Ballet Academy
Levels 2 - 7
Children ages 8-18 enter the Student Division by audition. If accepted, the student is placed in one of curriculum levels. Students learn progressive levels of ballet technique following the school syllabus for each age-appropriate level. Classical classes are taught using principles from French, American, and Russian technique and styles. Taught by classically trained instructors, students are instructed in classroom etiquette, attire, vocabulary, wellness, injury prevention, nutrition, ballet history, career paths, and ballet conditioning to fully round out the dancer.
Yearly advancement is based on faculty evaluations of the individual student’s technical ability, physical aptitude, strength, classroom effort and attendance.
Francesca Shewfelt
Instructor
Francesca hails from Erie, PA and received her formal training under the
direction of former principal dancers Gina Illingworth, Michael Patterson,
and Barbara Sandonato who trained under George Balanchine. In her early
training, she studied at the Boston Ballet and the Rock School for Dance
Education under world class teachers, propelling her into her pre‐professional
training. She went on to study at the highly esteemed Point Park University
to gain well‐rounded knowledge and hone her skills in performance, technique,
and choreography for the professional industry, graduating with her BFA in Ballet.
Throughout her dancing career, she has performed many principal, soloist, and
corps de ballet roles as a guest artist, and a company artist with Ballet Palm
Beach including The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Giselle,
Coppelia, and Peter Pan.