ALAMOSA — The Youth Ballet Program, directed by Yula Cisneros Montoya, will have its annual recital at Adams State University in Richardson Hall Auditorium at 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 10.  

Guest musicians Martha Shepp and Mark Dudrow will perform with five groups of ballerinas ranging from 3 to 17 years old. Entrance is free and open to the public. Register for your tickets using the QR code on the flyer or following this link: https://forms.gle/rqQmn6K13dJLtZUf7. 

Cisneros Montoya is a dance educator with a BFA in Dance and Pilates certification from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington. She has an eclectic dance background, having performed and studied dance in Mexico (her home country), Cuba, the Ukraine, Mozambique, South Africa, and the United States. 

She started the Youth Ballet Program two years ago and teaches youth from three to seventeen years of age using her more than thirty years of experience in teaching ballet technique. 

"Ballet is just one tradition of many," Cisneros Montoya says. "But by accident of history or design, ballet is one of the most prolific techniques to become more skilled, more intelligent with our bodies. I believe in ballet as a solid base to becoming more intelligent movers and as long as there is a community who wants to learn it, I will teach it. Not because ballet is the end objective– and I am someone who danced ballet professionally – but because through ballet, youth can feel more connected, more whole. We need more of that." 

The Alamosa Presbyterian Church has hosted the Youth Ballet Program for the 2024-2025 academic year. 

"Alamosa is very fortunate to have a leader like Pastor Don Hanna and the wonderful congregation of the Presbyterian church." 

Pastor Hanna's work at the PALS Children's Program- La Puente is home base for so many children and within the same building is the sanctuary where the congregation unites for service. We are very fortunate that the church has offered the space for our ballet program. I can't tell you how hard it is to find space for the arts and youth in the San Luis Valley, and Pastor Hanna understands this, and the church has been our sanctuary that allows us to flourish as ballet dancers and dream we can become Nijinsky." 

The Youth Ballet Program plans to continue with a summer program at the Alamosa Presbyterian Church in June and July of 2025. 

The ballet recital at Richardson Hall Auditorium will feature the talents of the Youth Ballet Program in seven dance pieces choreographed by Yula Cisneros Montoya with titles such as Mother Goose and the Mean Goslings, Flying Creatures, and Danzata in Blue. The night will be a true entry into the professional world of ballet. The pianist Martha Shepp and the cellist Mark Dudrow, who have taken the ballerinas to the next level with their concert experience and professionalism, will be heightening the performances.