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Last updated on September 8, 2007

Alonzo King's LINES Ballet / San Francisco Dance Center was established to explore the depth of the human experience through dance.

Description:
Alonzo King's LINES Ballet is a professional company of artists of the highest caliber from around the world who perform and present the work of choreographer Alonzo King. LINES Ballet School provides professional, classical dance training that is rooted in the understanding that art is within the artist and must be fostered on an individual basis. The San Francisco Dance Center is a high quality dance facility that serves as a base for LINES own programs and serves the broader dance community by offering classes, master classes, workshops and rehearsal space.

History:
LINES was founded in 1982 by Alonzo King, Robert Rosenwasser and Pam Hagen as a training and performance company. In 1984 the company was selected to represent the Bay Area at the Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles. The company has gone on to present its work internationally and Alonzo King has become one of the country's premiere choreographers. The dancers in the company are extraordinary artists in their own right who are attracted to this company where they can participate in the exploration of the capacity of dance to express the depth of the human experience. Collaborating in the creation of new works with Mr. King are composers of note from around the world: tabla master Zakir Hussain, oud master Hamza El Din, Bernice Johnson Reagon of Sweet Honey in the Rock, the legendary saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, Japanese kotoist Miya Masaoka and the BaAka people of Central Africa.

Although dance training as always been a part of the organization, in 1989 LINES founded the San Francisco Dance Center to provide a high quality facility as a home for the company and to support a broader exploration of dance beyond the western classical form. The Center has become a crossroads where touring Broadway shows may be rehearsing in one studio and a high school student may creating her first work in another studio; where a folkloric group may be getting ready for its home season next door to adult students who are rediscovering their love of ballet; and, where students with blue hair may be dancing next to students with gray hair in a modern dance class while the sound of rehearsing flamenco singers floats down the hall. This Dance Center, like the Bay Area, has a vitality born of the encounters of peoples and cultures and ideas.

LINES Ballet School had its seeds in 1997 when LINES began an Intensive Summer Program for professional dancers that focused on personal growth and renewal. In 2001, based on the success of the adult program and with key support from the California Arts Council, the organization began a summer program for pre-professionals centered on fostering the technical and artistic development of young dance artists. In January 2003, a year-round program was begun to offer classical training to younger students and offer a means for summer students to continue their training during the school year. By the summer of 2003 that program had rapidly grown into two month-long pre-professional sessions attracting students from around the country and substantial funding from the Surdna Foundation.

LINES/SFDC continues to grow, producing work that leads our audience to write: "Such extraordinary talent and inventive settings - feelings of struggle, compassion, passions abound...each dance is a gem in Alonzo King's crown."

Contact people:

Pam Hagen, Director, Dance Center, (phone), (email) Ziba Marashi, Development Director, (phone), (email)

Main office number: (415) 863-3040
Office fax number: (415) 863-1180

Address:

26 Seventh Street, 5th Floor San Francisco, CA 94103 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.linesballet.org

Directions:

It is located at the corner of Market and Seventh Streets in the Civic Center district of San Francisco. The MUNI / BART station is Civic Center and there is an exit from the station immediately at the corner.   Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: Civic Center,   Walk distance (in minutes): 0   Nearest Bus Stop: Polk 19, all Market lines, 0 minute walk

Miscellaneous Information

Besides English, which languages are spoken at your agency?
	Spanish
What is the minimum age for volunteers at your agency?
	16
Is your agency wheelchair accessible?
	Yes
Does your agency have the capacity to host groups of more than 10?
	Yes
Does your agency have the capacity to host groups of more than 20?
	No

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