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Artistic Director Donna Muzio founded the Brandywine Ballet in 1979 as a meeting place for dancers and audiences with a shared appreciation of contemporary and classical ballet. Bringing together pre-professional, professional, and special guest dancers from diverse artistic backgrounds and experiences, Brandywine Ballet has established itself as a formidable platform for dance training and performance in the Greater Philadelphia region. The company presents an annual, subscription-based, production season consisting of a fall series, holiday performances of The Nutcracker, and a spring series at its resident theater Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Select members of Brandywine Ballet also make a number of guest performances throughout the year at venues such as Longwood Gardens, Philadelphia’s Painted Bride, Immaculata University, and Delaware County’s Summer Festival at Rose Tree Park in Media, Pennsylvania.
Brandywine Ballet dancers undertake a highly competitive and rigorous training regimen and rehearsal schedule throughout the year, spending up to 25 hours a week in the studio during the company’s season. This rigorous training and rehearsal schedule contributes to Brandywine Ballet’s many strengths on the performance stage and in their dance careers. Brandywine Ballet dancers are often accepted into prestigious summer scholarship programs at nationally recognized companies, including the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet. A number of Brandywine Ballet dancers have gone on to accept positions with companies such as the Pennsylvania Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, and Miami City Ballet. The Certificate in Ballet, a joint program with West Chester University, provides qualifying company dancers an opportunity to advance their long-term career interests by pursuing the academic degree of their choice, while continuing to train and perform in a serious ballet setting.
In recent years, the company has strived to expand its repertoire, premiering innovative works by guest choreographer’s Matthew Neenan (Ballet X), Ronen Koresh (Koresh Dance Company), Meredith Rainey (formerly Pennsylvania Ballet), and Resident Choreographer Nancy Page. By arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust, Brandywine Ballet has also performed several historically important ballet works in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® Service standards established and provided by the Trust. Performing licensed George Balanchine ballets has afforded Brandywine Ballet dancers a unique lineage and honor, specifically the privilege of working closely with Balanchine Trust authorized repetiteurs that have formerly danced under the direction of George Balanchine himself. To date, the company has performed Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux, Serenade, and most recently Valse-Fantaisie.
Brandywine Ballet is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, and receives support from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Chester County Conference and Visitors Bureau, the local business community, and private donors. The company is committed to affordable arts education outreach, providing significantly discounted tickets to over 1500 students from as many as 20 different area schools each year, as well as several senior communities and underserved population groups. Brandywine Ballet has participated in programs, which provide free or significantly discounted tickets to several additional groups, including Arts Reach, Domestic Violence Center of Chester County, United Way, Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, and the Red Cross, among others.
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