The Concert Ballet of Virginia traces its heritage back to the very beginnings of dance in Richmond. In the 1940’s, both Robert Watkins and Ellie Rennie appeared as dancers in the Richmond Recreation & Parks Opera productions. Watkins later joined with Marjorie Fay Underhill and Donna Comstock in operating Ballet Impomptu, the city’s first ballet company. After assuming Directorship, Watkins changed the name to The Richmond Ballet.
In 1976, when The Richmond Ballet made the decision to become a purely professional company, a corps de ballet of 30 dancers left their positions and joined together to allow the long standing tradition of inclusive dance in Richmond, Virginia to continue without interruption. Thus the The Concert Ballet of Virginia was born.
The Concert Ballet of Virginia is a hybrid of a rich heritage, a company that is still in direct contact with the very artists that created its immediate past, as well as a welcoming home to all volunteers in every aspect of staging a performance.
