Contra Costa Ballet Centre
Contra Costa Ballet Centre, 2040 N Broadway, Walnut Creek, CA 94596
About
Contra Costa Ballet Centre offers dance training that includes ballet training, coaching, a youth company, and performance opportunities. Students take part in professionally staged dance performances such as Nutcracker performances, Spring Repertory performances, a Student Showcase, and a Spring Rep Performance. The program also offers Outreach Events and a Summer Intensive Program.
• Ages: 4–18 years old
• Schedule: Fall and spring sessions with school-year classes and breaks, plus a Summer Intensive Program
Contra Costa Ballet Centre is the official school of the Contra Costa Ballet Company, which is described as a pre-professional company of unusual stature, with only a few youth groups of this quality existing in America today. The school guides students from their first steps in music and movement through seven progressive levels of achievement and offers an inclusive academy with children’s, professional, and teen/adult programs, along with coaching, a youth company, and performance opportunities for all levels. Company dancers perform in three professionally produced performances each year, including The Nutcracker, which attracts over 4,500 attendees each year, and Spring Repertory, which features classical works like Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake and contemporary performances such as Alice in Wonderland, with opportunities to perform alongside professional dancers at the Lesher Center for the Arts. The syllabus is described as truly American, taking the best of the Russian and Italian schools, and the school states it does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and judges only by work ethic, desire, and merit.
Founded in 1974, the Contra Costa Ballet Foundation is a non-profit organization bringing the art of dance to the East Bay and supporting Contra Costa Ballet Company. Its mission is to provide affordable, professionally staged dance performances to the community, support the regional Contra Costa Ballet Company, and provide scholarships for deserving young dancers to be trained and gain performance experiences that will prepare them for a professional career in dance. The Company and its activities are sponsored by the Contra Costa Ballet Foundation, whose goal is to foster and develop the art of dance in Contra Costa County, and through Outreach Events the Foundation brings ballet to local schools and the public. Alumni have become leaders in the dance field, populating companies throughout the United States, and the school is described as the premier classical ballet school in the East Bay and as providing world-class dance training in the East Bay for over 60 years.
The leadership team includes director Richard Cammack, director Zola Dishong, Company Doctor Dr. Selina Shah, and Company Physical Therapist Meghann Oakes Rust, DPT. Richard Cammack is a former San Francisco Ballet School director, and Zola Dishong has over 40 years of teaching experience. The directors and faculty hail from American Ballet Theatre in New York City, San Francisco Ballet in San Francisco, New York City Ballet in New York City, the Royal Ballet in the United Kingdom, Ritsuko Kamo in Tokyo, and Matsuyama Ballet in Tokyo. The directors and faculty have all studied the Cecchetti (Italian) and Vaganova (Russian) systems extensively and come from professional backgrounds, having danced in companies that have favored one technique over the other.
Community partners listed for Contra Costa Ballet include BayArea Dancewear in Berkeley, Don McCartney Graphic Arts, Jor Fine Art Gallery, Phoenix at 1716, Platinum Nail Salon, Sylvan Learning Centers, BeLocal Lamorinda & Diablo, and SF Dance Gear. Contra Costa Ballet Centre is featured in a Redfin Realtors article as a premier classical ballet school in the East Bay.
Last updated March 17, 2026.
• Ages: 4–18 years old
• Schedule: Fall and spring sessions with school-year classes and breaks, plus a Summer Intensive Program
Contra Costa Ballet Centre is the official school of the Contra Costa Ballet Company, which is described as a pre-professional company of unusual stature, with only a few youth groups of this quality existing in America today. The school guides students from their first steps in music and movement through seven progressive levels of achievement and offers an inclusive academy with children’s, professional, and teen/adult programs, along with coaching, a youth company, and performance opportunities for all levels. Company dancers perform in three professionally produced performances each year, including The Nutcracker, which attracts over 4,500 attendees each year, and Spring Repertory, which features classical works like Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake and contemporary performances such as Alice in Wonderland, with opportunities to perform alongside professional dancers at the Lesher Center for the Arts. The syllabus is described as truly American, taking the best of the Russian and Italian schools, and the school states it does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and judges only by work ethic, desire, and merit.
Founded in 1974, the Contra Costa Ballet Foundation is a non-profit organization bringing the art of dance to the East Bay and supporting Contra Costa Ballet Company. Its mission is to provide affordable, professionally staged dance performances to the community, support the regional Contra Costa Ballet Company, and provide scholarships for deserving young dancers to be trained and gain performance experiences that will prepare them for a professional career in dance. The Company and its activities are sponsored by the Contra Costa Ballet Foundation, whose goal is to foster and develop the art of dance in Contra Costa County, and through Outreach Events the Foundation brings ballet to local schools and the public. Alumni have become leaders in the dance field, populating companies throughout the United States, and the school is described as the premier classical ballet school in the East Bay and as providing world-class dance training in the East Bay for over 60 years.
The leadership team includes director Richard Cammack, director Zola Dishong, Company Doctor Dr. Selina Shah, and Company Physical Therapist Meghann Oakes Rust, DPT. Richard Cammack is a former San Francisco Ballet School director, and Zola Dishong has over 40 years of teaching experience. The directors and faculty hail from American Ballet Theatre in New York City, San Francisco Ballet in San Francisco, New York City Ballet in New York City, the Royal Ballet in the United Kingdom, Ritsuko Kamo in Tokyo, and Matsuyama Ballet in Tokyo. The directors and faculty have all studied the Cecchetti (Italian) and Vaganova (Russian) systems extensively and come from professional backgrounds, having danced in companies that have favored one technique over the other.
Community partners listed for Contra Costa Ballet include BayArea Dancewear in Berkeley, Don McCartney Graphic Arts, Jor Fine Art Gallery, Phoenix at 1716, Platinum Nail Salon, Sylvan Learning Centers, BeLocal Lamorinda & Diablo, and SF Dance Gear. Contra Costa Ballet Centre is featured in a Redfin Realtors article as a premier classical ballet school in the East Bay.
Last updated March 17, 2026.
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