Artistic Director

Adrian Blake Mitchell

Artistic Director

Adrian Blake Mitchell was appointed Artistic Director of Westside Ballet in 2026. He began his serious ballet training in Los Angeles, including at Westside School of Ballet, before continuing his studies at Houston Ballet Academy, the Gelsey Kirkland Academy, the Ellison Ballet Professional Training Program, and the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2014, he made history as the first Black graduate of the Vaganova Academy.

He went on to join the Mikhailovsky Theatre, one of Russia’s most prestigious ballet companies where he rose to the rank of Soloist. Across his performing career he danced leading roles in classical and contemporary works and worked with choreographers including Wayne McGregor, Lar Lubovitch, Nacho Duato and Christopher Wheeldon.

As Associate Executive Director and then Artistic Director Designate, Mitchell has strengthened Westside’s training at every level. He oversaw remarkable growth in the Boys Program, and developed the Westside Ballet Trainee Program in partnership with Los Angeles Ballet, creating a clear professional pathway for advanced dancers. Working closely with faculty, he established a unified syllabus and consistent artistic standards across the school.

He also founded the Dance to Dreams outreach initiative which has widened access to Westside’s world class training and built a masterclass series that has brought leaders from the world’s most prestigious dance organizations to the studio. Students he has mentored have gone on to train at schools including The Royal Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, and American Ballet Theatre’s JKO School and won top prizes at the world’s largest ballet competitions.

Beyond Westside, Mitchell co-founded Dance in Color, a nonprofit which championed diversity in dance, and has collaborated with Paris Vogue, Chopard, and New York Fashion Week. He has directed artistic programming for the World Ballet Festival and Festival Napa Valley, judged for Youth America Grand Prix and The Music Center Spotlight Awards, and served as a guest teacher for American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, Kaatsbaan, and Ballet West. He is a member of the 2025–26 cohort of National Visiting Fellows at the School of American Ballet.

For Mitchell, leading Westside is a homecoming: the school where he took some of his earliest training is now the one he guides. As Artistic Director, he is committed to building on its foundation of classical excellence while expanding the ways it serves its students and the wider Los Angeles community — ensuring the school that shaped him continues to shape the next generation of dancers.