From a ballet performance to camps for would-be young dancers, Southern California Ballet has a full roster of upcoming events.

The story of “Cinderella” will be performed April 1 and 2 by SCB for the first time since 2019.

Husband and wife team Toby Batley and Martha Leebolt , co-artistic directors of Southern California Ballet, first choreographed the ballet in 2018.

In a sign of how skilled its older students have become, three Southern California Ballet dancers have been cast in roles often performed by professionals in “The Nutcracker.”

Misha MacGowan and Emilia Wightlin are sharing the role of Snow Queen in seven shows from Dec. 15-18. Zachary Ong is partnering with both girls as the Snow Cavalier during the Christmastime ballet at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts.

For 18-year-old Lily Hofstetter, dancing the lead role in Southern California Ballet’s upcoming “Alice in Wonderland” is a dream come true.

“I didn’t expect it at all,” Hofstetter said. “I’m super excited to dance it. It is more hours in the studio learning choreography. I love it as it is so much fun.

“Alice stays on stage almost the entire ballet,” she explained. “There is not a lot of rest time.”

In what is likely the first time in Southern California Ballet’s more than 35 years, eight members of a family will perform together in its annual presentation of “The Nutcracker.”

The Schultz family of Poway said this is the first and likely only time all eight of them will be in the same show.

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The Poway Center for the Performing Arts will once again have patrons on its premises with two outdoor performances of “Coppélia on the Green” on Saturday, June 5.

Tickets are on sale now for the ballet, performed by the dancers of Southern California Ballet. This is a limited-capacity outdoor event with socially-distanced pod seating.

Poway OnStage has teamed up with the Southern California Ballet to present “The Nutcracker” virtual field trip, available now through Dec. 18.

Southern California Ballet traditionally performs the classic Christmas ballet on the stage of the Poway Center for the Performing Arts every holiday season. With COVID-19 restrictions, the dance company and Poway OnStage have a found a way to bring the show to life in a safe manner for children.

Those not quite ready to attend an in-person performance can catch unique twists on virtual productions, starting with Southern California Ballet.

The Carmel Mountain-based company and ballet school is partnering with Poway OnStage to create a virtual “Nutcracker” field trip for school groups, special needs groups and senior groups.

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“Dancers are making it work,” said Martha Leebolt, co-artistic director of Southern California Ballet. “They are finding ways ... and we are really proud of them.”

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Immediately upon learning Poway Unified School District was suspending classes, SCB faculty started filming themselves doing components of their classes’ syllabuses on March 13. The videos were uploaded on a website so students could practice at home. On March 23, they added live classes via Zoom and now most teachers film from their homes, Leebolt said, with only she and her husband, Toby Batley, filming in the studio. As they got more became familiar with the technology’s capabilities, teachers offered corrections based on what they saw students doing during interactive sessions.

San Diego, CA — Southern California Ballet will premiere a brand new production of “Alice in Wonderland” on April 4-5, 2020, staged by its co-artistic directors Martha Leebolt and Toby Batley, former principal dancers of Northern Ballet in Leeds, UK, now in their third year directing SCB. The full-length ballet will feature all new choreography set to a score by Carl Davis with excerpts of Pyotr Llyich Tchaikovsky, a completely redesigned and newly built set, and over 50 new costumes.

The highlight of SCB's annual fundraising gala on February 9, 2019 was an eloquent, inspiring speech given by company dancer Kayla Kressin, whose words resonated with everyone in the room and illuminated the capacity that dance has to empower and enliven not only young dancers, but indeed everyone.

This year, Southern California Ballet applied for a grant from the Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation for seed money to initiate the creation of an inclusive, 6-week adaptive dance education program for adults with disabilities in Rancho Bernardo. We are very excited to announce that, at the Foundation’s Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon on Friday, November 16, we were granted $8,000 to initiate the program.

Southern California Ballet’s 27th annual production of The Nutcracker will feature returning alumnus and Broadway star, Victor Wisehart, in the role of Snow Cavalier for his final classical dance performance.

Today, Southern California Ballet is thrilled to welcome its first artists-in-residence, Marlie Couto and Courtney Mazeika! Through its new artists-in-residence program, SCB provides support and studio space for Marlie & Courtney to develop new work. Their residency lasts from November 8–20, 2018.

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve added a new adult class to our programming!

The adult Bollywood/Flamenco class has been running for one month, and a few from our community have enjoyed the benefits of these amazing dance forms.

Our beautiful, new sponsorship booklet is now available for local businesses and supporters to read about our sponsorship packages and opportunities to support the arts and education in our area.