As a teen, Ilaria Guerra was drawn to San Francisco’s Alonzo King Lines Ballet thanks to an enchanting poster and the troupe’s reputation for working with tall dancers.
“I had a poster on my bedroom wall of Lines Ballet dancer Maurya Kerr that was such a captivating photograph, and I’m 6 feet tall, so it was definitely on my radar because of that,” recalls Guerra, the new director of the company’s 26-year-old Summer Program and a member of Lines Ballet from 2018-25.
At 16, she participated in the summer session, which, she says, teaches students how to move big, have agency in their dancing, and “brings out the artists in the dancers.” She also attended the troupe’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program at Dominican University of California.
Upon retiring from dancing, she told Lines Ballet Artistic Director Alonzo King and Creative Director Robert Rosenwasser she wanted to remain a part of the organization, her home for 18 years.
“I was stepping away from the stage, but I still wanted to be involved with the company, and this was a good fit, also because it was such a special program for me,” she says.
The Summer Program, which presents public performances on June 27 and Aug. 1 in San Francisco’s Cowell Theater, has three tiers: pre-professional for 72 dancers ages 18-25; junior for 70 dancers ages 11-14; and advanced for 92 dancers ages 14-17.
This season’s sessions, which are held at Lines Ballet Dance Center in San Francisco, drew 715 applicants from around the globe.
Guerra, who was born and spent her early childhood in Italy, learned an important lesson during her own summer program experience. She says, “I learned … to be fearless and try new things, become comfortable with feeling uncomfortable, because when you approach dance like that with a fearless curiosity, that’s when growth happens, both in the artistic and personal realm.”
In selecting this year’s participants, Guerra was seeking more than physical attributes that reflected the students’ respective levels: “I was looking for a technical ability that fits into those three categories, but also a hunger and openness to learn,” she says.
Additional leaders of the 2026 session include King, Lines Associate Artistic Director Adji Cissoko and former company dancers Kerr, Meredith Webster, David Harvey, Brett Conway, Gregory Dawson, Carmen Rozestraten, Babatunji and Kara Wilkes. Current company dancers Lorris Eichinger and Marusya Madubuko also are teaching, as are former Lines Education alums Liv Schaffer, Jordan Drew and Nicholas Korkos.
Taking an approach that encourages students on a path of self-discovery and to find their own individual voices, the program works well because company members are instructors.
Guerra says, “They have worked with Alonzo and are fully versed and integrated in his philosophy, so they are able to give very detailed technique classes and training while layering artistic movement exploration and risk-taking into their classes. … The students take ballet and contemporary classes, and they also learn some of Alonzo’s repertory, which is really great. And then they also get to work with a choreographer who sets an original work on them they get to perform at a theater at the end.”
The June 27 performance by pre-professional dancers includes works by Dawson, Harvey, Rozestraten and Wilkes on June 27; the Aug. 1 advanced dancers’ show features original pieces by Korkos, Dexandro Montalvo, Rozestraten, Schaffer and Erin Yen.
While technique, risk-taking and artistry are key in developing the students’ careers, Guerra adds that she hopes the dancers, and patrons, also feel joyful.
“It’s really important for them to have a blast on stage, taking in all of that information they’ve gotten for the past three weeks and really enjoy their dancing and how lucky they are to get to dance in this life, she says. “And the audience, similarly, can take in all of the hard work the students have been putting in and these amazing gems of creation the choreographers have come up with.”
Alonzo King Lines Ballet Summer Program pre-professional students appear at 8 p.m. June 27 and advanced students at 8 p.m. Aug. 1 in Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd. San Francisco. Tickets are $15-$28 at linesballet.org.