Students at Southern California’s Westside School of Ballet know what it means to have big (pointe) shoes to fill. Founded in 1967, the school’s alumni include some of ballet’s biggest names, including New York City Ballet’s Tiler Peck, Andrew Veyette, and Jock Soto. Westside remains Los Angeles’ oldest public ballet school and uses this foundation to continue its cutting-edge […]

I now work with some of the smartest, hardest-working, and most inspiring people I’ve ever known. Every Sunday morning at 9 am—which, as a former professional, is very early to be taking a ballet class—40 to 50 adult dancers come into Westside Ballet and start their pliés with me. Our median age is somewhere in the late 50s, and I have students from ages 14 to 85!