Classic Grace in the New Century
About Jersey City Ballet Theater
Jersey City Ballet Theater is a non-profit professional ballet company and school committed to bringing classical arts to the community and beyond.
The school offers an exceptional curriculum, with a focus on building a strong foundation in classical ballet technique. Students receive instruction from highly trained and experienced faculty members who nurture each dancer's potential, preparing them for professional careers or providing them with the skills needed for a lifelong love of dance.
As a professional ballet company, Jersey City Ballet Theater strives to present a wide range of ballet repertoire, ensuring a diverse and engaging cultural experience for its audiences. The company features talented dancers who have performed both nationally and internationally, bringing passion and precision to the stage. To learn more visit jerseycityballet.org and follow them @jerseycityballet and @jerseycityballetschool.
Precisely at the time when she was entirely wrapped up with juggling the summer schedules and the upcoming ‘Classical Variations’ show, Live Wire reached out and asked Director Elins Palacio for some pictures and if she would answer a few interview questions. She graciously obliged. Her answers appear below (mostly) unedited.
(LW): Who is your favorite composer for choreography? (It’s okay if they’re still living.)
(JEP): Oh, there are too many, I can’t choose. Two that come to mind immediately are Khachaturian and Tchaikovsky.
(LW): In your opinion, and from a Northeast perspective, has the audience and love for ballet grown, diminished, or stayed about the same as it ever was?
(JEP): I’m not a historian but we know from what we read that ballet has had a hard time growing its audience base. The tradition of it is part of its beauty. I think it is trying to make space for new works to be created and new dancers to be promoted. We also need to attract younger patrons of ballet. The internet fueling the quest for instant success and setting unrealistic goals has not helped young people pursuing ballet. Jennifer Homans book “Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet” is a good read for anyone interested.
(LW): Apart from the physical changes, how has Jersey City’s cultural landscape evolved in your eyes over the first quarter of the twenty-first century?
(JEP): I got married and moved here in 2001. The neighborhood had a vibrant community atmosphere, with grassroots events like decorating the tree in the park during the holidays with pictures of kids or pets. There were spontaneous dance and theater performances in church basements and in the parks.
Being close to Ellis Island, our neighborhood is shaped by a rich history of immigration, which contributes to our diverse arts scene. Over the years, you can see how this diversity has grown, with more cultural festivals, performances, restaurants, and businesses emerging each year. We are fortunate to have the Hudson County Office of Cultural Affairs providing opportunities and funding for arts and cultural organizations, along with the Jersey City Arts Council.
(LW): What can we look forward to from Jersey City Ballet in the next year or so?
(JEP) Our school is growing. With a syllabus in the style of the Russian Vaganova Method we are fortunate to have instructors from prestigious schools such as The Bolshoi, the gold standard of Ballet training and performance. So, we are looking forward to training future dancers and doing our part to create patrons of the ballet arts.
Jersey City Ballet’s professional company will continue to provide accessible performances for the community and beyond. We are excited this year for our performance in Frank Sinatra Park September 6 and our upcoming show, Jersey City Ballet Rocks, at Arthouse productions October 4th and 5th. Passion led us here and will continue to guide us, we are very excited.
(LW): What are some of your most memorable moments during your tenure teaching ballet in Hudson County?
(JEP): Wow, there are so many memories! We initially called our first studio the "dance hallway" because it was 56 feet long and only 8 feet wide, but it was ours, and we made it work. In 2015, we moved to the Brunswick Center. The company performed for the ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Fulop and his team, which was both fun and memorable. Our first performance of "Peter and the Wolf" and the after-parties at the studio were highlights as well. It hasn't always been smooth sailing; there have been many moments when students, parents, and community partners stepped up to support us through both the good times and the challenging ones. Those memories remain dear to us. We are a team at Jersey City Ballet, and we are truly grateful.
(LW): While so many of us dream of being ballerinas or ballerinos as children, what is the realistic occupational outlook in 2025 for young people considering ballet as a profession?
(JEP): There is so much to discuss when it comes to pursuing a career as a ballet dancer or any type of dancer. It is challenging, especially in today's climate, where the cost of living is rising. Having a strong support team is essential to maintain your physical and mental health. Training can be expensive, and the commitment required is significant. Unfortunately, a lack of funding is forcing smaller companies to close, leading to fewer job opportunities.
I’ve often heard people say, “Dance makes them feel free,” or “I get lost in the music.” No one dances purely to become rich. If it’s in your heart and soul, go for it. From my own experience, I can say: never say never, trust the universe, and never give up on your dreams.
The Mystery of the Missing Figures
Part 2 of Your Art Tax Dollars at Work
By Charley Cano, 07/30/25, Updated 08/02/25
“Curiouser and curiouser!”, as Alice exclaimed upon descending into the rabbit hole. What was originally intended as a brief general overview of the first five years of the Jersey City Arts and Culture Trust Fund has evolved into a bona fide little mystery.
As noted in Part 1, Live Wire first requested copies of the Trust Fund’s annual reports on June 4th, 2025. The Mayor’s Office promptly (the next day) forwarded the first and thus far only such report, for Cycle 1, or fiscal year 2022-2023.
This report (posted below) lists the total amounts of grants allocated and individual grantees, but not the individual grant amounts for organizations. For those I had to go to a Jersey Journal article by Ron Zeitlinger on June 2, 2022. (Individual artist fellowship grants are yearly divided equally from the total reserved for the individual artist grants.)
Though you have to work a little for them, the figures for Cycles 3 and 4 are publicly available. But not Cycle 2.
Similarly, the ‘Year in Review’ reports for the years 2022 and 2023 posted by the Office of Cultural Affairs also list grant totals and grantees, but not individual amounts for organizations. The 2024 Year in Review, however, does list the separate grant amounts for organizations, and that was the only place I found them posted. All three are posted below.
On April 24th, 2025, the Arts Council announced in a ZOOM meeting the 2025-2026 grantees and totals. The next day, the Mayor’s office followed suit with a press release announcing the grant totals. The individual grant amounts were subsequently posted to the grants page of the Cultural Affairs office website.
Annual tax filing reports are understandably at least one year behind in pertinence, just as with individual and business tax returns. Therefore, it’s not unusual that the final annual report for 20233-2024 might be a few months past Tax Day and one year behind in relevance.
What is strange, though, is that the figures for the subsequent two cycles were announced and well-publicized, even without waiting for the Trust Fund’s annual report.
Whereas the Jersey City Arts Council is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and must file annual reports with federal and state treasury departments, the Arts and Culture Trust Fund, being a public trust fund established and managed by the City of Jersey City, is generally exempt from both state and federal income tax filing requirements; operates under the tax-exempt status afforded to governmental entities; and is not subject to reporting requirements other than those applicable to regular municipal budgetary reports and City Hall may publish the figures involved at its discretion. The businesses and non-profits receiving grants, however, are required to report the income, whether or not they are exempt from paying taxes on the funds. Theoretically, the amounts reported by recipients will correspond to those published by the city. The potential for tax fraud with the trust fund is another danger and pitfalls I previously neglected to mention.
In sum, the trust fund is jointly administered by the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs and the Jersey City Arts Council. Although the arts council is a stand-alone non-profit organization and independent agency, it works in conjunction with City Hall in its operations on the trust fund and city-sponsored events like the Jersey City Art and Studio Tour (JCAST).
So what is so complex about the data from Cycle 2 that we’d have to wait a year to see it? What is different about that year from all the other years? I suppose we’ll have to wait and see in Part 3 of this ad hoc series. A second request for the 2023-2024 annual report, two months from the original request, was answered by Migdalia Pagan-Milano, Assistant Director of Cultural Affairs, who explained that the city is “working through the process of compiling the data” and offered to forward the information when complete.
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Jersey City Live Wire was created to offer readers in New Jersey's
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Editor-in-Chief: Charles E. Cano