizes that dancers bring discipline, creativity, collaboration, resilience, and curiosity to every part of the organization—and that those strengths can open doors to careers in administration, marketing, advancement, education, production, wellness, and leadership.
By building career readiness into the company experience, Grand Rapids Ballet is helping dancers prepare not only for the next performance, but also for the next chapter of their professional lives.
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.”
What We Mean by “World-Class”
As our company dancers are returning to the stage at Peter Martin Wege Theatre and a new season is taking shape, I find myself thinking about a word we use often at Grand Rapids Ballet: world-class. It’s easy to say and perhaps harder to explain. I want to share with you some reasons why I believe world-class matters not just for this organization, but for our community and for the state of Michigan.
“World-class” isn’t just a marketing word. It’s a description of caliber — the years of training behind every extended line, the precision behind every turn, the artistry that turns steps into storytelling. Our dancers are recruited from across the country and around the world, chosen not simply because they can dance, but because they can move an audience. When you sit in our theater, you are watching artists who could be on stages in New York, in Europe, anywhere in the world — and they have chosen to build their careers here, in Grand Rapids.
That choice matters more than people sometimes realize. A professional ballet company is not a luxury for a community — it’s cultural infrastructure, on the same order as our museums, our universities, our concert halls. It tells the world that Michigan is a place where world-class art lives, not just a place people leave to go find it. Every family who experiences a live, professional ballet performance without leaving Michigan is experiencing something our state deserves and something we intend to keep building.
But I want to be careful not to let “world-class” become an abstraction, because it isn’t one. It lives in the bodies of our dancers. Ballet is one of the only artforms where the artist’s own body is the instrument, the medium, and the message, all at once. A painter can set down the brush at the end of the day. A dancer’s body is always the work — shaped by years of training, sustained by discipline most of us can barely imagine, and vulnerable to injury and time in a way few other professions are. When we call our dancers world-class, we are talking about elite athletes and consummate artists in the same breath, because that is exactly what they are.
That recognition is exactly why, this year, we launched a new professional development program for our company dancers — one that places them in administrative and artistic internships across the organization, giving them hands-on experience in arts administration alongside their performing careers. The program is coordinated by Jimmy Cunningham, one of our own company dancers, who understands firsthand what it means to build a life around this artform.
Jimmy shared with us a recent op-ed in Dance Magazine which makes the case that dance organizations have an ethical responsibility to invest in their artists’ futures, not only their performances — to be, in the author’s words, a bridge rather than a precipice. That is precisely the spirit behind this program. Our dancers give us everything on that stage. The least we can do is help build a future that extends beyond it.
So when we say Grand Rapids Ballet is committed to artistic excellence and world-class dance, this is what we mean: extraordinary work on our stage, created by extraordinary artists, supported by an organization that sees them as whole people — not just for the length of a performance, but for the length of a career. That is the kind of company Michigan deserves. It’s the kind of company we intend to be.
Thank you for being part of our journey as we build the future of this art form we love, right here at Michigan’s home for professional ballet.
Gratefully,
Leah
Michigan’s Home for Professional Ballet
As we roll out our five-year strategic plan, we want to share more about our commitment to producing world-class ballet and establishing Grand Rapids Ballet as Michigan’s defining artistic force. This isn’t just an ambition — it’s a five-year roadmap for how we create extraordinary work on stage while making sure that work, and the joy of ballet itself, is truly within reach for everyone in our community.
Here’s more about this pillar of our strategic plan: We’re sustaining and elevating our artistic programming through multi-year rolling artistic plans and a commitment to developing major new productions every several years, so our stage continues to reflect ambition and artistic growth. We’re also expanding our reach across the state, building a touring plan with Detroit as a priority market, and continuing to forge high-profile partnerships with cultural and educational institutions across Michigan — all part of building a brand presence that makes the claim undeniable: Grand Rapids Ballet is Michigan’s home for professional ballet.
None of this matters if ballet isn’t welcoming to everyone who wants to experience it. That’s why accessibility and inclusion are at the heart of this pillar, too. We’re growing programs like our GRBeKids series and Seniors at the Ballet and deepening how we engage new and diverse audiences — because ballet is for everyone, regardless of age, background, or experience with the artform.
Whether you’re seeing your first performance or your fiftieth, walking through our doors — or welcoming us into your community — should feel like an invitation, not a barrier. Every audience member who experiences Grand Rapids Ballet should feel the same thing our dancers do on stage: that this artform truly transforms everyone who experiences it!
Grand Rapids Ballet Invests in Dancers Through New Professional Development Program
By James Cunningham
Grand Rapids Ballet is expanding the ways it supports dancers beyond the stage with the launch of a new Professional Development Program that began in summer 2026. Underwritten by a generous grant from the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation, the program is designed to help dancers build practical career skills, explore new professional pathways, and prepare for long-term success both within and beyond the performing arts.
The program combines paid internship opportunities for company dancers with seminar experiences open to company dancers, apprentices, trainees, school students, and select teachers and staff. Seminar topics for the 2026–27 season will include nutrition, injury prevention, sports psychology, and personal finance, reflecting a holistic approach to supporting dancers as artists, athletes, and professionals.
Coordinated by James Cunningham, a professional dancer with 18 years of experience, including seven seasons with Grand Rapids Ballet, the initiative brings together mentorship, hands-on learning, and organizational collaboration. Cunningham also serves on the faculty of Grand Rapids Ballet School and is working with leadership across the organization to create meaningful opportunities for dancers to learn from staff members in administration, marketing, advancement, education, and production.
“I’m excited to be an engineer of this new professional development program at Grand Rapids Ballet,” Cunningham said. “I’m proud to be part of an organization that is beginning to invest in its dancers and help set them up for success beyond their performing careers.”
The inaugural internship cohort highlights the many directions a dancer’s professional skills can lead. Natalia Garcia, serving as an administrative intern, will work with CEO Leah Voigt and members of the administrative team on projects connected to the Board of Directors, school leadership, artistic administration, and community impact. Garcia said the experience will help her better understand “the behind-the-scenes work of an arts organization” and how ballet connects with the broader community.
Marketing and communications internships will give Wade Mesecar and Nigel Tau hands-on experience in audience engagement. Mesecar is helping organize social media systems, plan content, and highlight new company dancers, while Tau is contributing to website modernization and accessibility. Tau described the program as “a stellar opportunity to pick up skills we otherwise might not have while simultaneously giving our staff some sorely needed breathing room.”
In advancement and engagement, William Wisneskey is working with Senior Director Chris Jabin on donor outreach, subscriber renewal, and research for recurring giving. With experience in accounting, data, statistics, and programming, Wisneskey sees the internship as a way to support the art form he loves while exploring future opportunities in arts administration and development.
Other internships deepen artistic, educational, and production skills. Talia Lebowitz is working in wardrobe and costuming with costume shop manager Ronald Altman, learning sewing and wardrobe techniques while supporting costume builds for the company and school. Yuka Oba-Muschiana and Rowan Allegra are serving as artistic and Grand Rapids Ballet School interns, drawing on performance, teaching, and choreographic experience to support students.
Together, these internships mark a meaningful expansion of how Grand Rapids Ballet invests in its artists. The Professional Development Program recognizes that dancers bring discipline, creativity, collaboration, resilience, and curiosity to every part of the organization—and that those strengths can open doors to careers in administration, marketing, advancement, education, production, wellness, and leadership.
By building career readiness into the company experience, Grand Rapids Ballet is helping dancers prepare not only for the next performance, but also for the next chapter of their professional lives.
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.”