Our Philosophy
The Voorhees Ballet Theatre offers professional experiences to ballet students all over the Greater Philadelphia Area. Our purpose is provide students educational opportunities parallel to that of a professional ballet company. We are proud to showcase the talented, very capable abilities of VBT's Danse Ensemble. We always cast our own members before hiring professional guest artists, and are proud to have so many positions filled within our own company.
About the Voorhees Ballet Theatre
Artistic Director Suzanne C. Steinbach started The Voorhees Ballet Theatre in 1986 as The Little Theatre Dance Troupe. The company started with eight dancers and eleven board members. They performed throughout the South Jersey area at various banquets and community events, eventually broadening their performing areas to North Jersey and throughout the Greater Philadelphia Area. This young group dazzled audiences in the Invitational Dance Festival hosted by the National Ballet of New Jersey, under the direction of the late, great Lorraine McAdams. As the dancers matured and grew in style and grace, the board decided to mature the naming of the company as well, naming the group the Voorhees Danse Ensemble.
In 1987 the first annual Nutcracker performance by The Voorhees Danse Ensemble was staged. Suzanne choreographed the entire ballet using unique ideas she had dreamed about as a young girl. In 2000, the company began to produce two full-length ballets per year including Firebird (with Assistant Choreographer Brad Parquette), Hansel & Gretel (choreographed by international choreographer Paulo Manso de Sousa), Parisienne, Rodeo, Cinderella, and The Sound of Music (an original ballet created by Suzanne Steinbach).
In 2004, the Voorhees Danse Ensemble doubled in size and once again was re-born as The Voorhees Ballet Theatre. However, The Danse Ensemble remained a part of the Ballet Theatre, as the group of serious dancers who intend to make the arts a career. The Voorhees Ballet Theatre's Danse Ensemble still performs throughout the entire Delaware Valley.