Cultivate Performing Arts Academy

It's time to register for the 2026- 2027 Dance Season! While we accept enrollments year-round, many of our classes are starting to fill. We don't want you to miss your chance to experience the best ballet, tap, jazz, and contemporary dance training Colorado Springs has to offer!

To schedule your FREE trial class, please email Artistic Director Amy Schaefer at [email protected].

To enroll today, please visit https://www.cytcoloradosprings.org/dance/

Let us know if you have any questions or if we can help in any way!

And with that, the curtain on our first season for Cultivate Dance has officially drawn to a close! This inaugural year, we:

🌷Welcomed almost 150 dancers into classes, camps, and intensives
🌷Built 4 beautiful dance studios with state-of-the-art sprung floors
🌷Designed and built our own custom barres
🌷Built a theater and later added raised seating
🌷Hosted our first Christmas Showcase and Hot Chocolate Social
🌷Enjoyed our first annual Spring Production, "Mythos: Dancing Through Legends and Lore"

None of this would have been possible without the volunteer force of parents and the incredible students and mentors who came alongside us to make CYT's Cultivate Performing Arts Academy a reality!

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for making our first season together a success!

We can't wait to see you in the studio on August 10th for the start of our 2026-2027 season!

Did you know Cultivate has an amazing line up of classes for students who homeschool or have flexible school schedules? Between 1 and 4:15 p.m. on Tuesdays, we offer tap, ballet, and jazz for students age 9-18. Each style is offered for beginner, intermediate, and advanced dancers, so there's a place for everyone to jump in and learn!

Ready to experience the best dance training Colorado Springs has to offer? Email Artistic Director Amy Schaefer at [email protected] to arrange your FREE trial class! Our season starts August 10th and we'd love to see you there!

(Please note Advanced Tap is only offered on Monday evenings.)

❄❄❄Our "Frozen Kingdom" Dance Camp got off to a great start! We had a great morning filled with ballet, engaging stories, glittery crafts, themed snacks, and even some fun with the parachute! ❄❄❄

Our 3-5 year old group is full, but we still have a few spaces in our 6-8 year old group! We would love to have you join us for this adventure!

https://www.cytcoloradosprings.org/camps/Cultivate-Greenhouse-The-Frozen-Kingdom-Dance-Camp-July-28-30/372

Our Conservatory dancers are finishing up their first week of Pre-Season Intensives! At Cultivate, we work hard together, but we play together, too. It's not just fun for the sake of fun. It's part of creating a healthy social-emotional environment for our dancers, especially for the dancers ages 9+ who are part of our Studio Program and Conservatory.

Every dancer develops at a different pace, so it's inevitable there are years a dancer repeats a level while their peers move forward. Because of this, we believe it's important for the dancers to know each other and spend time together across levels. Instead of, "All my friends moved to the next level," our dancers can say, "This year I'm in class with these friends."

Our Studio Program dancers have the opportunity to build these cross-level relationships during CYT classes, rehearsals, productions, cast parties, and more. Our Conservatory dancers have the opportunity to build these relationships through our Pre-Season Intensives, dinner breaks intentionally scheduled for two or more levels to mix and mingle, Repertoire classes that meet at the same time, and more.

This is only possible because we are committed to small class sizes and strong community!

Ready to be part of that kind of community? Email Artistic Director Amy Schaefer at [email protected] today to schedule your FREE placement class!

Early childhood dance education is a passion of ours at Cultivate! We believe dance has the power to develop important skills kids will use for life: coordination, confidence, musicality, rhythm, impulse control, fine and gross motor skills, the power to tell a story, and so much more!

That's where Cultivate's Greenhouse Program comes into play! The Greenhouse is a place for our youngest dancers to learn and grow in a safe, nurturing environment that has been intentionally designed to meet their needs.

How is our program different? We believe early childhood ballet:

🌷Needs small class sizes! Our Greenhouse classes are capped at 8-12 students, depending on the age and level.

🌷Should be taught carefully and specifically from the ground up, not as a sink-or-swim environment

🌷Needs competent, skilled, and well-trained teachers who know the ins-and-outs of ballet and find joy in working with young children

🌷Sets the foundation for all of a student's future work! Our job to is to preserve the love and joy of dance while giving boys and girls the tools they need to be successful in their later years.

If you're looking for a studio that believes children deserve an age-appropriate environment with skilled teachers providing quality training, you've found it!

Email Artistic Director Bethanny Jorenby-Shea at [email protected] today to schedule your FREE placement class!

At Cultivate, we have two different ballet programs for students ages 9 and older: Studio Program and Conservatory. What's the difference? The goal of the students!

Our Studio Program ballet classes are specifically designed for students pursuing musical theater. Many of these students take multiple styles of dance, participate in CYT classes and productions, and take voice!

Our Conservatory ballet classes are designed for students pursuing classical ballet on a professional or collegiate level. These students train in multiple styles of dance, but classical ballet is their primary extra-curricular activity.

Both programs receive excellent training with high-caliber teachers. Both are filled with students who are talented in a multitude of ways. Both are important to our program!

Ready to experience the best training Colorado Springs has to offer at a studio committed to small class sizes and intentional community? Reach out to Artistic Director Bethanny Jorenby-Shea to schedule your free placement class! [email protected]

What a way to start the week! Erin Merkley, the creator and organizer of the NOCO Dance Intensive, reached out this weekend with three scholarships for our dancers to attend in Denver. We are so thankful these young ladies were able to take advantage of the opportunity. It's going to be a wonderful week of inspiration and growth as they immerse themselves in ballet, modern, hip-hop, contemporary, dance for film, musical theater, and more!