Kathryn Irey

Owner, Director, Teacher
kathryn@stage7.com

Trained at Arts Educational Trust, London, National Ballet of Canada, Toronto and in her home, Washington, D.C., Kathryn Irey danced five years for the Deutsche Ballet am Rhine, one of Germany’s leading ballet companies. She toured throughout Europe and the U.S. for ten years, dancing a broad repertoire of classical and contemporary works by leading choreographers. Twenty-five years of focus on Arts Education developed out of an interest in creating integrated learning environments in which the arts are tools of discovery and inquiry. Ms. Irey has been a Master Teaching Artist for San Diego Institute for Arts Education and the San Diego Dance Institute, and teaches classical ballet at SDSU.

Kathryn is the owner/director of Stage 7 School of Dance where she teaches ballet and conducts teacher-training seminars. She travels nationally to do staff development for many arts organizations and has launched a teaching lab at Freese Elementary School for the development of literacy-based dance curriculum. Ms. Irey presented five years of research with the San Diego Institute for Arts Education in collaboration with Harvard’s Project Zero and Lincoln Center, and received a research fellowship from the Leonard Bernstein Center for Education Through Arts. It supported inquiry into the relationship between artistic processes and language acquisition. The California Department of Education appointed Ms. Irey to serve on its Instructional Resources Evaluation Panel, Visual and Performing Arts 1998, to select arts resources for California schools.

With increased focus on educational accountability in California schools, Ms. Irey sits on an ad hoc committee of dance educators, statewide who are generating trial assessment models for an “assessment model bank” in Sacramento. Most recently she has helped newly emerging arts-based magnet schools in San Diego prepare integrated curriculum.

Gg Muir-Robinson is a graduate of Elizabeth Beringer’s San DiegoProfessional Training Program, where she trained with many of the most experienced Feldenkrais Practitioners in the world. She continues to receive additional training and mentoring from master practitioners Donna Ray and Bonnie Humiston. Gg is a licensed psychotherapist and works with people in a way that connects mind and body to change habitual patterns. She is in continuous study of ballet and movement education with Kathryn Irey at Stage 7 School of Dance, where she first experienced the power of helpful movement.

Gg also is a pointe shoe fitter. Contact her at gg@thepointeshot.com

In his exuberant Afro-Cuban movement and music classes, Juan Carlos Blanco enjoys transmitting cultural knowledge of his ancestors through engaging community activities that focus energy and express joy. It’s hard not to have a smile on your face and a bounce in your step when visiting his classroom. At the same time, his teaching is not only about fun. Whether it’s dancing or drumming, for him it is also important to take the time to explain and convey historical and cultural context. This, he believes, allows students to gain a well-rounded appreciation of the new skills and art form(s) they are learning.

Juan Carlos was born and raised in Havana, Cuba, where he performed with several professional companies for over 15 years before coming to the U.S. In his youth, he began his performance career with the folkloric arts groups Cumballe and Oba Ilú in his hometown of Guanabacoa, a community of Havana known for its rich Afro-Cuban cultural traditions. He later joined one of Cuba’s most renowned folkloric companies, Raices Profundas (Deep Roots), soon becoming lead male dancer and soloist and touring Latin America and Asia.

Zaquia Salinas is a dance artist working with live and filmed dance, invested in movement-art as an act of reclamation and resistance. With movement as the central medium, her work is a mixture of dance, text, and video, in both live and digital platforms, connecting audiences to visceral, intimate, thoughtful, and introspective narratives.

Her education includes a BA in Dance from UC Santa Barbara, an MFA in Dance: Creative Practice from Saint Mary’s College of California where she focused on social justice and storytelling in movement, and a Dance Teaching Credential from Cal State East Bay.

Zaquia has worked with many organizations in San Diego in various artistic, administrative, and teaching capacities. She has been a part of the dance faculty at San Diego City College, Coronado School of the Arts, and Canyon Crest Academy, and guest taught for programs throughout the state. She has presented work and participated in international festivals and residency programs, including PERFORMÁTICA in Puebla, Mexico, Making Dance Happen in Peru, and Diyar Theatre in Bethlehem, Palestine. Most recently, she shared her long-form work, Ex Nihilo, with audiences at ODC Theater in San Francisco as part of FACT/SF’s PORT program. She has presented work locally through programs such as the World Cultures Program at San Diego City College, San Diego Dance Theater’s Young Choreographers Showcase and Prize, UC San Diego’s ArtPower!, White Box Live Arts Fest, San Diego International Fringe Festival, and San Diego Dance Theater’s Trolley Dances to name a few. Her works include various evening-length pieces, several shorter works, as well as dance films.