Shannon’s School of Dance was founded in 1992 by Director, Shannon Smith and has been locally owned and operated for almost 20 years. For 9 years the School was located next to the Horseshoe Restaurant on West Danville Street. Due to the need for more space , the school relocated to the spacious studio located above what was then, South Hill Fitness  in September of 2001. ( Across the street from Boyd Honda; we are upstairs front entrance is visible from road with studio name on the door!)

In the past  years , many of our graduated students have pursued dance at various levels, and some have even chosen dancing instruction as a profession...Most importantly the love of dance stays with them for a lifetime!

Call us at 434.447.9096 or email ssdance@embarqmail.com
 

FACULTY

Shannon Daw Smith - Artistic Director, Owner, Creative Movement, Pre-Ballet, Foundational Ballet, Beginning Ballet, Tap, Jazz, KidGroovz, JazzFunkFusion, ZUMBATOMIC & ZUMBA Instructor

Shannon Smith received her initial apprentice teaching experience from Lockhart School of Dance in South Hill, Virginia, under the direction of Joy Lockhart Hargrave, and Beverly Lockhart. with the Lockharts, she studied Classical Ballet , tap, and jazz dance for eleven years and assisted various levels of ballet and combination classes for children for four years. She was also a member of the Lockhart Performing Ensemble. Shannon served as an instructor for the Lawrenceville Dance Theatre for three years, prior to opening the studio in 1992.

Shannon presently has over 36 years of dance experience and twenty three years of teaching experience. She is certified by test, to teach, through Dance Masters of America's Professional Teachers Program, where she attended a three year course of study in Kent, Ohio, at Kent State University. The program focused on the teaching and methodology of Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced levels of technique in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Lyrical, Theatre Dance and Hip Hop. All classes were taught by Master Instructors, and participants were involved in rap sessions, and examination review with each instructor. Specialty classes were taught in Children’s Work, Folk Dance, Interpretive, Stretching, Injury Prevention, Music Theory, Dance Notation, Nutrition, Alignment, Dance History, Kinesiology, Choreography, Studio Business, and Auditions.

Even though Shannon has had many opportunities to take classes with various Master teachers including Bob Rizzo, Frank Hatchet, Janice Barringer, Judy Bassing, Tom Ralabate, Darryl Retter, and Laura Haussman, to name a few. ..the most influential teacher was her mother, Phyllis Daw. Upon the dance studio's opening, she assisted all of her mother's classes for several years, and also took one to two of the one hour and hour and a half  ballet classes taught by her mom four to five days a week for 9 years, in addition to teaching her own classes. The experience of assisting, and taking classes from her mother, gave her such a wonderful understanding of the importance of Ballet Technique as the basic foundation of all forms of dance. The knowledge gained from observing her mother at work in the dance studio, was the best teacher training she could have ever asked for. Mrs. Daw's attention to technical detail, fluidity of the arms, articulation of the hands and feet, and the ability to break a combination down so that any student could master it and have a sense of accomplishment, influenced her teaching style the most. Mrs. Daw's "old school" training in Classical Ballet technique is what pushed Shannon to the next level both as a student as well as a teacher.

"Miss Shannon" has choreographed for community events, talent for pageants, recitals, has adjudicated dance team auditions in northern, N.C. and has served as a judge for the North Carolina Dance Explosion competition.

Attending various teaching seminars, classes, conventions and workshops, as well as networking with other studio owners throughout the nation and abroad, is extremely influential to Shannon's ethics, business decisions and standards of teaching.

This past Winter, Miss Shannon attended the Dance Makers convention in Richmond, Va. Where she took and observed classes in Jazz, Tap, Pre-Ballet, Ballet, Lyrical, Contemporary and Hip Hop- Instructors at the convention included Janice Barringer, Brad Taylor, Becca Retta, Keith Clifton, Gina Badone, Joy Spears, and Tom Alexander.

This past summer, Shannon Smith received certification in ZUMBA Basic I, and ZUMBATOMIC (Zumba for Kids)

She also attended Rhee Gold's  Dance Life Teacher Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Classes at the DLTC  consisted of Jazz , Hip-Hop, Lyrical, Ballet, Zumba, Improvisation, Creative Movement, Studio Management, Contemporary and more. Shannon attended classes and/or lectures with Joe Tremaine, Geo Hubela, Roni Mahler, Annie and Beverly Spell, Sandi Duncan, Laurie Johnson, Kathy Kozul, Larraine Susa, Mike Wittmers, Derrick Yanford, Melissa Hoffman and Rhee Gold. The Seminar was very educational, inspirational , motivational, self affirming and empowering in many many ways!

 Shannon resides in South Hill, with her husband Dennis, Daughter Lexi, and two yip yapping dogs; Roxy and Lucy.

Alicia Washburn - Classical Ballet (Junior and Senior levels)

Preparatory-Pointe` & Pointe` Instructor
 Miss Alicia received her early dance education from Joy Hargrave of Lockhart’s School of Dance of South Hill. She then became a student of Shannon’s School of Dance, under the direction of Shannon Smith and Phyllis Daw upon the school’s opening in 1992. She received training in Classical Ballet, Tap and Jazz for seven years, in addition to assisting Ballet classes with Mrs. Daw for three years. This inspired her to pursue her Love of dance and cultivated an interest in teaching.  Alicia furthered her Ballet training at Raleigh Dance Theatre, under the direction of Mary LeGere , as well as the Chesterfield School of Ballet, under the direction of Patricia and Leona Dodd.  While attending Radford University, she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Minor under the direction of Frano Jelincic and Dagmar Kessler.

Ms. Washburn attended Summer Intensives at Raleigh Dance Theatre in North Carolina, South Ballet Theatre in Florida, as well as American Academy of Ballet in New York, where she also served as a counselor. During college and in her summers away, she expanded her knowledge by taking classes in Modern, Pilates, Acting, Dance History, Yoga, Brazilian, Russian Folk Dance, Floor Barre, Swing, Music Appreciation, Spanish Dance, Partnering, Pointe, Variations and Mime. Summer study also enabled her to take classes with many prestigious Ballet Masters such as David Howard, Gelsey Kirkland, Stephanie Saland, Violette Verdy, John Meehan, Susan Jaffe, and Sean Lavery, to name a few. Having the opportunities to study with a wide variety of teachers and being exposed to many different methods and styles of dance, enabled her to become a more versatile dancer and gave her the ability to incorporate diversity in her teaching methods.

Alicia furthers her dance education by attending various dance seminars to keep abreast with new and innovative teaching methods. This past winter she attended the Dance Makers convention in Richmond, Virginia, where she took and observed classes in Ballet, Contemporary & Lyrical.

Ms. Washburn  teaches  Classical Ballet to experienced students ages 10 and up.  This will be her third year at Shannon's School of Dance and we are happy to have her on our staff!

Ms. Alicia currently has over 18 years of ballet training and 6 years of teaching experience. She is an avid runner who enjoys participating in various marathons and triathlons in her free time. She currently works full time for Peeble's as an assistant buyer.

Student assistants are used, when necessary, in order to ensure that each student gets personal instruction and correction.