[1] The company was founded as Ballet British Columbia by Jean Orr, David Y. H. Lui[3] and Sheila Begg in 1986, with Annette av Paul as first Artistic Director.

Artistic direction passed to Reid Anderson, Patricia Neary and Barry Ingham and in 1992 to John Alleyne, who introduced a program with original choreography including his The Faerie Queen[4] in 2000 and dances by other Canadian choreographers.

[1] Its home performances take place at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

[5] In 2023, Ballet BC moved into their own facility for the first time, at Granville Island.

[7] The company opened the 2015 Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, presenting three dances each by a different choreographer, including Twenty Eight Thousand Waves by their own resident choreographer Cayetano Soto.