Long Beach Ballet Arts Center

Mission Statement:

To Enhance the Lives of Children and the Community Through the Beauty and Discipline of Classical Ballet.

About Us:

Long Beach Ballet, now in its 26th year as one of Southern California's leading classical ballet institutions. We are very proud of our company and school's history and its dedicated professional faculty as well as our many successes, including graduating students in such companies as San Francisco Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Milwaukee Ballet, and Hamburg Ballet, Germany. The Long Beach Ballet and has been host to many of the world's greatest dancers over the years, providing our students the opportunity for the unique experience of working along side the very best. We welcome you to share with us your love of dance, and we promise to provide you with the very best in classical ballet training.

History:

The Long Beach Ballet was born from the Audrey Share School of Dance 1n 1981. Miss Share, immigrating to America from England, settled in Long Beach with her husband in 1956 and for 25 years owned and operated the very first Royal Academy ballet school in Southern California. During that quarter century the school served as training ground for such notables as Yoko Ichino and Bobby Burgess, not to mention a large segment of the Long Beach population.

In 1979 the Shares set out on a two year search -- a search for someone with whom they could entrust the classical tradition of their school. In January, 1981, David Wilcox and Linda Gonzales, in financial partnership with Art and Lynn Chenen, took over the artistic helm of the largest ballet school in Long Beach and one of the largest in Southern California.

The first year as ", Ballet Arts Center of Southern California", was witness to substantial growth and activity at the school. The studios were renovated and the First Annual Performance (The Dream) was held at Lakewood High School. One year after that first performance David Wilcox founded the Long Beach Ballet, the area's first professional ballet company. By 1991 the company had grown to over 40,000 annual ticket sales and changed its name to Los Angeles Classical Ballet, while Long Beach Ballet Arts Center had grown to over 400 students, students that were sharing studios with professional dancers from around the world.

In 1992 the school was granted federal non-profit status, having been recognized as an important community asset. In 1995 David Wilcox received a proclamation from the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Richard Riordan for his important work with the Los Angeles Classical Ballet and Long Beach Ballet Arts Center. Today, the school continues a tradition of outstanding achievement in ballet technique. Over the past 24 years students have successfully competed in international ballet competitions, received scholarships to schools throughout the U.S. and joined major companies.