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 A ballet school run by the mother-daughter team of Pamela and Zara Hayes has relocated to a prominent Midtown building near Memorial Auditorium.

The British former prima ballerina and her daughter, who followed in her dancing footsteps, just moved "Pamela Hayes Classical Ballet Training" to a vacant building at 17th and I streets last week. The ballet school's move to the block is seen by the property owner, Aaron Zeff, as a good fit with a restaurant row he's proposing to develop on the alley.

The school left a temporary shared space at 1925 U St., on the outskirts of Midtown, for a place in the heart of the central city. The school had operated in Curtis Park for about 15 years before that. The pair also run a school in El Dorado Hills.

Zara Hayes, who teaches the Sacramento classes, said she'd wanted to move the school to such a visible spot for several years.

"The location is really prime," said Hayes, 35.

"We're on the grid," she said. "I Street is a good street to be on. We're close to downtown."

On Saturday, students from the school are scheduled to perform classical ballet at Design Downtown, a new Third Saturday event centered at 10th and K streets. The school also will hold classes and small performances at 6:30 p.m. on Second Saturdays.

Graffiti art was recently cleaned from the building's floor-to-ceiling windows, which make up the exterior walls and are framed in cherry red. Those windows allow the public and prospective students to watch classes and rehearsals held afternoons and evenings six days a week.

"It's such a visible building for us," she said. "The building itself is so beautiful."

Zeff said he worked out a "very good rate" so the ballet school and non-profit ballet theatre organization could rent the building. Once a car showroom, the building also shares the block with the Sacramento Convention & Visitor's Bureau.

In the current economy, he wanted to land a tenant that wouldn't require costly tenant or building improvements. He also sought a tenant that would fit his vision for developing two adjacent buildings and the alley into a restaurant row with outside seating. The ballet school may rent for the short-term or the long-term, Zeff said.

"We didn't want to put in something that wouldn't add to the creativity of Midtown and thought this would be a nice mixture of creativity and youth, and moms with disposable income," he said.

Currently, only one other ballet school -- the one operated by Sacramento Ballet -- is located in the central city.

Pamela Hayes may come into Sacramento to teach a couple times a week, said Zara Hayes. Mother and daughter run the schools and the nonprofit theatre company, which allows students from both schools to perform together at least twice a year.

Pamela Hayes left home at 14 on a full scholarship to study at the Royal Ballet School. She danced all over the world and worked primarily with ballet companies on the West Coast. She danced until age 41 and then retired.

Zara Hayes was born on one of her mother's dance tours. She took her first dance lessons at 2 with her mother's first teacher, "Miss" Dorothy Stevens. She trained wherever her mom danced and worked with the Oakland Ballet until about three years ago.

The new location features a balcony area that will work as a sewing space and as storage. Freestanding ballet bars were brought in over the weekend. A special shock-absorbing floor must still be put in, said Hayes, who's looking forward to coaching students in the new space.

"It's such a great location," she said. "I've been wanting to get us in that area for quite some time."

Ballet class and performance photos provided by Aaron Herman. Other photos provided by Suzanne Hurt, who is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. She can be reached at 916-804-2856 or suzanne@sacramentopress.com.