Prescott's Dancers
SHINE
AT YAVAPAI
BALLET THEATRE 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.
nonprofit in December 2025, will not have its own facility, though it will rent space for rehearsals.
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
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.’”
“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)
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
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 SPRIN G 2026 • Prescott L I V I N G 121