Under the direction of Courtney Wadman, Nevada Union Dance Director, Nevada Union Dance is entering an exciting period of growth.
As the program begins the 2026–2027 school year, Nevada Union Dance is extending its reach beyond the high school campus with the opening of two newly renovated community dance studios at the Grass Valley Museum & Cultural Center and the launch of an expanded year-round program, Nevada Union Dance Community.
The expansion marks a significant new chapter for Nevada Union Dance. With two new dedicated studios, an expanded faculty, and a growing schedule of classes and performance opportunities, Nevada Union Dance Community will make dance and movement education available to children, teens, adults, and seniors throughout Nevada County while strengthening and directly supporting the Nevada Union High School dance program.
The new Sky Studio features professionally installed sprung flooring with Rosco Adagio Marley, maple ballet barres, full-length mirrors, abundant natural light, air conditioning, and an established heating system for year-round training.
The Garden Studio, overlooking the Grass Valley Museum & Cultural Center’s rose garden, provides an accessible ground-level space designed to welcome the youngest dancers as well as teens, adults, and seniors.
Together, these studios make the home of Nevada Union Dance Community, offering year-round classes for dancers of every age and experience level. Community participation directly supports the Nevada Union High School dance program, while all community enrichment classes remain free for enrolled Nevada Union Dance high school students.
The expansion also creates meaningful leadership opportunities for NU Dance students through studio management, rehearsal and production, and teaching assistant internships. These experiences allow high school students to mentor younger dancers while developing valuable skills in teaching, arts administration, leadership, and theatrical production.
Exceptional Classes Led by an Extraordinary Faculty
Central to the expansion is a growing faculty bringing professional experience and cultivating a culture rooted in artistry, curiosity, discipline, collaboration, and care.
Tsal’gyur Starbuck, Founding Director & Lead Ballet Teaching Artist, directs Nevada Union Dance Community and leads its classical ballet and pointe program. A former soloist with San Francisco Ballet, Starbuck performed professionally for ten years under Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson and worked with many of the leading choreographers, coaches, and artists in classical and contemporary ballet. Her teaching brings professional-level classical training together with an anatomy-informed, body-positive approach centered on developing strong, expressive, individual dancers. With extensive experience teaching across the full arc of ballet training—from pre-ballet through advanced and pre-professional levels—Starbuck has helped prepare students for continued study at highly selective colleges and universities, elite national and international summer ballet programs, and opportunities within the professional ballet world.
Lauren Duchene, Youth Division Director, leads the program’s youngest dancers through Creative Movement, Pre-Ballet, and the foundations of formal ballet training. Her work emphasizes developmentally appropriate progression, giving young dancers the time and guidance to build coordination, musicality, body awareness, classroom skills, and a genuine enjoyment of movement before advancing into more formal technical study. This creates a thoughtful foundation for students who wish to continue into the Junior and Senior Divisions while honoring the developmental needs of childhood.
The program’s approach to healthy dancer development is supported by Roxanna Cohen, Physical Therapy & Conditioning, a board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist, Movement System Impairment Fellow, Pilates Method Alliance-certified instructor, and Progressing Ballet Technique-certified teacher with more than 30 years of experience in movement science, injury prevention, and rehabilitation. Her expertise gives dancers an opportunity to understand the body behind the technique—developing strength, alignment, movement efficiency, and physical awareness that can support both their dancing and their long-term well-being.
Among the program’s primary teachers is Elizabeth Castañeda, Associate Teaching Artist, an experienced classical ballet educator who teaches regularly throughout the ballet program and brings additional expertise in Classical Spanish dance and Musical Theatre. Classical Spanish gives dancers the opportunity to study the form’s distinctive coordination and expressive use of the arms, upper body, and head, while Musical Theatre develops performance skills through the integration of movement, character, musicality, and storytelling. Both are part of Nevada Union Dance Community’s expanded Fall offerings.
Karen Attix, Associate Teaching Artist, brings an extraordinary breadth of experience in ballet and modern dance to the expanded program. Attix trained at San Francisco Ballet and in the University of Utah’s Ballet Major Program, danced professionally with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and has taught at San Francisco Ballet School, Mills College, Reed College, and UC Berkeley. This Fall, dancers will have the opportunity to work with Attix in Cunningham-inspired composition and choreography, exploring a modern-ballet movement language that develops clarity, strength, flexibility, and articulation throughout the spine and legwork. Attix will also draw upon this work in creating the Arabian dance for Nevada Union Dance’s inaugural Nutcracker.
The Fall schedule extends well beyond ballet. Chanthou Lam brings her background in dance, theater, kinesiology, and Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Cuban, and Dunham-based movement traditions to Rhythm & Roots: The Family Dance Jam, an opportunity for children and adults to experience movement and music together.
Dr. Annie Aguilar, D.C., a chiropractor and movement educator with a background in neuroscience, dance, yoga, and somatic movement, leads Strong & Steady, supporting strength, mobility, balance, and confidence for adults seeking to remain active throughout life.
Becky Browning joins the expanded community program with Tap, bringing a highly valued form of rhythmic, musical, and expressive dance training to the Fall schedule.
Through authentic relationships, thoughtful teaching, and a shared belief in lifelong learning, the dedicated faculty and teaching artists help create a community where dancers of every age can develop not only exceptional technical skills, but confidence, resilience, integrity, and a lasting love of dance. Nevada County.
A Historic First: Nevada Union Dance Presents The Nutcracker
One of the most exciting developments of the new Nevada Union Dance Community program will take place this December, when Nevada Union Dance presents its first full-length production of The Nutcracker.
Rehearsals begin the week of August 24, with performances December 11 and 12, 2026, at Nevada Union High School’s Don Baggett Theater. Presented in collaboration with Nevada Union Choir, the production will bring together Nevada Union students, Nevada Union Dance Community dancers, faculty, professional artists, and members of the wider community.
The inaugural production is being created specifically for the dancers participating this year. Rather than simply asking dancers to fit themselves into choreography established in previous seasons, faculty and guest artists will build the production with its first cast, giving dancers the unusual opportunity to contribute to the development of a new local tradition from its beginning.
Classical ballet will form the foundation of the production, complemented by the distinctive expertise of Nevada Union Dance Community’s teaching artists. Karen Attix will create a Cunningham-inspired modern-ballet Arabian, while Elizabeth Castañeda will bring her expertise in Classical Spanish dance to the Spanish divertissement, giving dancers the opportunity to study and perform within the authentic movement tradition rather than simply reproducing the ballet stylization often associated with the Nutcracker variation.
The result will be a Nutcracker rooted in classical ballet while also reflecting the breadth of experience now being brought together through Nevada Union Dance’s expanded community program.
For participating dancers, it is an opportunity not simply to perform in The Nutcracker, but to become part of its inaugural cast and help establish a production that can grow and evolve with Nevada Union Dance for years to come.
Together, the faculty cultivate a culture rooted in artistry, curiosity, discipline, collaboration, and care. Through authentic relationships, thoughtful teaching, and a shared belief in lifelong learning, they help dancers develop not only exceptional technical and performance skills, but also confidence, resilience, integrity, and a lasting love of dance.
Looking Ahead to 2026–2027
The upcoming season reflects Nevada Union Dance’s commitment to exceptional dance education through performances, festivals, educational experiences, and community events, including:
- Fall Community Classes and The Nutcracker Rehearsals Begin — Week of August 24, 2026
- Performing Arts Tour to Local Schools — November 5, 2026
- Fall for Dance at the Don Baggett Theater — November 19–21, 2026
- The Nutcracker, in collaboration with Nevada Union Choir, at the Don Baggett Theater — December 11–12, 2026
- Student Choreography Showcase at the Don Baggett Theater — February 18–20, 2027
- National High School Dance Festival — March 6–10, 2027
- Spring Dance Concert at the Don Baggett Theater — April 29–May 1, 2027
- Summer Dance Production — June 10–12, 2027
Info:
What: Nevada Union Dance expansion, including the new Nevada Union Dance Community studios, Fall programs, and inaugural production of The Nutcracker
Fall Term: Classes and The Nutcracker rehearsals begin the week of August 24, 2026
Community Studios: Grass Valley Museum & Cultural Center, 410 S. Church Street, Grass Valley
The Nutcracker: December 11 and 12, 2026, at the Don Baggett Theater at Nevada Union High School
Website and Registration: nudanceco.org