Mission Statement

Providence Ballet Theatre is dedicated to cultivating, developing and inspiring dancers in a nurturing and creative environment. Through regular public performances, dancers and choreographers will mix the challenging with the accessible, enriching the artistic and cultural life of Rhode Island.

Organization History

Providence Ballet Theatre is the third branch of an organization stemming from the original Providence Ballet School. The school was founded in 1995 by Eva Marie Pacheco. In 2003 she created the Providence Youth Ballet to provide performing opportunities for local students. In 2008, the not-for-profit professional Providence Ballet Theatre made its debut. Since then, performances by the Providence Ballet Theatre have included an original production of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” a Spring Concert in May 2011 and participation in the Pawtucket Arts Festival in September 2011. In the Spring of 2012 we added an ALL NEW production of Hansel and Gretel with Choreography by Artistic director Eva Marie Pacheco, Original Score by Tony Lustig. In the Spring of 2018 we presented our Original Ballet “Snow White and the Seven Dwarf” a collaboration between Composer Tony Lustig and Artistic Director Eva Marie Pacheco with the talents of Costume Designers Maxine Wheelock and Christine Britton, set design by Christopher Abernathy, Projection design by Chris Griffin and lighting design by Robert M. Ferland Jr. We continue to bring new, exciting and entertaining dance to our community.

The Providence Ballet school provides rigorous classical ballet and modern dance training in a nurturing environment. Our students come from all over the state, as well as from our neighborhood in South Providence. A satellite school in East Greenwich opened in 1998, allowing us to provide our arts education to an even greater number of students. No one is ever turned away for financial reasons; each year approximately five percent of our dance classes are free to any student who demonstrates need. Our Providence studio has become a vibrant artistic hub in an otherwise struggling part of the city. Our school has also become a pipeline sending students onto perform with the Providence Youth Ballet and the Providence Ballet Theatre.The Providence Youth Ballet has provided many opportunities for our students to perform throughout the state. Students audition, rehearse and perform as they would in any professional dance company. The dancers rise to the challenge and put on an incredible show!