The Last Dance? Northeast Youth Ballet Hopes To Survive Pandemic

READING, MA — The Northeast School of Ballet has trained young dancers since 1971, starting in Sandra McNaught's Melrose living room before transitioning to a building on Essex Street, where an electrical fire displaced it in 2010. The school spent the next 18 months working out of the city's Memorial Hall before settling into a historic stone church in Reading Center, where it grooms performers and houses its performing company, the Northeast Youth Ballet.

The school has survived quite a bit over its 49 years. Thanks to the coronavirus, it may not see its 50th.

The nonprofit is buckling under the pressure of the financial reality brought on by COVID-19. While the school has transitioned to streaming its training to cramped living spaces, the spring season performances and many classes have been canceled — and the significant revenue that comes with them has evaporated.

"The students are incredibly disappointed that their spring performance season was canceled," Denise Cecere, McNaught's daughter who founded the youth ballet in 1996, said. The school was prepping for an exchange program in Florida to perform Sleeping Beauty.

But the short-term disappointments are giving way to long-term fears. The school doesn't know when it can open or performances will be allowed — and if so, when will people start coming back in the same numbers as before? The school is developing online contingencies for summer programs, but there's a limit.

"It is not an ideal set up for dancers that need space to move," Cecere said. "They are limited to small areas in their homes and coping with sometimes insufficient wifi on their computer or phone. However, watching them take their daily Zoom classes, is an example of perseverance, hard work, passion, and discipline the training instills. They inspire me!"

On the line is the future of a generation of local dancers. Over the past few decades, the school has sent dancers to world class ballet companies and ambassadors of the art as global educators. More immediately in danger is the annual Nutcracker performance in Andover, which is open to children who audition from more than three dozen cities and towns.

"Northeast School of Ballet is a lifeline to many young dancers who have discovered a passion for ballet early in life and who find that dance allows them to express themselves, find their centers, and nurture their souls," Erika Wolf, who sits on the company's board, said.

The school is seeking donations to help it get to the whatever the new normal will be. You can find its website here.