The only year-round professional ballet company in the state of Connecticut, the company has performed throughout New England in addition to special appearances at the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival, New York's Riverside Dance Festival, Cape Cod Performing Arts Festival, Harbourfront Festival in Toronto, Grand Central Station in New York City, Goat Island Dance Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, and many other venues.

The company's artistic mission is the presentation of the highest quality classical and contemporary ballet. Believing in the need for continued artistic growth, Artistic Director Brett Raphael has made the commissioning of new works by today's choreographers a hallmark of the company's repertoire. New ballets have been created by Ann Reinking, Joseph Locarro, Luk de Layress, Lila York, and Raphael himself alongside restagings of works by Anna Sokolow, Daryl Gray, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Danny Buraczeski, and Milton Myers. In addition, the company repertoire includes the full-length Nutcracker, Cinderella, Giselle, Coppèlia, Petrouchka and Brigadoon.

In 1992, 1993, and 2002, the company presented unique Men in Dance gala performances featuring some of the world's greatest male dancers and ensembles. Participants included Jose Greco, John Renvall, Pilobolus, Limon Dance Company, Les Ballets Trockadero, Ralph Lemon, Fernando Bujones and others. The 1993 gala was dedicated to the memory of Rudolph Nureyev. In 1996, the Company presented an original full-length work, La Belle Otero, with choreography by Artistic Director Brett Raphael, and in 1998, the Company premiered Raphael's full-length production of Romeo & Juliet, with music by contemporary songwriters Ani DiFranco, Sarah McLachlan, Bruce Springsteen, and Dar Williams. In 2003, the company revived Raphael's full-length production of Coppelia starring guest artists Larisa Lezhnina and Vlacheslav Samadurov of the Dutch National Ballet. In the Spring of 2007, the company premiered Razzle Dazzle!, a gala program of duets in a variety of genres and featuring dancers such as Carmen DeLavallade, Gus Solomons, Jr., Cecilia Kerche, Roxane Butterfly, MOMIX, and Maxine Steinman.

In September of 1999, a new phase in the company's development arrived when Zig Zag Ballet, our cutting-edge company of ten dancers, became the resident ballet company at the Stamford Center for the Arts. Zig Zag Ballet's repertoire includes works by Raphael, Ann Marie DeAngelo, Lar Lubovitch, Ramon Oller, Joel Schnee, Jahain Clark, and Darrell Moultrie.  Zig Zag Ballet's New York debut took place in May 2003 and included world premieres by Michael Uthoff, Brett Raphael, Miguel Gutierrez, and a restaging of Darrell Moultrie's 'Pulse,' In February 2008, Zig Zag Ballet premiered Visages, a new work by Olivier Pawagnimdi Tarpaga, co-founder of Burkina Faso-based dance company, Compagnie Ta, and Los Angeles-based Baker/Tarpaga Dance Project.

Connecticut Ballet and Zig Zag Ballet artists are contracted by the season. They hail from companies such as American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cunningham Dance Company, Paul Taylor Dance Company, San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Hubbard Street Dance Company, MOMIX, Mark Morris Dance Company, and Complexions. For information on the 2007-2008 roster of dancers, click on Company Artists.

Connecticut Ballet's Trainee Program spans the entire season and is open to advanced students and pre-professionals by audition. Special classes, coaching in classical and contemporary repertoire, and performance opportunities with the professional company are included. Click here for 2007-2008 Trainee Program flyer.