Anna Carnes Gilbert | Advisor, Instructor

Anna moved to Santa Barbara in 2012 to join State Street Ballet, where she was a company dancer for eight years. She performed principal roles such as Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, Dew Drop in The Nutcracker, and lead roles in contemporary works such as Conversion and Common Ground. Anna toured with the company across the US, China, and Chile as well as earned a SB Indy Award for her performance in Ballroom. Over the years she has assisted in rehearsal direction, educational outreach, and fundraising for the company and has been an instructor and choreographer for SSB’s Professional Track program since 2016. Anna holds a BFA in Dance Performance and minor in Education from UC Irvine. In 2020 she revisited UCI to earn a Certificate in Arts Management.  Her early training included the completion of the Royal Academy of Dance examinations while studying with Santa Clarita Ballet. She also spent summers with ABT, Pittsburgh Ballet, and LINES ballet. Prior to State Street Ballet, she danced professionally with Oakland Ballet Company and Menlowe Ballet while freelancing in San Francisco. Other performing credits include the Ellen Show, MTV Video Music Awards, the Hollywood Bowl, and she was featured on the cover of Rose Eichenbaum’s Inside the Dancer’s Art.