Central West Ballet is a nonprofit dance company dedicated to inspiring excellence in dance and infusing passion that fosters a high quality, financially supported, professional dance company. It was formed in 1987 under the name of Bravo! Repertory Dance Theatre. The current name of the company was established in 1997 to reflect the growth of the company within the Central Valley. Central West Ballet was associated with Regional Dance America (RDA) during its development as a strong regional ballet company. Since 2004, Central West Ballet has been under the direction of Rene Daveluy, along with Leslie Ann Larson as Ballet Mistress. In 2007, Central West Ballet became the resident ballet company at the brand new Gallo Center for the Arts in downtown Modesto. The company is looking to the next step in its evolution as an emerging young professional ballet company.