Ballet Palm Beach, the professional ballet company based on Ironwood Road in Palm Beach Gardens, is in its 25th season. The company describes itself as the first and only professional ballet company based in Palm Beach County, and it is marking the anniversary with a season of ballets drawn from books, including a new work about Anne Frank in March.

From a civic company to five productions a year

The company began in 2001 as a small civic troupe called Florida Classical Ballet Theatre. It turned professional over the following decade and took the name Ballet Palm Beach in 2013, when it had 15 dancers, six of them trainees. It now stages five main-stage productions a season.

Its founder, Colleen Smith, is a Palm Beach County native who opened her school, now Ballet Palm Beach Academy, in 1993, eight years before the company. She has spent 43 years teaching dance and in 2020 was the sole winner of the Frank Prize for Arts Education. Her programs include Ballet by the Book, free performances at libraries, schools and theaters, and Ballet in the Balcony, which gives free tickets to families who could not otherwise go.

A season built on books

The 25th season is organized around ballets inspired by literature, which the company calls page-to-stage work. It opened Oct. 22 to 24 with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at the Kravis Center. The rest of the season, all at the Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach:

  • The Nutcracker, Dreyfoos Hall, Friday, Dec. 4, 2026, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 5, at 2 and 7 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 6, at 1 and 5 p.m. Tickets $25 to $135. The Kravis lists it at 45 minutes, a 20-minute intermission and another 45 minutes, recommended for ages 4 and up.
  • Anne Frank, a new work, Rinker Playhouse, Friday, March 5, 2027, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, March 6, at 2 and 7 p.m.; Sunday, March 7, at 1 and 5 p.m. Tickets $49 to $65.
  • Cinderella, to Prokofiev's score, Rinker Playhouse, Friday, April 9, 2027, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 10, at 2 and 7 p.m.; Sunday, April 11, at 1 and 5 p.m. Tickets $49 to $65.
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dreyfoos Hall, Saturday, June 26, 2027, at 7 p.m. Tickets $75 to $135.

The school in Palm Beach Gardens

Ballet Palm Beach Academy, the company's school, works out of the same Palm Beach Gardens studio at 10357 Ironwood Road. Registration for the 2026-27 school year is open, and the company has worked with guest choreographers including Christopher Huggins, Dennis Nahat and répétiteurs from the Balanchine Trust.

How to go

Tickets for every Ballet Palm Beach performance are sold by the Kravis Center, online on its Ballet Palm Beach page or at the Kravis box office, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. The Nutcracker runs Dec. 4 to 6, 2026, in Dreyfoos Hall. For the school and the company, visit Ballet Palm Beach at 10357 Ironwood Road, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410, or call 561-630-8235.

Sources