Our Story
Since its founding in 1983 as Black Mountain Dance Center, Southern California Ballet has been at the forefront of professional ballet training in San Diego.
With humble beginnings in a small Rancho Penasquitos studio, SCB has changed both locationally and organizationally over the years, settling in its current location on World Trade Dr. in Carmel Mountain.
Image: Newspaper article from 1995 about SCYB Cinderella Production
From the outset, Southern California Ballet has emphasized full-length-performance-oriented professional training to prepare students for professional careers in ballet or any path they choose in life.
SCB’s founding director, Sylvia Palmer-Zetler, recognized the importance of performing and invested in creating one of the region’s best Nutcrackers, rivaling the production values of professional companies in the pursuit of excellence (one of SCB’s four core values). This focus on performance continues to this day, and has manifested in SCB’s newer productions, such as Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella.
In 1990, SCB was one of the first groups to perform on the stage of the newly built Poway Center for the Performing Arts.
Since then, the 809-seat professionally fitted theater has served as the venue for all of SCB’s major performances, and SCB has visited this beloved stage three times per year ever since! It is a second home to most SCB students.
Excellence is embodied in every aspect of SCB’s staged presentations, from scenery to costumes, choreography, and dancing.
In 2017, Southern California Ballet welcomed new artistic directors, Martha Leebolt and Toby Batley.
Following their arrival, Martha and Toby created a new syllabus and training method for Southern California Ballet, which was originally a Cecchetti method studio.
Their syllabus builds upon the original Cecchetti syllabus by incorporating lessons from Martha and Toby’s own training and professional experience and adding a more objective annual assessment process for level progression.
As their leadership continued, Martha and Toby designed and choreographed three brand new spring shows from scratch: Coppélia, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland. Southern California Ballet rotates through these productions year-to-year.
Southern California Ballet also prides itself on being a fully nonprofit dance studio, placing an emphasis on community engagement, development and education.
Multiple programs have become part of the SCB family, including adaptive dance programs, outreach performances and workshops, and library classes. These not only connect SCB with the wider community as an organization, but also encourage community engagement and participation for SCB academy students.