Our Staff
Lois Ellyn
provides the link.
"As a performer, Ellyn studied under and performed with legends. As the owner of a decades-old studio, she has instructed generation after generation of budding ballerinas."
-Orange Country Register
Lois Ellyn, photographer: Fred Fehl of New York
for George Balanchine’s “Symphony in C”.
Lois Ellyn- Founding Director
Lois Ellyn, ballet dancer, choreographer, and Founder and Artistic Director of the Nouveau Chamber Ballet, was born Lois Margaret Ellen Smith on June 19, 1924, to Edith Baldwin Smith and Thomas K.M. Smith, in Anaheim, California. She trained under Bronislava Nijinska of the Ballet Russe and later, celebrated dancer Vincenzo Celli. She performed with numerous companies, including the Marquis de Cuevas Ballet, Mia Slavenska’s Ballet Variante, and the Slavenska-Franklin Ballet, where she gained critical acclaim for her performance as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. Most notably, from 1949 to 1952 she was a soloist at the New York City Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine. Lois Ellyn’s legacy lives on in her masterful choreography and the generations of dancers she taught at her Fullerton studio since the 1960s. She passed away in August 2021 at the age of 97, just a few weeks after directing a ballet production. The Lois Ellyn Dance Studio will remain open, continuing to train young dancers in the traditions and technique of classical ballet.
Sheree King- Artistic Director
Sheree King was born in Pittsburgh , Pa. and began dance and baton classes at the age of five. She has a M.A. in Dance from UCLA and is an Associate Professor and Director of the Dance Program at Long Beach City College. She is currently on a year long sabbatical to become certified in GYROKINESIS®. She has performed with Rudy Perez, Momentum Dance Company, UCLA Dance Company, and Nouveau Chamber Ballet. Her choreography has been presented in many southern California colleges and universities, at International City Theatre, Orange County Choreographer’s Showcase, the Mark Taper Forum, and Nouveau Chamber Ballet. She is also a certified Pilates instructor which she teaches at LBCC and at her home studio. Sheree enjoys traveling to to all parts of the world with her husband, Tom Bozigian, an internationally renowned teacher and choreographer of Armenian dance.