Dear Students and Parents,
As the calendar moves toward June and another school year concluding without so many of our traditions, we’re reminiscing about what a special time the end of the school year is.
We love spring at PNBS! Spring brings news of job offers and college acceptance letters and celebrations for all the students that are moving on each year. Preparations for School Performance would be in full swing by now with additional rehearsals somehow finding space in the schedule. Faculty members make plans to highlight the incredible strides each class made that year. And students would excitedly come into the office to share their summer plans, as we make plans to welcome them back again for fall. I miss all of it.
This year, of course, everything is different. We thought, in March of 2020, that this would last a few weeks, then a few months, and then we entered this period of time we’re all sharing now where we’re still in a state of reinvention while so much of what we do remains in a state of suspension. It is so important to acknowledge the grief and hardship suffered by so many in our communities. This has been an exceptionally challenging period of time in all our lives, particularly for young people. Depending on the student and the day, ballet is an escape, a necessary diversion, a happy place, and an opportunity to experience music and movement away from distractions. Ballet studios are special places for those that spend time in them, and we know that being away from them this last year has been devastating for so many students.
The challenges of the past sixteen months have changed PNB and PNB School forever. The current struggle to plan for what comes next while we’re still navigating what’s happening right now is taxing. BUT, we will emerge from this crisis – bruised, but intact – and with greater urgency around our values of inclusivity, transparency, and sharing joy. Zoom ballet from home has not been easy, and yet we discovered how resilient and inventive we are. The connections students and faculty made with each other while navigating this time together are meaningful and lasting. We are exceptionally proud of our students for showing up and doing their best in an unprecedented situation. PNB School students spend the year improving, trying, learning, and moving – all while being good classmates to each other. We’re proud of our faculty for learning how to deliver exceptional ballet training to students from home. And we’re proud of our accompanists and our staff for keeping us all on the beat and moving forward.
As we look to the near future we’re overwhelmed and energized. Overwhelmed thinking through the protocol required to bring all students safely back into the Phelps Center and the Francia Russell Center, but energized by the fact that we are bringing students back for in-person classes! We will start this summer with our scaled-down Summer Course which will pave the way to resume classes in September. As you can imagine, there are so many details to iron out and the advice from our local authorities is still changing frequently, but we can manage this. The situation is trending in a direction that will allow us to get back in new ways to what we love doing – educating your students in person.
Thank you for sticking with us this year, and for your devotion to your student’s ballet experience. We are grateful for you.
Denise Bolstad
Managing Director
