Allison Kahelski

Allison’s passion for ballet started at an early age while growing up in Chambourcy, France and Surrey, England where she was instructed in the Cecchetti and Royal Academy of Dance Methods.  She was inspired by her teachers and by the many extraordinary dancers she had the opportunity of seeing in Paris and London.  After moving back to the United States to Rhode Island she continued dancing classical ballet while being involved in theatre, musical theatre, and working with children.

She went on to study Theatre, Elementary Education and Spanish at the University of Rhode Island. While in Rhode Island she worked in the  modeling industry locally on the runway. She has always had a passion for fostering enthusiasm and love of learning in children through creative teaching techniques. Her teaching career began as a Dance/ Drama integration teacher working to teach content in the elementary school classroom while using dance, movement and drama techniques. While continuing on as an elementary school teacher, she earned her MA in Education, with most of her research focusing on integrating the Arts into core curricular subjects.

During her 14 year teaching career, she adored inspiring children from preschool age through the college level, earning the title of Teacher of the Year for her school and of one of Henrico’s Top Teachers. She also welcomed the opportunity as an adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Education Department for 4 years, leading a class that explored and teaching and management techniques of Math, Science, Social Studies and Language Arts using Dance, Music, Art, and Drama.

Allison believes in inspiring self-confidence and positivity in a creative, safe learning environment and looks forward to working with the dancers at Richmond Academy of Ballet.