The En Avant Foundation for the future of ballet

The En Avant Foundation is a new non-profit foundation for specialised ballet coaching, mentoring and awarding scholarships in the sphere of classical ballet founded by Cynthia Harvey. A principal for many years with the American Ballet Theater, Harvey has been coaching and staging ballets since she left the stage in 1996. She got the impression that quantity had taken precedence over quality and musicality ignored in the classical ballet world. As a new initiative formed with a specific purpose to promote classical ballet by offering specialised ballet coaching via Master Classes and Workshops, En Avant Foundation is able to offer dancers the means by which to propel their careers. The Foundation utilises eminent artists from the ballet world who are known for their brilliant careers and qualifications; their wealth of knowledge is immeasurable and they are willing to pass it on in order to aid the next generation of artists. It is the Foundation’s goal to contribute to the existing potential of young dancers. En Avant Foundation has the support of a number of prestigious artists who have agreed to become the Advisory Committee: Darcey Bussell CBE, Ángel Corella, Isabelle Guérin, Dr Linda Hamilton, Steven Heathcote, Desmond Kelly OBE, Violette Verdy, and Edward Villella: each of the artists has a voice following a great career and have been noted for their musicality, presence, dramatic qualities or purity. The Foundation’s first event will be held in New York City on 7 and 8 June, with Villella, Guérin and Harvey as teachers and solo/pas de deux coaches, including Dr Linda Hamilton, Advice Columnist for Dance Magazine, presenting a lecture on “Overcoming the Stresses of Performance”. The foundation also plans to announce its first scholarship shortly before the class offering further opportunity to pre-professional ballet students with huge potential.