About Dance From The Heart PDX
Mission statement: Dance From The Heart PDX offers ballet and creative movement classes in a supportive, positive and encouraging environment to dancers of all levels, without losing the integrity of the classical technique.
Dance From The Heart PDX was established in 2010 in NE Portland by Katarina Svetlova.
“Through my own journey as a mother trying to find positive, exciting, creative and nurturing classes for my children, I realized there was a need to offer a unique program. The stories of negative ballet experiences were heartbreaking and inspired me to create a different approach to instilling the love of ballet and movement in dancers of all ages. Since its inception, I have had over 2,000+ students in my program, many of whom have gone on to study ballet in professional ballet schools around the country, including Oregon Ballet Theatre School,. and have danced professionally. I feel honored to be a part of every dancers journey, whether it’s their first class and they enter with excited hesitation and leave with boundless joy or are a more mature and experienced dancer that is trepidatiously navigating through mental and physical challenges. I strive to have my classes nurture and excite the mind, body and spirit with the added benefit of learning classical ballet :)
Dance From The Heart PDX offers classes for children starting age 3-9 at The Dekum Street Theater 814 NE Dekum St. Portland, OR. 97211.
For more class options for all ages please consider Oregon Ballet Theatre School.
Oregon native, Kasandra Green Gruener has a BA in Dance from Mills College and an MA in Contemplative Education from Naropa University. She began her training in ballet in Astoria, OR and later in Portland. She was a member of San Francisco based Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, and founded her own company Henry Harris Green. While still a performing artist, Kasandra began her career as a teaching artist in 1972, teaching modern dance and ballet in studios and colleges in California and Oregon . She worked as an NEA funded Artist in Schools in the Midwest. She shares creative movement processes with people of all ages, especially children whose lives have been infused with social and emotional challenges. Her work can occur in private and public K-12 schools, community centers, hospitals, groups homes and childcare centers--believing everyone should have the opportunity to dance. A specialist in teaching struggling youth, she received a 2007 and 2009 Young Audiences Sunburst Award for commitment to arts education. She has served on community leadership committees to further best practices and equity in arts education, helping to bring the Regional Arts and Culture Council’s Right Brain Initiative into being, serving on Portland’s Any Given Child committee in connection with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts, serving on Oregon Arts Commission panels, and was a founding board member of the Oregon Dance Education Organization, an affiliate of the National Dance Education Organization, receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. After 28 years with Oregon Ballet Theatre, Kasandra retired in 2020 from her position as Director of Education Outreach (now titled Education and Community Engagement).She presently enjoys working as a guest teaching artist, spending time with her family, deepening her qigong practice and creating ikebana arrangements.
Instructor-Kasandra Green Gruener
Tetyana (Tanya) was born in Ukraine. At the age of 5, she began to do rhythmic gymnastics, at the age of 10 she began to do ballet professionally. After graduating from ballet school, she started working at the National Lviv Opera and Ballet Theater, where she worked for more than 10 years. With the goal of seeing the world and gaining world experience, Tanya began touring with various ballet troupes in different countries of the world. She began her main teaching activity in China, where she lived for 4 years. She taught by Vaganova , RAD and CSTD systems. Last year, Tanya and her family moved to Canada, where she taught in Vancouver. Then moving to Bend, Oregon, she worked at two local ballet schools. In August, Tanya moved to Portland. Currently, she works at the ballet school in Camas and the Oregon Ballet Theater in Portland. Tanya enjoys teaching all ages , but mostly the youngest kids, instilling proper foundations, techniques and a love for dance.
Instructor-Tanya Gladun
Jill is a passionate creative with a focus on movement, dance and cultural exploration. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Directing. In her youth, Jill was a member of the American Contemporary Ballet Company where she trained with Elizabeth Abts. She also studied and performed African dance with Obo Addy.Jill taught, directed and choreographed musical theatre for over a decade at Park Academy. She currently gets energized teaching Ballet to enthusiastic Portland Public Schools students through the community outreach program with OBT. She also is a resident artist with Young Audience where, through creative movement, she teaches programs that honor the African American experience and the lessons of resilience. She recently began working with the powerful and talented group at PassInArt, who embodies her mission in bringing awareness to the community about the invaluable contributions, history and culture of African Americans' in the arts.
Instructor-Jill Geidt
About Katarina Svetlova
Dancer
Originally from Germany, she received her classical ballet training primarily from Haydee Gutierrez in Florida and continued with Haydee at The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. She also studied at the John Cranko School in Germany and The Princess Grace Academy in Monte-Carlo.
Katarina started her professional career at the age of 15 at Oregon Ballet Theatre, under the direction of James Canfield. During her 7 years at OBT she danced in many works by James Canfield, Balanchine, Peter Martins, Trey McIntyre, Josie Mosley and others. In 2002 she accepted a principal contract in one of Germany's leading ballet companies, Deutsche Oper Am Rhein in Dusseldorf, Germany. There she enjoyed dancing the principal roles in many classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet and others. She was privileged to work closely with international contemporary choreographers including John Neuemeier (Sylvia), Mats Ek, Hans Von Manen, Youri Vamos, and many others.
Katarina's teaching career began early alongside her professional career with Oregon Ballet Theater in 1996 and she has been teaching children of all ages and adults for 25+ years now. It is her mission to teach ballet and creative movement in a supportive, positive and encouraging manner to dancers of all levels, without losing the integrity of the classical technique.
Teacher
Katarina's teaching career began early alongside her professional career with Oregon Ballet Theater in 1996 and she has been teaching children of all ages and adults for 25+ years now.
Katarina Svetlova established Dance From The Heart PDX in 2010 in NE Portland. Since its inception she has had over 2,000+ students in her program.
It is her mission to teach ballet and creative movement in a supportive, positive and encouraging manner to dancers of all levels, without losing the integrity of the classical technique. Her philosophy is to share her love of movement and ballet with each student in the hopes that they will find their own joy from within and connect their hearts to dance for the rest of their lives no matter where their journey takes them.
Mentor
Striving for a career in Classical ballet can be a challenging journey. It is an honor to help dancers navigate through this complex world. From the mental challenges to recovering from an injury, I have spent 20+years studying ways to make dancers stronger mentally and physically. I use a combination of approaches based on Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness practice, as well as Plant-Based Nutrition and Yoga to help dancers achieve their full potential as an artist and person. I connect dancers with treatment options needed to help with eating disorders, anxiety and depression issues and I am committed to be there to support them through those journeys.
