Zachari's Ballerinas started as a community service project. Miss Zachari taught a six session ballet class through community education the summer after finishing 10th grade. Class was held in the Battle Creek Elementary School cafeteria for two students. Over the next four summers, classes were held at Harding High School, the theater at Battle Creek Middle School, and the Battle Creek Elementary School gym and expanded to a nine class session.
When community ed no longer wanted to hold the ballet class due to the small class size, the program moved to Maternity of Mary-St Andrews School with the help of parents of students in the program. Zachari's Ballerinas expanded to offer classes at two levels. The length of the program also expanded to a twice a week program that ran from June through mid-August.
Zachari's Ballerinas added a pre-ballet class at the request of parents.
Due to construction at Maternity of Mary-St Andrews School, Zachari's Ballerinas again changed location, this time to North Presbyterian Church in North St Paul. Students had the opportunity to perform a mulit-level dance for the first time as a part of the summer program.
Spring of 2006 marked the start of the Zachari's Ballerinas school year program at Dayton's Bluff Recreation Center.
For the 10th Anniversary of the Zachari's Ballerinas summer program, classes were held at both Dayton's Bluff Recreation Center and North Presbyterian Church. The recital was held on August 3rd in the Dayton's Bluff Recreation Center Theater.
September 2006 marked the beginning of Pas de Deux Dance Studio, a full year ballet program running classes out of two locations. Daytime classes were at Dayton's Bluff Recreation Center for preschool and homeschool studnets. Evening classes were at 1899 Larpenteur Ave W. Classes for pre-ballet, level I and level II students were offered at both locations. The Larpenteur Avenue location also offered multi-level performance classes for Beginning through Advanced students on Monday evenings.
In Fall 2007, Pas de Deux Dance Studio added a Kinder Ballet Class, a Level III class, and a Pre-pointe / Beginning Pointe Class.
Pas de Deux Dance Studio strives to create a full dance experience for all students. Because of this, we take special requests for classes to be offered. New classes and additional sections of current classes can be opened when there are four or more students interested. To request a specific class, please contact the studio. We will open the class as soon as there is enough interest in it.
Summer 2008 saw a change in the offerings for the Pas de Deux Summer Program. In addition to the traditional Pre-ballet and Ballet I offerings, Pas de Deux is excited to announce the addition of a one week ballet camp.
The basic ballet camp for age 5 - 7 allowed students to participate in a Kinder Ballet level class, play ballet games, and do ballet themed craft projects.
Spring of 2009 marked the start of the Teen / Adult Ballet Class. Pas de Deux Dance Studio was also nominated for the Nickelodeon Parents Picks Awards for best dance class in the Twin Cities through gocitykids.com.
In the Summer of 2009, the Ballet Stories Camp was added for students age 7 -9. Addtional summer offerings included a Ballet II/III technique class, Pre-Pointe/Pointe, and a second session of Teen/Adult Ballet.
In Fall of 2009, Baby Ballet for ages 3 and 4 was added to the schedule with both daytime and early evening sections.
Spring of 2010 marked the first year of the Teen/Adult class performing in the recital. The performance class also made a return to the schedule on Saturday afternoons.
Fall of 2010 saw the addition of a second section of Ballet I, and our first Ballet IV class.
Spring of 2011 marks the 5th anniversary of Pas de Deux Dance Studio. The annual spring recital will be a celebration of reaching this milestone, including the presentation of the first 5 year awards for students who have danced at Pas de Deux since its creation.
Pas de Deux Dance Studio plans to continue growing, offering additional classes each year. The studio is also searching for a permanent location so that all classes can be taught at the same place.
In the next couple of years, senior solos will be added to the annual spring recital. Miss Zachari is also developping an Irish Ballet, which she plans to premiere in the next two to three years, and is hoping to stage her first production of "The Nutcracker" in December 2011. Open auditions will be held in June 2011, so please make sure that you are on the studio's mailing list if you are interested in trying out.