A full-length, two-act original ballet that reclaims Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald as the artist she always wanted to be — dancer, writer, painter, dreamer.
History remembers her as a footnote. We are giving her the stage.
Blending the fictional world of The Great Gatsby with the real lives of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, ZELDA centers a woman’s creativity and voice in an era that rarely made room for either — told in the art form she loved most.
It is the next chapter after our original full-length Little Women: the same question of who a woman becomes against the expectations around her, carried into adulthood. Darker, more complicated, and our most ambitious work yet.
“What happens to the artist inside a woman when the world refuses to see her?”
Every gift moves us closer to opening night.
You’re not just supporting a production — you’re investing in a story that has never been told this way before, built from the ground up by our company.
- $100Rehearsal & dancersStudio time and dancer stipends as Zelda’s world takes shape across two acts.
- $500Costumes & designFrom the jazz-soaked ballrooms of 1920s Alabama to the fragmented beauty of Zelda’s inner world.
- $1,000The original scoreCommissioning Oliver Davis’s orchestral score, written for this ballet alone.
- $2,000Lighting & the stageThe lighting, production design and theater that turn Zelda’s world into visual poetry.
Oliver Davis
British composer Oliver Davis writes for ballet, film and the concert hall. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, his work has been choreographed for New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Bavarian State Ballet, Ballet West and the Joffrey Ballet — and in 2024 alone, his music was danced in more than 100 ballet performances.
His recordings have topped the iTunes Classical chart, entered the US Billboard charts, and been featured as Classic FM’s Album of the Week.
“When Emma Andres approached me with the concept of a ballet set in the Jazz Age it immediately connected with me.
Back when I was a student at the Royal Academy of Music I ended up, through a clerical error, on the RAM’s Jazz Course. Having had a strictly classical upbringing (both my parents being classical musicians) I was suddenly immersed in Dixieland, Swing and Bebop.
So when you experience Zelda you will hear the influence from all those years ago in the music. It’s enabling me to tell her extraordinary story by combining the depth of an orchestral scored fused with infectious jazzy rhythms.
It almost feels like we’re not only creating a new ballet, we’re creating a new genre of ballet, giving Emma and I the creative dream of a lifetime.”
Oliver Davis · Composer
A young company audiences and critics already love.
Since 2023, Little Women Ballet has created original, women-led work — our full-length Little Women has played the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and Pasadena Playhouse, and our immersive productions bring ballet into spaces like Heritage Square Museum. ZELDA is the next chapter.
“An absolute treasure to be savored.”
Amanda CallasBroadwayWorld, on Little Women Ballet“Embraces the grace and rigor of classical ballet.”
Natalia Rose GiovanniColorado Boulevard“A fresh take on site-specific performance.”
Kathryn YuEverything Immersive, on Little Women Ballet: AutumnYou’re joining at the very beginning.
- 2023A company is born
Little Women Ballet is founded to put women at the center of the stories ballet tells.
- March 2026ZELDA announced
Revealed at our Inaugural Showcase, “Our Story Continues.”
- NowCreation
Choreography in the studio, the score taking shape, design underway. Your gift lands here.
- 2028World premiere
The curtain rises on Zelda’s story.
Every kind of support counts.
Give monthly
Become a sustaining supporter. Choose “Monthly” in the donation form above — steady gifts let us plan rehearsals and pay dancers fairly.
Give monthlySponsor a production or artist
Partner with us to support ZELDA, a dancer, or a program directly, with recognition for you or your organization.
Ask about sponsorshipGive by check
Make checks payable to Little Women Ballet Company, Inc. and mail to PO Box 40202, Pasadena, CA 91114. Write “ZELDA” in the memo.
Volunteer & join the community
Share your time and voice, or join The Pickled Limes Club for behind-the-scenes updates on ZELDA.
Join the clubBe named among the patrons who made the premiere possible.
Leadership donors are recognized in the playbill, in the production’s digital tribute, and in the company’s permanent record of the premiere season.
Little Women Ballet is a women-run, story-driven ballet company in Los Angeles, putting women at the center of the stories ballet tells — and of the people who tell them.
Give to ZELDA