Does CPYB have an actual company? I know they have a great training program, but do they have a company? Are they affiliated with a company?

They put on student performances. Since they are non profit, I guess that they did not have to form a separate company. www.cpyb.org . . .

CPYB is a company in itself. They are not affiliated with any company directly, but many well-known professional companies LOVE CPYB dancers and know that they are amazing dancers. CPYB puts on 4 performances a year, plus several in-studio performances. The shows are incredibly well put together, and CPYB is one of, if not the only, pre-professional company in the US that has permission to perform Balanchine's Nutcracker.

So although they don't have an "official" professional company, they pretty much are, just in a school form.

Hope this helps!

CPYB is a school. It does not have a professional dance company as part of the organization.

That is different from a student company: in a professional company, dancers are paid to be there, whereas in a student company, dancers pay to be there. It doesn't matter how good the students are, or what ballets they are licensed to perform, it is still a student company.

A professional company would be impossible to sustain in the middle of Pennsylvania.

Unlike students at most other schools,
the students at CPYB do not pay a performance or costume fee.
Costumes are professional quality and supplied to the students. The
school has a professional wardrobe/costume mistress and department.

As a previous poster stated, CPYB is the only school licensed to perform George Balanchine's NUTCRACKER. Students dance principal roles that you would normally see performed by NYCB or Pennsylvania Ballet.

Also, CPYB regularly is licensed to perform several Balanchine ballets and works with a repititeur from the Balanchine Trust.

While students are not paid professionals, they are treated like professionals, adhering to a rigorous training and rehearsal schedule. Attendance at all rehearsals is required and the standards they must adhere to are quite rigorous.

The school frequently performs with a live orchestra and has had many well-known choreographers create premieres for them. Last year, CPYB presented a full length SWAN LAKE, a world premier of CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS, and this year they are preparing a full length production of GISELLE.

Casting seems to be similar to company casting with select advanced students
regularly dancing principal roles, and other students usually assigned to soloist and/or corps de ballet roles. Final casting is not posted until a week or two before the performances, just like in a professional company.









maybe in the world