Faculty

Our instructors are experienced professionals in the world of dance and enrich our program by bringing their dance and choreographic skills from such companies as San Francisco Ballet, the Chicago City Ballet, Penninsula Theater Ballet, the American Festival Ballet, the Long Beach Ballet and The Royal Academy of Dance. They provide a positive environment for establishing a solid foundation in classical ballet.

Jeannette Petrick, Napa Valley Ballet's Artistic Director, trained with the San Francisco Ballet under the direction of Lew and Harold Christiansen and later served on the dance faculties of Butler University, the University of Washington, the University of Idaho and the Cornish Institute for the Arts in Seattle.  She was also a ballet instructor for several years with Maria Tallchief's Chicago City Ballet where she choreographed for prima ballerinas Maria Tallchief and Suzanne Farrell.  Ms. Petrick has been the Artistic Director of her own ballet company which toured nationally, performing in such places as New York City and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.  Both she and her company were featured on a PBS 'Dance in America' program.   She has received a Governor's Medal for Excellence in the Arts, two Choreographer's Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, two first place medals from the British Council for productions overseas and commendation from the Partners-of-the-Americas for her work with the National Ballet of Ecuador.  She holds a Master's degree in Theatre Arts and a Bachelor's degree in Arts Education; she also has California state teaching certification for grades K-12.

Ms. Petrick teaches ballet to students of all ages as well as pointe and pas de deux.

Vivian Aragon is a recent graduate of SUNY Purchase in New York where she earned a BFA in Dance and a BA in Art History. Upon her return to California, she danced with Peninsula Ballet Theatre for two seasons, performing soloist roles. During her college years, she also studied in the Netherlands at the Rotterdam Dance Academy. Her early training followed the Royal Academy of Dance Syllabus at the Susan Hayward School of Dance in Montara, California. She completed all of the RAD examinations attaining the status of Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance and was invited to compete as a semi-finalist in the Genee Internationa Ballet Competion in Sydney, Australia. She has also performed in other international venues, such as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, as a principal with Burklyn Ballet Theatre, and the Springboard Montreal Professional Project in Canada. Miss Aragon has been a ballet instructor for over ten years, and is also a talented and accomplished choreographer.

Miss Aragon teaches all levels of ballet and Modern Dance at NVB.

Connie Vaughan was trained in classical ballet in Canada and in RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) in England. She performed professionally for ten years both in Europe and in the United States.  Following her professional dance career, she established and directed two ballet schools. The first school was in Aspen, Colorado, The Vaughan School of Dance, and the second was in Napa, The Royal Academy of Ballet.  Ms. Vaughan also directed The Royal Academy of Ballet from l993-2006 until it became the Napa Valley Ballet. Ms. Vaughan has also taught at the Marin Ballet School and at Sonoma State University; she was the Director at Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In all, Ms. Vaughan has a total of 35 years of ballet teaching experience.

Ms. Vaughan is a registered RAD teacher and teaches all levels of students. 

Isabelle Sjasham received her early dance training with Bay Area Royal Academy of Dance teacher, Connie Vaughan, and then with Susan Robinson in England.  At the age of eighteen, she completed her Advanced 1 Examination, receiving her initial certification to teach the Royal Academy of Dance curriculum.  Modern dance became Isabelle's passion after seeing the Mark Morris Dance Group perform in England, prompting her to attend the Taylor School in New York and complete her BA in dance at Mills College in 2002.  After graduating from Mills, Isabelle came to Napa to teach ballet, modern and conditioning at the Royal Academy of Ballet for three years.   Summer 2005, she joined Dance Elixir- an SF based contemporary dance company and since then has performed with them in the Bay Area and throughout the United States.  Sjahsam also loves to choreograph and has presented her work at Counterpulse, the Cowell Theater, Mission Creek Music and Arts Festival, Cal Arts Electronic Music Festival,Temescal Arts Center and The Works among others.  Her most recent work, Standing Mother, was commissioned by Middlebury Dance Company, and performed in the Czech Republic.  Currently Isabelle is a co-director of Temescal Arts Center in Oakland, and also co-directs ArtFace, an Oakland based dance-theater troupe with Malinda Trimble.

Ms. Sjasham teaches Modern and all levels of ballet at NVB.