Saratoga Springs Youth Ballet
Saratoga Springs Youth Ballet, 418 Geyser Rd, Suite 5, Ballston Spa, NY 12020
About
Saratoga Springs Youth Ballet offers pre-professional dance training with a focus on ballet training and performance. Students take part in community performances as part of the program’s emphasis on performance and positive reinforcement. The program places a focus on proper ballet training and technique in a collaborative learning environment that builds self-confidence through the arts.
Saratoga Springs Youth Ballet was founded in 2020 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Its mission states that it is committed to providing quality pre-professional and professional dance training to students throughout the Greater Saratoga region. According to the mission, students learn in a collaborative environment with a focus on building self-confidence and maturity in a nurturing atmosphere, with an emphasis on performance and positive reinforcement, and dancers learn the value of hard work and gain an appreciation and love for the arts. Students share their talents in community performances, and by sharing their talents in these performances, they grow as individuals and inspire those around them.
The leadership team includes Founders and Co-Artistic Directors Joan Kilgore Anderson and Cristiane Santos, Administrative Assistant Colleen Viera, faculty members Leanne Sweet, Katie Dunkle, and André Malo-Robles, and a board that includes Joan K Anderson, Jessica Batten, Jason Bedell, Anthony Bonacio, Cristiane Santos, and Erika Sellar Ryan. The faculty is composed of experienced educators, professional dancers, and dedicated mentors. Saratoga Springs Youth Ballet notes as unique features its focus on proper ballet training and technique, its collaborative learning environment, its emphasis on performance and positive reinforcement, and its focus on building self-confidence through the arts while empowering students and enriching the community.
Faculty credentials include extensive professional and teaching backgrounds. Joan Kilgore Anderson received a BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase and the President's Award for academic and artistic excellence, performed with American Ballet Theatre's second company, Ballet Contemporaneos de Burgos in Spain, Cedar Lake II, and Philadanco!, and has served on the faculty at Skidmore and Union Colleges and as Co-Director of the National Museum of Dance's School of the Arts. Cristiane Santos danced and taught ballet and tap for seven years at Ballet Vera Bublitz in Brazil, was accepted to Dance Theatre of Harlem school with a full scholarship and joined the company’s Dancing Through Barriers Ensemble, graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Albany with a BS in Human Biology, has been certified in Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis methodologies since 2002, has taught Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis locally and in New York City at Studio Riverside, Steps on Broadway, and Ballet Arts at City Center, has been a guest teacher for Ballet Hispánico School of Dance Summer Program, Hartwick College Dance Team, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, served as Co-Director of the National Museum of Dance’s School of the Arts, and was a Dance Lecturer at Skidmore College from 2021 to 2024.
Leanne Sweet studied ballet under Phyllis Marmein at the New School of Ballet and Lillian Sealey at The Sealey Dance Studio, danced as a teenager with the Tri City Ballet Guild and the Schenectady Civic Ballet and appeared often on several local television shows, attended Adelphi College as a dance major, was accepted at both The School of American Ballet and Juilliard, studied with Felia Dubrovska of The School of American Ballet and at The Joffrey School, and taught ballet at the New School of Ballet in Schenectady for 10 years, at Ballet Regent in Saratoga for 15 years, at Saratoga City Ballet for 4 years, and for The School of the Arts at the National Dance Museum in Saratoga for 12 years.
Katie Dunkel has taught and danced professionally in Boston, Massachusetts since 2007, was a company member with EgoArt, Inc./Nicole Pierce for 10 years and Lorraine Chapman The Company for 8 years, has performed work by multiple choreographers and companies, was on faculty from 2014–2020 at Arlington Dance Place, Community Dance Academy at Walnut School for the Arts, and Walnut Hill Summer Youth Dance, has taught at multiple schools and studios in Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont since 2004, received early training through The Royal Academy of Dance under Mary Tolland and Walnut Hill Community Dance Academy, earned a BA in Dance from Hamilton College, is a graduate of the Trinity/La MaMa Performance Art Program in New York City, and holds a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Certification through YogaWorks in Boston under Natasha Rizopolous.
André Malo-Robles is a graduate of the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, performed as a student with the Joffrey Ballet in works by Gerald Arpino, Peter Pucci, and Margo Sappington, previously studied at the Ailey School and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina and danced in works by multiple noted choreographers, has presented his own choreography at The Arts Center of the Capital Region as part of Troy Night Out, has been a member of the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company since 2009, and is a lecturer in the Skidmore College Dance Department.
Last updated May 23, 2026.
Saratoga Springs Youth Ballet was founded in 2020 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Its mission states that it is committed to providing quality pre-professional and professional dance training to students throughout the Greater Saratoga region. According to the mission, students learn in a collaborative environment with a focus on building self-confidence and maturity in a nurturing atmosphere, with an emphasis on performance and positive reinforcement, and dancers learn the value of hard work and gain an appreciation and love for the arts. Students share their talents in community performances, and by sharing their talents in these performances, they grow as individuals and inspire those around them.
The leadership team includes Founders and Co-Artistic Directors Joan Kilgore Anderson and Cristiane Santos, Administrative Assistant Colleen Viera, faculty members Leanne Sweet, Katie Dunkle, and André Malo-Robles, and a board that includes Joan K Anderson, Jessica Batten, Jason Bedell, Anthony Bonacio, Cristiane Santos, and Erika Sellar Ryan. The faculty is composed of experienced educators, professional dancers, and dedicated mentors. Saratoga Springs Youth Ballet notes as unique features its focus on proper ballet training and technique, its collaborative learning environment, its emphasis on performance and positive reinforcement, and its focus on building self-confidence through the arts while empowering students and enriching the community.
Faculty credentials include extensive professional and teaching backgrounds. Joan Kilgore Anderson received a BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase and the President's Award for academic and artistic excellence, performed with American Ballet Theatre's second company, Ballet Contemporaneos de Burgos in Spain, Cedar Lake II, and Philadanco!, and has served on the faculty at Skidmore and Union Colleges and as Co-Director of the National Museum of Dance's School of the Arts. Cristiane Santos danced and taught ballet and tap for seven years at Ballet Vera Bublitz in Brazil, was accepted to Dance Theatre of Harlem school with a full scholarship and joined the company’s Dancing Through Barriers Ensemble, graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Albany with a BS in Human Biology, has been certified in Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis methodologies since 2002, has taught Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis locally and in New York City at Studio Riverside, Steps on Broadway, and Ballet Arts at City Center, has been a guest teacher for Ballet Hispánico School of Dance Summer Program, Hartwick College Dance Team, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, served as Co-Director of the National Museum of Dance’s School of the Arts, and was a Dance Lecturer at Skidmore College from 2021 to 2024.
Leanne Sweet studied ballet under Phyllis Marmein at the New School of Ballet and Lillian Sealey at The Sealey Dance Studio, danced as a teenager with the Tri City Ballet Guild and the Schenectady Civic Ballet and appeared often on several local television shows, attended Adelphi College as a dance major, was accepted at both The School of American Ballet and Juilliard, studied with Felia Dubrovska of The School of American Ballet and at The Joffrey School, and taught ballet at the New School of Ballet in Schenectady for 10 years, at Ballet Regent in Saratoga for 15 years, at Saratoga City Ballet for 4 years, and for The School of the Arts at the National Dance Museum in Saratoga for 12 years.
Katie Dunkel has taught and danced professionally in Boston, Massachusetts since 2007, was a company member with EgoArt, Inc./Nicole Pierce for 10 years and Lorraine Chapman The Company for 8 years, has performed work by multiple choreographers and companies, was on faculty from 2014–2020 at Arlington Dance Place, Community Dance Academy at Walnut School for the Arts, and Walnut Hill Summer Youth Dance, has taught at multiple schools and studios in Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont since 2004, received early training through The Royal Academy of Dance under Mary Tolland and Walnut Hill Community Dance Academy, earned a BA in Dance from Hamilton College, is a graduate of the Trinity/La MaMa Performance Art Program in New York City, and holds a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Certification through YogaWorks in Boston under Natasha Rizopolous.
André Malo-Robles is a graduate of the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, performed as a student with the Joffrey Ballet in works by Gerald Arpino, Peter Pucci, and Margo Sappington, previously studied at the Ailey School and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina and danced in works by multiple noted choreographers, has presented his own choreography at The Arts Center of the Capital Region as part of Troy Night Out, has been a member of the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company since 2009, and is a lecturer in the Skidmore College Dance Department.
Last updated May 23, 2026.
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