Lauren Davis started as a competitive gymnast at age two - then she saw her first performance of “The Nutcracker” a classic ballet by Tchaikovsky. She was mesmerized, she said, and began cross-training as a dancer, putting in 20 hours a week.

“I loved the discipline of it, I loved the movement and I loved the community,” she said.

Their Summer performance earlier this month marked the end of the John Bishop’s reign as Port Townsend Ballet’s Artistic Director, who has passed the baton to Davis.

She met Bishop just a couple years ago when he assumed the mantle, and began transforming the organization.

“We had a little more focus on competition and less on classical technique. That changed when John stepped-in. Now our dancers provide dance ambassadorships where they teach, choreograph, do little performances and work with younger students,” Davis explained.

“There’s not as much support locally, when you’re traveling to a big city to compete - but we want camaraderie - so while there will be travel, there will be a focus, more on community.” Davis was running her own business and raising a young son when she first met Bishop.

“He really challenged me and I started dancing en pointe again, and when he decided to transition out he asked me to take his place.”

Davis said she learned the hard way, how physically and emotionally painful a career in ballet can be.

“As a teen, I danced in a company and decided not to continue dancing because it was a brutal environment, and it doesn’t have to be that way. I would like to foster the health of our dancers, young people and old people, because dance has always been something I’ve done and I love it - I look forward to fostering an inviting and vigorous organization, and a loving community as well.”

Davis added that she has great respect for the other dance studios that preceded and inform Port Townsend Ballet, those studios of Ling Hui and the O’Meara family, which she described as inter-generational and community driven.

“I’m aware of following in the footsteps of these two, very different studios and look forward to stepping into the history of these loving and close knit communities, of giving a high level of ballet training so if our students want to go professional, they can. John and Jen helped establish that aspect of Port Townsend Ballet,” she said.

Davis’ curriculum vitae includes education at Juilliard and Cornish College, where she studied architecture. She also toured as a dancer in France, Italy and Japan. Her classical training is in the Cecchetti method which emphasizes strength and elasticity as well as essential ballet skills.

That training, she said, has served her well, providing good posture, strength and flexibility along with, “a habit of working really hard, loving what I do and staying committed, even when its hard. And that translates really well to marriage, motherhood, and school translate really well. How we do anything is how we do everything,” she said.

“Beyond that, if people are interested in joining our Nutcracker as actors, especially people who like to dress in Victorian clothing, if you want to stand in a cool costume on stage, or dance a waltz, let me know because we’re trying to include our community in this.

“And I love teaching gentle ballet - you can dance well into your 80s if you focus on good technique - you can dance without hurting yourself.”

Davis and her husband, Jeremy, have a 10-year-old boy, Anders. Her father, Don, and uncle, David Ehnebuske all live in Port Townsend.

Summer sessions with the Ballet continue this month through June 28, and also July 7-26 and August 4-23.