Ayako School of Ballet

Ayako School of Ballet offers training in Classical Ballet, Modern Dance, and Jazz. Students take part in an annual Showcase performance, a Nutcracker production, and the ASB Gala and School Showcase each June. All dancers from Beginning students and higher levels are invited to audition for the Nutcracker, with auditions held each September for the upcoming season.

• Schedule: Each season begins with the annual Nutcracker production and ends with the ASB Gala and School Showcase in June.

Ayako School of Ballet has been bringing Classical Ballet, Modern Dance, and Jazz to local Bay Area communities since it started in Watsonville, California in 1976 and later relocated to the Peninsula. The school will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. The staff are professionally trained dancers, and many of them previously danced at Ayako School of Ballet as students. Ayako Takahashi has served as Artistic Director of Peninsula Youth Ballet (PYB) since 1987. Ayako School of Ballet is affiliated with Peninsula Youth Ballet, a non-profit company that gives dancers from around the Bay Area a chance to perform in a professional setting and receive additional professional training from Ayako Takahashi. The school currently serves families in San Mateo, Belmont, and the greater Peninsula, and over the years, hundreds of families have found a place to call home at Ayako School of Ballet. In 2021, Expertise evaluated 222 ballet teachers in San Jose, California and selected Ayako School of Ballet as one of the Top 17. Since 2021, Ayako School of Ballet has presented the Nutcracker annually in December, and the school’s YouTube channel has passed 150 subscribers.

Last updated March 22, 2026.