About US

The Conservatory of Classical Ballet was formed in 1979 and the Peggy Willis Ballet Company of the Conservatory of Classical Ballet was formed in February, 1983. The Willis Ballet (originally, a semi-professional performing company, now a professional performing company with its base in Panama City Beach, Florida) had its premiere performance in the Spring of 1983 in Panama City, Florida, at the Marina Civic Center Theatre. The Company's Lubbock, Texas premiere entitled "Ballet Extravaganza," was presented at the Civic Center Theatre in March of 1984, in celebration of Lubbock's 75th Anniversary. To date, in addition to numerous performances in various University and Lubbock area theatres, the company has performed on tour in Texas, New Mexico, Florida, Tennessee, Illinois, as well as on a very special Tour to England in 1987.

The Company repertoire includes: The full length productions of "Dracula, the Ballet," "Coppelia," and "Giselle," as well as productions of "Grand Pas de Quatre," "Pas de Trois," "Faust Variations," "Danse Brilliant," "Fantastical- a Classical Fantasy," "Texas pas de deux," "Classical Symphony," "Near the Nile," "Emotions," "The Blaydon Races Ballet," "Geistling," "Dementia Praecox," "Double Helix," " and the "All American Mardi Gras Ballet. " Additional works include: The Grand pas de deux from "Giselle" (2nd Act), "Don Quixote" pas de deux, "Sleeping Beauty" (Blue Bird), "Esmerelda," pas de six, "La Vivandiere," pas de six, and the "Diana and Acteon" pas de deux, among others.

In 1986, The Willis Ballet presented its production of "Coppelia" at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center Theatre. In 1987, the Company was invited to represent the United States at the "All American Mardi Gras Festival" in South Tyneside, UK. A highlight of this trip, was an invitation to perform at a Festival performance for the benefit of the St. Johns Ambulance Brigade, held in Hyde Park, and attended by HRH Queen Elizabeth, and the Duke of Windsor, Prince Phillip, who were also the sponsors of this Charitable event. In 1988, the Willis Ballet hosted and performed in the World Premiere of Valery Panov's "Giselle," starring the world-famous Prima Ballerina, Galina Panova, and featuring a special guest star, Natalia Krassovska (a former member of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo), as Giselle's mother. In 1991, the Willis Ballet presented "A ballet Double Feature," which included a re-staging of Prof. Willis-Aarnio's 1981 production of "Dracula: the Ballet," and a Ballet Gala Concert featuring performances by seven, well-known Russian artists, headed up by the incomparable Prima Ballerina Assoluta, Galina Mezentseva.

Establishing the Company's presence on the Worldwide Web; Continuing to expand video and music CD offerings and market penetration; Continuing to produce International Ballet Tours of impeccable quality to inspire and uplift audiences all over North America; expanding efforts, as the North American Representative of the Society of Russian Style Ballet, to encourage teachers to study 'The Teaching Method', to join the Society and to initiate examination programs both for their faculty and students; and, keeping our own school, The Conservatory, an example of high professional and artistic standards for others to follow.

1991 was a watershed year for the Willis Ballet, for this is when the Willis Ballet began to shift emphasis form a strictly domestic to a more international focus, and also to expand its activities to include educational initiatives as well as performances. The Willis Ballet, whose mission statement is "To preserve the complete tradition of Classical Ballet, in education, teaching and performance" began to undergo several expansions and structural changes to accommodate its new roles.

The first such change occurred when the Willis Ballet elected to expand its areas of interest to take a more direct role in Classical Ballet Schooling and in the training of the future generations of Classical Ballet Teachers by merging the school and the company; and relocated to the joint facility at the 4228 Boston Ave, Lubbock address and celebrated its twentieth year anniversary as a school in the Fall of 1999. The Willis Ballet Conservatory and its official company, The Willis Ballet, relocated to Panama City, Florida in the Fall of 2004 and continue to provide the highest quality ballet education and performances in the area and beyond to all students regardless of family background and means.

The second change was to create the Willis Ballet Educational Video Library, as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Willis Ballet, whose responsibility, originally, was to create, package and market (for distribution and sale) a full range of educational and entertainment video products designed to enhance the understanding and appreciation for Classical ballet among audiences, ballet students and teachers, alike. The Educational Video Library has, since its original conception, expanded its activities to include creating and distributing music products in cassette and CD form for use by ballet teachers. This subsidiary now presides over an operation that distributes video and audio products worldwide, directly and through licensees, and is continually engaged in developing new educational products to help train and prepare teachers as well as to make their work easier.

The third change was the decision (encouraged by the dissolution of the old Soviet Union, which suddenly made the professional Russian Classical Ballet Companies accessible for foreign appearances) to expand operations to include acting as an impresario and Producer for North American performing tours of Russian Classical Ballet Companies. The inspiration behind this decision was based on the old adage: “A Picture is worth a Thousand Words” as it relates to the Company Mission Statement (“To Preserve the Complete Tradition of Classical Ballet in education, teaching and performance”). What better way to preserve the tradition and to inspire interest in all aspects of the art, then to show it to North American audiences in its finest incarnation, as performed by the Russian Companies that are heirs to the greatest achievements of Classical Ballet by people like Petipa, Ivanov, Johanssen, Perrot, Coralli, Fokine, Vaganova, just to name a few? To date, the Willis Ballet has been responsible for producing 400 successful performances by some of the most distinguished Russian ballet artists of this generation. These performances have been produced, literally, in every corner of the U.S. and in many Canadian venues as well, and has given over 500,000 people the opportunity to see Classical Ballet as it should be performed.

The fourth expansion area is really an extension of the commitment to preserve the knowledge of Teaching Method and to improve the quality of Ballet instruction, through the activities of The Conservatory of Classical Ballet, and The Willis Ballet Educational Video Library. As a result of having seen the Educational Ballet Video series, The Board of the Society of Russian Style Ballet (An international Society founded to elevate the teaching and performing standards for Classical Ballet world-wide) Selected the Artistic Director/Choreographer of the Willis Ballet, Prof. Willis-Aarnio as an honorary Member and their newest board examiner. They also designated the Willis Ballet as their new North American Representative. In rising to the challenges presented by these nominations, the staff of the Willis Ballet has focused on three goals: Fostering awareness of the Society and what benefits it affords the teacher, the student and the school; Recruiting members for the Society; and, increasing the supply of properly trained teachers by conducting teacher training courses at least once per year (taught by Prof. Willis-Aarnio). To date, over thirty teachers have had one or more teacher’s courses, and all twenty teachers are actively teaching on a day-to-day basis.

Current initiatives include: Establishing the Willis Conservatory of Classical Ballet and the Willis Ballet Company’s presence on the Worldwide Web; Continuing to expand Video/DVD and Music CD offerings and market expansion; Continuing to produce International Ballet Tours of impeccable quality to inspire and uplift audiences all over North America; and, Keeping our School, The Willis Conservatory of Classical Ballet, and its company, The Peggy Willis Ballet Company, as an example of high professional and artistic standards for others to follow in teaching and training the next generation of ballet teachers and artists.

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