Vivian Stooke

Vivian Stooke received her Cecchetti Professional Syllabus Exam Certificate at the Royal Ballet School, London. She also holds a teaching certificate in both Studio and Mat Pilates, and is a member of the Pilates Method Alliance. While a student at Bard College in NY, she taught Ballet classes at the college’s Dance Department as part of her Bachelor’s Degree.

Vivian has performed and taught internationally over a period of 20 years, working with a broad spectrum of dance styles and artists, but has at the core of her teaching a strong knowledge in the Classical Ballet style and repertoire. In her instruction she emphasizes the importance of musicality, the upper body use of epaulment, and the very important artistic subtleties which are often overlooked in training. Georgina Parkinson, Ballet Mistress for the American Ballet Theater Company in NYC has recommended Vivian as an invaluable member to the faculty.

Pilates is integral to Vivian’s approach in training dancers, not only through the exercise mat class, but also transferring its principles into the ballet class. She has spent the last year working in London with a dance physical therapist, where she specialized in post-rehabilitation training and technique correction to dancers. Her clients included students from English National Ballet School, London Millennium Dance 2000 School, as well as athletes suffering with chronic conditions due to poor body mechanics.

As a teacher, Vivian wishes to instill in her students a knowledgeable, healthy and positive body understanding as part of their dance training, as well as an appreciation of their own unique artistic qualities.