Making more room at the barre – For proof that the creative arts can mean successful business in Helena, look no further than the Queen City Ballet downtown on Jackson Street.

In business for just over three years, the ballet’s growth has been steady and strong. From one dance studio and around 2,000 square feet when it first opened, Queen City has expanded three times and now encompasses more than 6,000 square feet.

By JOHN HARRINGTON – IR Business Editor

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/09/05/business/e01090504_01.txt

The latest expansion, into the Last Chance Gulch storefront formerly belonging to Office Outfitters, gives the company three studios on two floors. The new space downstairs will allow for weekly Friday afternoon performances for the public, and a higher ceiling means enough room for male dancers to lift their partners without fear of injury.

The series of expansions means the company now has much needed storage space for costumes, sets and props, lockers and showers. In addition to traditional ballet, the curriculum has grown to include salsa, tap dance, yoga stretching classes, and, for the first time this fall, martial arts.

When the ballet’s series of 61 14-week classes kicks off this week, more than 200 students weekly will come to the downtown studio, many accompanied by parents or siblings. The vast majority of the students, who range in age from 18 months to adult, are female, but the addition of classes beyond ballet has brought more males through the door.

In addition to helping the ballet thrive, the students bring an added boost to downtown businesses that benefit from the increased traffic.

Queen City Ballet was started in June 2001 by artistic director Campbell Pryor, an accomplished dancer, and administrative director Kathy Schafer, who brought experience as the activities director at Clancy School.

Pryor, a South Carolina native who taught dance in Chicago and Indiana prior to coming to Montana, said Helena’s support of the arts shows in her clientele.

"I’ve lived in a lot of places, but among all the people I’ve brought in to teach here, everyone has been so impressed at all levels with both the students and the parents," she said.

Pryor teaches around 15 classes a week. Most of the other instructors, all of whom bring impressive credentials, work as part-time employees of the ballet.

"All of our staff is professional," Pryor said. "Not only in dance, but they’re all college educated."

Schaefer said that the rapid expansions mean business is good, even though constantly expanding and remodeling makes it hard to measure consistent financial progress.

"When you expand as quickly as we have, you’re constantly taking a step back, but we continue to move forward," she said.

With its pattern of rapid growth, it’s easy to picture Queen City Ballet, in a few years, abandoning downtown for a modern, built-to-suit studio in one of the faster growing areas on the outstkirts of town. But Schaefer said that’s not a possibility — the company has no plans to leave downtown.

"There’s so much going on downtown, and it’s so nice to be here," she said. "We love downtown Helena. This is home to us now, and I don’t foresee us moving out of downtown at all."

John Harrington can be reached at 447-4080 or [email protected].