 |
Stella Gardiner ADULT PONITE CLASS SCHEDULE Stella Gardiner began her ballet training with Donald Journeaux, an English dancer and choreographer who trained in England with Russian émigré dancers and worked with Marie Rambert. Ms. Gardiner danced lead and soloist roles in original ballets created by Mr. Journeaux, and upon his retirement continued her training with Charlyne Baker, Mia Slavenska, Tanya Riabouchinska and Marat Daukayev. Stella first started teaching while a student at Occidental College, when Ms. Baker went on medical leave, and she took over her classes, and at the request of the head coach of the athletic department, Ms. Gardiner also instituted a “Ballet for Athletes” program. After graduating from Occidental, Ms. Gardiner performed lead and soloist roles in Southern California productions of Cinderella, Paquita, La Vivandiere, Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Chopiniana. The role of Suzuki in the premiere production of Madame Butterfly: The Ballet, by Paul Rizos, was created on her. Ms. Gardiner has choreographed for and performed in Los Angeles’s Bel Canto Opera Company and Long Beach Opera. Her work in Bel Canto’s productions of Verdi’s Aida and Gounod’s Faust received critical acclaim from the Los Angeles Times (“A high point [of the production was] Stella Gardiner’s clever choreography” and The Outlook (“The dancing troupe of Stella Gardiner displayed fine balletic skills [and] graceful musicality of movement.” Ms. Gardiner has taught ballet of all levels at Conjunctive Points Dance Center and Dance Arts Academy. She has also taught for Inland Pacific Ballet and the Marat Daukayev School of Ballet, and choreographed works for Mr. Daukayev’s students (“The Seasons,” a one-act ballet, and sections of “The Nutcracker”). She currently teaches a Thursday evening pointe class at Dance Arts Academy, stressing understanding of technique, placement and strength, as well as encouraging self expression and sensitivity to music as the impulse for our need to dance. |