The Amanda Rose Belmont Center for Arts and Movement offers programs in dance, music and fitness with a distinctively Christian perspective. Its core offering, the Yahweh Ballet Training Program, teaches students from age 3 to adult and encourages them to dance as a way of worshipping God.
Dancers train to be part of the Yahweh Ballet, which performs several full-length ballets annually and has a repertoire ranging from classical to modern.
Some of the original works it has performed depict events from the life of Jesus. Another, "The Life Ballet," laments abortion and expresses hope for healing; the company has been invited to perform it on a Christian television channel based in Alberta and is scheduling a U.S.-Canadian summer tour around the trip.
Other programs of the Amanda Rose Belmont Center:
- Lokhmah martial arts training for boys 8 to 12, including techniques gleaned from the Old Testament.
- God's Girl Princess Camp, a half-day or full-day program during schools' winter break that includes dance instruction, games, crafts, "inner beauty pageants" and other activities to foster devotion to Christ.
- Kinder Keyboard piano lessons with both group and individual instruction for children ages 5 to 7.
- Afro-Caribbean Drums and Dance, a mixed class for children and adults in using both traditional and non-traditional rhythms and dance to praise God.
- Instruction for adults in ballet and worship dance.
- Ballet conditioning classes for adults, to develop strength, flexibility and overall fitness.
- Taste of Victory fitness classes with a rotating schedule of trained instructors using Christian dance music.
- The Friday Night Workshop Series, which introduces new artists and forms of movement to the studio on the first Friday of every month.
- Rhythms with Joy, a community outreach program offering free movement classes for city youths 5 to 18 in poplocking, breakdancing, hip-hop and ballet. Classes include devotions and prayer. With funding from the Greater Rochester Health Foundation, the program has held classes in the city at 4 Winds Christian Fellowship, Rochester Bible Baptist Church and the Rochester Family Mission.
The Amanda Rose Belmont Center was founded in 2006 at the Charles Finney School in Penfield by Sandra and Samuel Arena, whose daughter had asked them to open a Christian ballet studio for her. It now serves approximately 125 students, using facilities in the city's Neighborhood of the Arts.
The center is named for a child who died at age 8 in 2002 during surgery for congenital heart defects. Her parents, Michael and Tracy Belmont, helped to found the ballet school; Michael is former president of the Finney School, and Tracy is now on the center's board.
The center has 15 teachers, and Sandra Arena is the volunteer executive director. The headquarters is at 4 Elton St., and the Web site is www.dfjballet.com.
Financial record Year ending Dec. 31, 2009
Revenue %
Tuition $31,368 48
Donations and
grants 27,433 43
Ticket sales 5,594 9
Total revenue $64,395 100
Expenses %
Teacher payroll $37,387 57
Rent $11,100 17
Costumes $9,704 15
Advertising and
marketing $3,055 5
Utilities $2,280 3
Insurance $1,353 2
Office expenses $1,032 2
Total expenses $65,911 100
Excess (deficiency) of revenue over expenses ($1,516)
Board of Directors
- Samuel Arena; sales executive, Croop-LaFrance Inc.
- Sandra Arena; free-lance writer, fitness instructor and former owner of Envisage Public Relations and Marketing
- Tracy Belmont; pharmacist, Wegmans Food Markets Inc.
If you are interested in having your group featured in the Non-Profit Report, please contact Rochester Business Journal at (585) 546-8303, ext. 116, or e-mail jleunk@rbj.net.
3/26/10 (c) 2010 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or e-mail service@rbj.net.
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