The Yellowstone Ballet Company is an established, community-based performing arts company, producing quality classic and original ballets in Park and Gallatin counties for over 20 years. YBC began with an original production of "Cinderella" including guest dancers from Bozeman and Missoula and professionals from the Stuttgart Ballet and Joffrey Ballet. The following year we started our annual "Nut
cracker" productions with tours to Bozeman, Great Falls and Lewistown. We gradually added classics such as "Giselle", "La Fille Mal Gardee", and "Swan Lake" to our repertoire. Through partial funding from the Montana Cultural Trust we have produced original productions of "Hiawatha", "Hansel and Gretel- with a Twist", "Romeo and Juliet of the Rockies", "The Elves and the Shoemaker", and " Pinnocchio". Dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Boston Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Paris Opera Ballet have highlighted our productions in principal roles. YBC is supported by donations, grants, ticket sales and volunteerism. Productions are open to dancers from all area dance schools through and audition process. Several of our productions have been collaborative in nature, bringing together ballroom dancers, break dancers, theater actors, and ballet, tap, and jazz students, much to the delight of audiences. Our Artistic Director, Kathleen Rakela, danced with the Sacramento Theatre Ballet and trained at the Royal Academy of Dancing in England. She has a teaching credential (AIST) with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, London, England in the Cecchetti Method of Ballet and is an ABT Certified Teacher, successfully completing the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 5 of the ABT National Training Curriculum. Rakela is the recipient of the Montana Dance Arts Association Fellowship and the Montana Arts Council Fellowship for the Performing Arts. Her choreography has been recognized internationally and her original ballet "Romeo & Juliet of the Rockies" was chosen for presentation at festivals in Amsterdam and Germany.
