Established in 1952, the Ballet Department is a training institution for aspiring young dancers and teachers and for nearly 60 years has been a training place of dancers for the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. Attracting students from across the country, the Ballet Department is the only ballet school in Lithuania that provides elite dance training, academic instruction and residential care on the same campus for about 200 students.

The ballet programme curriculum emphasizes the physical and emotional well-being of the student, contributes to dancers' personal development, helps to assist performing arts organizations by rendering educational services and formation of communications' space for choreography professionals based on the following principles. Therefore our graduates successfully perform in the ballet companies worlwide.

Notable alumni with an international career include Jurgita Dronina, Rūta Jezerskytė, Mindaugas Baužys, Asta Bazevičiūtė, Neli Beliakaitė, Jolanta Valeikaitė, etc.

A classical dancer must be much more than just a strong technician. That's why at the ballet department over thirty teachers nurture the wider range of skills required of today's classical dancers. We give our students opportunities to perform in a variety of different dance styles and genres during the training (classical dance, character dance, contemporary dance, partnering, historical dance, etc.), as well as studying complementary subjects like acting, movement anatomy and Pilates. Our students work with the teachers to increase strength and stamina and develop individual performance style and artistic eloquence. Classes are carefully graded both by age and by technical level, and each student receives personal attention and guidance required for his / her progress.

Starting year 2010 a modern dance program has been opened at the Ballet Department providing a wider range of choices for students who maybe are unable to continue their studies in Classical Ballet. The first graduates of the program are currently studying dance in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Zurich, and Lithuania.

To help students develop better performance skills a Dance Theater has been opened in 2009. With sprung dance floor, 400 seat audience and one of the bigger stages in Lithuania, it has become a training ground for future professionals and also a place where exams, Gala performances, student composition evenings, and repertory performances take place.

Our students participated and enjoyed the successes at different ballet international competitions including Helsinki (1995 and 2005), Nagoya (1996 and 2000), Jackson(1998 and 2005) and Moscow (1997 and 2005), Paris (1996) and Lausanne (1994), Perm (1994) and St.Petersburg (1994), Berlin (2009), Tallin (2012), Grasse (2015), etc. Since 2002 our students constantly take place and are awarded at the ballet competitions in Grasse (France) and Mora (Sweden).

To help bridge the gap between training and a professional career our students give regular performances at a Dance Theater - some are full-length ballets, like “Coppelia”, some are contemporary productions like “The Blackbirds” to music of Steve Reich and others are short matinee performances danced by our youngest (7-10 year olds) for the young audience of their age. Our students also participate at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet performances such as “Sleeping Beauty”, “La Bayadere”, “Don Quixote”, “Snow Queen”. For more than 30 years the students have been performing the ballet “Cinderella” with live orchestra on stage of the National Opera and Ballet Theater every year as part of the Theater’s repertory.

For more information about the school, please, look up our website:

http://www.cmm.lt/cms/en/

or do not hesitate to contact Deputy for ballet studies:

Mr. Eligijus Butkus

e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

phone: +37052100766,

mobile phone: +37067453465