A national children’s dance school is set to pirouette into Tribeca this fall.
Tutu School will debut at 123 W. Broadway.
Founder Genevieve Custer-Weeks told Whatnow New York City she launched Tutu School in San Francisco in 2008 to create a space designed specifically for young dancers. The brand has now grown to more than 120 locations in three countries.
“I was a professional dancer, and I started teaching at schools. I just really fell in love with teaching. No matter what these kids end up doing with their lives, there was something that was really important, formative and beautiful about putting them in a room with music and movement. I just started dreaming about that, and now it’s been 18 years,” she said.
Tutu School offers classes for children ages 6 months to 8 years, including Baby Ballet for ages 6 to 18 months, Tutu Toddlers for ages 18 months to 3 years, Exploring Ballet for ages 3 to 5, and Primary Ballet Prep for ages 5 to 8.
Beyond ballet classes, the school also offers a variety of community-focused programs, including Ballet Story Time featuring classics such as Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, as well as birthday parties.
The Tribeca studio will be operated by Kandice Halpin, Siobhan Santapaola and Alison Ribellino, who also own Tutu School locations on the Upper East Side and in Lenox Hill.
The trio bring decades of dance and arts education experience to the business. Halpin is a former Radio City Rockette and Miss New York. Santapaola, also a former Rockette, founded Art in Motion Dance Center and co-founded AIM Dance NY in Northport with Ribellino, an American Ballet Theatre-certified instructor.
When choosing locations for Tutu School, Custer-Weeks said the team prioritizes family-friendly neighborhoods.
“We found that we really do well almost anywhere where there are families and children. In New York City specifically, we really center them in locations where it’s very walkable for families and part of their daily routine. We want to be a hub in a community,” she said.
Custer-Weeks looks forward to Tutu School’s continued growth.
“We get to be such a positive force for the evolution of ballet and how we want the ballet world to be evolving to be the best version of itself—that all feels so exciting,” she said. “With our expansion, we just get to be a part of introducing more and more kids to ballet and help them fall in love with it.”
An official opening date has not yet been announced. Visit the Tutu School website and follow along on Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates.
