A vacant Catholic church in New Castle's Mahoningtown neighborhood is being reborn as a full-scale ballet academy, with pews lining the walls of what used to be the sanctuary and dance students set to fill the halls where parishioners once gathered. Guillaume Basso, 35, and Abby DeAngelo, 27, bought the former St. Lucy Catholic Church and its surrounding buildings in July 2026, and they are now racing to prepare the campus for their first class of students on September 9.
The couple, who run Adage Ballet Academy, met while performing together with Pacific Northwest Ballet, according to WKBN. They started their ballet school in Seattle before conducting a nationwide search for a larger property, eventually landing on the 13-acre Mahoningtown campus that will now be known as the Lucymont Events and Performing Arts Center. DeAngelo told the station the site can accommodate larger studios, on-site residents, and additional facilities that would have been out of reach in a bigger city.
Basso, who is French and trained at the Paris Opera Ballet, said the plan is to preserve as much of the historic property as possible even as it transforms into a working dance school. The former church itself will become a dance studio, with pews repurposed and placed along the sides of the room for seating, per the station's report. Volunteers have already been at work removing wallpaper from an entrance of the performing arts center as renovations get underway.
From Parish to Performance Space
The building at 1 Lucymont Drive has deep roots in the neighborhood. St. Lucy Catholic Church was established to serve Italian immigrants in Mahoningtown, a New Castle neighborhood that developed in the late 19th century as an industrial enclave for workers on the local railroad and in tin mills, according to the Italian Sons and Daughters of America. The parish later merged with three other local churches in 1993 to form St. Vincent de Paul Parish, per the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
That consolidation continued in May 2019, when the diocese merged St. Vincent de Paul with six other Lawrence County parishes to form Holy Spirit Parish, part of Bishop David Zubik's “On Mission for The Church Alive!” restructuring effort to address shrinking priest numbers and lower Mass attendance, as reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The campus, which includes a 22,222-square-foot main facility and an 11,889-square-foot gymnasium, was listed for sale in September 2024 at an asking price of $835,000, according to a LoopNet listing.
Elite Training Pedigrees Behind the Academy
Basso and DeAngelo bring international dance credentials to Mahoningtown. DeAngelo is from central Pennsylvania and trained at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under founder Marcia Dale Weary before dancing professionally with Pacific Northwest Ballet from 2016 to 2023, according to Adage Ballet Academy. That program, established in 1955, developed a trademarked curriculum recognized as one of the top classical ballet training programs in the country, with alumni dancing in premier international companies including American Ballet Theatre.
Basso, originally from Dijon, trained at the Conservatory of Dijon before Paris Opera Ballet and went on to perform with Houston Ballet II, The Joffrey Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, per the academy. Basso told WKBN that the school will teach the history of ballet alongside music, anatomy and physiology, and he said the academy has the potential to become the most prestigious ballet school in the world.
Housing Plans and Opening Week
The couple currently live in the property's former rectory, and students enrolling this fall will initially stay with host families while the academy works toward its longer-term goal of building on-site dormitories. Adage Ballet Academy will use parts of the former property for classrooms as it settles into the space ahead of its inaugural semester.
Before classes begin, the academy is opening its doors to prospective students and the community. A public open house is set for Saturday, August 29, offering facility tours and ballet demonstrations, followed by a pre-season conditioning workshop running from August 31 through September 4. The curriculum will also incorporate yoga and specialized conditioning alongside classical training, with Basso — also a certified yoga teacher — leading sessions focused on injury prevention and safe strength development for dancers.
