Meet Melissa Zoebisch

Today we’re excited to be connecting with Melissa Zoebisch again. If you haven’t already, we suggest you check out our prior conversation with them here.

Melissa, thanks for joining us again. Just to level set a bit for folks who may have missed our last interview together, can you briefly introduce yourself?
My name is Melissa Zoebisch, and I am one of the Artistic Directors of Denver Ballet Theatre & Academy.
We are a pre-professional training program that follows the world-renowned syllabus of the Vaganova method; a comprehensive and progressive system that allows dancers to fulfill their individual potential.

Alongside the academy training, we focus to provide professional-level performances, to give our dancers a feeling of it would be like to be in a dance company.

Throughout the challenges the covid presented to businesses like ours, we remained committed to providing said performance opportunities to our students, and were one of the few schools in the country to have had both recorded and live productions.

Thanks to the support of our amazing faculty and families, we continue to serve our community through outreach, and complimentary tickets for underserved populations.

Great, so let’s jump into an update on what you have been up to since we last spoke. What can you share with us?
This is the first year we have finally seen significant growth in the number of students that have enrolled in our program, as well as participating in our performances.

One of my favorite things about this job is all the pretty tutus! And not just the tutus, there are dresses and men’s tunics that are quite lovely. We have been able to update costumes that were too old, not quite in line with the vision of the production, or just flat out ugly! As well as purchasing new costumes for our spring performances, removing the need to rent, and growing our collection.

Perhaps one of the most challenging things in recent years has been finding a performance venue for our end-of-year Showcase. A couple of years ago the high school we used to rent their auditorium from, stopped taking outside reservations due to staff shortages. We were lucky enough to find another place that met all our needs, only to get told this year that they were no longer renting it out. So, once again, we had to go on a hunt. It looks like we may have finally found a theater that fits within our needs and budget. We will be keeping our fingers crossed that we can return on a yearly basis.

We are also very excited to be able to bring extremely qualified and well-renowned guest faculty for our Summer Intensive program. This was something we had to pause, due to budgetary constraints, but are finally able to expose our students to teachers at the top of their fields.

Alright, so let’s do something a bit more fast-paced and lighthearted. We call this our lightning round and we’ll ask you a few quick questions.

Favorite Movie: Love Actually

Favorite Book: Apollo’s Angels

Favorite TV Show: Friends

Sweet or Savory: Savory

Mountains or Beach: Beach

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up: A ballerina

French Fries or Onion Rings: French fries

Favorite Childhood movie: Sleeping Beauty

What do you want people to remember about you and your brand? What are some of things that you feel are most important, unique, special, etc?
That I always expected their best. Life is hard, and full of unexpected situations, and the only thing we can do is our best, whatever that might be on that particular day. And that we can uphold a standard of excellence in all aspects of our lives, to never become complacent. This idea that we can just drop out of something because “it’s hard”, does not create driven, tenacious, or motivated individuals, something the world needs to be able to move forward. I want my students to think back on their time at DBT, and see all the invaluable lessons a discipline provides for everything you encounter or face. But also a love of dance and art, so they can become stewards for supporting the need for art in our lives.

Website: https://www.denverballettheatre.org

Instagram: @denver.ballet.theatre

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DenverBalletTheatreAcademy

Image Credits
Alexandru Glushacov