Save the BTB Students!!

The city of Basel stands for an outstanding ballet company whose reputation extends far beyond the national borders. World-renowned choreographers have made the Ballet Theater Basel an internationally renowned institution.

The Ballettschule Theater Basel was part of this success story for over 20 years. Since its foundation in 2001, it prepared up to 50 dancers a year for the big stages of the ballet world and offered over 300 children and young people a technical education in ballet and modern dance.

Now, due to the tight financial situation and an impending insolvency, the Board of BTB has unfortunately had to decide to close the EFZ* area. The current difficult situation, caused by the accusations raised in an article in the NZZ am Sonntag & Bajour of October 23, 2022, has shown that raising urgently needed third-party funds is unrealistic. Moreover, since the non-referral of a motion to the Basel-Stadt government on November 8, 2022, it is definitely clear that the school will not receive any financial aid from the canton.

With the closure of the EFZ area, the dance world loses one of the most successful ballet schools in Europe and Basel loses a professional training center in modern and classical ballet, the only one in Switzerland that covers both areas. And our students lose their school and their home. We are sorry for this from the bottom of our hearts.

It is important to us that students complete their last year of apprenticeship in an orderly manner and complete their EFZ degrees in an orderly manner. For all other EFZ students we will make sure that satisfactory follow-up solutions are found. And you can support us in this challenge! Any financial support to ensure the continued education of students is valuable. You are supporting the future of tomorrow's dancers.

"Ballet Schule Theater Basel,

The school where our dreams started..

Its more than a school to us though.

We are artists connecting through one same love for dance and we have become a family.

The friendships made here must be broken and we must be separated from each other, the city we love and our teachers and the Swiss goverment and journalists are responsible for it.

60 students leave the studio today plus staff in tears and faces of worry. This is what we have become. Our future's blurry and hearts heavy. We can put a stop to this though... Even the smallest amount makes a difference! We need your support more then ever now. Please hear our voices and put yourself in our place for a moment. In these times when nothing is left there is still one thing they cant take away, Hope.

Help us collect the amount we need and lets stand together against this injustice we face. BTB needs you.

We need you."

The BTB Students

Follow us on Instagram to discover the work of our students, on btb_ballettschule_basel or btb_students!

Thank you very much for your support!