Once known as the famous International Ballet School West, the brick building tucked away on Montana Avenue that launched the careers of famous prima ballerinas has been transformed and into one of the most intriguing new bars and restaurants in Santa Monica at The Courtyard Kitchen. Originally started by the highly acclaimed dancers Joey Harris and Don Hewitt, the trainers launched the careers of such notable prima ballerinas like Santa Monica native Thais Leavitt, who went on to study at the Royal Ballet School in London, joined the Dortmund Opera Ballet in Germany, became a demi-soloist with the Lubeck Opera Ballet, dancing in classics such as Swan Lake, La Sylphide, and Giselle. She was a principal dancer with the Dusseldorf Opera Ballet and returned to L.
A. to join the Dance Faculty of the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts. International Ballet School West (Courtesy Don Hewitt) It’s also where the statuesque Marlene Vicente spent years training.
She was one of the first showgirls in Las Vegas who didn’t want to go topless, so they built a show around her. “My time there was golden,” Leavitt, who started dancing at the age of five, tells L.A.
Weekly. “It was in the mid-60s when I finally started to realize that I wanted to be a dancer, and I always aspired to be in that class of accomplished dancers. The training was very advanced at that time.
We were trained in the classic Italian Cecchetti method. We were already doing pilates then, muscle and core-t.