Best Gifts for Arts Enthusiasts, Dance and Ballet Fans--All Price Ranges

Ballet and ballroom dance events makes wonderful spectator sports. Even if you have two left feet, you can still enjoy dance performances. Here is a guide to the best holiday gifts for fans of ballet, jazz, modern and ballroom dance. I've included gifts in all price ranges.

Community dance repertory theaters, college dance ensemble and dance performance tickets: Dance is one of the oldest spectator sports in the world. Do you have a community or four-year college local to you? Even if the college doesn't specialize in theater or arts, there is a very good chance that it has a performing arts center. Most colleges have at least one dance troupe. The college may even have dance troupes devoted to different dance styles: ballet, modern, jazz, hip hop, salsa, Latin, ballroom, polka, square dance; there are dozens of different dance styles.

Visit the community theater, college website and look for links to the theater or arts calendar and box office. The box office will be able to give you performance dates, calendar of events and ticket pricing. You may be able to purchase season passes, memberships or special patron passes for your dance fan. This reduces the price of individual event tickets.

Culture Pass: Check out local community event passes. Some communities, like mine offer community venue discount passes through the local arts council or chamber of Commerce. These community event passes are available from local event website or box offices and by attending an event. The GR Culture Pass is free and offers discounts at local museums, sports complexes, theaters, zoos, arenas, stadiums and dance repertory groups.

Dance Lessons: Why not inspire your dance fans to "trip the light fantastic" themselves with a membership to a dance club or dancing lessons?

Framed souvenir program, autographed programs, dance memorabilia, coffee table books on ballet, famous ballet or dance performance posters: Giselle, Firebird, Coppelia, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, Paquita and others.

Dance booster and arts supporters merchandise: Another great way to support local dance venues and get a great gift for your dance enthusiast is to purchase merchandise from the website or event. Commemorative dance performance tee-shirts, handbags, water bottle or coffee mugs make great gifts and great contributions. CDs and DVDs may be available from past performances. If the fan on your holiday gift list was unable to attend a specific dance performance, having it available on DVD would be greatly appreciated.

Find out what dance or ballet performances your gift recipient enjoyed and look for VHS or DVD movies of the show. I'm just crazy about ballet: I would treasure videos of live ballets from the NY Metropolitan, local dance productions, Broadway Theater Guild, just about anywhere. Suggested videos of famous dance performers include: Dame Margot Fonteyn, Anna Pavalova, Maria Tallchief, Gregory Hines, Mikhail Baryshnikov to name a few.

By supporting arts and dance events at your local community theaters, community college and four-year institutions, you help to make the arts available for upcoming generations. It's like contributing to a scholarship fund; everyone wins. As a patron of the arts and dance myself, you could give me no better gift than to support local art and dance venues.

For more on gift-giving check out the linked blogs.