Academy Director

         I started my dance career here in Manitowoc at Jean Wolfmeyer School of Dance from the ages of 5 to 18. From the first second I put my pointe shoes on, I knew dance was my calling. During my high school years, I took the first steps toward professional ballet training by attending both Jean Wolfmeyer School of Dance and Green Bay School of Dance during the school year. During summer breaks, I would attend Milwaukee Ballet's Summer Intensive. After graduating I moved to Milwaukee for a full year of training. The following year, I was accepted into the pre-professional division at Nashville Ballet where I danced for a year. The following year, 2018, I went on to dance at BalletMet in Columbus, OH. There, I was generously taken under the wing of the Academy Director, Maria Torija, who holds a PhD in Ballet Pedagogy specifically under Russian Ballet Technique. Maria taught me all of the proper teaching techniques and then had me apprentice during her classes so I could learn how to apply the techniques in a class. Within 2 months, Maria had given me a class of my own. I was hired on as a teacher at BalletMet in October of 2018. I knew I had a passion for teaching while apprenticing, but once I had my own class, my passion grew tenfold. There is something special about watching students become the bright young artists they are meant to be.