The School of Columbia Classical Ballet lets a child train from age 3 through their teens, taught by professional dancers, without ever leaving Columbia. You don’t need a dancer in the family. You just need a kid who likes to move.
Joseph Phillips - Artistic Director, Columbia Classical Ballet
From our friends at Columbia Classical Ballet …
Columbia Classical Ballet (CCB), the professional ballet company that proudly bears the capital’s name, is opening a school for young dancers: the School of Columbia Classical Ballet (SCCB). Children across the Midlands, ages 3 through 18, will learn in the same studios as the professional company, taught by the dancers and coaches who perform with it.
The school opens September 8, 2026, at 610 Harden Street in Five Points.
Artistic Director Joseph Phillips, a Columbia native hailed by the international press as “Ballet’s Golden Boy,” left home as a boy and spent more than two decades dancing internationally. Now he’s home, building the school he wished he’d had growing up here.
“As a boy, I had to leave Columbia to get this training. My daughter won’t,” Phillips says. “I came home to help build the school I wish I’d had, right here.”
Come Look Through the Glass
The studio at 610 Harden Street sits behind a wall of glass on the street, so you can be walking by, look right in, and watch professional dancers at work. Starting August 31, the company takes class every weekday morning at 10, in full view from the sidewalk. It’s free, and you don’t need to call ahead.
Start Here
Every dancer starts somewhere, and the easiest way to begin is to come take a class. All through August, SCCB’s Open Classes (August 10–28) are yours to try. Come as often as you like, any day of the week, and see if the studio fits. Many classes are free, and the rest start at just $15. Sign up at columbiaclassicalballet.com/school or call 803-990-2345.
Programs include Pre-Ballet (ages 3–6), Young Dancers (6–10), Pre-Professional (10+), and an Adult Program, with placement by age and level.
Your Child on Stage: The Nutcracker
Every December, Columbia Classical Ballet presents The Nutcracker at the Koger Center, and the school’s students share the stage with the professional company. “I was a young boy when I was cast in The Nutcracker. I was standing in the stairwell when my mother told me I’d been cast as Nicholas. I remember that moment so clearly, even to this day,” Phillips says.
This year, any child in Columbia can stand where he stood. CCB is opening The Nutcracker auditions to everyone, beginners welcome, on Saturday, August 22 and Saturday, September 19, at 610 Harden Street, by age group. The youngest dancers need no experience. Performances are December 4–6.
Who Your Child Will Learn From
Every beginner is welcome, and from their first class, students are taught by the company’s own dancers and coaches.
Leading the school is Phillips, who danced with San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre, and became a principal dancer at the Mariinsky Theatre’s Primorsky Stage in Russia, before returning home with his fiancée, Irene Liu, and their daughter, Summer.
Liu, founder of El Camino Ballet in California, is joining the school; her graduates have gone on to companies and programs including the Boston Ballet pre-professional program, The Washington Ballet, and Complexions, and to universities including Columbia and Stanford. Two of her students are moving from California to train at SCCB: Siena Appelboum and Aria Du, both 2026 Youth America Grand Prix medalists. Sergei Zolotarev, a former dancer at the Primorsky Stage, joins SCCB as the Principal Teacher, relocating from Russia with his wife, Karina Zolotareva. Joy Alexander, who grew up dancing alongside Phillips here in Columbia, leads the school’s Musical Theater program, and the faculty also includes Kiyomi Mercadante Ramirez, a master teacher and Fellow of the Cecchetti Council of America.
Key Dates
Registration opens: July 1, 2026
Open Classes: August 10–28
Nutcracker auditions: August 22 & September 19
Company class viewable from the street: begins August 31
School opens: September 8 Nutcracker performances: December 4–6
Register during Open Classes and the registration fee is waived.
About: The School of Columbia Classical Ballet operates under Columbia Classical Ballet, founded in 1991, which presents classical and contemporary repertoire across the state and produces the LifeChance international benefit gala.