Performances of High Artistic Quality
Our major productions are full-length ballets with professional choreography, scenery, costumes and guest soloists, presented at the Stanley Center for the Arts in Utica. We include in our holdings a costume collection valued at $165,000, Nutcracker sets valued at $65,000 and a $3,000 collection of props.
Development Opportunities for Young Dancers
We provide young dancers with the training and development opportunities essential to progress to professional ballet. Following the Royal Academy of Dance (R.A.D.) method, we work with dancers ranging in age from preschool to young adult. They progress through levels of difficulty and achievement, testing before outside judges as prescribed by ARAD. The most accomplished dancers are offered contracts with our Company and Senior Company.
Over the past 43 years, over 40 Mohawk Valley Ballet Company Dancers, through their experience with us, have gone on to professional careers in dance. They have become dancers, choreographers, designers and teachers with such notable organizations as the New York City Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Boston Ballet, Cleveland Ballet and Bolshoi Ballet.
Community Education Programs Celebrating the Living Arts
We fulfill our education mission with our Education Through Experience Series, which offers an array of programs for people of all ages. With corporate sponsorships, Mohawk Valley Ballet is able to offer school-day programs at only $6.00 per ticket.
Under arrangements with BOCES, some school districts receive state funding to help with the purchase of tickets. Other schools find private sponsors to assist. Some count on families to cover the cost. Senior citizen groups also attend our school-day performances at the same price as students.
Our Mission
Melissa Larish, Artistic Director
Melissa Larish is the owner and principle ballet instructor at Ballet Arts of CNY and Artist Director of Mohawk Valley Ballet. She has been teaching ballet in the local area for over ten years and took ownership of Ballet Arts in 2010. She is a registered instructor for The Royal Academy of Dance, a prestigious certification requiring rigorous study and pedagogical training. She loves being able to share her extensive training and professional performance experience with the next generation of ballet dancers in her home town.
After training at Ballet Arts as a child, Ms. Melissa attended Butler University where she obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance Performance. As part of the university’s performance company, she performed principal classical roles such as Swanhilda in Coppelia and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. She performed the lead role in Norman Walker’s The Nightingale and participated in an international performance trip to Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia where she danced lead roles in classical and original works. After college, Ms. Melissa joined Channel Islands Ballet in Camarillo, California where she performed soloist roles in works by Yves de Bouteilier and Phillippe Trehet, among others. Ms. Melissa and her husband Glenn returned to central New York to raise their family.
In her tenure as the owner and director of Ballet Arts, Ms. Melissa has worked to expand the academy’s training and performance reach. She has expanded the syllabus to include modern dance and cross-training classes to ensure students develop well-rounded and safe technique. In partnership with the JRob Foundation, she initiated an adaptive ballet class for students with special physical or developmental needs and has begun to integrate her special needs students into Ballet Art’s regular syllabus classes. She is currently working to build new partnerships in schools, arts groups, and community organizations throughout the Mohawk Valley area.
Ms. Melissa became Artistic Director of Mohawk Valley Ballet in 2015. The non-profit, youth ballet company presents an annual production of The Nutcracker and a rotating spring production. In her first year, Ms. Melissa choreographed an all-new production of The Nutcracker which included a live children’s choir during its Snow Scene through a partnership with the Westmoreland Central School Choir. She also reinstated the annual spring repertory concert Classics & Creations that offers a showcase for short classical repertory and new works created for the company. Mohawk Valley Ballet’s auditions are open to all student dancers, and it is Ms. Melissa’s hope that the collaboration of dancers from different studios and backgrounds working together in the company will build the overall strength and visibility of the entire dance community in central New York.
Ms. Melissa has been invited to choreograph for musicals at area high schools including Guys and Dolls, Cinderella, The Music Man, Beauty and The Beast, and Newsies. While helping create entertaining shows, she hopes that her work in local schools will help instill an appreciation for dance as an art form in the young people she works with.
Board of Directors
The Mohawk Valley Ballet is comprised of an artistic staff, a board of directors and dozens of volunteers and parents who work together to present the most beautiful ballet performances in the Central New York area. Without their help, these elaborate productions would not be possible. Take a minute to learn more about our artistic staff and the board of directors.
If you, or someone you know would be interested in serving the Mohawk Valley Ballet in the capacity of a board member, please contact our president, Lisa Burline Roser, for additional information regarding the application process. We are always willing to welcome additional directors to this exceptional local organization.
Directors
Byron Elias
Jacquelyn Mitchell
Linda Freedman
Michele Jackson
Rick Rogers
Rosemary Talarico
