Ballet Theatre of Maryland Conservatory of Dance
Maryland Hall, 801 Chase St, Annapolis, MD 21401
About
Ballet Theatre of Maryland Conservatory of Dance offers comprehensive dance training and education, including trainee and apprentice programs and scholarship programs for dance training. Students may take part in professional performances and dance workshops, and the organization also presents school assemblies in Maryland K–12 schools, outreach performances at local libraries, senior centers, and community centers, and mainstage mini-shows for students and seniors at Maryland Hall. The Conservatory of Dance operates out of three locations: Maryland Hall, the Moreland Parkway Annex location, and the Grasonville location, and it is part of the state’s premier professional ballet company, which presents over 20 full-length performances each season in classical and contemporary ballet styles.
• Schedule: Includes a 10-week Arts Integration Residency in tandem with participating Anne Arundel County Public Schools
Ballet Theatre of Maryland was originally established as Ballet Theatre of Annapolis, founded in 1978 as a private non-profit corporation, achieved professional status in 1996, and changed its name to Ballet Theatre of Maryland in 2000; in 2021, it acquired Jean Marie Dance Studio in Grasonville, MD. Its 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 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. The organization has had three artistic directors: Edward Stewart, who served from 1980 until 2002; Dianna Cuatto, who served from 2003 to 2020; and Nicole Kelsch, who was appointed in 2020 after serving as a Principal Dancer, School Principal, and Ballet Mistress over a 14-year career.
The Conservatory and company partner with numerous local organizations to make dance accessible, performing educational assemblies in Maryland K–12 schools each season, providing access to the classics at libraries, senior centers, and community centers, and presenting 10 mainstage mini-shows for students and seniors at Maryland Hall. They serve community partners such as Casey Cares, Boys and Girls Club, GiGi’s Playhouse Annapolis, Naval Support Activity (NSA) Annapolis, Seeds 4 Success, and others through dance workshops, and they teach and perform a 10-week Arts Integration Residency with participating Anne Arundel County Public Schools while collaborating with other local arts organizations to expand artistic repertoire, influence, and reach. The Conservatory offers accessible dance training to students in need through the Thea B. Pinsky Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Robert Sutton Memorial Scholarship Fund, follows a policy of equal opportunity and non-discrimination, and states a goal to make ballet accessible to diverse communities while aspiring to ever-higher levels of artistic excellence.
Ballet Theatre of Maryland has been recognized as Maryland’s premier professional ballet company by many distinctions and awards, including by the Governor’s Proclamation. 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 the Capital Gazette Best of Anne Arundel 2025, Best Dance Studio in What’s Up? Annapolis in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and Best Nonprofit Organization in What’s Up? Annapolis 2025, and it received Annapolis Moms Thumbs Up in 2024 and 2025. One audience member, Lynne Menefee, said that “the entire musical ensemble created a beautiful ballet experience…danced above and beyond anything previously seen.”
Last updated January 21, 2026.
• Schedule: Includes a 10-week Arts Integration Residency in tandem with participating Anne Arundel County Public Schools
Ballet Theatre of Maryland was originally established as Ballet Theatre of Annapolis, founded in 1978 as a private non-profit corporation, achieved professional status in 1996, and changed its name to Ballet Theatre of Maryland in 2000; in 2021, it acquired Jean Marie Dance Studio in Grasonville, MD. Its 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 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. The organization has had three artistic directors: Edward Stewart, who served from 1980 until 2002; Dianna Cuatto, who served from 2003 to 2020; and Nicole Kelsch, who was appointed in 2020 after serving as a Principal Dancer, School Principal, and Ballet Mistress over a 14-year career.
The Conservatory and company partner with numerous local organizations to make dance accessible, performing educational assemblies in Maryland K–12 schools each season, providing access to the classics at libraries, senior centers, and community centers, and presenting 10 mainstage mini-shows for students and seniors at Maryland Hall. They serve community partners such as Casey Cares, Boys and Girls Club, GiGi’s Playhouse Annapolis, Naval Support Activity (NSA) Annapolis, Seeds 4 Success, and others through dance workshops, and they teach and perform a 10-week Arts Integration Residency with participating Anne Arundel County Public Schools while collaborating with other local arts organizations to expand artistic repertoire, influence, and reach. The Conservatory offers accessible dance training to students in need through the Thea B. Pinsky Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Robert Sutton Memorial Scholarship Fund, follows a policy of equal opportunity and non-discrimination, and states a goal to make ballet accessible to diverse communities while aspiring to ever-higher levels of artistic excellence.
Ballet Theatre of Maryland has been recognized as Maryland’s premier professional ballet company by many distinctions and awards, including by the Governor’s Proclamation. 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 the Capital Gazette Best of Anne Arundel 2025, Best Dance Studio in What’s Up? Annapolis in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and Best Nonprofit Organization in What’s Up? Annapolis 2025, and it received Annapolis Moms Thumbs Up in 2024 and 2025. One audience member, Lynne Menefee, said that “the entire musical ensemble created a beautiful ballet experience…danced above and beyond anything previously seen.”
Last updated January 21, 2026.
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