Ballet Theatre of Maryland Conservatory of Dance

Ballet Theatre of Maryland Conservatory of Dance offers comprehensive dance training and education, including trainee and apprentice programs and scholarship programs. Students are connected to a professional ballet company that presents professional performances, over 20 full-length performances each season in classical and contemporary ballet styles, and mainstage mini-shows for students and seniors. The Conservatory of Dance operates out of three locations and widened its operations in 2021 by acquiring Jean Marie Dance Studio in Grasonville, MD.

• Ages: 3–18 years old
• Schedule: Includes a 10-week Arts Integration Residency in tandem with participating Anne Arundel County Public Schools

Originally established as Ballet Theatre of Annapolis in 1978 as a private non-profit corporation, the organization achieved professional status in 1996 and changed its name to Ballet Theatre of Maryland in 2000. It is a non-profit performing arts organization and is dedicated to a policy of equal opportunity and non-discrimination. Leadership has included Artistic Director Edward Stewart, who served from 1980 until 2002, Artistic Director Dianna Cuatto from 2003 to 2020, and current Artistic Director Nicole Kelsch, appointed in 2020 after serving as a Principal Dancer, School Principal, and Ballet Mistress over a 14-year career.

The organization’s mission is to provide Maryland with a fully professional ballet company and training academy through performing known and original classical and contemporary works, creating new eclectic works that express American and Maryland culture, educating the community with a complete training program and other services that make ballet more accessible to the under-served, and preserving the tradition of classical ballet while promoting the evolution of dance as an art. Community involvement includes school assemblies in Maryland K–12 schools, outreach performances at local libraries, senior centers, and community centers, 10 mainstage mini-shows for students and seniors each season, dance workshops with community partners such as Casey Cares, Boys and Girls Club, GiGi’s Playhouse Annapolis, Naval Support Activity Annapolis, and Seeds 4 Success, and a 10-week Arts Integration Residency with participating Anne Arundel County Public Schools. The Conservatory also collaborates with other local arts organizations to expand its artistic repertoire, influence, and reach.

Ballet Theatre of Maryland offers Thea B. Pinsky Memorial Scholarship Fund and Robert Sutton Memorial Scholarship Fund. It has been voted Best Theater Company and Best Dance Lessons in the Capital Gazette Best of Anne Arundel 2024 and 2025, Best Camp in 2025, and Best Dance Studio by What’s Up? Annapolis in 2023, 2024, and 2025, as well as Best Nonprofit Organization by What’s Up? Annapolis in 2025. It has received Annapolis Moms Thumbs Up in 2024 and 2025 and is recognized as Maryland’s premier professional ballet company by many distinctions and awards, including by the Governor’s Proclamation. One audience member, Lynne Menefee, described a performance by saying that “the entire musical ensemble created a beautiful ballet experience…danced above and beyond anything previously seen.”

Last updated January 21, 2026.