San Diego Civic Youth Ballet

SDCYB has been awarded an FY25 Organizational Support Program funding award from the City of San Diego, which will allow us to continue our mission and enhance our programming. We are grateful for their ongoing support of arts education and the ballet in Balboa Park! 👍🏻🙂🩰

A couple of weeks ago, SDCYB’s Ms. Shantel had the opportunity to attend the Cross Threads teacher training of the Opera of Paris. The training was held at the Opera of Paris Ballet School in Paris, France. She was able to learn from teachers who train students in this prestigious school. She learned about pantomime, yoga, folklore, graham technique, repertoire, pointe work, and ballet technique with the French method. She says it was an incredible experience and we are very proud of her accomplishments! Brava! 👏🏻💐🩰

Congratulations to all of the dancers who participated in this year’s Advanced Intensive!!! All of us at SDCYB are inspired by your talent, hard work, and dedication to ballet. Bravo!!! 👏🏻💐🩰

SDCYB is excited to welcome Audrey Honert as one of the newest additions to our ballet faculty! Here is her bio:

Audrey Honert is a native of Colorado. She danced professionally for 14 years with numerous companies across the country, including Ballet Idaho, the Colorado Ballet, and the St. Louis Ballet. She has performed classical roles such as Odette, Giselle, and Sugar Plum as well as principal roles in works by Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Emery Lecrone, Pam Tanowitz, and more. In conjunction with her professional career, she has taught ballet at various levels and to a variety of ages. She has taught outreach students in Colorado, adults in Boise, and advance-level students in Saint Louis. She has a passion for passing along the art of ballet and loves coaching students in classical repertoire.

Tickets are now on sale for SDCYB’s 16th Annual “Fairy Tales in the Park” in Balboa Park on August 17 & 18 at 11am and 2pm. Tickets are only $15 and include a ballet performance and fun interactive activities for families! Tickets and more info at www.sdcyb.org. 💐🧚🏽‍♀️🩰

Wishing everyone a happy, safe, and fun 4th of July!!!!! 🇺🇸🎆🩰

You might have noticed that all of our social media posts throughout the month of June have had a rainbow banner along the bottom. That has been to commemorate Pride Month, because even though we are proud of all of our students all year round (including those that identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community), we also understand the need for representation and celebration of our wonderfully diverse SDCYB community. As it comes to an end, we hope that you have had a fun, inspiring and reflective Pride Month, and that our ballet school continues to be a safe and respectful place for every student who wants to dance! 🏳️‍🌈🩰🏳️‍⚧️

The last story to announce for “Fairy Tales in the Park” is “The Sleeping Beauty.” We are so excited to share this ballet with all of you in August! Tickets go on sale at midnight at www.sdcyb.org! 🧚🏽‍♀️🩰

Another story featured in this year’s “Fairy Tales in the Park” will be “Puss in Boots.” 😻🩰

SDCYB is excited to welcome Jared Brouillette as one of the newest additions to our ballet faculty! Here is his bio:

Jared Brouillette is from Boston, Massachusetts, and began his ballet training at the age of nine at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts in Franklin, MA under Cheryl Madeux Abbott. At the age of fourteen, Jared started training on scholarship at the Boston Ballet School under the direction of Margaret Tracey and Peter Stark in the Pre-Professional Training program, where he remained for five years, the last two as a Trainee.  As a trainee with Boston Ballet, he had the opportunity to perform with the Boston Ballet Company in productions including Mikko Nissinen’s The Nutcracker, George Balanchine’s Coppelia, and Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella. 

In 2020, Jared went on to join Pacific Northwest Ballet School’s Professional Division where he trained under the direction of Peter Boal. For the 2021/2022 season, he danced with Kansas City Ballet II under the direction of Devon Carney and Christopher Ruud.  Jared joined BalletMet 2 in Columbus, Ohio under the direction of Edwaard Liang for the 2022/2023 season. In 2023, Jared joined City Ballet of San Diego as a company member.

The third story in this year’s “Fairy Tales in the Park” is “Beauty and the Beast,” which enchanted our audiences earlier this spring. 🌹🩰

We have two levels of intensives — Advanced and Intermediate — and you can learn more by visiting www.sdcyb.org/summerprograms 👏🏻💐🩰

Wishing everyone a joyful, meaningful and reflective Juneteenth! ❤️💛💚🩰

“Fairy Tales in the Park” will also feature an exciting first look at SDCYB’s recently-announced 2025 spring ballet, “The Firebird.” 🔥🩰

This week, we will be announcing the five stories that will be featured in this year’s “Fairy Tales in the Park” production, starting with “Hansel and Gretel.” 🍭🩰

Study ballet in Balboa Park this summer with the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet, offering classes, camps and intensives for dancers of all experience levels starting at age 4. For more information, visit www.sdcyb.org! 👏🏻💐🩰

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, with an extra special shout out to our ballet dads! 🎉👨🏻👨🏿👴🏽🩰

Very exciting announcement! SDCYB’s 2025 Spring Ballet will be THE FIREBIRD. SDCYB audiences haven’t seen this full-length ballet before, as our version was supposed to premiere back in Spring 2020 just as the pandemic hit. We have decided to bring back this premiere production on March 28-30, 2025 in celebration of our milestone 80th Anniversary Season. You won’t want to miss this magical ballet!!! 🔥🩰👏🏻

Our final spotlight celebrating AAPI Heritage Month is an extra special one for us, because it’s another chance to highlight two beloved SDCYB alumni from recent years, Zoe Tran & Anna Mae Lucero! These two amazing dancers and role models performed characters such as “Titania” and “Cinderella” (as seen in the photos above), and they also both graced the Casa del Prado Theater stage as “The Sugar Plum Fairy” in THE NUTCRACKER. We are so proud of all of our dancers, and these two are certainly no exception!!! 👏🏻💐🩰

Today we are highlighting even more amazing AAPI ballet dancers including John Lam (who has taught many SDCYB dancers at our Intensives in recent years), as well as Stella Abrera and Jim Nowakowski. 👏🏻🌺🩰

Everyone can now enroll in our summer classes! For more information, visit www.sdcyb.org or call 619-233-3060. 👍🏻🙂🩰

Our first AAPI Heritage Month spotlight is Li Cunxin. If you haven’t read the book “Mao’s Last Dancer,” or seen the film adaption, we recommend it! 👏🏻🙂🌺🌼🌸🩰👏🏻

This Memorial Day, we remember and honor all of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country. 🇺🇸💙❤️🤍🩰

This week, SDCYB will be celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month on social media by highlighting some dancers who have made a big impact on the dance community! 👏🏻💐🩰

Our “Ballet Boost” fundraising campaign ends today and we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has donated to celebrate our seniors and enhance the experience at San Diego’s historic ballet school. There is still time to donate at www.sdcyb.org! 👏🏻💐🩰

One week ago on May 15th, thanks to our educational partners at La Jolla Music Society, our dancers had an amazing Master Class with Ching Ching Wong. We are so grateful for inspiring opportunities like these! 👏🏻💐🩰

Enrollment for summer classes is now open for current students. As always, thank you for your patience as we get everyone signed up! 🙂💐🩰

Join us in honoring our senior class and enriching our ballet school community! Just a few more days left to participate in our “Ballet Boost,” a special fundraising campaign (through May 24th) that seeks to elevate our programs and support the next generation of dancers. Your donations will fuel essential enhancements and celebrate our seniors’ journey while shaping the future of ballet education. Click on the link in our bio to make a difference today! 👏🏻💐🩰

Another senior dancer with a parent who is a Lead Volunteer at SDCYB! This time, we are highlighting Arabella’s mom Candra, who helps usher patrons to their seats and enhance our audience experience! We are so grateful for all of our volunteers!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻