New Ballet Ensemble & School

New Ballet Ensemble & School serves over 400 dance students weekly from Memphis and Shelby County. The school offers classes in ballet, West African dance, flamenco, modern, hip-hop, Memphis Jookin, and tap, with instruction grounded in a professional standard of training. Starting at age 3 with Creative Movement classes based on the BrainDance method by Anne Greene Gilbert, students progress through Pre-Ballet and then Ballet Levels 1–7, each with structured technique and performance opportunities.

The teaching faculty includes Traci Kubie, Dance Education Director, a professional dancer who performed leading roles choreographed by George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, William Forsythe, and Nacho Duato. During her 20+ year career, she danced with Hartford Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Chautauqua Ballet, and Charlotte Ballet, and later served as Rehearsal Director for Charlotte Ballet for over 10 years. The school's founder and Chief Strategy Officer is Katie Smythe, who began her professional career with the Minnesota Dance Theatre and later developed arts education programming at the Los Angeles Music Center.

Performance is central to the training model. Beginning in Ballet Level 1, students perform in the annual NutRemix™ production at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts alongside the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. This large-scale holiday reinvention of the Nutcracker features over 200 cast members, 90% of whom are students, and combines classical ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, flamenco, Memphis Jookin, West African dance, live flamenco musicians, and African drummers. Additional mainstage performances include Family Night at the Overton Park Shell each May, Springloaded, and SummerDance. Students also perform with partner venues including the Buckman Performing and Fine Arts Center at St. Mary's Episcopal School and the Germantown Performing Arts Center. New Ballet students and teaching artists have performed commissioned works at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. with the National Symphony Orchestra.

The school prioritises whole child development through academic support, mentoring, mental wellness services, and its Creative Youth Development programme. All students in the Pathways programme at Shelby County Schools participate tuition-free. Need-based scholarships are available on a sliding scale for families who qualify. The organisation reaches 13,000+ Memphis Shelby County Schools students annually through in-school performances and partnerships. Since 2003, 100% of New Ballet students have progressed to college or career. The school was recognised by First Lady Michelle Obama in 2014 for its work empowering young people emotionally and socially through the arts.

New students attend a placement audition to find a class appropriate for their skill level. Classes combine technique training with diverse dance forms, and performance is embedded in the curriculum from early levels. The school held an Open House on 8 August with free sample classes in Creative Movement, Hip-Hop, and West African styles for ages 3–11, with door prizes and on-site registration fee waivers available.

Traci Kubie is Dance Education Director, a professional dancer with 20+ years' experience performing with Hartford Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Chautauqua Ballet, and Charlotte Ballet, dancing roles created by Alonzo King and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux. Katie Smythe is Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, who began her career with the Minnesota Dance Theatre and developed arts education at the Los Angeles Music Center. Matthew Best is Executive Director and a former student of the school who performed in the 2005 NutRemix production.

Classes begin at age 3 with Creative Movement based on brain development principles; new students attend a placement audition to ensure appropriate class level.