Marietta-based The Georgia Ballet will again be able to offer its DanceAbility class to local children free of charge thanks to a $20,000 donation from the Resurgens Charitable Foundation.

The 32-week class is geared toward children ages six and up whose physical or developmental disabilities make it difficult or impossible to participate in a regular ballet class. A professional dance instructor teaches the class with support from teaching assistants, who are assigned to the participating children on a one-on-one basis, giving each child extra assistance as needed to help him or her with the exercises. The class will culminate with an in-studio performance showcasing what has been learned.

Thanks to the Foundation funding, The Georgia Ballet is offering the class at no cost to the students. The goal of the class is to give children with special needs a traditional dance class experience, while tailoring the class to allow for their comfortable participation.

Due to the overwhelming success of the program, The Georgia Ballet will now offer two levels of dance classes to better accommodate a diverse range of physical limitations.

The Georgia Ballet leadership hopes that students in the class will build confidence, socialization skills, and self-esteem. Each participating student receives full tuition for the year, a uniform for the class, and a costume for an end-of-year performance opportunity.

This isn’t the Foundation’s first donation to DanceAbility. Resurgens Charitable Foundation has been supporting the Georgia Ballet since 2016 when they funded two semesters of DanceAbility classes serving sixteen children per year.