NEW YORK, June 24, 2020 -- This Thursday on Zoom, Brighton Ballet Theater (BBT), a non-profit dance studio and cultural oasis for South Brooklyn, hosts its 33rd World of Dance Festival, for the first time on a virtual platform. Students, who represent a myriad of diverse cultures and backgrounds, and who hail from both public school programs as well as BBT's studio classes, will dance classical ballet, contemporary, and character dance from many different national dance traditions.

"This online festival shows how children manage to succeed despite difficult circumstances," says BBT Founder and Executive Director Irina Roizin.

"This is a new experience. Due to Covid, we had to record performances multiple times because students are performing in their homes with very limited space. In the end, however, we achieved very good results and it shows just how disciplined the students are."

While the pandemic has imposed many constraints on funding, classes, and rehearsals, BBT hopes that the expanded audience who can now access the festival online will more than compensate for the loss of the live theater experience.

The festival also coincides with the 25th anniversary of BBT's Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer Edouard Kouchnarev. In tribute to his celebrated career with the organization, the festival will include a brief documentary about Kouchnarev as well as performances and greetings from alumni. Interested individuals are also encouraged to donate to a scholarship fund in Kouchnarev's honor.

BBT has been offering online dance classes since April 2020 and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. After July 6, BBT will add a limited number of live, in-person classes in accordance with NYC health guidelines. For more information about the festival and online or offline classes in the Vaganova (Russian) method of ballet, Brighton Ballet Theater, the dance scholarship in honor of Kouchnarev, or this fall's auditions for BBT's Nutcracker, please visit www.bbtballet.org or call 929.610.2117.

The festival will be accessible LIVE on Zoom starting at 6pm EDT on Thursday, June 25, 2020.
ZOOM Link: https://bit.ly/380neyu

Contact:
Irina Roizin, Founder & Executive Director

BBT (Brighton Ballet Theater)
c/o Kingsborough Community College
2001 Oriental Boulevard, Bldg. T7
Brooklyn, NY 11235
917.836.4189 or 242359@email4pr.com
www.bbtballet.org FB: @RussianBalletUSA Twitter: @BrightonBallet