Mrs. Ashley Rollinson Sunada, Founder and Director, returned home to Syracuse, New York in 2004 after dancing 7 years with the professional ballet company Ballet Magnificat!, located in Jackson, MS. In this new season of her life she began focusing on missions. After going on several overseas trips and bringing along her ballet shoes “just in case”, she ended up dancing. She saw how effective a message through dance was in breaking through language barriers to usher in the presence of the Holy Spirit. She then started Light of the World Ballet School as a way to disciple young girls.

With no intention to start a professional ballet company, advanced dancers started coming to Mrs. Sunada. After getting several requests for the group to perform, God began speaking to her about a Christian ballet company with the purpose of being a light shining in a dark place. This vision began to unfold not only in dark places in the Northeast, but also in bringing the Gospel to un-reached people groups in foreign countries, sometimes even without the convenience of a stage.

It was then, in 2005, that LWB was founded. From that time, LWB has developed a ballet school, a trainee program and a full-time professional ballet company. After renting several small studios, LWB now occupies two large state-of-the-art studios with sprung Marleytype floors, barres, mirrors, an office, costume room, dressing room and discipleship room. The company has had performance outreach tours to other states and to China, Hungary, Kazakhstan, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Peru, Burma, Israel etc. It is amazing to see what God has done in such a short amount of time and to watch His continued favor on LWB.