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.

[…]

“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.”

[…]

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.

“Having grown up with one of my closest friends (Claire Feth) being part of the community of individuals with disabilities, this is an extremely important program that is very close to my heart,” said Martha Leebolt, SCB artistic director. “Growing up with her was a formative part of my life, and seeing her transition into adulthood helped me understand the difficulties of this stage of both her and many others’ lives.

“This led us to create this program, which I hope will flourish to become something that can enrich everyone’s lives who want to be involved,” Leebolt said.

Martha Leebolt is the co-artistic director of Southern California Ballet, which was awarded a grant to start an adaptive dance program for adults with disabilities, beginning Oct. 9

It was around this time last year when Southern California Ballet was awarded a grant to start a six-week adaptive dance program for adults with disabilities, spearheaded by the dance company’s co-artistic director, Martha Leebolt.

It’s probably good that ballet dancer David Ward’s latest project is in San Diego. He kinda has a thing for fish tacos.

“I love them,” the 32-year-old confesses.

This week, he’s in town to play the role of The Prince in Southern California Ballet’s production of “Cinderella,” which premieres Saturday, April 6, and continues Sunday, April 7, at Poway Center for the Performing Arts.

The Southern California Ballet is presenting a new production of “Cinderella” April 6 and 7 at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts.

Featuring the original score by Sergei Prokofiev, the show features entirely new choreography by SCB co-artistic directors Martha Leebolt and Toby Batley. The pair are former principal dancers for the Northern Ballet in Leeds, United Kingdom and are in their second year directing at SCB. Leebolt is also an alum of SCB.

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.