Ashleigh Bayard
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Ashleigh grew up on the beautiful California Central Coast and began her dance training at a very young age. Her training began at Pat Jackson’s American Dance where she was taught classical ballet technique by Cheryl Armstrong, Theresa Slobodnik, Sydna Reed, and Gilbert Reed. (Gilbert Reed was a soloist with Ballet Alicia Alonso of Cuba, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Reed studied choreography at the Bolshoi and Kirov ballets, going on to direct three metropolitan ballet companies and founded the dance department at Indiana University). Ashleigh also studied and excelled at other dance forms being taught at Pat Jackson’s but ballet was her main focus. She was a company member of the Gilbert Reed Ballet Company at the age of 12 and performed en pointe in many professional ballet productions: Carmen, Firebird, Othello, A Christmas Carol, and the like. She was a starring member of her high school dance group where she both taught and choreographed. She even had the amazing opportunity to study abroad and learn Russian Folkloric Ballet and Classical Ballet from the the Kalinka School of Ballet in St. Petersburg Russia. Ashleigh studied Early Childhood Education and Child Development at Cal Poly and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education and a California Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. After getting married and having two wonderful children, she started teaching dance professionally on the Central Coast. Ashleigh has taught at several local studios working under the direction and expertise of Leslie Baumberger, Maartje Lawrence, Ryan Lawrence, and Theresa Sloboknik. She taught multiple sessions of a musical theater dance summer intensive for a local children’s theater company. She also owned and directed an adult fitness and dance studio (Elevé Barre) where she taught barre fitness (ballet/pilates/yoga) and adult ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical and contemporary. Ashleigh Bayard is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. Teaching dance brings her so much joy and she is thrilled to pass on her knowledge, training, technique, and artistry to the next generation of dancers and to work under the guidance and expertise of Bob and June. Dance can take you anywhere you want to go in life. In the beloved words of Pat Jackson, always remember to “SHINE!” in all that you do.