A LITTLE ABOUT ME

Hello, I am Jennifer Dournaux, a classically trained ballet dancer with years of experience in teaching ballet,  Pilates, History of Ballet, and specialty classes inspired by dance.  

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 I love ballet!  I make it my work to teach all body types how to express themselves through strength and grace utilizing knowledge of the human anatomy, traditional forms of movement, and my own sense of creativity.  In all of my ballet classes,  I focus a great deal on proper technique as well as artistry. Add to this my experience as a Humanities professor (art and dance history) and my love for people, and you have a teacher who is not only effective but fun.  

 

Yes, I will meet you at the barre, or on the mat, or at the reformer, or even on the beach! Whatever and wherever we feel is the best formula for you!  Whether you would like to join a group class, attend a workshop, or schedule a private session, I am delighted to help you accomplish your movement goals.

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“We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God.”  -Martha Graham

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JENNIFER DOURNAUX'S TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

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I hope to inspire in my students a respect for the importance of good technique, whether or not their bodies can deliver it, and on the other side of that coin, the respect for the human spirit that strives to embrace technique and make it its own.  Pioneers of dance have been plenty; they are bold folk who throw their bodies, ideas, and self to the world in an attempt to make a statement (whether about beauty, change, or strife) and these pioneers have been of every creed, color and sex; their dance, their work, their lives are testimony to the human spirit. In my teachings, I wish to instill in my students the bravery, the thoughtfulness, the ingenuity, and integrity that dance can ask of them, as it did of its pioneers, and in their honest allegiance to dance,  I know that these factors will be demonstrated in the most powerful of ways.

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• MA in the Humanities, 2012- Tiffin Univerisity

• BFA in Fine Arts, 1992- School of the Art Institute of Chicago

• ABT NTC Certified, levels Prek-3

• ROWITA Award Recipient (Recognizing Outstanding Women in the Arts), 2023

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