Los Angeles Ballet Gala to Honor Producer Lawrence Bender, Governor Gray Davis, and Sharon Davis

Los Angeles Ballet (LAB) celebrates its Season 11 Gala on Friday, April 21, 2017 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. This year's honorees are Academy Award® nominated film producer Lawrence Bender and Governor GRay Davis & Sharon Davis.

The Gala will be hosted by Antiques Roadshow's Mark. L. Walberg and the co-chairs are Leslie Kavanaugh and Kirsten Sarkisian. The evening will include an exquisite performance of excerpts from George Balanchine's Who Cares?, an homage to Broadway with music by George Gershwin, that was featured in Los Angeles Ballet's recent production Balanchine - Master of the Dance.

The Gala supports Los Angeles Ballet's mission to provide world-class performances, and provide diverse outreach opportunities throughout Southern California. At a time when the arts are underfunded and continue to be absent from public school curricula, it is Los Angeles Ballet's mission to share the gift of dance with the broadest possible audience and to give back to the community that has so generously supported it. LAB opens its doors with free classes for all ages with A Chance to Dance, and provides thousands of free tickets with Power of Performance (POP!), to special needs children and adults, military families, veterans and seniors through collaboration with 50 community partners. The Gala will also include a short performance by students that are served by A Chance to Dance.

Founded in 2004 by artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary and executive director Julie Whittaker, Los Angeles Ballet is known for its superb stagings of the Balanchine repertory, stylistically meticulous classical ballets and its commitment to new works.

"Our honorees truly understand the significance that the arts play in inspiring creativity and building strong societies," said Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary, co-artistic directors of Los Angeles Ballet. "They are wonderful supporters of the arts, and appreciate what it means that Los Angeles has its own professional classical ballet company."

Past honorees include Paula Abdul, Robert Day, Linda Duttenhaver, Ghada Irani, Nigel Lythgoe, Lori Milken, Jane Seymour and Ben Vereen.

For additional information about Los Angeles Ballet and the 2017 Gala please visit Los Angeles Ballet.

Lawrence Bender

Lawrence Bender's films to date include such hits as Inglorious Basterds, Pulp Fiction, and Good Will Hunting, and have been honored with 36 Academy Award® nominations, including four for Best Picture, and have won eight. His film, An Inconvenient Truth, which raised unprecedented awareness about climate change, won the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. His documentary, Countdown To Zero, featuring Tony Blair, Presidents Musharef, Gorbachev, De Klerk and Carter among others, details the urgent risk posed by proliferation, terrorism, and accidental use of nuclear weapons. Other films include From Dusk Till Dawn, Anna and the King, The Mexican, Innocent Voices, and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.

Lawrence has also produced, Havana Nights: Dirty Dancing 2; Knockaround Guys; A Price Above Rubies; White Man's Burden; Killing Zoe; Fresh; and Safe. In 2016, he executive produced The Forest, Martin Scorsese's Silence, and Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge. Most recently in television, his limited series Flesh and Bones about the world of ballet on Starz was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards® in 2016. Presently he is shooting for Fox 21 and Netflix the new drama Seven Seconds. This summer his movie he executive produced "An Inconvenient Sequel", the follow up to An Inconvenient Truth, will be released

Governor GRay Davis

Joseph "Gray" Davis was overwhelmingly elected the 37th governor of California in 1998, winning 58 percent of the vote. As Governor, he made education a top priority, signing legislation to strengthen California's K-12 system by establishing the Academic Performance Index to increase accountability in schools, and expanding access to higher education with a record number of scholarships and college loans. These reforms improved student achievement scores for six consecutive years.

While presiding over California during an economic expansion, Davis made record investments in infrastructure, created four Centers of Science and Innovation on UC campuses, and expanded state health insurance for an additional one million children. He also was the first Governor in the nation to authorize stem cell research.

As Governor he demonstrated bold environmental leadership by signing the first law in the nation to reduce global warming and greenhouse gases. He also created the first Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Registry, and was the first to establish the nation's most ambitious commitment to renewable energy by creating the statewide Renewables Portfolio Standard.

Sharon Davis

Sharon has served on several charity boards including the Southern California Chapter of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and she is a member of the Patron Ladies of Los Angeles Ballet and The Trusteeship. Since 1999, she has served on the Board of Directors of Golden State Foods, which provides manufacturing and logistics for the Quick Service Restaurant industry. She is also an avid golfer.

Her business background includes foundation management, public relations and marketing. She was a founding partner The Davis/Miller Company and served as Director of The Ralphs/Food 4 Less Foundation (now Kroger's Foundation). She is married to GRay Davis, former Governor of the State of California and now a practicing attorney at Loeb & Loeb.

About Los Angeles Ballet

Founded in 2004 by Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary, and Executive Director Julie Whittaker, Los Angeles Ballet is known for its superb stagings of the Balanchine repertory, stylistically meticulous classical ballets, and its commitment to new works. LAB has become recognized as a world-class ballet company in eleven seasons, presenting 35 productions encompassing 61 works, including 13 commissioned world premieres. Los Angeles Ballet 'tours' throughout LA County, regularly appearing at four venues. Since its inception in 2006, LAB's Power of Performance (POP!) program has provided thousands of free tickets to underserved and disadvantaged children, seniors, veterans, and their families. LAB's A Chance to Dance Community Days outreach program was launched in October 2012.

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