Joanna Duncan A.R.A.D. Solo Seal, is a well respected Classical Ballet Master Teacher. She holds the Advanced Certificate of the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and was awarded the coveted Solo Seal at only 15 years of age (to date, the youngest recipient in the world).
Originally from Sydney, Australia, Joanna was the founding Director of the Sydney Regional Ballet School and Performance Company. A Principal Dancer in Australia at the age of 16, she has danced the roles of Carmen, Bluebird, Lilac Fairy and many others. She has won over 200 ballet competitions including the Lorraine Norton Ballet Scholarship awarded by Garth Welch and Gailene Stock. Joanna has also choreographed and staged more than 20 ballets. She is a winner of the Fred Astaire Choreographic Award.
As a teacher, Joanna is renowned for her gentle approach and credits her success to the simple principle of sharing her love of fine dance. She received her Vaganova teachers’ training through Mischa Slavensky, worked alongside Bolshoi Ballet Director Yuri Grigorovich arranging classical ballet training for students and has been a guest teacher at John Neumier's Hamburg Ballet School. Her teaching repertoire includes Vaganova Classical Ballet Levels 1 through 8, Contemporary Ballet, Conditioning Floor Barre, Solo Variations and the Theory and Biomechanics of Dance. Students of hers have won over 300 ballet competitions.
During her career, Joanna has worked with Marilyn Jones OBE, NBC Disney Productions, Carol Burnett, Vina Lee, Vivienne Ramsay, Bolshoi Ballet, Edward Villella, and Australian Ballet, among many other people of note. She has also worked in close collaboration with Australian Ballet Company Physiotherapist, Nicole Vass and Boston Ballet Physiotherapist, Heather Southwick.
Dancers trained by Joanna have found success in ballet companies all over the world including the Australian Ballet, Royal Ballet, ABT, Hamburg Ballet, Boston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Jose Mateo Ballet, Antigravity, Gyor Ballet Company Hungary, Moulin Rouge, The Wiggles, Dancing with the Stars as well as in films and television.
Joanna is on faculty at Dance It Up! Dance Center and will be directing the Dance It Up! Summer Dance Program production of the ballet "Where the Fairies Dwell". She is also on faculty at East Street Dance Center in Hadley, MA and is a private dance coach for professional ballet artists.
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