San Francisco Ballet School San Francisco Ballet ballerina Nancy Johnson as its head. In 1993, Lola de Avila was appointed to lead the School (Associate Director, SF Ballet School), and she held that position until 1999. When de Avila left, Gloria Govrin stepped into the position. De Avila returned in 2006 to serve as associate director until 2012. Patrick Armand was appointed associate director of the San Francisco Ballet School in September 2012, after serving for two years as principal of the SF Ballet School Trainee Program. Notable alumni of the school include: San Francisco Ballet School San Francisco Ballet School was founded in
Ballet San Jose 2006 shortened its name to simply Ballet San Jose. In 2003 the company gained benefactor and current chairman of the board John Fry, co-founder of Fry's Electronics.with a 1 million dollar contribution. Fry helped the company survive the dot-com crash and continued to support the company until he closed it in 2016. Over the years Fry became personally involved and Ballet San Jose faced increasing Fry's support, prompting Karen Loewenstern, founding board chair of Cleveland San Jose Ballet to say "...he bought himself a ballet company." By 2007, still lead by founding artistic director, Dennis Nahat, there was a resident