Philadelphia Ballet nears completion of its North Broad building

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Philadelphia Ballet officials on Wednesday ceremoniously raised high the roofbeam, setting the topmost steel girder into place on the company’s new building currently under construction on North Broad Street.

The five-story building, expected to be completed in February 2026, will almost quadruple the ballet’s current space to 58,000 square feet. It currently occupies a 15,000-square-foot building on Wood Street, directly behind the new construction with frontage on Broad Street.

“We have been trying to expand this building for over 10 years, and we’re finally getting the place all framed out,” said executive director Shelly Power. “We can see the black box. We can see the studios already framed out.”

The Center for Dance will include a flexible performance space — the black box — and expansive rehearsal rooms that can accommodate, for example, entire scene changes of “The Nutcracker,” something impossible in the smaller quarters of its current space.

“We’ve been rehearsing in a very, very small space and we’re one of the top ballet companies in the United States,” said artistic director Angel Corella. “We deserve to have a building that reflects that.”

The ballet’s new home will include spaces for community events and classrooms for training stage crew, something Power said is critical for an arts organization on a prominent downtown corridor.

“It’s like taking Avenue of the Arts and going to the other side of City Hall,” she said. “Now we’re branching out.”

At the topping-off ceremony, a steel beam painted white was signed by Power, Corella, dozens of company dancers and students, and elected officials who directed $7.5 million in state funds toward the $37.5 million construction cost.

“The commonwealth investment shows its commitment to the arts, to our city, and to all of us who make our home here,” said state Rep. Nikil Saval. “If we’re not investing in our arts, we’re not investing in Philadelphia.”

State Sen. Vincent Hughes said the building will be ready to showcase dance Philadelphia when the city is expected to gain the attention of the world in 2026.

“For the moment that we are in right now, where in other spaces everything is transactional, there needs to be a growing space with that which moves us at the depths of our soul, is celebrated and invested in,” he said.

The topping-off event was one part of a trifecta for the ballet, Power said. This season is the company’s 60th, and it also happens to be Corella’s 10-year anniversary as artistic director.

The gestation of the building almost perfectly corresponds with Corella’s tenure with the company. Power said Corella is, in part, responsible for Philadelphia Ballet’s expansion.

“His artistic vision has really brought us where we are today,” she said. “For us to have a building that meets that criteria is a win-win for everyone.”

Corella is the subject of a new documentary produced by WHYY TV12 that will premiere March 20.

“Angel Corella: Raising the Barre at Philadelphia Ballet” is a tribute to the dancer and choreographer from his start in Spain, through his meteoric rise in the world of dance with the American Ballet Theater when he was described as a “force of nature,” to leading the Philadelphia Ballet.

Corella has seen an advanced cut of the WHYY documentary. Power and members of the ballet board get screen time to offer accolades about Corella, but he said the most meaningful parts are comments from his dancers.

“Almost above all else, he is passionate and holds us all to a very high standard,” said principal dancer Ashton Roxander of Corella, in the documentary. “It comes from a place of him knowing what we can do, and him believing in us.”

“When he sees you’re ready he will give you the opportunity,” said principal dancer Nayara Lopes. “That is everything to a dancer. That keeps you alive.”

Corella said comments like that make him emotional.

“Not surprised, but I was happy to hear that the dancers feel like that in this company,” he said. “I was actually quite touched to hear that.”

“Angel Corella: Raising the Barre at Philadelphia Ballet” will broadcast on March 20 at 7:30 on WHYY Channel 12.