RAISING LEADERS
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A NEWLY DEVISED LEADERSHIP PROGRAM FOR COMPANY DANCERS
San Francisco Ballet’s Raising Leaders program provides professional and personal development for selected SF Ballet company dancers who want to lead and make an impact within the dance and arts sectors.
Through Raising Leaders, we offer future leaders of our artform the opportunity to be mentored and nurtured, through this newly designed program. Raising Leaders is provided exclusively for our dancers to learn, share, and explore new ways forward within the structure of a company-curated, professional development experience.
With a view to supporting dancers and developing their skills and career beyond performing, each Raising Leaders program spans two seasons. The inaugural program runs 2024–2026.
The Raising Leaders’ framework is individually tailored and adaptive. The program is experiential and reflective, grounded in practice, and underpinned by contemporary leadership approaches.
Each two-year Raising Leaders program provides training, mentorship, and observation opportunities and enables the artist to receive the benefit of one-on-one coaching. With a focus on skills development and leadership training, there is also the chance to gain greater understanding of how the company works as a business.
We have confirmed associated partners, who can offer complementary studies and share the latest thinking on leadership practices across all industries: the Stanford School of Medicine will provide leadership training sessions and LinkedIn will also provide specialist talks to enhance the curriculum.
INAUGURAL RAISING LEADERS FELLOWS ANNOUNCED
Principal Dancer Sasha De Sola and Soloist Julia Rowe have been selected as Raising Leaders' inaugural fellows. They will participate in a bespoke leadership training program designed to complement the fellows' performance careers and guided by their professional interests.
SASHA DE SOLA
“As a ballet artist, you work toward contributing your individual perspective to a broader vision, a skill that is imperative for leaders,” said De Sola. “I’m excited to leverage my 18 years of experience dancing with SF Ballet to learn more about the inner workings of ballet companies.”
Born in Winter Park, Florida, De Sola was named an apprentice in 2006 and joined the company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2007. She was promoted to soloist in 2012, principal dancer in 2017, and appointed Diane B. Wilsey Principal Dancer in 2020. Highlights of De Sola’s recent repertory include Odette-Odile in Swan Lake (Tomasson after Petipa), Cinderella (Wheeldon), and Giselle (Tomasson after Petipa). De Sola’s Raising Leaders fellowship will include executive coaching sessions and will culminate in a placement with a ballet company in Europe, shadowing Artistic Director Nicolas le Riche at the Royal Swedish Ballet. De Sola holds a bachelor’s degree in the performing arts from Saint Mary’s College of California.
JULIA ROWE
“I’m interested in empowering people from diverse backgrounds to tell their own stories through dance,” said Rowe. “By exploring new skillsets with SF Ballet’s guidance, I’m hoping to chart a path as a leader in the dance community.”
Born in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, Rowe joined SF Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2013 and was promoted to soloist in 2016. Highlights of her recent roles include Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Balanchine) and Grand Pas de Deux in Nutcracker (Tomasson), and she has originated roles in Pas/Parts 2016 (Forsythe), Violin Concerto (Possokhov), and The Infinite Ocean (Liang). Rowe’s Raising Leaders fellowship will consist of foundational coaching and mentorship opportunities, and will culminate in devising and delivering an independent project.
Photos: Sasha De Sola and Julia Rowe // © Chris Hardy