On a recent March afternoon, Anne T. Bass carefully watched her step as she made her way through the construction site at Texas Ballet Theater.
The beeping of scissor platforms lifting workers echoed through the 65,000-square-foot building in west Fort Worth. The smell of fresh white paint wafted off the walls. Natural light shone through the glass of a singular, circular window at the entrance.
Bass stopped to examine the renovations happening around her from an open hallway on the second floor. She described the feeling that rushed through her as excitement.
After all, the theater’s home building she was walking through is in the final months of first phase construction before it opens as the dance company’s new and improved studio.
Located at 1500 Mall Circle near the struggling Ridgmar Mall, the dance facility could help encourage other arts and culture organizations to invest in the area, Bass said.
“There’s so much potential out here and maybe somebody will step in and do something grand and glorious,” she said.
Jill Caughron, interim executive director with Texas Ballet Theater, said she views the Fort Worth studio as a “bold investment and a legacy in motion” that inspires students and keeps ballet relevant in North Texas for generations.
Founded in 1961, Texas Ballet Theater is a major arts organization with over 30 dancers who perform regularly at Bass Performance Hall and AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas. The company has housed its Fort Worth rehearsal studio at the Mall Circle building since 2010. It operates two other studios in Dallas and Richardson.
Plans for a renovated Fort Worth studio began in February 2021 after a major water leak during that year’s ice storm left the building’s three studios and administrative offices unusable.
Faced with costly repairs, the company’s board members connected with major donors to fundraise for the building’s complete renovation, including construction of an 11,000-square-foot second floor. Texas Ballet Theater declined to share with the Report the total cost of the project.
The first phase of construction started last year with a focus on building dance spaces for rehearsals and performances, seven studios, family waiting area, costume production space and administrative offices. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of May.
Workers will then build out a company lounge, dressing rooms, a physical therapy suite and Pilates studio by October.
The new facility was designed by the UK-based architectural firm Allford Hall Monaghan Morris with an open concept that allows for visitors to glimpse into dance classes and rehearsals through windows, Bass said. Hallways on the second floor merge into an open space that gives guests a bird’s-eye view from one room to another below, she added.
For Valentine Liberatore, the renovated space is “nothing short of extraordinary” in comparison to the single-room studio he and his wife rehearsed in when they were dancers with Texas Ballet Theater years ago.
His two daughters now train with the organization. He can’t wait for them to soon dance in the improved building, he said.
“It is a rare and beautiful privilege to carry this legacy forward, not only as alumni, but as parents, passing down a tradition that continues to thrive,” Liberatore, who now serves as the company’s giving manager, said in a statement.
As Bass made her way out of the construction site that March afternoon, she couldn’t help but look back to the studio’s new, grand circular entrance one last time.
Soon she’ll be back with the company’s other leaders to officially cut the ribbon and welcome the Fort Worth community to the world of ballet.
David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.
The Fort Worth Report’s arts and culture coverage is supported in part by the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation and the Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust. At the Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
