—  What do we do at RUSD?

• Teach dance six days a week through our studio, outreach program, and partnerships with local schools, for ages 3 to adults.
• Create meaningful story ballets that encourage students in their personal growth and character development and share them free of charge with our West Side audience.

• Educate students in nutrition, mental health care, injury prevention, conflict resolution, anatomy, and leadership through wellness classes and mentorship.

• Bridge communities by bringing students from all backgrounds together in the studio where everyone wears the same uniform and is seen for who they are- a valuable person with a bright future.

• Pioneer high quality ballet training that prioritizes the wellbeing of the dancer over the pursuit of the art form. We support dancers’ growth into healthy, well rounded people as well as excellent dancers. 

Our Beginnings

Miss Alyssa, our Executive Director, grew up unable to afford ballet lessons. At age 9, she won 6 months of free ballet lessons in a drawing. The generous owners of the school extended her scholarship through high school- a gift of unmeasurable value. By age 12 she was a passionate student and had a vision to start a ballet school that made a way for children like her to study ballet without creating a financial burden on their families. 

While pursuing her degree in Ballet and Teaching from the U of U, her heart was broken by the damaging effects of traditional ballet training on her peers from the constant body shaming, criticism and perfectionism that is so rampant in the dance community.

In June 2015, she and a team of volunteer teachers began offering one free Saturday ballet class each week to children in the surrounding neighborhood, as Kids’ Community Ballet (KCB). The photo above is from our first summer of teaching.

KCB has grown to serve 80 children each week. We have taught over 600 children on the West Side of SLC free weekly ballet lessons since 2015. KCB students participate in performances for the community and receive free tickets to see local ballet companies perform each year.

In September 2017, we were delighted to open Rise Up School of Dance to provide students with the opportunity to train 2-5 days per week in a professional environment and receive quality instruction, performance opportunities and mentorship. Our students train hard in classical ballet with the understanding that their bodies were made without mistakes, that they have a purpose in life, and they are enough just as they are. 

Our Community

We are located on the West Side of SLC, where no other ballet schools exist. We love bringing the beauty of ballet to this wonderfully diverse community.

While our goal is make ballet training possible for students in the area, we are proud to say that we train students from all across the Salt Lake Valley.

For more information about Rise Up classes, please click here.