About the Director

          Barbara Gaskill is professionally certified by the Cecchetti Council of America (CCA) from the Primary Levels and Children’s Grades through the Advanced Professional Level, and is a certified instructor in the Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) conditioning system. 

          She is a Fellow of the CCA,  CUSA (Cecchetti USA), and CICB (Cecchetti International Classical Ballet), a full member of DMA (Dance Masters of America), and co-founder of the Cecchetti Institute. 

          She holds an M.A. in Education/Dance and has taught at several area universities and studios, including The Washington Ballet.  She taught Dance Appreciation/History & Theory/Philosophy/ Anthropology in the Dance Department at the University of Maryland/College Park for 17 years, and served as director of liturgical dance at Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church for over 20.

          Her early training was in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area, primarily under Norma Ferrara Gelose (teacher of noted Broadway choreographer Michael Bennett and dance educator Bob Rizzo), with supplementary training at the National Ballet of Canada and at the former National Academy of Ballet and Theatre Arts in NYC with Thalia Mara and Yurek Lazowski. 

          Later studies were with Pamela Moore and Cara Drower, Diploma Fellows of the ISTD (International Society of Teachers of Dancing).

          As a dancer she performed in solo roles with The American Contemporary Ballet Company (in Maryland, now the National Ballet Institute for the Arts), while also directing the historical dance company Primavera which performed her reconstructions of period dances, primarily from original 16^th-century Italian dance manuscripts.

          In addition to her work with The Ballet Studio, Mrs. Gaskill serves as Conference Principal for twice-yearly workshops sponsored by the CCA's local branch (East Coast Committee), and she is co-founder of the Cecchetti Institute.

          As an approved volunteer in the D.C. Public Schools, having passed all of the requisite background checks, she led daily after-school ballet classes at Brightwood Education Campus from 2004-2013 as well as taking dance into the classrooms during the day for over 400 children each year, in Head Start through 8th Grade, via The Ballet Studio's "Literacy in and Through the Arts" outreach program. 

          Her dedication to encouraging literacy in and through the arts has continued via new cooperative efforts with other groups -- such as Brighter Day Ministries in SE Washington, DC -- providing dance education programs, field trips to live performances, and financial support for dancewear and audition fees.

          In her non-dance life (is there such a thing?), concurrent with her dance life, Barbara Gaskill worked as a journalist, first with U.S. News & World Report for 12 years, then as a free-lance writer and editor, and finally as educational coordinator for the International Media Fund's Hungarian Journalism Project.