Festival Ballet Theatre

Festival Ballet Theatre is Orange County’s premier, accomplished professional ballet company. Our mission is to enrich Orange County’s artistic and economic vitality, to inspire love and appreciation for dance, and to invigorate ballet by:

Presenting a season of exhilarating classical and contemporary performances, Providing a nurturing environment for dancers and choreographers, Offering stimulating educational outreach programs.
With reverence for classic masterpieces and a focus on developing future tours de force, Festival Ballet Theater is committed to presenting the best of dance, enriching lives, and developing a new generation of audiences and artists. We offer professional-quality classical productions and highlight the works of world-renowned choreographers, giving audiences a rich, fulfilling experience with each of our nearly two dozen annual performances.

Exhilarating, Nurturing, Stimulating

Festival Ballet Theatre is a well-established nonprofit arts organization founded in 1988 by Artistic Director Salwa Rizkalla. For nearly three decades – surviving economic downturns and other adversities – Festival Ballet Theatre has continuously presented a complete ballet season with world-class artists in Orange County. FBT was also the bid winner of Ballet Pacifica’s Assets Auction in 2007, purchasing the dissolved company’s name, sets, costumes and photography archive in order to preserve these treasures for both Festival Ballet Theatre and the Orange County dance community.