In a former silk mill on Easton's South Side, fifteen teenagers in worn pointe shoes rehearse Giselle under the watch of a former New York City Ballet soloist. Three miles north, elementary students take their first pliés in a church basement studio. Both groups represent the surprising breadth of ballet training in this Lehigh Valley city of 28,000—where pre-professional pipelines, accessible community programs, and public arts education coexist.
Easton may lack the name recognition of Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, but its ballet ecosystem punches above its weight. The city sits at the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, historically a hub of industry and immigration that built grand performance venues like the State Theatre long before the current arts renaissance. Today, four distinct institutions serve dancers from their first steps through professional preparation, each with a different philosophy, funding model, and definition of success.
Finding Your Fit: A Quick Guide
| If you want... | Consider... |
|---|---|
| Full-time training with academic integration | Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts |
| Professional company affiliation without tuition barriers | Pennsylvania Youth Ballet |
| Intensive pre-professional track | Easton Dance Company |
| Recreational classes with rigorous options | Easton Academy of Dance |
Easton Academy of Dance: The Established Foundation
Founded in 1989 by former American Ballet Theatre dancer Margaret L. Chen, the Easton Academy of Dance occupies a converted Victorian on Northampton Street, its three studios flooded with morning light. The school has trained generations of Easton dancers, including current Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre corps member James Whitfield and Broadway ensemble dancer Alina Torres (Chicago, 2019-2022).
Chen, now artistic director emerita, built the curriculum on Vaganova technique with a pragmatic streak: students can pursue recreational tracks through adulthood or audition for the academy's pre-professional division at age eleven. Current faculty includes ballet mistress Elena Vostrikov, who performed with the Bolshoi Ballet for twelve years, and modern dance chair David Park, a veteran of Movin' Out on Broadway.
Annual tuition ranges from $1,200 for children's introductory classes to $4,800 for the pre-professional program. The academy stages two major productions yearly at the State Theatre—December's Nutcracker draws audiences from across the Lehigh Valley—and participates in regional competitions including Youth America Grand Prix.
Pennsylvania Youth Ballet: Access and Excellence
When former Pennsylvania Ballet principal dancer Robert LaFosse launched the Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in 1997, he insisted on two non-negotiables: no student turned away for financial reasons, and a professional company component that would give teenagers performance experience with seasoned artists. The result is a rarity in American dance: a tuition-free, audition-based training program sustained by grants and private donors.
PYB's 85 students, ages 8-18, rehearse in donated space at Easton's Trinity Episcopal Church. The organization's professional wing, comprising six paid dancers and rotating guest artists, performs four programs annually at venues including the Williams Center for the Arts at Lafayette College and Philadelphia's Kimmel Center. PYB students appear alongside professionals in corps roles; recent repertoire includes Balanchine's Serenade and contemporary commissions by choreographers like Amy Hall Garner.
Admission is competitive—approximately 30% of applicants receive placement—but the model eliminates the economic barriers that typically filter who can pursue serious ballet training. Alumni include dancers now with BalletX, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and several university dance programs on full scholarship.
Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts: The Full-Time Path
For dancers seeking to integrate rigorous training with academics, the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts offers Pennsylvania's only public, tuition-free arts high school with a dedicated dance major. Located in downtown Bethlehem, twenty minutes from Easton, the school serves 600 students across all arts disciplines, with 120 in the dance program.
Dance majors spend three hours daily in technique classes—ballet, modern, and jazz—alongside a full academic load. The faculty includes former Martha Graham Dance Company member Patricia Wilson and ballet chair Thomas McManus, who danced with Joffrey Ballet and Houston Ballet. The program's emphasis on contemporary and modern dance distinguishes it from Easton's more ballet-centric institutions, though students receive daily classical training.
Graduation requirements include senior choreography projects and performance at the school's annual Spring Dance Concert, held at Zoellner Arts Center. Recent alumni have enrolled at Juilliard, SUNY Purchase, and Fordham University (in partnership with the Ailey School), with several now dancing professionally in modern and contemporary companies. Admission requires audition; the dance program accepts approximately 35% of applicants.
Easton Dance Company: The Pre-Professional Crucible
The youngest institution on this list, Easton Dance Company emerged in 2008
