North Pointe Ballet was founded in 2016 by Artistic Director Janet Dziak with the mission to make classical ballet accessible to everyone in our community.
After retiring as a professional ballerina with the Saint Louis Ballet, Mrs. Dziak returned to her hometown in Lorain County to teach and choreograph for other arts organizations. During this time, she developed a passion for making the arts accessible to under-served populations. She was particularly inspired to begin her mission with the special needs community as a result of her personal encounters with Autism within her own family. Mrs. Dziak decided to use her experiences as a professional dancer and her passion for serving those with special needs to start a non-profit. She dedicated her focus to developing programming that served the community.
North Pointe Ballet first contracted professional dancers in 2016 and gained non-profit status in January of 2017. NPB continues to expand its offerings to make classical ballet accessible to more and more individuals. NPB is currently providing programming such as Sensory-Friendly theatrical performances, arts education workshops in local schools, scholarships for dancers of minority ethnicity, opportunities for children with special needs to learn and perform ballet, on-site dance education reaching youth of minority ethnicity, and community engagement performances at community sites such as senior living communities, hospitals, arts festivals, cultural arts centers, and libraries in addition to full-length classical works onstage.