At the Broad This May, A Hometown Show

Dakota Nelson is eight years old, a second-grader at Franklin Elementary, and she has very clear opinions about her ballet teacher.

"Mr. Mitchell says 'legs like steel,'" she reports, "and 'if I see your feet in fifth position I'll cut them off and make toe soup.' Why they stick in my head is because it's really funny. It's (better) to remember something if it's funny."

This spring, Dakota will dance in a newly choreographed ballet My Favourite Things at the Broad on May 29, 30, and 31, when Westside Ballet of Santa Monica presents its annual Masters of Movement Spring Showcase and Spring Gala. She'll be one of more than 130 Westside dancers on the program. Among them: forty-three kids and teenagers who live in Santa Monica or attend school here, sharing the stage with American Ballet Theatre principal Calvin Royal III, Los Angeles Ballet leads Marcos Ramirez and Kate Inoue, and the company's incoming Artistic Director, Adrian Blake Mitchell. Her "Mr. Mitchell."

For nearly six decades, since 1967, when founders Yvonne Mounsey of New York City Ballet and Rosemary Valaire of the Royal Ballet opened their non-audition academy on the Westside, generations of Santa Monica children have walked the same path Dakota is walking now. Many of them have gone on to dance with major companies. New York City Ballet's Tiler Peck and Andrew Veyette, ABT's Anna Liceica, Boston Ballet's Molly Novak, the Joffrey's Lucia Connolly, and Dance Theatre of Harlem's Giorgia Martelloni Zabriskie all began on Westside's stage. Every spring, that path leads to the Broad.

The Jazz Number, the Ponytail, and the Fosse Style

Photo by Sarah Madison Photography

Lex Vancura, fourteen, won the featured role of "Ponytail Girl" in Rich Man's Frug, a jazz piece that blends the choreography of Bob Fosse with original work by Westside Jazz Director Michele Bachar Mendicelli. 0360

Lex Vancura, fourteen, won a featured role this spring after auditions: "Ponytail Girl" in Rich Man's Frug, a sleek, snappy jazz piece with choreography that blends the work of Bob Fosse with original work by Westside teacher Michele Bachar Mendicelli.

"It's been fun being a leader in the dance and inspiring other dancers to go full out and express themselves," Lex said. "Westside gives its dancers the ability to study various types of dance."

Mendicelli, who restages the piece for new generations of Westside dancers, said Lex stood out at auditions for "the confidence and that 'special something'" the role demands. "I always love bringing back this piece with the next generation of our dancers so that they can get some of that 'Fosse style' under their belt. It teaches them how to be sharp, precise, and musical."

What It Takes

Ella Williams, also fourteen and an eighth-grader at Lincoln Middle School, will perform in Les Sylphides and The Rich Man's Frug. Asked what most people don't know about being a young ballet dancer, she answered with the matter-of-factness of someone who's been doing this for a while:

"It takes so much dedication. Ballet is such a delicate and precious art that you have to take time and patience to try to perfect it. It doesn't just take dedication, it takes so much strength. As dancers, we have to learn how to use which muscles for when we dance, and use them, which takes lots of strength and energy."

A Westside Pas de Deux

Archer Anderson (Left - Level 6) and Christopher Toledo, (Right Level 5+) both sixteen and both trained at Westside School of Ballet, will dance the Les Sylphides pas de deux at the Spring Gala on May 30. Christopher dances the role of the Poet, having begun his partnering training under outgoing Artistic Director Martine Harley.

Archer Anderson and Christopher Toledo, both sixteen, will dance the Les Sylphides pas de deux at the Spring Gala. Both grew up at Westside.

Christopher, a junior at Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles, has trained at Westside since age eleven. He'll dance the role of the Poet. His sister Alexandra is also a Westside dancer. He was recently named the recipient of the school's Mirabelle Weinbach Merit Scholarship for his dedication to daily training, and last year he took an ABT Master Class with Ethan Stiefel and attended the Boys Ballet summer Intensive in Costa Mesa, co-founded by ABT soloist Patrick Frenette. He began his partnering training, he notes, with the encouragement of Westside's outgoing Artistic Director, Martine Harley.

"The pleasure I get from dancing is not something I can compare to anything else in the world," Christopher said, "and it is immeasurable even compared to the love I have for my other interests."

Archer, a 10th-grader at the Archer School for Girls, three-time Ballet West summer alumna, Bronze and Silver Award Girl Scout, and flutist, will also dance in Paquita and Who Cares? at the Gala. She remembers something most performers don't get to claim:

"Westside Ballet was the first professional ballet production I ever saw. I was four years old. I still remember how it made me feel. I am so excited to be able to dance in the Spring Gala for Westside Ballet and bring that joy to children who may be enjoying ballet for the first time."

That's the Westside cycle in two sentences: a child watches, decides, trains, and one day looks out from the stage at the next four-year-old in the audience.

Carrying Mounsey Forward

Of this year's five Paquita soloists, one lives in Santa Monica: Isabelle Choy, a junior at Windward School. She is joined in the lineup by Koko Miyamoto of Marina del Rey, Serena Klipfel of Culver City, Charlotte Sachs of Mar Vista, and Lyla Brugger of Brentwood. All five train at Westside School of Ballet.

Isabelle has trained at Westside since she was six. Last year, she performed as a soloist in the fourth movement of Yvonne Mounsey's Classical Symphony. It's a quiet but meaningful continuity: a current student carrying a piece by the school's founder forward to a new audience. At Windward, she co-presides over the AAPI affinity group, tutors younger students, and is a member of the Spanish Honors Society and the National Honors Society of Dance Arts. She hopes to attend a university with both rigorous academics and a strong dance program.

"Ballet enables me to continuously push myself to grow," Isabelle said. "I love the feeling of conquering a new step or adding in new stylistic choices to a variation. I'm able to look back on my performances over the years and see all the ways I've improved while continuing to find new things to work on."

From the Boys' Program

Photo by Sarah Madison Photography

Twelve-year-old Spencer Collins, a recent YAGP winner who trains at Westside Ballet, will perform a pas de deux from Champagne Polka with Elle Shim at the Spring Shows. 1531

Thirteen-year-old Spencer Collins, a Los Angeles native who trains at Westside School of Ballet, won first place classical and second place contemporary at the 2026 YAGP Los Angeles Semi-Finals, and first place contemporary at the 2026 YAGP San Diego Semi-Finals. He earned the Hope Award at the YAGP 2025 Finals the year before, recognizing his classical and contemporary performances among all dancers worldwide in the Pre-Competitive age division. Also featured among the boys this spring is advanced ballet dancer Noah Nazarian of Sherman Oaks.

Westside's boys program has grown sharply in recent years. Under the leadership of incoming Artistic Director Adrian Blake Mitchell, who has served as Associate Executive Director since 2022, the program has expanded from four students to more than forty across all levels.

The Cohort

The Santa Monica dancers in this year's program span every corner of the city. Lincoln Middle School fields the largest contingent of public school dancers. Roosevelt Elementary, Franklin, John Adams Middle School, Grant, Edison Language Academy, SMASH, and santa monica high school are all represented. So are private and parochial schools across the area, from Crossroads and Carlthorp to Archer, Windward, Pacifica Christian High, Westside Waldorf, and Lighthouse Church. Two pairs of sisters share the stage this season: Greta and Lila Bruno, and Evelyn and Isabelle Choy. Several of the youngest dancers will appear in My Favourite Things, the program's introductory work for the school's youngest performers, taking their very first bows on the Broad Stage.

The Guest Stars

Photography courtesy Westside Ballet

American Ballet Theatre Principal Calvin Royal III will perform a solo at Westside Ballet's Spring Gala on May 30. The same evening, Westside will present its 2026 BRAVO! Award to Dr. Kathryn E. Jeffery, Superintendent and President of Santa Monica College, in her final year of service before her December retirement.

Calvin Royal III, Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theatre, will perform a solo at the Spring Gala on May 30. His path to the top tier of his art form was anything but conventional. Born in Georgia to a military family, he moved from base to base throughout his early childhood. After his parents separated, he and his mother and younger brother settled in Tampa Bay, Florida, with his grandmother, who recognized his interest in music and bought him a keyboard. He didn't begin formal ballet training until he was fourteen. Two years later, he was a finalist at Youth America Grand Prix and on scholarship to ABT, where he is now one of the few Black principal dancers at a major company. He has performed in works by Twyla Tharp, Alonzo King, Kyle Abraham, Benjamin Millepied, and Christopher Wheeldon, and in 2024 curated UNITE, a global celebration of ballet at The Joyce Theater in New York.

Performing George Balanchine's Stars and Stripes Pas de Deux at the Gala will be Los Angeles Ballet lead dancers Marcos Ramirez and Kate Inoue, both of whom arrived at LA Ballet via international training paths.

Ramirez was born in Trinidad, Cuba, and began studying ballet at ten at the Cuban National Ballet School. He turned professional at seventeen with the National Ballet of Cuba, performed in galas across Italy, Cuba, and the United States, and joined Los Angeles Ballet in 2020. His repertoire there includes Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, the Cavalier in The Nutcracker, Gustave in Lady of the Camellias, and Kashchei in Firebird. A documentary called To Dance Like a Man follows his journey.

Photo by Sarah Madison Photography

Guest Artists Kate Inoue and Marcos Ramirez of Los Angeles Ballet will perform George Balanchine's Stars and Stripes Pas de Deux at Westside Ballet's Spring Gala on Saturday, May 30. Inoue trained in Palos Verdes, Osaka, and Pennsylvania before joining LA Ballet; Ramirez began at the Cuban National Ballet School at age ten. 1021

Inoue grew up in Los Angeles and trained at the Palos Verdes Ballet School before moving to Osaka, Japan, to study at the Etoile Ballet School, where she won second place at the Crea Ballet Competition in Hamamatsu. She continued at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under Marcia Dale Weary and Darla Hoover, danced briefly with Pacific Northwest Ballet, and then joined Los Angeles Ballet. Her lead roles there include Aurora and Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty, Marie in The Nutcracker, and the Russian Girl in Balanchine's Serenade.

Also on the May 30 Gala program: a musical theater medley performed by David Prottas, who will sing and dance accompanied by pianist Adam McDonald, with choreography by Jeni Jones. Prottas spent ten years with New York City Ballet before making his Broadway debut in the Tony-winning revival of Carousel. His other credits include the national tour of An American in Paris directed by Christopher Wheeldon, Marie: Dancing Still at the 5th Avenue Theatre, West Side Story at North Carolina Theatre, and television's Hocus Pocus 2. He also teaches weekly open adult ballet classes at Westside School of Ballet, the kind of school where ten-year-olds and grandmothers can study under the same faculty.

A Mantle Passed

The May 30 Spring Gala will mark a leadership transition for Westside Ballet. After more than a decade as Artistic Director, and a lifetime as both a Westside alumna and former Houston Ballet dancer, Martine Harley is passing the role to Adrian Blake Mitchell, who steps into the position following the Spring season. Harley remains with the company as Director of Artistic Operations.

Mitchell brings significant credentials of his own. He recently developed the Westside Ballet Trainee Program in partnership with Los Angeles Ballet, creating a defined professional pathway for advanced students.

The same evening, the company will present its 2026 BRAVO! Award to Dr. Kathryn E. Jeffery, Superintendent and President of Santa Monica College, in her final year of service before her December retirement. A classical pianist, Dr. Jeffery has spent nearly eleven years at SMC championing equity, expanding student basic-needs services, and supporting the broader Santa Monica arts community, including The Broad Stage Foundation, on whose board she serves.

Mr. Mitchell, for his part, will continue serving toe soup.

Tickets and Performances

Westside Ballet of Santa Monica's Masters of Movement Spring Showcase and Spring Gala take place at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th Street, Santa Monica.

Spring Showcase performances: Friday, May 29 at 7 p.m .; Saturday, May 30 at 1 p.m .; Sunday, May 31 at 1 p.m. ($51.50, including fees.)

Spring Gala: Saturday, May 30 at 5:30 p.m. ($196.50, including fees.)

Tickets at westsideballet.com.