Tiit Helimets Steps Into Artistic Leadership at Sacramento Ballet

In 2011, Tiit Helimets organized a tour to his native Estonia. Calling the troupe “Tiit Helimets and Co.,” he planned the international tour from California, where he was a principal dancer at San Francisco Ballet. The experience of delegation, decision-making, and directing—with the ensuing challenges each brought—hooked him.

“I realized it brought me a lot of pleasure in working under pressure, making fast decisions, choosing repertory and dancers,” says Helimets. “Ever since that year I have been consciously making sure that I understand as much as I can on leadership, reading all the books I can find, to one day be an artistic director.”

Now, Helimets has finally met that goal after taking the helm of Sacramento Ballet this month, succeeding Anthony Krutzkamp. After applying and becoming a finalist with three other companies, “I was very happy when this happened with Sacramento Ballet,” Helimets says. “It’s been more than a decade in the making.”

Helimets danced with SFB for 18 years before retiring in 2023. Throughout his time there, he worked with some of ballet’s most forward-thinking choreographers: Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Cathy Marston, Dani Rowe, and Wayne McGregor. In addition to learning choreography, Helimets says he observed how each dancemaker contributed to the technical standards of a company.

Since retiring, he has continued to widen his network as a stager for Yuri Possokhov: “In this work, I cultivate relationships with directors, knowing that one day I will be able to use this as a resource.” In addition to Rowe, he cites Mikko Nissinen and Roy Kaiser as regular mentors who have guided him on problem-solving methods and leadership in the studio, and he notes José Martinez and Kevin O’Hare as directors who’ve particularly influenced him. 

Helimets spent the past seven years honing his fundraising skills as the donor relations manager for the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. And, he says, he’s read almost all of author and pastor John C. Maxwell’s dozens of books on leadership.

When Helimets’ appointment was announced in March, Sacramento Ballet executive director Kiera Anderson told The Sacramento Bee how his preparation and network will benefit the company: “He is coming in with fresh ideas, fresh perspective, with incredible relationships in the dance world, and he has a real respect for the traditions and legacy that exist at Sacramento Ballet.”

That legacy began when the company was founded in 1954 by Barbara and Deane Crockett. Ron Cunningham co-directed Sacramento Ballet, alongside his wife, Carinne Binda, for three decades starting in 1988, creating much of the repertory the company is known for today, including his versions of Nutcracker, Carmina Burana, Bolero, and The Rite of Spring. During their tenure, they added ballets by Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Agnes de Mille, and Trey McIntyre to the company’s repertory, as well as commissioned works by choreographers like Dwight Rhoden, Bobbi Jene Smith, Septime Webre, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. Amy Seiwert then led the company from 2018–20, followed by Krutzkamp, who served as both artistic and executive director.

Even though the distance between SFB and Sacramento Ballet is a direct 90 miles, Helimets had no previous relationship with the latter due to the demanding schedule of his career as a principal dancer. He says that throughout the hiring and leadership-transition process, he has been taken by the organization’s positive energy. “Sacramento Ballet is an extremely friendly company; the people are genuinely excited about ballet,” he says. “The dancers are truly committed, hard workers, and good artists.”

While the directorship search was underway, rehearsal directors Stefan Calka and Elise Elliott planned the 2026–27 season in collaboration with Anderson and the board of directors. Helimets will plan the next, for 2027–28, and wants to bring in choreographers he describes as committed to ballet’s technical roots. “I am curious to know what’s next for ballet,” he says. “I’m using choreographers that still use pointe shoes, complicated partnering, and acting.”

He also values the company’s fluency in both contemporary and classical repertory, and, going forward, he wants Sacramento Ballet to be an exemplar of technical rigor and discipline: “I would like it to be the company where if the dancers are looking to be challenged by ballet technique, they think of Sacramento Ballet.”

As the new season begins, Helimets is realistic about his role. He knows the job requires much more than being in the studio with the dancers, and he looks forward to all of it—including, he says, fundraising, building community partnerships, and providing opportunities to young dancers.

“I’m really excited to choreograph and bring new ballets to the company, and to create new opportunities for the audiences and the dancers,” he says. “I’m excited to really steer my own ship for the first time ever. To share my vision of where the ballet should head.”