Summer Class Schedule
The Centre for Dance & the Performing Arts
The Centre for Dance & the Performing Arts is founded on its owner's dedication and commitment to the artistic, scientific, intellectual, and entertainment value of arts education, specifically through Dance. At CDPA, we feel it is essential to combine the tradition, discipline, and creativity of dance studies, with the delight and intrigue of performance. We are committed to the physical and mental education of the body, the proper and efficient approach to movement; which challenges, but does not exceed the physical limitations of the individual. At CDPA, we believe in the study of dance and the performing arts as an essential element in the education and development of children and young adults.
"As a Registered Dance Educator, I believe in a teaching style that encourages the students' broadest possible understanding of their chosen discipline. Regardless of age or level, I adhere to a curricular format which follows the National Standards and allows each student to Create, Perform and Respond. I fully recognize and encourage an individual's gifts that are expressed through talents outside of the field and guide them in integrating life experiences, natural gifts, and technically mastered skills with hopes, dreams and aspirations. I teach to the individual. I have faith that the product is inherent in the realization of the individual's approach to process and it is valued first by the individual's personal and artistic growth and second, by those most touched by that student's performance or leadership. A teacher's role in dance is to balance the integrity of the art form, including its history, its current state and its future, with the integrity of the individual and the self-expression necessary to make true contributions to both the art form and the individual's personal growth. "
Kathryn White Austin, Director
The Vision
The Centre for Dance & the Performing Arts is a full-service dance education facility dedicated to serving the children, youth and parents of West Orange and Lake Counties. CDPA was founded in 1990 by “Three Cousins” and continues to operate as a FAMILY of movers, …a community within a community that supports creativity and expression through exposure to dance studies, performance and positive life experiences.
The Philosophy
The Centre for Dance & the Performing Arts is founded on its owner’s dedication and commitment to the artistic, scientific, intellectual, entertainment, and recreational value of arts education, specifically through Dance. At CDPA, we feel it is essential to combine the tradition, discipline, and creativity of dance studies, with the delight and intrigue of performance. We are committed to the physical and mental education of the body—the proper and efficient approach to movement; which challenges, but does not exceed the physical limitations of the individual. At CDPA, we believe in the study of dance and the performing arts as an essential element in the education and development of children and young adults.
The Studio
CDPA is located in Oakland, FL just a few miles west of Winter Garden and a short drive from several Lake County suburbs. Our small at-home feeling space has two dance spaces and a small lobby, though we encourage parents and families to enjoy the multitude of nearby businesses and to enjoy downtime either for self-care, family shopping, or time with a family member. Maintaining a small space allows CDPA to continue to offer small student-to-teacher ratio classes without the pressures of unaffordable overhead costs. Both spaces have sprung-flooring and a marley surface for the safety of our dancers.
The Faculty
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EVA G. DE LUIGI
CDPA Teacher
LISA BACKOVSKY
CDPA Teacher
ELIZABETH KARPOV
CDPA Teacher
CHEYANNE SCOTT
CDPA Teacher
KATIE BRUGAL
CDPA Teacher
HANNAH TAYLOR
CDPA Student Teacher
KATHRYN W. AUSTIN, PhD, MA, RDE
Educator, Writer, Advocate for Dance and the Arts, Osceola County School for the Arts, Dance Faculty
Centre for Dance & the Performing Arts, Director
Is a nationally-recognized dance educator who has used her businesses and talents to serve the Central Florida community in Florida for the past 31 years. Dr. Austin has over 40 years of teaching experience in the private sector, University, public school system and community education as well as frequent guest teaching, lecture demonstration, artist-in-residencies and conference presentations to her credit. She is a recipient of the NDEO Outstanding Dance Educator Award for the Private Sector and a former Teacher of the Year in Osceola County. Austin is an active member of several state and national dance organizations, is currently on the NDEO Board and the Board of Directors of Dance and the Child International-USA. Dr. Austin is a frequent presenter and guest speaker at conferences throughout the United States in addition to her teaching and writing and was actively involved in speaking and mentoring through webinar and ZOOM formats in the immediate response to COVID. Dr. Austin is a freelance choreographer having worked for professional and community theatres, Nickelodeon, Universal Studios - Florida, the Orlando Magic, the Florida Motion Picture Association and various musical theatre productions. Austin is a full time ballet instructor at the Osceola County School for the Arts in Kissimmee, Florida. She is active in her home community and serves as Lay Leader of the First United Methodist Church of Winter Garden where she has also taught Sunday School for the past . Austin is the mother of three children and a devoted mentor to many more.
PhD in Comparative Studies, Fine & Performing Arts
B.F.A. Dance Performance (FSU)
M.A. in Dance & Theatre (UH-Manoa)
Florida Dance Association
National Dance Education Organization
Dance & the Child International
British Association of Teachers of Dancing, Fellow and Life Member
National Registry of Dance Educators
International Association of Dance Medicine & Science
ELLEN BROWN
BA, trained at CDPA beginning at the age of 3, studying ballet, jaz, tap, modern and Scottish Highland Dancing, which she holds a members level certificate in both Highland and Nationals. She went on to graduate with distinction from Duke University, having double majored in Dance and Psychology. She then moved to New York City where she has danced professionally in a variety of companies and festivals for the past 7 years. She serves as Associate Artistic Director of Shift Dance and is also the clinical coordinator at Columbia University Medical Center's Lyme Clinic. Off-broadway credits include Freefall Frostbite, in which she served as the assistant dance captain.
CHEYANNE SCOTT
is a Winter Garden native and trained at CDPA from the age of 3. At CDPA, she studied all genres of dance and competed in Scottish Highland dance in addition to being in the CDPA Perfroming Ensemble. She was an assistant and student teacher during her time at CDPA and has always had a wonderful rapport with CDPA students and families. Cheyanne has been a very active CDPA alumna as a teacher and also a performer in the annual producation of In His Name...We Dance and other alumni dances. She graduated from West Orange High School and moved to New York City to further her dance education, graduating from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy with a Conservatory degree in Dance Theater. Cheyanne moved home in February of 2018 and went back to school at Southern Technical College for Medical Assisting. She graduated in 2022, and looks forward to continuing her career in the medical field by obtaining my Bachelor's degree in Nursing.
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