Owner, artistic director, and instructor

 

Emily Finer became passionate about dance at the age of seven, attending a small dance studio in Brooklyn, New York. At age ten, she began serious ballet training in Russian Vaganova technique with Carol Purcell and later on became a student of Vera Nemchinova. She attended American Ballet Theater school from 1974 – 1980, studying at first in the children's division with Nanci Clements and continuing into advanced classes with Valentina Pereyaslavec, Michael Maule, Patricia Wilde, and Jurgen Schneider. Classes included daily technique, pointe, partnering, variations, and character dance. She graduated in 1980 as a dance major from the New York City High School for Performing Arts which is the school the movie Fame was based on.

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As a native of New York City, she was afforded the opportunity to study at many private studios with world famous teachers, such as Finis Jhung, David Howard, and Melissa Hayden. Her most inspiring teacher was Wilhelm Burmann, whose analytical and detailed way of teaching influenced her desire to teach.

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Studying Labanotation (a system for recording and analyzing human movement) at the Dance Notation Bureau as well as Anatomy and Physiology allows her to have a great understanding of how the body moves. Proper alignment is a priority in her teaching both to prevent injuries and to develop good technique.

 

Musicality and the artistry of ballet are important qualities emphasized in all her classes to help each individual student develop their own special way of expressing themselves through dance.

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An interest in biology led her to obtain a BS in Medical Laboratory Science obtained from Hunter College in 1992. She specialized in Microbiology and worked as a hospital laboratory microbiologist New York before moving to Hazleton in 2001.

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She has been teaching Vaganova-based classical ballet technique in the Greater Hazleton Area utilizing a well-developed syllabus which was inspired by a 2015 summer teacher training session she attended at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet school in Carlisle, PA.

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Proud to bring an authentic ballet training experience to the Greater Hazleton Area, she strives to inspire a lifelong love and appreciation for the art of ballet to her students.

Instructor

 

Brittany Lopo is a native of Hazleton. She holds a BA in Psychology and works as a sales support coordinator. Her love of dance started at age 5 at Joan Sacco Dance Studio studying all forms of dance with Richard Todd and Debbie Calucci. 

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Miss Brittany has developed a wonderful way of connecting with her Kinder-Barre students while following an established syllabus that reinforces the foundations and basics of ballet and natural movements in all her students. She creates an atmosphere that is fun but has expectations.

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With her great love and passion for tap dancing and jazz, we offer students the opportunity to study these dance genres along with their ballet classes.

 

In 2021 she became certified to teach Progressing Ballet Technique, a body conditioning class designed for dancers to strengthen and prevent injuries. 

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Teaching has made her happy to share her lifelong love of dance.

Instructor

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Justina Lawrence grew up in Nuremberg, P.A. Her journey in dance began at age 3 with the Performing Arts Center (in Conyngham, PA). At the same time, taking ballet class under Jeanie Burger for 12 years, she also enjoyed jazz and tap classes.

In 2022, Justina signed up for adult ballet classes at Keystone Ballet Academy because she missed dancing intensely. She regained her technique quickly by attending weekly ballet, progressing ballet technique (PBT), jazz, and tap classes and became interested in teaching.

Since then, Justina completed her Kinder-Barre and Pre-Ballet teacher training in Keystone Ballet Academy's syllabi of early ballet education for ages 4 to 8. She has created and teaches our new Kinder-Stars class for ages 3 to 4. This year Justina will be training to teach beginner Ballet 1 for ages 8 - 12. 

Miss Justina enjoys sharing her passion for dance. She encourages her students, shows them how wonderful ballet is, and helps each student grow as a dancer and a person. Her goal is to nurture and inspire hearts to love dancing!

 

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Teacher Trainee

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Shantal De Soto Collado is from the Dominican where she was a dancer with over 9 years of experience in Classical Ballet (Cuban technique). She has participated in artistic festivals and competitions both nationally and internationally, as well as workshops in various dance disciplines, including Jazz, Afro Dance, Contemporary Dance, Aerial Dance, Modern Dance, and Tango.

 

She has a degree in child psychology and is currently working as a paraprofessional for the Hazleton Area School District. She is currently training to teach Pre-Ballet and Ballet 1.

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Teacher's Assistant

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Jasmine White started ballet with us in the summer of 2022 at the age of 14 and quickly accelerated in her technical abilities. Ballet was always something she wanted to pursue. She is a Level 4 ballet student and will be starting pointe this year. She has also studied Jazz dance. She currently assists in the Kinder-Barre and Pre-Ballet beginner classes. Her young students find her very helpful and enjoy telling her amusing little stories about themselves. She is an 12th grade student at the Hazleton Area Academy of Sciences. When she graduates, she would like to attend a college with a dance program and possibly pursue a career in dermatology.

 

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