Ballet East Dance Company was foundedin 1978, as a company dedicated to excellence in modern dance and choreography.
Ballet East has long maintained an active outreach program, following Mendez’s belief that the arts can transform the lives of individuals and communities. The company acts as a force for change with lively after-school programs, scholarships for dancers and other performers, internships in stagecraft, and special projects in community building and development. These efforts have been recognized at the local, state and national level; for example, Ballet East’s Dare to Dance program was selected as a semifinalist for the Coming Up Taller Awards of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities two years in a row. In 2006 the Austin Critics’ Table in recognition of the consistently high standards Ballet East Dance Company has sustained for close to thirty years inducted Rodolfo Mendez into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame. Mendez believes the arts are surging with new energy now, and that leadership must emerge to support it.
BALLET EAST DANCE COMPANY