Our History

The Antelope Valley Ballet was founded in the fall of 1998 by Kathleen Burnett and Lara Arnaiz. The mission statement for AV Ballet is to provide dancers from across the Antelope Valley region with professional quality performance opportunities in a company setting; to provide high quality performances locally and regionally, stimulating interest in and appreciation for dance as a performing art; to be a positive force in the cultural climate of the Antelope Valley and the state of California, interacting with and supporting all the arts.

The Antelope Valley Ballet produces three productions each year at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center in Lancaster, CA. We have morning performances for school children, home school children, senior citizens and disabled people. In addition to our productions at LPAC, we also present lecture demonstrations and smaller performances for classrooms and organizations across the Antelope Valley. This year we are pleased to announce a series of ballet performances at the Lancaster Public Library which are free to the public and appropriate for young children. Our productions have included The Nutcracker, Giselle, Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Alice in Wonderland, Coppelia, Swan Lake, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, and Romeo and Juliet.

                  We are proud to have had our dancers accepted to the finest professional ballet summer programs in the United States including School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Texas Ballet Theatre, The Rock, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Atlanta Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet Academy, Anaheim Ballet, Southland Ballet, State Street Ballet, Inland Pacific Ballet, and Ballet Austin. Former dancers have danced professionally with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Houston Ballet, Hubbard Street II, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Kansas City Ballet, Memphis Ballet, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet.

                  The Antelope Valley Ballet has received grants from Ralph M. Parson’s Foundation, Boeing, Deluxe Checks, the LPAC Foundation, and the LA County Arts Commission. We also receive very generous support from individual donors who live here in the Antelope Valley. Although we do not have a ballet school, the AV Ballet supports our local dance studios. We are fortunate to have had strong support from several of the local dance schools as well.