Our Mission

To foster interest in classical ballet;
To provide excellence in dance training;
To provide serious dancers an opportunity to perform regularly;
To provide programs of the highest artistic quality to the Metro Jackson area.

For 30 years, Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet has empowered creativity in central Mississippi through dance.  As a pre-professional, non-profit ballet company, we bring beauty, encouragement, and strength to life. Through critically-acclaimed performances, a commitment to quality dance education, and an extensive outreach program that brings dance to children who are typically underserved by the arts, Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet enhances our collective community experience.

History

The Madison Civic Ballet was founded in 1992 and was the first arts organization to call the Madison County Cultural Center its home. As the young company began to grow in expertise, it attracted talented dancers from the greater metropolitan Jackson area and nearby cities, as well as Madison County. The company became loved and well known in the City of Madison for its performances of the “Nutcracker” and its annual Dinner Theater on the Cultural Center Stage, and soon began to receive numerous requests to perform for school and civic organizations around the state. The company toured to Brookhaven, Meridian and Yazoo City. In 1997, the company changed its name to the Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet in order to better reflect the wider area which it had come to serve.

Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet presents a full production of “The Nutcracker” each December with a cast of over 100 dancers, as well as a Spring Gala in March. The Spring Gala showcases a repertoire of classical and contemporary ballets. Full length ballets performed by the company through the years have included “Firebird”, “Coppelia”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Cinderella”, “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Wizard of Oz,” and “Alice in Wonderland.” Guest artists with the company have included Joseph Gatti, 2006 USA IBC Bronze Medalist, and his partner, 2006 USA IBC Finalist Adiarys Almeida; Boston Ballet Principal Dancers Ashley Ellis and Paul Craig; Philadelphia Ballet Principal Dancers Mayara Piniero and Arian Molina Soca; and Orlando Ballet Principal Dancer Katia Garza. MMB has collaborated with both the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and the Lima, Ohio Symphony as guest artists. In September 2008, MMB was accepted as a Performing Company member of the Regional Dance America/Southeast. MMB is the only member company from the state of Mississippi.  In 2013, MMB hosted the Regional Dance America/Southeast Festival, bringing more than 800 participants from across the Southeast to downtown Jackson for three days of classes, seminars, and performances.  In 2019, MMB was elevated to the status of RDA/SE Honor Company.

The Mississippi Metropolitan Dance Academy is the official school of MMB.  MMDA offers quality dance instruction for ages 3-18 in classical ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, and hip-hop, as well as Dance Team Technique and combination classes of ballet/tap/tumbling for ages 3-6.  MMDA students have won numerous awards in competition and have been accepted to prestigious summer workshops across the country. In 2005, MMDA sent three dancers to the Youth America Grand Prix Finals in New York City. At the Greenville, SC YAGP Semi-Finals, MMDA owner and Artistic Director Jennifer Beasley was honored with the Outstanding Teacher Award. Each summer, MMDA hosts a two-week summer intensive workshop with world-class guest faculty. MMDA Alumni include Miss Mississippi 2003 Allison Kellogg; America’s Jr. Miss 2005 Kelli Schutz; 2002 USA IBC competitor Sarah Newman, and several students who have gone on to professional careers as performers and educators within the dance world and beyond.