Dance Instructor
(Ballet)
Since childhood, ballet has been a big part of Miss Jenny’s life. She started ballet classes at the age of 10 at her hometown theater in Nordhausen (former East Germany) where her ballet training was based on the Vaganova system (Russian ballet style).
Jenny devoted all of her efforts to becoming a professional dancer only to discover at age 15 that her body type was not suitable for this career. She continued to train recreationally until the age of 17, and during that time performed - under the direction of Monika Honti - in a number of professional ballet productions, including Coppelia, Sheherazade and Esmeralda at the Theater Nordhausen.
She went to college in Kaiserslautern from 1995-1999 to study business administration where she graduated with a Bachelors degree in business. She continued her dance training at several ballet schools in the area including the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern where she also took on acting roles in "Der weiße Rössl" and "Black Rider".
During her college years, Miss Jenny worked part-time as a German language teacher at Adult Continuing Education at Ramstein Air Base from 1997 - 2000.
At age 20, Miss Jenny started teaching preballet and beginning ballet students at the Fairy Tale Dance Studio in Ramstein, Germany.
Her marriage to an American military service member brought her to California where she trained at the Academy of Ballet in San Francisco and the San Francisco Dance Center with many teachers from Russia, America and England. She also became certified as a Ballet Master with Dance Masters of America, Inc at the age of 25. She worked at the Travis Air Force Base Youth Center as the Ballet Director and Artistic Director where she taught all ages and levels and put on several productions like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake with about 100 dancers. In California, she also taught German lessons at the Berlitz Language Institute in Walnut Creek for 3 years. In 2003, Miss Jenny got certified for Piyo with Powder Blue Productions and taught at Gold's Gym in Vacaville and 24 hour Fitness in Fairfield.
She moved back to Germany later that year and taught ballet, pilates and yoga at several studios and fitness centers. She also participated in many dance workshops in Germany and worked with internationally renowned teachers. She continued teaching German lessons from home for all ages and levels.
In 2010, Miss Jenny opened her own studio for Dance, Yoga and Pilates and German lessons in Kaiserslautern - "Grace Studio” - and ran it successfully for 8 years serving the German as well as American military community. Besides teaching more than 25 hours a week for all ages and levels, she took care of all of the managerial tasks, administrative work and marketing. With the help of her staff, she put together stunning productions twice a year - The Nutcracker and a themed Spring Showcase (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sound of Music, TimeTravel Showcase, Broadway Showcase, Disney Showcase etc.). In 2015 and 2016, her studio won the Stars and Stripes readers award as "Best Dance Studio" in the area. Her students also performed for charity events and at festivals. The school grew to a student number of 500 and gave her the opportunity to work with more than 80 dance and yoga teachers from all over the world. Five of her ballet students got accepted into the very prestigious ballet academy in Germany "Akademie des Tanzes, Mannheim" which prepares students for a professional career. She furthered her education by getting certified for Vinyasa Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, Nutrition Fundamentals, Bosu, Pilates with props and more.
In 2018, Miss Jenny sold her studio and moved to Hawaii due to her husband's job. She started a ballet program on Hickam that grew from 20 to 200 students in just a couple of months. She also taught German classes from home for children and adults. In July 2019, she got hired by Ballet Hawaii as a ballet teacher for all ages and levels, choreographer and répétiteur. Due to the pandemic, she taught all of her classes on zoom and later on in hybrid form until they were opened up for in person training in March 2021 again.
In January 2021, she additionally took over the ballet program at her younger daughter's Hula & Polynesian Dance studio Na Maka O Pu'uwai Aloha. Her older daughter Johanna was her assistent teacher and took over her own classes in 2022. From June 2021 till June 2022, Jenny also taught ballet, yoga and theater classes for all levels and ages at the Kroc Center. In 2022, she got certified with Runquiao Du ballet coaching whose teachings are Vaganova based.
In 2023, she expanded her services and started teaching/subbing at Destination Dance, Queen Emma Ballet, Hawaii Ballet Theatre and Page Academy. She is grateful to collaborate with these excellent schools.
In 2024, she also started teaching at Pas de Deux in Waipahu, Kailua Dance Academy in Kailua and Dance Junction in Honolulu.
She couldn't be happier to have the opportunity to teach countless dancers of all ages and levels from various schools on this island.
She fondly looks back at more than 25 years of teaching, having trained more than 9,000 students of all ages and levels and is looking forward to making an invaluable impact on this dance community for another 25 years.
