Shannon Casorso

 Teaching Bio

With over a decade of experience as a classical ballet instructor, Shannon Casorso has an inimitable combination of experience, expertise, and passion, and has trained dancers from beginner to pre-professional in classical ballet, pointe work, variations, strength & conditioning, character dance, and contemporary ballet. Her students have been accepted into prestigious ballet programs and summer intensives across the globe, including The Royal Ballet School, Paris Opera Ballet School, School of American Ballet, Princess Grace Academy, John Cranko Schule, Houston Ballet Academy, Canada’s National Ballet School, Miami City Ballet School, Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, and European School of Ballet, and have taken home top prizes at a variety of dance competitions throughout North America. A certified teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD-RTS) for more than seven years, she has successfully prepared students for RAD exams ranging from Pre-Primary to Advanced 2, and proudly boasts a 100% exam success rate.

Shannon’s pursuit of teaching excellence has led her to train under some of the greatest ballet pedagogues in the world, including Evelyn Hart, Runqiao Du, Mercedes Bernardez, and Clarista Alim. She has undergone years of intensive pedagogical training in the Vaganova Methodology of Classical Ballet under master Russian teachers Marina Osipova, Anastasia Dunets, Anastasia Vasilieva, Elena Kunikova, Ekaterina Shchelkanova, Maria Vladimirovna-Chugai, and Riccardo Riccardi, all of whom have direct connections to the late Agrippina Vaganova herself.

In addition to her extensive pedagogical training, Shannon is continually undergoing training and research in the areas of functional anatomy, biomechanics, psychology, neuroscience, and motor learning & development as it relates to ballet and dance technique. She has received teacher training from world-renowned dance physiotherapist Lisa Howell, and has taken dance science & anatomy courses with Eric Franklin, Andrea Downie, Kendall Alway, Jennifer Crane, Allie Christensen, Andrea Zujko, Alicia Head, Leah Bueno, and Jennifer Milner. Her expertise in sound ballet conditioning, stretch, and strengthening techniques is further validated by her six years of certified teacher status with the revolutionary Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) ballet conditioning program, as well as her most recent certification in Levels 1 – 4 of the Alixa Flexibility methodology.