Dare To Be Different
At Centre Ballet, we know that being different is a good thing! We pride ourselves in the fact that we are the only studio in our area where the traditional art of classical ballet foundation is the primary focus. Our ballet training foundation is based on a codified syllabus, the Cecchetti syllabus (think Suzuki Method for music). Each student begins their journey with this beautiful ballet foundation so that when the time comes, they can beautifully and safely explore additional dance genres offered at Centre Ballet, all while discovering their true inner Artist.
The success of our students is culminated through their commitment and the commitment of our instructors, and the true joy of dance is found in the process, not the destination.
Instructors
S. Noel Ware
Owner | Instructor
Christina
Instructor
S. Noel (Dillow) Ware began her ballet training with MaryAnne (Snyder) Sowers of Bristol School of Ballet at the age of nine. She also trained under Constance Hardinge, founder of Bristol Ballet and creator and head of Virginia Intermont College Dance Department. Noel was a member of Bristol Ballet Company during the years when the company was an Honor Company of South Eastern Regional Ballet Association.
Mrs. Ware also trained under the tutelage of Karen Gibbons Brown, current Artistic Director of the Fort Wayne Ballet, for 10+ years, at the Kingsport Guild of Ballet, where she also taught with and for Ms. Gibbons Brown. When Ms. Gibbons Brown left Kingsport for Fort Wayne Ballet, she left her school in the hands of Mrs. Ware, as well as the Interim Directorship of the State of Franklin Dance Alliance Performing Company.
As she continued her dance training with Frano Jelincic and Dagmar Kessler at Radford University in VA, she also completed a B.S. in PHed/Sportsmedicine, which complimented her dance background, and has been of utmost importance as an effective teacher of classical dance.
She has also had the opportunity to study with many other influential and renowned teachers such as David Howard, Mary Day, Jeremy Blanton, Robert Joffrey, Richard Englund, Gelsey Kirkland, Sean Curran, Cynthia Pratt, Suzanne Farrell, and Gus Giordanno , as well as many other tremendous artists.
Mrs. Ware accepted a job offer with the Joffrey II Ballet of New York as a professional dancer under the direction of Jeremy Blanton and Richard Englund in 1989.
She began her teacher training early on as a teacher assistant and was first mentored by Karen Gibbons Brown and was also an assistant teacher at Bristol Ballet. She has continued to teach and perform for various studios and companies over the years as well as creating and setting pieces of original choreography. In addition, Mrs. Ware has choreographed and performed in headline musicals for Theatre Bristol, and more recently for Theatre! Statesville, and was nominated by the MTA for Outstanding Choreography for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She also served as an adjunct Professor of Dance at King University in Bristol, TN.
Mrs. Ware continues her professional development education working through the many levels of the Cecchetti Method teacher’s certification through the Cecchetti Council of America, a national organization with whom she holds a teacher’s membership. As a certified teacher of each particular level, she can present students of those levels to test in the Cecchetti Student Examinations. She is also a certified Progressing Ballet Technique instructor, and is the current Secretary for the Southeast Chapter of the Cecchetti Council of America.
The love she has for preserving and passing on the traditional art of classical ballet and knowing the joy of performing is what sparked her to open Centre Ballet, where ballet and arts education is truly the center and purpose of the studio.
When Mrs. Ware (and the family) is not busy working at the studio, she is usually home spending time with husband Paul, children Holston and Amelia, and step sons Austin and Hunter, and, of course, Radford and Louie, the mini Aussies.
Originally from Statesville, Christina began dancing at the age of three at Miss Treva’s School of Dance in Newton, NC. She continued her training with Donna Harrington at Miss Donna’s school of Dance in Taylorsville until she completed high school in 2011. She attended the Visual and Performing Arts Center High School under the instruction of Mrs. Cheryl Klaft where she received a background in composition and improvisation, ballet, jazz, and Horton (modern) technique. During high school, she had many different performance opportunities in theatre and dance, including winter and spring dance concerts, doing the “Spanish Panic” in Once Upon a Mattress at Statesville High, performing in the North Carolina Theatre Conference, and playing Glory in Almost, Maine.
Upon graduation from the Collaborative College of Technology and Leadership Early College with her high school diploma and Associates in Arts in 2012, she attended Appalachian State University and majored in Communication Studies with a minor in Dance. During her time at ASU, she worked part time in the Theatre and Dance Office, interned for the Arts and Cultural Programs, and served as Open Class Coordinator for Momentum, the dance organization on campus. She also had the privilege to perform in the Fall (2013) and Spring (2012) Appalachian Dance Ensembles, the Momentum Showcase (2013;2014), the ASU Performing Arts Series production of Kiss Me, Kate, The Hayes School of Music production of Dido and Aeneas, as well as numerous independent projects. Since graduating with her Bachelor degree in May of 2014, she continued teaching at Ms. Donna’s School of Dance and Centre Ballet in Statesville under the direction of Noel Dillow-Ware. In 2017, she took over Miss Donna’s School of Dance in Taylorsville and renamed it Parallel Dance Collaborative, and has since continued teaching students in Alexander County. She loves teaching and contributing to the dance community, and hopes to share her passion for dance with students.
Previous Guest Instructors
Every year, we invite acclaimed instructors from around the country to work with our students in summer intensive camps. Each instructor brings delight and a new level of learning to our classes and allows our students to get a full understanding of dance from other perspectives without having to leave Statesville.
Rebecca Klaft
Rebecca chose to further her dance education at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). Since attending college, she has had the opportunity to perform in such works as Shen Wei’s Behind Resonance, Larry Keigwin’s Kingdom, Robyn Mineko-William’s Go Lo, Trisha Brown’s Solo Olos, Merce Cunningham’s Change of Address, Martha Graham’s Panorama, Cara Hagan’s Space Beginning Because Us, Ton Simons’ Measuring Blue, Catherine Miller’s Mind Mapping, and various pieces by Sean Sullivan and Brenda Daniels.
Brad Parquette
Brad performed as a member of the Colorado Ballet, Tampa Ballet, Ballet Mississippi, Maryland Ballet, Ballet El Paso, and the West Virginia Dance Company. He is former faculty at West Virginia's Governor's School for the Arts, and the school for the Maryland Ballet. He directed the dance department at the Performing Arts School of Worcester (MA), taught at UNCG, and served as Ballet Master of the Greensboro Ballet (NC). Currently he is faculty at Appalachian State, The Space at Project Dance, and the East Tennessee Ballet Academy.
Alissa Waller
Alissa is currently on the faculty at Charlotte Ballet Academy where she teaches ballet and pointe technique in the intermediate division and conditioning for the pre-professional division. The students she has trained have gone on to have professional careers in dance with some of the best ballet companies in the world.
Karen Gibbons-Brown
Karen is the artistic director at Fort Wayne Ballet and has a long list of credentials including founding the Kingsport Guild of Ballet and became Artistic Director of the State of Franklin Dance Alliance at its inception in 1988. Her professional experiences also include South Carolina Chamber Dance Ensemble, Ballet Celeste, Bristol Ballet and the Theatre Ballet of San Francisco
Sayward Russell Grindley
Sayward has previously held positions at Carolina Ballet, Sarasota Ballet, Sarasota Contemporary Dance, Appalachian State University, and directed her own professional modern dance company and ballet school
The Cecchetti Method of Ballet Training
The Cecchetti Council of America (CCA) is an organization dedicated to maintaining the standards and method of ballet training established by Cav. Enrico Cecchetti, revered teacher of Anna Pavlova, Nijinsky, and dancers of the Imperial Theater of St. Petersburg. The CCA uses Cecchetti’s teachings and writings in a sequence of grades which are carefully measured as to degree of difficulty and physical development.
The Cecchetti Method offers a completely balanced and analyzed system of theory and
execution for the development of the student from the first lesson to solo status. In
addition to “set” exercises based on the syllabi of the Cecchetti Society Branch of the
Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing in London, England, the Cecchetti teacher
includes “unseen” steps in each lesson so that a student will learn to adapt quickly and
easily to any pattern of steps or rhythm. There are eight grades, consisting of four
children’s grades and four professional grades (Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced,
and Diploma).
The CCA also provides a system of accredited examinations to test the student’s
proficiency within these grades. These exams are valuable for students because they
promote the development of technique, artistry, and quality of movement.
The classes provide the discipline and repetition needed to acquire the technical
requirements for each grade level. The examining process encourages self-motivation
as each student works toward the goal of passing the exam. Achieving this goal greatly
increases the student’s self-esteem and confidence.
Students are also welcome to pursue a non-exam track for their ballet classes. These
students will still enjoy the benefits of studying the Cecchetti Method as they develop good posture, poise, balance, and strength.
For more information about the Cecchetti Method, visit the CCA’s website.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our tuition is based on the 9-9.5 months of instruction, of
which there are some months with 4 weeks, and some with 5
weeks.
At CB, we take care that students are prepared for each class they wish to participate in. For safety and proper technical ability and success, some classes have prerequisites to ensure the student is properly prepared.
At CB, there is a progression of ability that each student
must follow for success. It may be that your child may need to
start out in a lower level and/or seek out private instruction to
work up to the level of his/her age group. CB wants success for
proper progression for each and every student. CB is always
happy to discuss a plan to achieve a student’s personal goals.
At CB, first and foremost, we are committed to honoring the
Art of Classical Ballet, its traditions and reasons for structure.
Having a “uniform” is a part of that culture and etiquette of
traditional classical ballet training, the discipline, and the aesthetic
of the training process. This tradition has given students a sense
of pride and belonging, as well as responsibility and accountability. At CB, we do our best to choose comfortable and
practical uniforms for each class.
CB presents a studio wide Winter Concert in January (Collaborative Arts Concert), and a studio wide Spring Concert
(Story Ballet) in May. There are additional opportunity for smaller
community presentations that are volunteer based (Educational
Outreach).
In all performing Arts, the students are portraying a role or
character, not themselves. One way the performing Arts achieves
that is through costumes, make up and props/sets. Also, when on
stage performing, stage lighting washes out facial features of
dancers if those features are not enhanced, therefore expressions of dancers are difficult to see from the audience.
Part of the training process requires the instructor’s ability to
see the student’s physique in the close-fitting uniform that is
necessary for training. It allows the instructor to guide and correct
alignment/movement. If your child needs an outer layer for
warmth, there are specific warmups that may be purchased to be
worn in class. Please reach out to Ms. Ware for information.