A resilient First State Ballet Theatre lives up to its mission with expansion into southern New Castle County
By Scott Pruden
The rumbling and creaking of a backhoe seem like an odd accompaniment to a celebration of classical ballet, but on this broiling August day in Town of Whitehall outside Middletown, the construction noises precede the popping of champagne that will signal a satellite location for Wilmington-based First State Ballet Theatre (FSBT).
Kristina Kambalov, general manager of the ballet school and performance company; her husband and FSBT artistic director, Pasha; along with members of the FSBT team are all on hand, smiling through the perspiration. The building is an integral part of Whitehall, a “new urbanism” development by EDiS Company that combines classic-style homes with what the developer envisions as a busy commercial center. While fall classes will begin Sept. 3 at a temporary location, FSBT is planning to hold classes here starting in January 2025.
Bringing Ballet to Delaware
The satellite school is just another of many growth spurts Delaware’s professional ballet company has undergone since Kambalov arrived in Delaware in 1994 as a dancer with the Russian Ballet Theatre, which ended up closing in spring of 1999. That was an inflection point in Kambalov’s life during which Delaware almost lost one of its most passionate arts boosters to . . . banking.
The late Charles Cawley, founder of MBNA and at the time one of the most influential business leaders in Delaware, had been a supporter of the dance company, and he attempted to soften the blow to dancers by offering them jobs with the financial giant.
Calling the offer “gracious,” Kambalov says, “He wasn’t going to just drop us all without helping us out.”
She was about to accept an MBNA job scheduling travel for employees, while Pasha held out for something dance related. She suggested he find a partner and start his own school.
“He said, ‘I don’t trust anybody. I need it to be you,’” she says. “And I think that day I called [MBNA] and said, ‘I’m not ready to take this job.’ And I got in the car and started looking for space [for a dance studio].”
Her search first took her to Wilmington’s nascent Riverfront development, which at that time focused on being an outlet center. Eventually, she landed at Graystone Plaza in Newport, where the landlord was both welcoming and supportive of the Kambalovs’ vision.
“He totally believed in us and gave us a space,” she says.
Finding a Home
The couple named it the Russian Ballet Center to build upon the brand loyalty to their former company, and when it opened in 1999, they originally planned for it to be a for-profit school. However, the for-profit business model wasn’t something Kambalov was familiar with and wasn’t the way she wanted to run the school, she says.
She shared her concerns with a friend who set the Kambalovs up with a lawyer, who in turn helped them get certified as a 501(c)(3) non-profit before the end of that year. The school rebranded again, this time as First State Ballet Theatre, signaling their intention to serve the entire state.
FSBT carried on from its Newport location until 2003, when it received a surprise — the offer of permanent space at The Grand in downtown Wilmington. “Charles Cawley was still on the [Grand] board at that time. I’m sure he had a little something to do with it,” Kambalov says, laughing. “I can remember meeting with [then Grand CEO] Ken Wesler and I was with our board president and our treasurer, and we went over to Brew HaHa! and I just cried. I was like, this is amazing. I just couldn’t believe it.”
With financial support from The Welfare Foundation, The Longwood Foundation, and the City of Wilmington, FSBT made the big move from Newport and set upon rebuilding its roster of students, many of whom had parents unwilling to make the trip into downtown Wilmington.
Since then, FSBT has blossomed, building its curriculum and student body, and — perhaps most significant — adding a full-time professional dance company to its offerings in 2008.
Setbacks During COVID
Like every arts organization that depended on a “live and in-person” appeal, the dance troupe took a significant hit with COVID-related closures and limits on public gatherings. But Kambalov adjusted.
“I think the school was on Zoom within days,” she says. “We had our [2020] summer program on Zoom and we reopened here [at The Grand] in September. We were the only people in the building.”
Reopening brought its own challenges. Students practiced social distancing in the studios. Staff mopped between classes. There were laundry baskets everywhere to collect soiled laundry and staff had to disinfect each basket between loads. Parents weren’t allowed into the practice area. Enrollment between before the pandemic and after dropped from an average of 60 to 70 students to 40.
The loss of so many students was discouraging, Kambalov says, but she notes that now “we’re rebuilding. We’re going in the right direction.”
A Statewide Asset
Jessica Ball, director of the Delaware Division of the Arts, says FSBT’s commitment to outreach and serving all three of Delaware’s county is a huge part of its value to the state.
“[FSBT] ensures that the beauty and excitement of ballet are accessible to all Delawareans, regardless of their location,” she says. “Community leaders have praised FSBT for its dedication to arts education, community engagement and cultural enrichment.”
Already on the FSBT radar pre-pandemic — in keeping with its name and its mission — was the need to expand throughout the state. The company had established a fruitful relationship with the Freeman Stage in Sussex County and event and concert venue Loblolly Acres in Kent County. But another goal was to reach those dance-curious students for whom trekking into northern New Castle County was a non-starter.
“A lot of kids start taking dance thinking, ‘I’m going to dance!’ And their parent says, ‘Okay, well, here’s a school around the corner. This is where I went and I’m going to take you there. And then when you get serious, we’ll take you somewhere else,’” says Kambalov. “And we see it all the time. If we had a satellite, we would have a broader reach and be able to reach more young people.”
Town of Whitehall is an ideal location for the FSBT satellite, says EDiS President and CEO Brian DiSabatino. It not only has an 800-student elementary school, Lorewood Grove Elementary, just across the street, but a Ducklings daycare, with which FSBT will coordinate to hold classes for children as young as 16 months.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, DiSabatino noted that his team was very much “building a downtown from scratch” and appreciated the access to the arts that FSBT’s presence will provide.
“We got so excited when First State Ballet talked about being here,” he says. “It takes us back to our original plan for the town 10 or 15 years ago.”
— To purchase tickets for upcoming performances, visit FirstStateBallet.org.
Above: First State Ballet general manager Kristina Kambalov at The Grand Opera House. Photo by Tisa Della-Volpe.
Scott Pruden wrote his first stories for Out & About in the summer of 1989 while home from college at the University of South Carolina. He went on to work as a reporter, copy editor and news editor for newspapers in South Carolina, Arizona and Pennsylvania, resuming work for O&A in 2004 after becoming a full-time freelance writer. Though he’s a South Carolina native and lives and works in West Chester, Pa., he considers Delaware his “second home state.” His satirical science fiction novel Immaculate Deception was published by Codorus Press in 2010 and was a Pushcart Prize nominee. He’s busy working on his second novel.