Work

Overview

Iconic choreographer George Balanchine’s first effort when he moved to the United States was to start a dance school to develop dancers in his classical technique. In 1934, with the help of philanthropist Lincoln Kirstein, the School of American Ballet opened its doors

Today, it continues to be the premier ballet academy in the United States, and as the associate school for the New York City Ballet, it trains more students who go on to become professional dancers than any other school.

Strategy

Byte Studios worked with SAB from 2006 to 2020, and has built three major iterations of the website. We've provided full support of every version site which had helped us learn a lot about the SAB's processes and needs, making each version of the site more succinct and usable.

As a ballet school, the primary audience are the parents of kids who want to attend. The site needed to speak to them, from the aspirations of one of the most beautiful art forms to the trepidations of sending their children to New York City to attend classes.

Visual Inspiration

Each update to the site's design speaks to the art of ballet, the beauty of dance and of form, and at the same time maintains the overall integrity of the brand. Not only does the site still convey the richly textured history of SAB, but it also shares its passion and commitment to the future of dance, while inspiring generations of dancers yet to come. 

As a premier arts organization in NYC, the site needed have visual cues to the form of dance, with space and flow that felt like a cultural institution but at the same time drew visitors into the imagery. 

The site also needed to cover the technical parts of running a ballet school, with class descriptions per semester, student showcases, academic calendars and enrollment details. It also needed to help facilitate the rigorous process of touring around the country to give more kids an opportunity to try out.