Director | Ballet West Academy

Evelyn Cisneros-Legate claims she was a shy child—a claim that, given her career, is hard to believe. The granddaughter of immigrants who came to the United States during the Mexican Revolution, that shy girl would go on to dance with the San Francisco Ballet for 23 years, become the first Mexican-American prima ballerina in the U.S., perform for President Ronald Reagan at the White House, dance for Carlos Santana’s “Supernatural Live” DVD, co-write “Ballet For Dummies” and more. 

Today, as the director of Ballet West Academy, Cisneros-Legate says her illustrious accomplishments are more of a blessing than she “ever dared dream.”

“I know that God has a plan for me. In a way, I’ve felt like I’ve been on a ride that is taking me these places,” she says. “When doors open, you need to walk through them without fear.”

After retiring at age 41, Cisneros-Legate pivoted to dance education and joined the Ballet West Academy team in 2020. Since joining the academy, she has worked hard to build the foundation of its pyramid: the students. 

“I want their time with Ballet West Academy to be a part of who they become—their best person,” Cisneros-Legate says. “We train the whole human to be successful in whatever they decide to achieve in the future.”

Cisneros-Legate is a proponent of the many skills youth inherit from ballet and believes anyone who wants to dance should have the opportunity to do so. To ensure this, she champions financial aid at the academy, which offers named scholarships from gracious donors. A percentage of the academy’s revenue also goes toward providing financial aid to students.

“I’ve always believed we should make [dance] accessible to everyone,” Cisneros-Legate says. And when she says everyone, she means it: She even helped start a program in collaboration with Neighborhood House—a child and adult day care in Salt Lake City—that pairs elders in the community with children 5-6 years old during beginner ballet classes. 

“Our seniors and children are coming from different ends of life, but they can have the same challenges in expressing the joy of life,” she says. “Older people who are not as comfortable in their physical bodies as they used to be experiencing movement and the joy of life with young ones is a wonderful combination.”

Cisneros-Legate is passionate about ballet as a practice and art form. Now, she says, it’s her responsibility to pass on the lessons she learned and ensure its continuation through the next generation. 

“I think one of the most profound things dance brings to the world is joy,” Cisneros-Legate says. “To have all of those experiences to pass down to my students is such a special existence. Now, it’s their turn.”