Since 2004 Leslie Ann Larson has guided formed and guided generations of dancers as the Rehearsal Director of Central West Ballet. Ms. Larson is also the Director of the Central West Ballet Academy of Dance. In 2025, Larson was honored along with René Daveluy as they received the Cultural Roots Award from the Stanislaus Arts Council.
With a meticulous approach and high standards, Leslie Ann Larson has brought CWB's performances to high quality levels. Ms. Larson has set works such as Songs by renowned choreographer Val Caniparoli and also staged many full lengths such as Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, Cinderella, The Nutcracker and Coppélia. In 2019, Ms Larson staged Ronn Guidi's The Secret Garden, also dancing the principal role of Lillias in the ballet at the Gallo Center for the Arts. For the last 21 years, Ms. Larson has been in charge of René Daveluy's ballets for Central West Ballet such as his full lengths Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Dracula, Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus and all his other works.
Leslie Ann Larson's formation in ballet was personally guided by illustrious teachers such as Fleming Halby from the Royal Danish Ballet, Charles Bennett from the American Ballet Theatre and Francesca Corkle and Trinette Singleton from The Joffrey Ballet. Ms. Larson was also mentored by the great Flamenco Artist and ballerina Sara De Luis. Leslie Ann Larson's professional ballet career started at age 18 in 1985 when she joined the Oakland Ballet under Artistic Director Ronn Guidi. In 1989 Ms. Larson joined Ballet West in Salt Lake City under the direction of John Hart, former Royal Ballet Principal Dancer. In her dancing career, Leslie Ann Larson distinguished herself in Leonide Massine’s La Boutique Fantasque, Antony Tudor’s The Lilac Garden, Agnes De Mille’s Fall River Legend, Kurt Joos’ The Green Table and Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Noces and Les Biches (Oakland Ballet under Ronn Guidi), as the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Lead in Antony Tudor’s The Leaves are Fading, The First Sylph in Peter Schaufuss’ La Sylphide, Adele in Ronald Hynd’s Rosalinda, in Balanchine’s Who Cares?, The Four Temperaments and Western Symphony, in Hans Van Manen’s Polish Pieces, Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena and Book of Alleged Dances, in William Forsythe's In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, in Christopher Bruce’s Ghost Dances, and as The Roasted Swan in John Butler’s Carmina Burana (Ballet West under directors John Hart CBE and Jonas Kåge).
