Long Island Ballet Theatre (formerly Huntington Ballet Theatre) “Long Island’s connection to the professional dance world.”
New York City, the dance capital of the world, is just one hour from us and yet very few Long Islanders will travel into the city to see professional dance works unless it is part of a Broadway production. Fortunately for us, The Long Island Ballet Theatre (LIBT) was founded almost 30 years ago by Jan Hanniford Goetz simultaneous to her founding of the Huntington School of Ballet.
In 2005, Joan Albright, then President of the LIBT board, opened the Huntington Center for Performing Arts as a home for the ballet company. Prior to opening the space, the LIBT had produced story ballets as well as the annual Nutcracker. Among them were Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Cinderella, Tales from the Crypt (a Halloween ballet) and two Galas that featured members of NYC Ballet, Adelphi University Dance Department, students of Huntington Center and live classical music provided by Matthew Pierce (a composer of original ballet music & now a violin teacher on LI).
The LIBT has put professional artists to work for close to 30 years while at the same time giving young dancers the opportunity to dance in a professional production. A unique Long Island institution, the LIBT has built a dance audience in addition to creating opportunities for dancers.
The mission of LIBT has remained the same – producing professional ballet consisting of classical and contemporary work and when possible, providing aspiring professionals, students and pre-professionals the opportunity to dance side by side with professional dancers, costume designers, directors and stage crew.
The Claire Friedlander Family Foundation’s grant to LIBT enabled them to produce contemporary work by Saya Harada and a new Cinderella by Rob Royce. Cinderella featured professionals & students.
Huntington Center for Performing Arts
310 NewYork Ave.
Huntington, NY 11743
631-271-4626