Louisville Ballet makes moving art that respects tradition, encourages innovation, and fosters life-long learning. We inspire connection, conversation and a profound sense of community, by striving for bold collaborations, by nurturing the next generation of artists, by celebrating diversity, and by creating access for all.
Louisville Ballet, led by CEO Leslie Smart and Artistic Directors Mikelle Bruzina and Harald Uwe Kern, is an evolved but accessible ballet company committed to boldly and beautifully communicating artistic stories both classic and new. We exist to move, to evoke emotion, to provoke thought, and to challenge perceptions. We are artists, athletes, activists, inventors, and inspirers. Louisville Ballet has been one of the nation’s leading regional ballet companies since 1952. As the Official State Ballet of Kentucky, Louisville Ballet has worked with some of ballet’s brightest lights including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Twyla Tharp, and Wendy Whelan, performed for tens of thousands of people and reached over 20,000 school children throughout the commonwealth with educational programs annually.