When Colleen Hart opened her ballet studio in a converted grain elevator on Mount Auburn City's east side in 2003, she had twelve students and a single portable barre. Today, her academy—alongside two other schools in this city of 14,000—draws aspiring dancers from five surrounding counties and sends graduates to regional companies across the Midwest.
Ballet may not be the first art form associated with rural Indiana. Yet Mount Auburn City has become an improbable hub for classical dance training, fueled by affordable studio space, a growing homeschool population seeking arts enrichment, and the tireless advocacy of a handful of local instructors. Here's how three schools are shaping the next generation of heartland dancers.
Why Ballet Took Root Here
Mount Auburn City's dance resurgence traces back to the early 2000s, when several former professional dancers relocated to the area seeking lower costs of living after retiring from careers in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville. They brought with them not only prestigious résumés but also an unexpected appetite for building something permanent far from traditional coastal centers.
The results are tangible. Where residents once drove 90 minutes to Indianapolis for pre-professional training, they now have multiple options within city limits. The schools here share a common ethos: rigorous classical foundation paired with the practical versatility required of today's working dancer—whether that means musical theater, commercial work, or regional ballet companies.
Indiana Ballet Conservatory: Pre-Professional Pathways
Founded: 2006
Artistic Director: Marcus Chen
Enrollment: ~180 students
Marcus Chen spent twelve years dancing with Indianapolis Ballet before founding the Indiana Ballet Conservatory (IBC) in a repurposed Methodist church near downtown Mount Auburn City. The vaulted ceilings and original stained glass windows now frame daily classes in a space Chen calls "part studio, part sanctuary."
IBC operates a tiered program starting at age eight, with its most intensive track—the Pre-Professional Division—requiring fifteen hours of weekly training for students 13 to 18. The conservatory's graduates have gone on to Indianapolis Ballet, Louisville Ballet's second company, and several university BFA programs.
"We don't promise anyone a spot at New York City Ballet. We promise them the tools to build a sustainable life in dance, wherever that takes them," Chen says. "That might mean a company contract. It might mean choreography. It might mean teaching the next generation right here in Indiana."
Standout programs include a Summer Intensive that brings in guest faculty from Cincinnati Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and an Adult Beginner Workshop held Tuesday evenings for students 18 and older with no prior experience required.
Mount Auburn City Ballet Academy: Community First
Founded: 2003
Director: Colleen Hart
Enrollment: ~220 students
The portable barre is long gone. Hart's academy now occupies 8,000 square feet in that same converted grain elevator, complete with three studios, a physical therapy room staffed twice weekly, and a student lounge where parents and dancers gather between classes.
MBCBA's reputation rests on accessibility. Classes start at age three in creative movement and extend through adult pointe and partnering. Hart deliberately keeps recreational and pre-professional tracks overlapping in the same building, arguing that the energy flows both ways.
"Our company kids see our adult beginners falling in love with ballet at forty, and it reminds them why they started," Hart explains. "Our adult beginners watch these teenagers rehearse Giselle and realize, 'Oh, this art form has real depth.'"
The academy's Community Performance Initiative mounts free abridged ballets each spring in Mount Auburn City's public parks and elementary schools. Last year's outdoor Coppélia drew an estimated 400 attendees.
Hartman School of Dance: Cross-Training for the Modern Dancer
Founded: 2011
Director: Teresa Hartman
Enrollment: ~95 students
Teresa Hartman—a former Radio City Rockette who grew up twenty minutes outside Mount Auburn City—returned home to open a school that deliberately blurs disciplinary lines. While ballet forms the technical core, Hartman requires all students 10 and older to take jazz and modern alongside their classical training.
The approach has produced alumni working in Broadway regional tours, cruise ship companies, and university dance programs with strong contemporary faculties.
"If you're going to make a living with your body, you need more than one language," Hartman says. "We still start every day at the barre. But by 2 p.m., those same students might be in a Graham technique class or learning Fosse-style jazz combinations."
Hartman's Young Artist Mentorship pairs advanced students with working professionals via monthly Zoom sessions—recent guests have included a dancer with L.A.-based BODYTRAFFIC and a former member of Ballet Hispánico.
