17921 Sky Park Circle Bld 28 Ste C, Irvine CA. 92614 .
With great joy, we welcome you to our inaugural year of Dance Arts of Orange County Youth Academy. We are thrilled to offer youth classes with the same high-quality technique and training as is customary for DAOC. Your youth dancer will experience an inviting, non-competitive, and family-friendly setting that values each individual as they grow as ballet dancers. We are excited to begin this new chapter and grateful that you have chosen DAOC Youth Academy!
Dance Arts of Orange County Youth Academy is a community that strives to offer high-quality dance education paired with a positive learning environment to best serve our youth. We offer a curriculum-based approach in which each dancer is given the opportunity to learn classical ballet from a historic perspective in a way that promotes their health and development. Whether the student is brand new to ballet or an experienced dancer, all will find DAOC Youth Academy to be a positive environment to experience the beauty, joy, and wonder of ballet while pursuing the integrity of the art form.
Tuesday 3:30-4:45 Level 6 Ballet technique (Ages 12+)
Tuesday 4:45-5:30 Level 5/6 Pointe (Ages 12+)*
Wednesday 5:30-6:30 Level 1/2 Ballet technique (Ages 6+)
Wednesday 6:30-7:45 Level 3/4 Ballet technique (Ages 8+)
Thursday 4:30-5:45 Level 4/5/6 Ballet technique (Ages 10+)
Thursday 5:45-6:30 Level 5/6 Beginning Pointe (Ages 12+)*
*Please note: dancers registering for pointe classes must take at least 2 ballet technique classes per week
$25 One time registration fee for new dancers - to be paid prior to first class.
All in-studio classes are $84.00 flat rate per month per class, or $21.00 per drop-in class payable by Cash, Check, or Venmo
$25 One time registration fee for new dancers - to be paid prior to first class.
All in-studio classes are $84.00 flat rate per month per class or $21.00 per drop-in class payable by Cash, Check, or Venmo @DAOCtoday prior to class. Charter funds are also accepted. Contact Kerry Maxwell below for more information.
NO REFUNDS, NO EXCHANGES, NO TRANSFERS, NO EXCEPTIONS
Please complete this registration form and someone will be in touch with you soon.
Email Kerry Maxwell at: daocyouthacademy@gmail.com or call 714-658-7671 with any questions.
Melissa Zervas Hahne began dancing at the age of three under the direction of Charlotte Lyke at Bartlesville Civic Ballet with guest teachers and choreographers prima ballerina Soili Arvola and Premier danseur Leo Ahonen. Melissa began freelancing at the age of 18. While still freelancing, she received her formal training at Texas Christian University’s dance company under choreographer Fernando Bujones, ballet master Li-Chou Cheng, and Susan Douglas-Roberts and graduated with a BS in Kinesiology. During her time in TCU’s performance company, Melissa was cast to dance in Bujones’ productions of La Bayadère – Kingdom of the Shades, To the Rhythm of Jazz, Forever 40s (in conjunction with Fort Worth’s Retrofest), and Raymonda – Act III.
Melissa’s freelance dancing career spanned over 20 years with solo and principal roles including: Myrtha in Giselle (Arvola), Phrygia in Spartacus pas de deux (Arvola), Zura in Samson and Delilah (Arvola), The Lilac Fairy, Carabosse, and Bluebird grande pas de deux in The Sleeping Beauty (Arvola), Chita in Tarzan (Arvola), Snow Queen and Dew Drop in The Nutcracker (Baudendistel), Cinderella in Cinderella (Baudendistel), Summertime pas de deux (Baudendistel), Classical Symphony (Ahonen), Soloist in Touché (Ahonen), Swanhilda and Dawn in Coppelia (Arvola) Pas de Quartre (Baudendistel), and Paquita (Ahonen) in Oklahoma, Washington, Texas, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. After Melissa, her husband, and three children relocated to the Phoenix area, she joined Terpsicore Dance Company from 2011-2013 and was mentored by Daniel Baudendistel, former American Ballet Theatre, and Joffrey Ballet's principal dancer.
Melissa’s teaching career began at Philadelphia Dance Theatre in 2002 as an instructor in the pre-professional division until 2005 under the artistic direction of Joy Delaney Capponi. Melissa’s family then moved to Phoenix and desiring to bring dance into her children’s school, she began a dance program in 2011 at Trivium Classical Academy. With the success of this program, in 2013, Melissa founded and was acting Artistic Director of Southwest Ballet Theatre, a pre-professional school and non-profit performance theatre until her relocation to Orange County in 2019. Melissa also taught classical ballet at Estrella Mountain Community College from 2015-2017. Desiring to rebuild her ballet career in teaching after COVID, Melissa is currently Director of Choreography for Bartlesville Civic Ballet and Director of Dance Arts of Orange County Youth Academy. Melissa 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.
(Girls) Please wear a dark-colored leotard, pink tights, pink ballet slippers and ballet skirt. Skirt required levels 1-2 , optional levels 3+ (biker shorts allowed for levels 3 and up).
(Boys) Level I Dress Code: White T-Shirt, black shorts, black ballet slippers.