Train with Colorado's most awarded ballet school
For more than 25 years, International Ballet School has trained young dancers in Centennial, Colorado with one belief at its core: excellence and encouragement go hand in hand. Our classes are small — capped at twelve students — so every dancer receives individual coaching in a positive, supportive environment, whether the goal is a professional stage career or simply the finest classical education. Our record speaks for itself: 8-time YAGP Outstanding School, 6 Grand Prix winners, Prix de Lausanne finalists, and alumni dancing with American Ballet Theatre, The Joffrey Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and more than 27 professional companies worldwide.
A joyful first step into dance: movement, musicality, spatial awareness, and creativity in small classes capped at 12, building the foundation for classical training.
Technique built through repetition and retention — strength, musicality, and artistry — preparing dancers for pointe work, with auditions for two professional productions each year.
Daily classical technique, pointe, variations, pas de deux, and contemporary under Mark and Sandra Carlson's direction — after-school and full day-program tracks for career-bound dancers ages 12-20.
The International Youth Ballet stages The Nutcracker and a spring production every year at the Gates Concert Hall, Newman Center for the Arts — professional sets, costumes, and partners.
Four weeks of ballet, contemporary, character, conditioning, and repertoire with guest faculty from the French and Vaganova schools, closing with a final performance.
International Ballet School was founded in 1997 by Mark Carlson, who trained at the School of Imperial Russian Ballet under Paul Petroff and Nana Gollner and spent two decades on European stages as a soloist and principal dancer. In 2000 he was joined by Sandra Kerr-Carlson — former soloist with Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Colorado Ballet — who co-directs the school and designs and stages every production. From a single studio in Centennial, the school has become one of the most decorated ballet programs in the country: 8 times YAGP Outstanding School, 14 years of YAGP Outstanding Teacher awards, 6 Grand Prix winners, 42 first-place finishes, and finalists at the Prix de Lausanne, Jackson IBC, and the Beijing International Ballet Competition. POINTE Magazine has noted that our students go on to dance all over the world. Every year the school's performing company, the International Youth Ballet, stages two full professional productions — The Nutcracker and a rotating spring ballet — at the Gates Concert Hall, Newman Center for the Arts, with professional sets, hand-made costumes, and hired professional partners. Students as young as four audition, rehearse, and perform on a real stage in front of a real audience. Alumni have earned contracts with American Ballet Theatre, The Joffrey Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Houston Ballet, and more than 27 professional companies. But most students who walk through our door are not chasing a contract — they come to learn what every dancer here learns: with hard work, confidence, and a good work ethic, anything is possible in life.
250 East Dry Creek Rd, Suite 203, Centennial, CO 80122
Phone: (720) 283-6323
Email: internationalyouthballetco@gmail.com