Farrell Ballet Theatre (FBT) is a performing ballet company dedicated to preserving the rich tradition of classical ballet. FBT provides ballet performances, ballet lessons and community outreach activities to serve the greater Kalamazoo community. FBT performances feature guest artists from the Grand Rapids Ballet, Michigan’s only professional ballet company. FBT offers ballet classes for both children and adults from ages 4 to 80. FBT dancers are engaged in the art of living, through love, dance, and love of dancing. Join us at the ballet.
The vision of the Farrell Ballet Theatre began more than 25 years ago. In 1985, Sher Marie Farrell founded Ballet Theatre at Kalamazoo College to teach classes in the rich, classical tradition of the Russian style and to ensure a strong sense of dance on the campus of Kalamazoo College. After many successful years, a collective decision was made in 2004 by Ms. Farrell and her dancers to change the company name to Farrell Ballet Theatre, reflecting an intensified commitment of the dancers to one another, the community of Kalamazoo, and the art of dance itself. Today, Ms. Farrell offers her expertise and knowledge of dance to students in the Kalamazoo community through year-round ballet classes at the Farrell Ballet Theatre Academy, and as the Artistic Director of the Farrell Ballet Theatre performing company, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt non-profit organization established in 2008.
Both the Academy and performing company of FBT are designed to provide a positive, safe environment for young dancers, where respect and compassion are taught alongside ballet technique and history. Members of the company are required to strive for excellence, high standards, and strong character both in dance and life. Further, the objective is to develop a greater awareness of human responsibility: to seek peace and live and work for justice, mercy, and beauty. Ms. Farrell has said, “it does us no good to move gracefully through a world polluted by hate if we do not respond to injustices.” To this end, as examples, the company seeks to “serve and not be served” –raising funds and donating proceeds from performances to a variety of charities that support women, children, and families in need.
Farrell Ballet Theatre offers its dancers and audiences the opportunity to engage not only in the art of dancing, but also the art of living–through love, dancing, and love of dancing. Ballet shows us that Life and Art are the same concept–thus every movement, every gesture, offers us the power to transform ourselves and the world around us.
