core values:

1. community

Anyone who goes through our studio can tell you that we’re set apart by our community. That warm giving love for which we’re named can be felt in the studio, backstage, and right outside our front doors. We aim to make our dancers and their parents feel welcome in this community and that they come first in the decisions we make.

2. care

We want to make sure that everyone—including our staff, our dancers, and their parents—feel that they’re seen, heard, and that their needs are met. In our pedagogy, our in-class culture, and our casting, we strive to make sure that dancers get recognition and feel valued as they go about the difficult process of learning classical ballet. At Agape, we all strive to care for each other, staff and students alike.

3. rigor

We believe that rigor and warmth are not mutually exclusive. While we attend to the students’ needs as whole individuals, we also maintain the high standards of excellence that come with our classical artform. Our teachers dive deep in our technique classes to ensure that students reach the utmost of their capabilities while they’re with us.

4. splendor

We understand that every theater we work in is our dancers’ Lincoln Center, and we create performances with the magnificence to meet that standard. Whether we’re boldly creating original works or putting on spectacular stagings of classic ballets, we lead the way in giving Santa Cruz the grandiose shows we deserve.

5. sustainability

By attending to best practices in terms of safety and technique, we aim to provide our dancers the tools they need to have a long journey in dance. We make sure that our pedagogy is kinesiologically sound and that the students know how to listen to their bodies, speak up when something feels wrong, and train hard without hurting themselves. As you can imagine, dance is precious to us, so we want to make sure that students can enjoy it for a long time.