Sara Donally - Director
Sara has been teaching and choreographing ballet in Spokane for the past twenty years. She is excited to be starting her 10th year as Director of Spokane Ballet Studio. Sara was trained in Spokane by Peggy Goodner Tan. She has worked/choreographed with Spokane Historic Concert Association, Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture's Passport To The Arts, Ballet Arts Academy, Theatre Ballet of Spokane, Gonzaga University, Spokane Area Children’s Chorus, Allegro Baroque and Beyond and Alberta Ballet School of Dance. Sara has also danced professionally with Alberta Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Lexington, and Artisan Dance in Helena Montana.
Sara feels very fortunate to have the faculty you see listed below. She enjoys teaching ballet and sharing this rewarding experience as Director of Spokane Ballet Studio with her husband and two children.
Emily Grizzell
Emily has performed all over the world as a soloist dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Trained by her mother, Peggy Goodner Tan in Spokane she continued her studies at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Professional Division at the age of 16. Upon graduation, Grizzell was taken into the company where she performed such roles as 'Juliet' in Rudi van Danzig's Romeo and Juliet, 'Nancy' (Cinderella) in Val Caniparoli'sA Cinderella Story, 'Princess Aurora' in the Sleeping Beauty, 'Clara' in The Nutcracker, 'The Cowgirl' in Agnes de Mille's Rodeo, 'Alice' in Shaun Hounsell's Wonderland and the works of Twyla Tharp, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Toer Van Schayk and others.
Upon retirement from the company, Emily has been sharing the benefit of her experience in professional dance in new ways, as a teacher, coach and choreographer. She has worked with the students of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, as well as a guest instructor/choreographer with the North Dakota Ballet Company.
She is thrilled to be back in her hometown and excited to be working with a new generation of talented Spokane dancers.
Peggy Goodner Tan
has been teaching ballet in Spokane for 35 years. She served as Head of Faculty for the former professional ballet school and performing company, Spokane Ballet. In 1994, Peggy founded Ballet Arts Academy, directing the school and teaching a wide range of levels until 2004. While directing Ballet Arts Academy, Peggy founded and directed a civic ballet company, Theatre Ballet of Spokane. Since 1980, Peggy has helped prepare children for the roles in The Nutcracker with the Spokane Symphony.
Peggy's professional credits include dancing with Connecticut Ballet, National Ballet of Ireland and Spokane Ballet.
Peggy is pleased to join the faculty at Spokane Ballet Studio where she believes students receive professional dance training, performance opportunities and a broad appreciation for the arts.
Pam erickson
Originally from Southern California, Pam began her training and performing career with the Santa Barbara Ballet Company and with Stanley Holden in Los Angeles. Later, moving to northern California, Pam studied with Norbert Vesak and Maria Vegh at the Marin Ballet School. Her professional dance experience includes performances with the San Francisco Dance Theatre, Chamber Dance Ballet Company SF and the Sphinx Jazz-Ballet Company of Vienna, Austria. Pam has also danced her way around the world aboard the M. S. Crystal Harmony cruise ship. Pam is currently an adjunct faculty member at both Gonzaga University and Whitworth University where she teaches Ballet, Modern Dance and Dance History. As a dance educator, Pam has taught master classes at Western Washington University and the Universities of Alaska and Utah. Pam recently completed the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s teacher training course with Marcia Dale Weary. Last year in conjunction with the Mark Morris Dance Group Outreach Program, Pam received training and began teaching dance classes for Parkinson’s patients and their care-givers. Pam has been teaching Spokane area ballet students for the past 21 years.
Sarah Glesk
Sarah Fealk (Glesk) grew up outside of Spokane, WA, where she began dancing at the age of 2. She studied at Ballet Arts Academy and was a Senior Ballet Division Gold Medalist and received 2 Certificates of Merit for Choreography in the Greater Northwest Music and Allied Arts Festival, now known as Musicfest NW. In 2006 she graduated Cum Laude from Cornish College of the Arts with a BFA in Dance. While at Cornish, Sarah performed in such works as Martha Graham’s “Diversion of Angels”. Since graduating, Sarah helped found the CanCan Castaways and performed with companies, Zoe Scofield and Juniper Shuey, Geoffrey Johnson, Alloy Dance Project, Serendip and danced in a Saturday Knights music video. After performing in Seattle for 10 years, Sarah moved home to begin her career of teaching and choreographing. She has been teaching Modern Dance at Gonzaga University since September of 2013 and currently teaches Modern and Ballet at Artistry in Motion, Inland Northwest Ballet, Professional Ballet School and Spokane Ballet Studio. This past year Sarah has had the pleasure of working on several film ventures with the Spokane Film Project including the 50 Hour Slam and also choreographed and performed in a music video for Water Monster.