Deane Dance Center & Crockett-Deane Ballet Company

Barbara Crockett was an early member of the San Francisco Ballet Company. In 1954, Ms. Barbara Crockett began work creating the first professional ballet company in California's state capitol in Sacramento. One of the first productions was with the now famous holiday ballet, The Nutcracker. In 1968, the Sacramento Civic Ballet Company and the original Sacramento Symphony formed a partnership to create this ambitious production for the Sacramento community.

Barbara Crockett, master teacher and co-founding Director of Crockett Dance Studio and Sacramento Ballet Company, began her training in Fresno California. She moved at a young age to San Francisco and joined the San Francisco Opera Ballet Company performing in many well-known ballets on the San Francisco Opera House Stage. Ms. Crockett met and married Deane Crockett, a teacher and dancer with the company, and it was their decision to move to Sacramento to begin a dance school and company. Thus, was born the Crockett Dance Studio and a short time later, Sacramento Ballet Company.

Deane Crockett choreographed many ballets using original music composed by local conductors while Barbara Crockett continued dancing as a principal dancer with the dance company doing double duty as a rehearsal director and co-Artistic Director. Ms. Crockett also danced at this time with Alan Howard, formerly with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and toured with him in the Pacific Ballet Company of San Francisco.

In 1965, Deane and Barbara Crockett were instrumental in forming Regional Dance America/Pacific which now boasts twenty companies in nine Western states, and of which, Crockett-Deane Ballet is an Honor Company. In 1967, they bought "Nutcracker" sets, costumes, and choreography from Lew Christensen at San Francisco Ballet and an exciting new era was born. By 1986, when Director Barbara Crockett retired, (Deane Crockett passed away in 1972), Sacramento Ballet was performing seventeen "Nutcrackers" a year and all with the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra. Many well-known guest artists from New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and San Francisco Ballet came to perform in this production, doing the leading roles until eventually the Sacramento Ballet dancers were able to take over these top roles. This was quite a testament of Barbara Crockett's training as these dancers were all younger than eighteen years old!

Barbara Crockett has taught ballet classes in Sacramento for 58 years and with her own syllabus has trained dozens of professional dancers as well as hundreds who have gone on to well-known dance colleges, to Broadway successes, to become successful teachers, to begin companies of their own, and other such successes. Barbara Crockett, after closing her school in 1994, became Honorary Director and Master Teacher of the Deane Dance Center, owned by her daughter, Allyson Deane and son-in-law, Don Schwennesen, both formerly with the San Francisco Ballet Company. She continues to teach a full schedule of classes and Direct the Crockett-Deane Apprentice Company while remaining on the board of Sacramento Ballet and Crockett-Deane Ballet Company and uses her expertise to coach young dancers. As a board member of the national Regional Dance America, she travels often to New York to participate in the national affairs of the organization.

Her daughters, Leslie Crockett is currently teaching at the Marin Ballet in San Rafael and Allyson Deane along with her husband, Don Schwennesen are the artistic directors for the Deane Dance Center , the prestigious founding school of the Sacramento Ballet. Since 1994, the school has won many nationally recognized awards including the Regional Dance Association/Pacific, Pacific Honors Company and many others.

Ms. Crockett is internationally recognized as a premier ballet mistress and her students perform and teach throughout the world of ballet and dance. She also has recently recieved the California State Senate Resolution, an official award to honor her achievements and important contribution to the community, bestowed by Senator Steinberg (President Pro Tempore of the California Senate).

Please feel free to call us for information about the ballet school and/or our ballet performances. Read our ballet and dance testimonials and what our parents have to say about our dance school.