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Sarah Stevens
A Southern California native, Sarah trained at the Anaheim Ballet school and enjoyed performing classical and contemporary repertoire with the small company there as an apprentice, with corps and soloist roles in ballets such as The Nutcracker, La Esmerelda, Ondine, The Little Humpbacked Horse, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and even the opportunity to perform the White Swan pas de duex from Swan Lake.
She moved to the bay area in 2018 to dance with New Ballet’s Studio Company, where she began training according to the ABT Curriculum, which draws from the Cecchetti, Vaganova, and French training techniques to create well rounded and adaptable dancers. She completed her ABT level 6 exam with honors under the teaching of Linh Mai Le, and went on to receive her promotion to New Ballet Company Artist in 2020. Though her experience with the company had a slow start due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, in time she had the chance to dance corps de ballet, soloist and principal roles in several classical productions, including The San Jose Nutcracker, Cinderella, La Boutique Fantasque, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. Her most notable roles include Sugar Plum Fairy and Lilac Fairy, as well as extensive rehearsal for Odette/Odile, though the shows were ultimately cancelled due to the Covid-19 shutdowns. Over the years she also worked with exciting choreographers such as Amy Seiwert, Ben Needham-Wood, Keon Saghari, Peter Merz, and Marika Brussel on new contemporary pieces created for the company.
Like many dancers, Sarah began teaching to supplement her income, and quickly caught the bug for guiding others through movement and experiencing the excitement and joy of growth together. In 2020, she became certified in the first level of the ABT National Training Curriculum, and really enjoyed the emphasis on supporting dancers’ psychological and physical well being during the training process. Sarah began teaching at New Ballet’s school and saw the positive impact the curriculum had on the students. She went on to receive her second level of certification with ABT in 2021, and has since successfully presented 15 exams from a wide range of levels, earning her ABT Fellowship status in 2024.
ABT Examinations include in depth feedback for the presenting teacher, and Sarah was grateful to have guidance and mentorship in her teaching methods from highly knowledgable and experienced dance educators, including Susan Brooker, Pamela Levy, Sonia Jones, Sayako Harada, Mads Erikson and many more. Sarah found teaching extremely fulfilling: each new class was like an enticing puzzle to solve, with unique and diverse students who would require skillful and often inventive presentation of the material according to their backgrounds, personalities, physicality, and developmental stages.
During this time of learning to teach ballet and honing her own skills as a classical dancer and performer, Sarah practiced Gyrotonic and Pilates at Urban Body San Jose to prevent and heal from injuries which had been persistent and discouraging in her dance career. She went on to receive her certification to teach Gyrotonic, and currently teaches sessions at Urban Body San Jose, where she loves working with clients of all backgrounds and aspirations to reach their unique movement goals. Whether instructing a ballet class or Gyrotonic session, Sarah hopes to provide mindful, skillful, and expressive movement that strengthens the internal sense of calm, self-agency, and an overall feeling of being at home in one’s own body, no matter where the rest of the day may lead.
Pronouns: She/Her/Her
She moved to the bay area in 2018 to dance with New Ballet’s Studio Company, where she began training according to the ABT Curriculum, which draws from the Cecchetti, Vaganova, and French training techniques to create well rounded and adaptable dancers. She completed her ABT level 6 exam with honors under the teaching of Linh Mai Le, and went on to receive her promotion to New Ballet Company Artist in 2020. Though her experience with the company had a slow start due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, in time she had the chance to dance corps de ballet, soloist and principal roles in several classical productions, including The San Jose Nutcracker, Cinderella, La Boutique Fantasque, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. Her most notable roles include Sugar Plum Fairy and Lilac Fairy, as well as extensive rehearsal for Odette/Odile, though the shows were ultimately cancelled due to the Covid-19 shutdowns. Over the years she also worked with exciting choreographers such as Amy Seiwert, Ben Needham-Wood, Keon Saghari, Peter Merz, and Marika Brussel on new contemporary pieces created for the company.
Like many dancers, Sarah began teaching to supplement her income, and quickly caught the bug for guiding others through movement and experiencing the excitement and joy of growth together. In 2020, she became certified in the first level of the ABT National Training Curriculum, and really enjoyed the emphasis on supporting dancers’ psychological and physical well being during the training process. Sarah began teaching at New Ballet’s school and saw the positive impact the curriculum had on the students. She went on to receive her second level of certification with ABT in 2021, and has since successfully presented 15 exams from a wide range of levels, earning her ABT Fellowship status in 2024.
ABT Examinations include in depth feedback for the presenting teacher, and Sarah was grateful to have guidance and mentorship in her teaching methods from highly knowledgable and experienced dance educators, including Susan Brooker, Pamela Levy, Sonia Jones, Sayako Harada, Mads Erikson and many more. Sarah found teaching extremely fulfilling: each new class was like an enticing puzzle to solve, with unique and diverse students who would require skillful and often inventive presentation of the material according to their backgrounds, personalities, physicality, and developmental stages.
During this time of learning to teach ballet and honing her own skills as a classical dancer and performer, Sarah practiced Gyrotonic and Pilates at Urban Body San Jose to prevent and heal from injuries which had been persistent and discouraging in her dance career. She went on to receive her certification to teach Gyrotonic, and currently teaches sessions at Urban Body San Jose, where she loves working with clients of all backgrounds and aspirations to reach their unique movement goals. Whether instructing a ballet class or Gyrotonic session, Sarah hopes to provide mindful, skillful, and expressive movement that strengthens the internal sense of calm, self-agency, and an overall feeling of being at home in one’s own body, no matter where the rest of the day may lead.
Pronouns: She/Her/Her
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