San Francisco Ballet School established its first ballet training program in 1958; beginning in 1959, the Foundation offered grants covering tuition and expenses for advanced ballet students selected to attend either New York City Ballet’s School of American Ballet or San Francisco Ballet School. In 1963, the Foundation then awarded a substantial ten-year grant to the SF Ballet School, establishing it, along with the School of American Ballet, as vocational schools of national stature. The grants awarded by the Foundation allowed the two schools to conduct nationwide auditions, with the SF Ballet School focusing on the Western states. When the grant ended, the School
Pirates of Penzance – The Ballet! which the company took it on an extended tour to the United States presented by Columbia Artists Management. Gray largely re-choreographed the work for Ballet San Jose for a 2004 revival and retitled "Pirates of Penzance – The Ballet!". In 2008, Orlando Ballet, under the direction of Bruce Marks, toured the ballet in Florida. It was again revived in November 2009 at Ballet San Jose. The "San Francisco Chronicle" reviewer wrote of the revival, "the show is a perpetual motion machine. ... Ebullient, athletic, bright as a picture book and blurrily overstuffed, Ballet San Jose's "Pirates of Penzance" is a