Wake Forest Youth Ballet (WFYB) was founded to provide a professional performance platform for the students in the preparatory ballet program at Destiny Dance Institute. DDI’s high caliber ballet program for young dancers is recognized as one of the top ballet programs in the Triangle area.
Dancers attend class two to five times weekly depending on age and level. Some of our advanced dancers have been invited to study at some of our nation’s most prestigious dance schools including: Pacific Northwest Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Charlotte Ballet, and Carolina Ballet. Some have gone on to dance professionally, and many are enthusiastically aspiring to careers as young dance artists.
Destiny Dance Institute Ballet Company (DDIBC) was founded in 2010, which gave the dancers a vehicle to perform both classical and contemporary repertoire, from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, to Stravinsky’s Firebird and guest artist Bill de Young’s edgy “Slate.” Our success is built upon a commitment to hard work, quality training, and excellence in production. DDIBC has used its resources to foster the arts in our community, not only by hiring instructors and choreographers, but also by engaging local seamstresses, set designers, lighting designers, photographers, actors and more. We have built up a thriving group of volunteers who have assisted with everything from fundraising to costume designs. Seven years later, owner, Patty Ogden, took it to the next level with the launching of the new non-profit: Wake Forest Youth Ballet.
Destiny Dance Institute and Wake Forest Youth Ballet are becoming a significant and integral part of the Wake Forest community, a go-to destination. In June of 2018, DDI and the WFYB moved into a new centrally-located, state-of-the-art facility in downtown Wake Forest! The school regularly hosts nationally renowned dance artists who share their breadth of knowledge and talent with the next generation. DDI and WFYB is a place where young dancers collaborate and are inspired by professional artists of all varieties.
