As San Francisco Opera Ballet expanded its touring schedule, it became increasingly difficult for Christensen to serve in both of his professional capacities.

Under Harold Christensen, a nonprofessional curriculum flourished alongside its professional training, with programs targeted at students from very young children to working adults.

[2] San Francisco Ballet School has a longstanding relationship with the Prix de Lausanne, awarding full one-year scholarships to the winners of the Swiss-based competition.

Students also have the opportunity to dance in productions such as Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Don Quixote, Coppélia, and Swan Lake.

Students may also have the opportunity to participate in performances of the San Francisco Opera and other ballet companies that tour the Bay Area.

Trainees ranging in age from 16 to 19 participate in daily classes, as well as rehearse and perform SF Ballet repertory and works staged specifically for them.

Trainees also participate in workshops and in community outreach, and they perform regularly with San Francisco Ballet and throughout the Bay Area in a variety of settings, including some overseas.

The program's classes meet once a week; the children focus on basic ballet technique, proper body alignment, and musicality.

After the retirement of Harold Christensen in 1975, Richard L. Cammack was brought in as School director by the SF Ballet Company's new co-director, Michael Smuin.

Under Cammack's leadership, SF Ballet School was federally approved for foreign students and received authorization from the California Department of Education.