FIREBIRD ACADEMY OF BALLET - Key Persons
Cassandra Seeger RAD RTD PDTD ISTD, Founder and Principal of Firebird Academy of Ballet, delights in sharing her wealth of ballet experience with her students. Over the past two decades, she has had the privilege of imparting her knowledge to foster and engage dancers with her love of the art form. Seeger's students have trained at vocational schools, continued on to have careers in dance, and performed in major Broadway productions.
She received her dance training on full scholarship at both the San Francisco Ballet School and Westside Academy of Dance in Los Angeles, USA. During a ten-year career, she enjoyed dancing principle and supporting roles with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Ballet Arizona in Phoenix. As a professional dancer Cassandra had the opportunity to perform many principal and soloist roles of classical, Balanchine, and modern repertoire as well as work with some of today's leading choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Alonzo King and Ib Andersen. Before moving to London, she taught vocational ballet throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for ten years. At the same time, she acquired her BFA in Illustration from the California College of the Arts, having several solo exhibitions and working as a freelance illustrator.
Cassandra moved to London with her family from San Francisco in 2010. She acquired her Professional Dancers' Teaching Diploma in 2015 with the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD). Since then, she has continued to combine her knowledge of the various ballet styles in her teaching practice. Along with the traditional English ballet style and syllabus that the RAD has refined since its inception, her American dance education has afforded her familiarity with the Vaganova, Balanchine, Bournonville and Ceccheti styles as well. Cassandra provides her students with a broad scope of understanding in the fundamentals of ballet. She takes every opportunity to continue to develop this knowledge for herself. Concurrently, she is studying and teaching the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) French ballet syllabus in addition to that of the RAD.
Passionate to foster both creativity and a joy of movement in each of her students, Cassandra delights in opening the eyes and hearts of children to a love of ballet. She eagerly anticipates contributing to the growth of the next generation of young dancers.
Kate Stober trained at the prestigious Elmhurst Ballet School before moving to London to train with both English National Ballet School and the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St Petersburgh. She went on to dance professionally with the English National Ballet Company for 6 years, performing in the UK and internationally under the directorship of Ivan Nagy and Derek Deane. Kate danced soloist and corps de ballet roles in many of the classical ballets and worked with choreographers in the original cast of Derek Deane's Alice in Wonderland, and Maoro Bigonzetti's X-Ntricities.
Kate has also appeared in acting roles in a number of television series including Fanny Price in Mansfield Park, The Treasure Seekers, Nanny, Constance Kent, Harry's Game, Five Days One Summer, and Roger Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Upon hanging up her pointe shoes, Kate travelled in Africa for 6 months and then returned to the UK and obtained a Business Degree at King Alfred's College, Winchester.
Kate is a registered teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance, having completed her Professional Dancer's Teaching Diploma in 2002. She proceeded to teach at various dance schools in the London area before establishing her own dance school in 2005. Kate has over 20 years of ballet teaching experience which she now brings to Firebird Academy of Ballet while maintaining her own dance school classes on a more limited basis.
For Kate, the most important thing about teaching ballet is to nurture a love for dance, to teach through encouragement and positivity so that each and every child can reach their full potential.