Most people forget that Orange County once had such a company: Ballet Pacifica, which was founded in 1962 by a former dancer with the Ballets Russes and performed a wide repertoire, including works by George Balanchine, at the cozy, well-lit Irvine Barclay Theatre at the University of California, Irvine. However, when Ballet Pacific shuttered in 2007, a noted teacher and former soloist with American Ballet Theatre, Charles Maple established a school, the Maple Conservatory of Dance, in its former studios and hired former dancers for his staff.  

Maple’s successful school shut down itself in 2020 in the wake of California’s crippling lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic. Amidst the turmoil, two of its young alumni, Ally and Emily Helman were jump-starting Ballet Project OC, with the help of many of their former classmates from Maple and the School of American Ballet, where they had both completed their training. Rehearsing in their dad’s IT office, they commissioned some 50 neoclassical and contemporary ballets from their network of colleagues, and even worked with the Balanchine Trust to stage some of his works, a rarity for a project-based group. Early this year, they rebranded to Ballet Orange County and announced plans to take the troupe from being an off-season gig for dancers to a full-time company. If they succeed, they will draw a direct line back to the barely remembered Ballet Pacifica and will be the first such organization to call Orange County home in 20 years.

No doubt attempting to create a company with real longevity will be challenging. Much like Los Angeles and its hegemonic Music Center, any local company has to compete with international companies that tour through the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, and with the imposing presence that American Ballet Theatre has established there. Yet Ballet Orange County continues to offer programming around other companies’ off-season with dancers from Los Angeles Ballet, American Contemporary Ballet, and Nevada Ballet Theatre. Reflecting Helman’s training with SAB and New York City Ballet, it is unabashedly neoclassical, i.e. “Balanchine.”

As a professional dancer, I first performed with Ballet OC beginning in their virtual “Nutcracker” in 2020. The Rat King—it was my first professional gig. Since then, I have alternately performed with the company many times and kept track of their progress from afar. Their latest program, Vivo: Live Music and Dance, which took place on May 29 at the intimate and out-of-the-way Brea Curtis Theatre, nonetheless shows a company to watch.

The opener, “Chronos,” by Christina Ghiardi of Nevada Ballet Theatre, is a high octane ballet, featuring a lead couple, in this case Robert Fulton and Camille Kellems, and Sara Ashley Chicola and Cleo Taneja in the corps. Fulton turns, swerves and pivots when he’s not partnering Kellems, who manages precision footwork despite the considerable speed. This reflects the Balanchine-inspired taste of BOC: speed, musicality, and neoclassical style. Like much of Ballet OC’s work, it's a “dancer’s ballet,” best appreciated by those who know what to look for when they watch ballet. For the dancers, Chronos is a sprint to the finish line. 

The second piece “Verve” by Thel Moore featured Ally Helman and Mark-David Bloodgood in the leads, and a corps of three women, Leah McCall, Madeline McMillan, and Sarah Hurty. It was a pleasant, light showpiece for Helman and Bloodgood, but the piece fell short of coming together into a full statement, ending too abruptly.