by Blake Herzog, photos courtesy of Yavapai ballet theatre
Emily Tylecote has founded Yavapai Ballet Theatre (YBT) to provide an opportunity for as many dancers and performing arts practitioners as possible to participate in a full-length ballet production.
Her ballet training was shaped by Jerzy Golek of the Lodz Ballet of Poland and she later attended Yale University, where she danced for the university’s ballet company. She is now faculty for Summers Danceworks in Prescott where she teaches advanced ballet.
As Yavapai Ballet Theatre’s artistic director, she is reaching out to Yavapai County’s dancers and 12 dance studios, inviting them to participate in Yavapai Ballet Theatre’s first production, The Nutcracker, in December.
“Our goal is to make this at least an option for all the studios, making them feel like they’re part of the vision and not competing with the vision. That’s really the fundamental groundwork and we want the studios to understand this is not a competition for resources or for dancers. Rather, it’s just another opportunity.”
Tylecote emphasizes that her organization, launched as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in December 2025, will not have its own facility, though it will rent space for rehearsals.
YBT will offer supplemental training opportunities, mentorship, financial aid and scholarships to performers and technical teams as they prepare for performances.
Summer’s DanceWorks in Prescott is one of the studios that’s come onboard with Yavapai Ballet Theatre, and owner Summer Hinton says a communitywide dance production could help foster connections between Greater Prescott’s dance students, since students and studios are often pitted against each other in competitions. She’s also glad there will be more chances for ballet students to train and perform locally.
“Usually when we get master teachers they may be ballroom or hip-hop, and so having ballet and having it be such a classical style, it’s good that it’s teaching them technique and also giving them the chance to perform, where in a recital they might do two minutes of a ballet dance but here they can perform a whole production.”
Tylecote began her dance training at the age of 3 and explored jazz, tap and ballet until she was about 8, when she and others concluded “my temperament was more suited to ballet. I was never one to have ‘jazz hands.’”
Emily’s ballet training was shaped by Jerzy Golek of the Lodz Ballet of Poland and she later attended Yale University, where she danced for the university’s ballet company. She is now faculty for Summers Danceworks in Prescott where she teaches advanced ballet.
After graduating from Yale, starting her career in international risk management consulting and moving to Prescott with her husband, she enrolled her now 5-year-old daughter in dance training when she was 2.
“I realized very fast that my heart was aching, watching her. It’s lovely watching kids grow and do beautiful things, but I didn’t realize how much my soul was missing ballet,” she says.
Eventually, she decided the best way to contribute to the local ballet scene would be to give more dancers chances to train for and perform in large-scale productions, beyond smaller supporting roles filled locally when a visiting company comes to town.
“If a dancer wanted to do that they’d have to go somewhere else, like Phoenix,” she says. “Which is a real shame, because we have so much talent here, and actually, across the performing arts we have so much talent.”
Given the expense involved with launching a full-scale production, Tylecote says, “The YBT production vehicle is the best mechanism for the studios to get involved when they’re looking for full-length production experience.
“We are securing the funds for the production, we are applying for the grants, we’re looking for corporate and private sponsors, we’re not asking for funds from studios either. We’re also keeping our tuition at the bare minimum, like $100 a student, because for us accessibility is a huge deal.”
Yavapai Ballet Theatre will offer financial aid, scholarships and adopt-a-dancer programs, she says: “I think for a lot of dancers, especially as they go en pointe and become preprofessional, the expenses of ballet become quite prohibitive.” Donations can be made online at www.ybtheatre.org; for information about sponsorships email info@ybtheatre.org or call 928.202.9421.
Besides organizing and funding The Nutcracker production, YBT ensures local performing arts programs are able to train their students for The Nutcracker, but they can receive free supplemental instruction from qualified YBT choreographers and instructors.
Tylecote says she anticipates casting dancers over three performances, and some performers may take more than one role. There also are plenty of other ways to participate in this
The Nutcracker besides dancing, she says, as she is looking for local musicians, actors, a children’s choir, set designers and theater engineers to put together a full-fledged production. Depending on how many musicians are ultimately used, the number of these artists could be anywhere from 42 to 90.
Yavapai Ballet Theatre’s contribution to the dance community will go beyond this one production, as the group also is planning to offer “summer intensive” classes providing more advanced training with guest artists from professional ballet troupes around Arizona.
Fundraising and outreach efforts are planned to expand its presence throughout the community. Two galas that will include ballet performances are scheduled for late summer, at the Elks Theatre in Prescott in August and Sedona in September. Residents can also expect to see “pop-up” performances at school assemblies, senior centers, community events like Acker Night and other locations.
Tylecote leads YBT with a community-based leadership team: Managing Director Sara Gallardo, Marketing and Communications Manager Kimberly Powers and her mother, Costume Director Linda Sosangelis, who taught herself to create professional-level ballet costumes while her daughter was growing up. They are supported by a fundraising committee and artistic advisers from across the community.
“The fact that this is a production that can be so collaborative, I’m already excited just thinking about how all these different groups will come together,” she says.
