Westside School of Ballet

Happy Holidays to our community!! ~ Please read a note of Gratitude from Allegra Clegg, +Plus: Virtual "Kingdom of the Sweets" Nutcracker and online Nutcracker Boutique (until supplies last): https://conta.cc/3nqMgxS

Happy New Year to all our donors! Thank you to everyone who gave to the Westside Ballet Crisis Relief Campaign via Go Fund Me this year. We have raised over $180k of our original goal of $150k which was changed to $250k because of the ongoing restrictions due to which have kept the studio operating at limited capacity and at a deficit for over nine months. The Virtual Nutcracker is still online until end of day January 1st for all who have not watched it yet. https://vimeo....com/492620318 Allegra Clegg’s letter of Gratitude: https://westsideballet.com/the-school/' Also Please check out some of our recent press:

Barbara Weisberger, George Balanchine’s protégé, his first American student as a child, and founder of the Pennsylvania Ballet, died Dec. 23 at her home in Kingston, Pa., near Wilkes-Barre, following a lengthy illness. She was 94. Almost single-handedly, on a dream and the wings of a Ford Foundation grant more than half a century ago, Mrs. Weisberger founded the Pennsylvania Ballet and with it helped launch decades of regional dance companies across the country. https://www.inquirer.com//barbara-weisberger-pennsylvania-

Get your last minute gifts, ornaments and books at Westside's online Nutcracker boutique: click here: https//nutcracker.westsideballet.com

In anticipation of the new Tap Program, Westside offers a Master Tap class with Leo Manzari, a direct protégée of Maurice Hines - having performed alongside him for over a decade. Since then, Leo has worked as a headliner in television and theatre. Sun. Nov 1st - Introductory Tap Class - 3-4pm $25 In-Studio and $15 via Zoom. ... https://conta.cc/34gkXzi

Westside Ballet of Santa Monica’s 2020 Nutcracker abbreviated virtual production of Kingdom of the Sweets was previously filmed in an open-air ‘Black Box.’ The company of talented pre-professional dancers perform excerpts from ‘The Nutcracker’ to be showcased on Vimeo. Though no live audience permitted, everyone can still enjoy the enthralling Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, her Intrada with her Cavalier, The Dew Drop Fairy, Toy Soldier, the Doll and the Arabian dance as... they were all performed for film, in a carefully controlled environment and reimagined so the dancers do not touch. For 47 consecutive years, Southern California’s longest running production of The Nutcracker has delighted audiences of all ages. This year in the age of Covid with renewed determination, grace, and grit Westside Ballet will bring to life selected pieces from Tchaikovsky’s beloved score for all to enjoy, albeit in different ways. Watch URL: https://vimeo.com/showcase/6997255

WSB Alumna Joy Womack at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy! #TBT 2009. #WorldBalletDay

Leo Manzari dances the solo feature in this Hozier Music Video. Leo teaches a Master Class Sun Nov 1st @3pm in studio and on Zoom. A direct protégée of Maurice Hines and has performed alongside him for over a decade. Since then, Leo has worked as a headliner in both television, and theatre alike. He specializes in choreography, technique, musicality, and improvisation. These attributes are accentuated by his acting training at the Susan Batson Studio in NYC, and enables him to develop full and well rounded performers. See Master Tap Class with Leo Manzari - for further details. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ9IX4zgyLs

A big shout out to Westside young male ballet dancer, JESSE PETERSON who is going to be featured tomorrow night 12/18 7-8pm on a LIVE dance performance - where he will also be interviewed from an empty Westside Studio - "Pangea Live brings the world together one screen at a time. We are a live interactive experience, featuring the industry's best dancers and performers. If we are going to be alone, let's at least be Alone Together." From his alumna mother Kiva Michelle Daw...son: Please see link to purchase tickets! Online event Friday December 18th 7:00Pm (PST) Thank you Tracy Phillips Amy Romenesko with love and support from his favorite place = Westside School of Ballet https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pangea-live-tickets-1317311022

Huge shout out to Dance in Color ~ and this exquisite, deserving dancer! #danceoutside

A few months ago, USC Annenberg grad student Isabella Bright interviewed Westside Ballet's Associate Artistic Director Francine Kessler Lavac along with alumna Renee Spaltenstein and current graduating senior Zane TJ - about the effects of the pandemic on their art form and discipline. A very well presented conversation worth reading and sharing! http://www.uscannenbergmedia.com//how-local-la-ballet-sch/

Amazing WSB teacher CHARLIE HODGES’ toy house was featured in Dance Magazine: To Charlie Hodges, the idea of quitting dance is nothing more than a state of mind. "You can choose to quit, or you can choose to translate," he says. "Dance can be your tool set for the next step." Today, he's translating the lessons he learned from working with Twyla Tharp on Broadway and in companies like L.A. Dance Project into starting a business that sells an environmentally sustainable, gen...der-neutral toy house. And he's tapped three former New York City Ballet dancers to help him.. https://www.dancemagazine.com/dancer-product-design-2648428

The legendary Joan Bayley will be teaching again on Mon. Nov. 2nd. Class will take place both in-studio & via Zoom. Joan will be Zooming from home and projected onto a screen in Studio 6. This special event is priced at $25 in-studio and on Zoom. Rem https://conta.cc/2Tka2hI

Introduction to the Free Vimeo Streaming of Grace and Grit from Allegra Clegg, Studio Owner & Daughter of Westside Ballet’s Co-Founder Yvonne Mounsey's. We thank everyone who came to the drive-in premiere of ‘Grace and Grit,’ the dance film we produced to help the Crisis Relief Fund. For those who didn’t attend, it will be streaming on Vimeo this weekend from 5pm Saturday through to midnight Sunday. You can watch it here: https://vimeo.com/468760554 - please share with ...friends and family to support our dancers! This coincides with the closing out of our silent auction. We encourage you to check out the items and bid. We have two socially distanced parties which may have been missed by some. These will take place in 2021 - one an outside Live Ball Tennis game - and the other a fabulous scavenger hunt which takes place in one’s personal vehicle! Please check them out here: https://one.bidpal.net/graceandgrit/ and go to parties or silent auction. Thank you so much for your continued support! A letter from Allegra: Dear Westside Community, Your support of this endeavor is crucial to keeping the studio open as well as showcasing the importance of arts in our community. Westside Ballet has been in existence for 53 years - growing kids into great adults through the power of ballet. A ballet dancer is elegant and graceful but they are that way due to all the hard work and grit that it takes to make them a success. Westside has trained thousands of kids over the decades but it also serves as an arts advocate for our city. We bring the joy of a ballet performance to thousands each and every year, many who would never experience a classical ballet or hear classical music without the gift of ballet that we give. Westside School of Ballet is also an institution that supports other dance companies in our community growing the classical arts. We are home to Barak Ballet, Ballet Foklorico and other unique dance groups. In addition we partner with Santa Monica College to further grow the awareness of the importance of the arts in all avenues of civic life. If you were not able to attend the event, please watch the free live streaming this weekend and consider bidding in the silent auction or donating to the Crisis Relief Fund to support Westside but most importantly the dancers, the artistic staff, the Volunteer Guild, the Board of Directors as so much effort has gone into this and the entire Crisis Relief Campaign. My deepest gratitude to everyone who made this event so wonderful and for continuing to fight the good fight. I am still hopeful that we will survive this horrible time and continue for the next 53 years! With Gratitude, Allegra