Butler University to close 102-year-old dance academy

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Butler University said Thursday that it plans to close its Jordan Academy of Dance, ending the 102-year-old program due to economic reasons.

The academy, which has more than 200 students, ages 3-17, will shut down May 31, the university said.

“Despite efforts to increase enrollment and boost revenue, the Jordan Academy of Dance is not a sustainable program and Butler University can no longer afford to subsidize the operation,” Butler announced in a written statement.

The academy, at 52nd Street and Boulevard Place in Indianapolis, teaches ballet, modern and jazz dance. It employs two full-time employees and six hourly workers.

The  affiliate dance school of the Butler Ballet and Butler University's Jordan College of Fine Arts is fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Dance, one of only two pre-professional, pre-college dance programs in the nation to earn that status.

Butler said the academy “cannot compete with the number of for-profit dance schools in Indianapolis” and decided “that the money used to subsidize the academy would be better spent on its central mission: the nationally renowned undergraduate dance program.”
 

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