Juliette Dupre is from Covington, Louisiana, and currently teaches ballet, pointe and variations at Body Expressions Center for Performing Arts in Mandeville, Louisiana.
Juliette began training in Vaganova ballet technique at the age of ten with Kelly Apetrei and Constantin Apetrei at Apetrei Dancenter and under Yvonne Bergeron and Henry Danton at Pine Belt Youth Ballet. She supplemented this with training in Graham and Duncan modern dance techniques under Cheryl Renner, whose pedagogical lineage traces directly to Isadora Duncan.
At 14, Juliette was singled out by visiting artist Nadya Zybine, then principal dancer with Ballet Austin, who encouraged her to complete her training at academies affiliated with professional ballet companies. After acceptance to many of the best programs in the nation, Juliette attended full summers at Ballet Austin Academy, The Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet and finally Boston Ballet School. In these programs she was placed in the highest levels, offered scholarships and invitations to the year-round programs, selected for soloist roles and personally coached by renowned teachers including Gretchen Ward Warren, Peter Pawlyshyn and Donna Silva. At The Rock School and Ballet Austin Academy, Juliette studied advanced Balanchine style and Fosse jazz. She also studied hip-hop at Koresh Dance Company.
As a member of Regional Dance America honor company Ballet Apetrei and while on scholarship with the affiliated school, Juliette was chosen to perform many soloist and principal roles including Arabian, Sugar Plum, and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and an array of contemporary ballet roles in award-winning ballets and original choreography at annual RDA festivals and at local showcases. In 2002, Juliette received a contract offer to dance in a professional ballet company and invitations to multiple ballet conservatories, but she chose to stay in Louisiana and pursue academics at Tulane University. At Tulane, she earned a double Bachelor of Arts with honors and enjoyed studying choreography.
Juliette was inspired to study the art of teaching ballet early in her training, when she was mentored in her teaching and choreography skills by Kelly Apetrei. She later dedicated herself to refining these skills by studying ballet’s anatomical relation to the body to help her students better understand movement mechanics and use of the body as an instrument of expression. Juliette continues to expand her knowledge of not only technique methods but also how the body and mind learn. She is educated in pointe pedagogy and shoe fitting and is a Certified Pointe Shoe Fitter.
Juliette has taught pre-dance, ballet, pointe and variations classes, privately coached young dancers in technique and repertoire for successful auditions and performances, and served as an adjudicator for pre-pro company and scholarship auditions. Juliette believes that ballet class should be an exciting and satisfying learning experience for all dance students, regardless of their primary dance genre and ultimate goals.
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