He Was the Lone Boy in Ballet Class. Now He Teaches 40.

Robert Ito on Adrian Blake Mitchell, the boys’ program he built at Westside, and the dancers it has sent into the world. Visuals by Chantal Anderson, reporting from Los Angeles.

Adrian Blake Mitchell, Westside Ballet and the future of dance in Los Angeles

Los Angeles Magazine profiles Westside Ballet’s Artistic Director: his training at Westside, his years as a soloist with Russia’s Mikhailovsky Theatre, and the boys’ program he came home to build.

Jenna Elfman on Her Ballet Career, Landing ‘Dharma & Greg’ and Meeting Carol Burnett

The Dark Winds star danced professionally before she turned to acting. Westside alumna Jenna Elfman on the ballet years that came first. By Marc Myers.

Dreaming in Dance: Scholarship program removes barriers to young ballet talents

Dance to Dreams scholar Karson St. Claire, eight, and the program that found her. By Bridgette M. Redman.

Westside Ballet, California Dance Institute launch classroom-to-scholarship program

The Pathways Partnership: from a first dance class in a Title I classroom to a full scholarship. By Maaz Alin.

California Dance Institute and Westside Ballet to Launch Pathways Partnership

The Pathways launch announcement, picked up nationally.

The Girl Dad Who Helped His Daughter Dance Her Dreams Into Reality

A broadcast feature on a Westside scholarship dancer and the father who made it possible.

Adrian Blake Mitchell: Westside Ballet, Hope for the Future

Joanne DiVito’s profile ran on Adrian’s first day as Artistic Director.

Adrian Blake Mitchell Named Artistic Director of Westside Ballet

The leadership announcement, picked up nationally.

Westside School of Ballet Bridges Training and the Professional Stage

How the school’s training connects to the professional stage.

Generation-to-generation, Santa Monica’s Westside Ballet prevails and thrives

Debra Levine’s arts·meme on the Spring 2025 gala.

Westside Ballet’s 52nd Nutcracker returns to the Broad Stage

The 2025 Nutcracker, with Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia returning to the Broad Stage.

Grace and Grit: Allegra Clegg upholds a mother’s legacy

The Women in Business issue put Executive Director Allegra Clegg and the Westside leadership team on the cover: the school her mother, New York City Ballet principal Yvonne Mounsey, founded in 1967, and the values she carries forward. The story ran in both papers.

Championing Diversity: Adrian Blake Mitchell opens access for local ballet dancers of color

The Argonaut’s cover story on Adrian Blake Mitchell and the start of Dance to Dreams, the scholarship program he founded in 2022 to bring children from underserved communities into professional-level ballet training. Also ran in Playa Vista Direct.

Spring 2022: from St. Petersburg back to Santa Monica

Adrian Blake Mitchell’s career had taken him from Santa Monica to the Mikhailovsky Ballet in St. Petersburg. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, he and Andrea Laššáková, a fellow principal there, left the country and came back to the school where he trained as a boy, dancing as guest artists in the New Horizons performances on the Broad Stage and joining students for an evening of Dance Talks. Coverage from:

Yvonne Mounsey, City Ballet Dancer and a Teacher, Dies at 93

Yvonne Mounsey danced for George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins at New York City Ballet before founding Westside School of Ballet in 1967 with Rosemary Valaire of the Royal Ballet. She directed the school until her death in 2012, at 93. Alastair Macaulay wrote her obituary for The New York Times; the Los Angeles Times ran its own.

Queen of the Land of Sweets: A Ballerina’s Story

A short film that follows Lucia Connolly from the studio and the dressing room to the stage as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker at Santa Monica College, a decade before she came home to dance the role again in the 50th-anniversary production.

Media inquiries

For interviews, press passes, images and story ideas, contact Westside Ballet’s press office. Photography is available on request.