Carmela Zegarelli Peter

Interemediate/Advanced

Carmela is an acclaimed performer, instructor, and artistic director. She is best known as a soloist in the Dutch National Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, and as the co-founder of Professional Ballet School and Young Artists Ballet Theatre in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Carmela began her career under formal training from her uncle, Richard Gibson and received full a Ford Foundation Scholarship from the School of American Ballet in New York, performing as a teen with the original Peninsula Ballet Theatre and The San Francisco Ballet companies.

She continued her studies at the Royal Conservatorium of Music in The Hague, then joined the Dutch National Ballet where she remained for 9 years becoming soloist and appearing in numerous classical, contemporary, and Balanchine Ballets.

Returning to the US with husband Zoltan Peter, she performed with The San Francisco Ballet for seven years, appearing in a number of featured roles and television specials.

In 1987 Carmela and Zoltan founded Professional Ballet School and Young Artists Ballet Theatre in Belmont, where they served as Artistic Directors and principal Ballet instructors until 2017. During this time she also performed as a Guest Artist with Peninsula Ballet Theatre and Chamberdance SF.

In addition to PBS, Carmela has taught for Smuin Contemporary Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Academy of Ballet in SF, Oakland Ballet, Zohar, Western Ballet, and Liv Dancearts.