DanceArtists
Ballet Academy
52 Sth Quinsigamond Ave,
Shrewsbury MA, 01545
info@danceartistsballetacademy.com
Ph: 508-925-4112 Office
Ph: 917-261-8802 Registration Inquiries
Royal Academy of Dance Registered School
Member International Dance Council, Paris
Danceartists Ballet Academy Faculty
Danceartists Ballet Academy Faculty
DanceArtists Ballet Academy Founding Artistic Director
Joanna Duncan RTS ARAD Solo Seal. Accredited Teacher of the Royal Academy of Dance
A Registered Teacher of The Royal Academy of Dance, a member of the International Dance Council UNESCO, Paris, Joanna has over 30 years international experience teaching Ballet with Dancers taught by her having successful careers all over the world including with many world renowned companies including Royal Ballet Company, American Ballet Theater, Hamburg Ballet, English National Ballet Company, Australian Ballet Company, Hybrid Movement Company, Gyor Ballet Company Hungary, Zurich Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Christopher Harrison's Anti Gravity, Cirque du Soleil, and more, also Film and Television including Moulin Rouge, Strictly Ballroom, Chicago, NBC SMASH, and more.
Joanna gained all Royal Academy of Dance Classical Ballet Examinations Levels from Primary Advanced 2 gaining High Distinction Level and was awarded the Solo Seal the highest award of the Royal Academy of Dance by age 15. Joanna was offered a place at the NYC School of American Ballet SAB at age 14 by Edward Villella while dancing at the Sydney Opera House.
Joanna enjoyed a successful Ballet Career as Principal dancer from age 16 with The Tasmanian Ballet and Ballet Europe. She performed with The Carol Burnett Show, NBC Universal and Disney International production tours.
Joanna is a highly credentialed registered Royal Academy of Dance Ballet Teacher. She gained her Vaganova Teacher Training through Mischa Slavensky and studied the Vaganova Core Level training 1 thru 8 with Professor Peggy Willis Arnio, of Univerity Texas Tech. As Vice President of the Society of Dance Arts, Joanna worked alongside Yuri Grigorovich, the then Director of Bolshoi Ballet Company, arranging Classical Ballet training Seminars with stars of the Bolshoi Ballet Company including Prima Ballerina Natalia Besmetnova. Joanna was Artistic Director and owner of Sydney West Ballet Center for over 25 years and has been an invited Guest Teacher at many world Academy's including John Neumeier Hamburg Ballet School, Gemany. Her students examination results placed her school in the top 1% for a 15 year period. Through DanceArtists Joanna has arranged and supervised International Pre-Professional Ballet Student Audition Tours to many of the worlds leading International and National Ballet Company Schools since 1996. Her choreography has won many Choreographic Awards including the prestigious International Fred Astaire Choreography Award.
Françoise N Voranger - Guest Teacher - Hybrid Movement / Conditioning and Flexibility / Choreography
Virtuoso Performance Artist / Founder and Creator of NYC Hybrid Movement Company, Owner Hybrid Movement Creative Lab, Creator of the Movement as Metaphor Aerial Acrobatic Training Program Creative Show Director. Member of the International Dance Council CID, UNESCO Paris,
Francoise was born in Italy and is a Member of the International Dance Council UNESCO, CID, Paris. She trained on full scholarship at the Royal Ballet Upper School London UK and holds the distinguished honor of performing in the Gala of the Stars of Benois de la Danse at Bolshoi Theatre Moscow , Russia the Oscars of the professional Dance world performing Ann Maire de Angelo's The last time I cry. To date Francoise one of only 11 Americans with this honor.
Françoise has performed with The Royal Ballet, London, Australian Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, Ballet NY, Anti Gravity, the Royal Gala London among many others. Francoise's is the Founder and Director of Hybrid Movement Company NYC's leading Aerial Performance Company.
A 2014 EACP STREB Awardee, Françoise's Choreographic Works are renowned for their ability to touch the heart to search or reveal and have been performed at NYC City Center, NYC Lincoln Center, Bolshoi Ballet Theater Moscow, NYC SummerStage, New Victory Theater New 42nd Street, NYC Maker Fair, Marcus Garvey Theatre, Burning Man to name a few.
Francoise's many Visual Mapping Installation projects include MOFE - Museum of Future Experiences
Rick Tjia - Physics of Contemporary Dance Movement
Rick’s early training years began with tap dancing, eventually branching out into professional studies of classical ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and contemporary dance (training with teachers like David Howard, Finis Jhung, Christine Busch, Bruce Marks, Laura Young and Geri Houlihan). He also trained in other disciplines (trumpet, physics, and later on, guitar studies and various studies in business).
After an extensive career in dance and acting that includes performances with Ballet Austin, Boston Ballet and Delta Festival Ballet, as well as three years of work in film and television in Los Angeles doing hip-hop, jazz, and ballet (with choreographers like Twyla Tharp, Joe Layton, and with film directors like Mark Rydell, and James Brooks), Rick joined La La La Human Steps in Montreal in 1993, with whom he danced and toured the world for 8 years. As with many dancers and musicians, Rick is also a composer, a dance and acrobatic choreographer, and judges dance competitions, and teaches various workshops around the globe.
For the last 16 years he has been a Talent Scout specializing in dance at Cirque du Soleil. Rick’s contributions to the Casting Department has extended itself to contributing to and drawing up new operational and business strategies, as well as contributing to creative and innovative internal and external strategies of various types.
Rick also works closely with International Performing Arts & Theatre (I-PATH) through leading dance education in the 21st Century. He is a member of Phoenix Associates in the UK, an organization that offers opportunities and masterclasses to students aged from 6 right through to professional dancers.
In 2016, he joined the creative team of the Cirque du Soleil Big Top touring show Volta as an acrobatic choreographer, and In 2018, he started up the online choreography market Choreography Online with two partners, which had its official public launch in September, 2019.
Rick joined Danceartists Faculty in 2020.
Tina Marshall RTS - Children's Ballet classes Accredited Teacher of the Royal Academy of Dance
Tina has trained in the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) from the age of 3 years, completing examination levels Pre-Primary to Advanced 2. She enjoyed being part of numerous dance competitions and small touring productions as a child.
Her love for ballet and contemporary dance continued at the university level where she studied a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Dance)/Bachelor of Education (Secondary - English) from University of Queensland. With this achievement, Tina taught Dance as an elective subject for 7 years in Australian High Schools. Missing the technique of syllabus work, Tina went back to study the Royal Academy of Dance Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies (CBTS) allowing her the privilege to teach using the RAD approach.
Tina developed a strong relationship with staff and students in her teaching and worked to achieve lead ballet teacher for a prominent local studio. After having her own children, Tina saw the need for developing programs for toddlers and preschooler's and this is where her passion lies.