About
Ruth Balestra is a dance faculty member at Youngstown State University's Cliffe College of Creative Arts. At YSU she teaches Jazz 1 and 2, Tap 1 and 2, Modern Dance, Survey of Dance, Musical Comedy, and she has also guided students in their Senior Dance Projects.
Ruth attended her first dance lesson at the age of 10 and received her technical dance training collectively between Kent State and Youngstown State University. Ruth received her BA in Speech Communications/Theater and a minor in Dance. Ruth studied the bulk of her dance classes at Kent State University while teaching as an intern at YSU.
Ruth’s areas of specialty include pointe, classical ballet, jazz, modern, tap and musical theater. Over the past 36 years she has used these disciplines to create innovative choreography in her dance productions. Ruth is most noted for her choreography to Broadway musicals and famous ballets to create artistry on the stage. Students of all ages have been taught in her shows to perform choreography, act and pantomime to the soundtracks of the following musicals: The Phantom of The Opera, Mamma Mia!, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Broadway's The Little Mermaid, The Lord of The Dance, Tangled, Jersey Boys, Newsies, Swan Lake, An American In Paris, Singin' In The Rain, Aida, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, The Greatest Showman, Music to Inspire Our Youth, Seussical the Musical, A Tribute to Music Legends, Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, Delibes, Coppelia, The Drive In, a Bee Gee’s Tribute, Highlights from Frozen, and a choreographed production to Wicked.
Ruth’s Dance Co. LLC was chosen to be the host school for The Moscow Ballet’s The Great Russian Nutcracker in 2007, 2016 and 2018. Ruth and her staff taught variations for the ballet and the performance took place at DeYor Performing Arts Center in Youngstown. The Great Russian Nutcracker gave students in the community an opportunity to perform in the Moscow Ballet’s “Dance with Us program”.
December of 2017, Ruth’s Dance Co.’s was chosen to perform in the half time show at the Camping World Bowl in Orlando Florida. In 2012, Ruth’s Dance Co. was chosen to perform the halftime show at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Between November of 2010 and June of 2018, Ruth and her students attended "The Beginnings Workshops”, in New York City where Broadway professionals coached several of her students to act, sing and dance. The workshop culminated in an off-Broadway performance in New York City in front of Broadway directors and producers.
Ruth served as President of the YSU Dance Ensemble at Youngstown State University between 1988 to 1990. She also performed in the same ensemble as well as in YSU theater productions. Ruth is also a former choreographer for the Youngstown Playhouse, where she choreographed several musicals.
