 Ballet West was established in Salt Lake City in 1963.Willam F. Christensen was the company's first artistic director, co-founding the company together with Utah's “First Lady of the Arts” Glenn Walker Wallace.In 1951, Christensen had established the first ballet department in an American university at The University of Utah and with the tireless assistance of Mrs. Enid Cosgriff this program grew into the Utah Civic Ballet, Ballet West's first incarnation.