At City Ballet - San Francisco, our Year-Round Program's goal is to provide students with opportunities to grow both in the studio and in professional quality productions, danced exclusively by the students, to prepare them for a career in ballet. Equipped with instructors that have the credentials and personal experience to qualify them as Master Teachers, City Ballet - SF continues to place its students into professional companies worldwide, year after year.
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How We Stand Out
Whether you are a student or a professional, having the right guidance is crucial to a success in any career. Teaching requires communication and trust between the instructor and student, developed with time. A good mentor will share not just the secrets of their wisdom but also instill a love and passion for the art form. Our instructors have experience in the top companies around the world, such as the Bolshoi Ballet, Kirov Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Nederlands Dance Theatre, and more.
Training without performance and stage experience is simply incomplete. Ballet is a performing art, after all. We strive for our students to be equipped with as many tools possible going into a professional career. That is why we offer our students, from the moment they enter our school, many opportunities to perform on a big stage in professional-quality productions danced exclusively by our students.
A syllabus and small class sizes
Having superior training on a consistent basis is the key element in giving dancers the best chance to attain their goals. We adhere to a single syllabus, the Vaganova Method, that is known to be strategic, inspiring, challenging, and ever-evolving. It features a deliberate progression in its curriculum as the students climb up the levels within our program. Because we are a privately run school that is able to control the size of our program and are selective with our admission, we can offer more individualized attention to dancers and a clearer path of study than larger institutions.
The proof is in the pudding. City Ballet - SF has placed its students into top companies around the world, year after year. While many schools claim short-term students as alumni, the vast majority of our professional alumni have trained and grown at our school for many years.
We believe it is important for students to know the roots of their training in order to fully understand and appreciate the value and culture of their daily routine. That is why every three years, we take our students right to the source: Russia - where the Vaganova Method was born. For 10 days, our students take classes at and observe students of the legendary Bolshoi Ballet Academy, see some of the best ballet companies in the world perform in their home theaters, and embark on a cultural adventure of a lifetime.
Faculty/Staff
Galina Alexandrova
Artistic Director
Nikolai Kabaniaev
Boys'/Men's Director
Ken Patsel
Executive Director