About CBA

Our mission is to educate, inspire and transform dancers of all ages through the study of classical ballet. Reshaping the mind and body takes discipline and strength. CBA is dedicated to helping each individual achieve this goal.

Why choose Classical Ballet Academy
for your dance education?

1. We offer the highest quality instruction with the most affordable tuition rates in the Portland Metro area.

• Compare us to other comparable ballet schools and you will find we keep our tuition rates low so that all can experience the joy and artistry in dance.

• Expert teachers for all age groups and levels.

2. Serious training ground for aspiring Professional dancers

• Pre-Professional students that train at Classical Ballet Academy are consistently recoginzed for their superior technical abilities, artistry and musicality. CBA dancers have been accepted to the top companies and schools across the nation. CBA prepares dancers for elite summer programs, college dance programs, as well as entrance into the professional world of ballet. CBA dancers have accepted to, offered scholarships and have studied at American Ballet Theater, Alonso King Lines Ballet, Ballet Austin, Boston Ballet School, Harid Conservatory, Houston Ballet School, Joffrey Ballet School, Kansas City Ballet School, The Kirov Ballet School, Nutmeg Conservatory and The Rock, to name a few.

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  CBA trained dancers have also accepted apprenticeships and trainee positions with local and national companies.
  
  CBA trains dancers, selected by the Director, to compete in the most esteemed ballet competition Youth America Grand Prix.

3. Small studio feel with individualized corrections

• Compassionate environment that is welcoming to all dancers. We have a variety of different programs tailored to the different needs of each dancer:
  
  
  Children’s Ballet Program   •   Ballet Program   •   Adult Ballet Program   •   Pre-Professional Ballet Program

4. Professional quality performing opportunities in our full length Nutcrackers & Spring story ballets.

• CBA produces professional level productions such as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote and Coppelia, using full scale props, sets and costumes. This is a rare opportunity for all students to dance in professional level story ballets. CBA is unique in that the training at CBA prepares dancers to perform the lead roles in all of our ballets. CBA productions have captured the attention of the media and have consistently been esteemed by sold out audiences.
  
  

• Sarah Rigles, Director

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  Sarah Rigles has taught all levels of ballet in the Portland Metropolitan area for over fifteen years. Sarah originally received her technical training at a small ballet school in Coeur' d' Alene, Idaho, directed by the renowned Ceci Klein, she then went onto train in the Vaganova method, accepted full scholarships to study at Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle and went on to accept a full scholarship trainee position with the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, where she performed and assistant-taught for three years. Her attention to detail and love for classical ballet has allowed her to stage and direct full-length ballets, such as the Nutcracker, as well as prepare students for ballet companies, colleges and acceptances/scholarships to prestigious summer programs such as: American Ballet Theater, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Kirov Academy, Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet School. She also works to prepare dancers for the most acclaimed classical ballet competition Youth America Grand Prix. Her vast experience in the field, her passion for ballet and her dedication to the art form make Miss Sarah the ideal ballet school director. It has been a dream come true for her to open a school entirely dedicated to classical ballet.

• CBA Staff

• Lori Corrigan
• Mrs. Corrigan’s passion for dancing started at a very young age when she studied both classical ballet and tap. Through her teenage years she became entirely dedicated to ballet. Mrs. Corrigan trained through the Royal Academy of Dancing in Salem and in Lake Oswego. She additionally danced with the Salem Theater of Performing Arts, and performed as a dancer in the Portland Broadway Production of “Hello Dolly.”
  
  Mrs. Corrigan received her B.S. degree in Social Sciences at Portland State University white continuing her passion and joy for dancing through college ballet courses. She then went to work full-time in a Public Relations career before starting a family and becoming a stay-at-home mom. Mrs. Corrigan recently taught a ballet Enrichment Class at Willamette Primary School in West Linn and is now excited to join the teaching staff of Classical Ballet Academy.

• Michelle Kirkpatrick Johnson
• Michelle is from Portland, Oregon and found her desire to dance during childhood encouraged by Nancy Yeamans of Portland Metro Performing Arts, Metro Dancers, and summer workshops with Jeremy Ives. At Jefferson High School Michelle studied under Mary Price Boday and received an Outstanding Dancer award. Michelle graduated from Willamette University with a degree in Biology. She and her husband have two children. Michelle returned to ballet in earnest and is a dancer, instructor, choreographer, performer and rehearsal assistant. “What drives me is the artistry, creativity and physical fitness, and an understanding that in ballet one’s efforts go toward one of the beautiful things about life,” says Michelle. She is thrilled to be working with the accomplished Miss Sarah Rigles, staff and students of Classical Ballet Academy.

• Jenny Dubac
• Jenny Dubac discovered dance at a young age, training with Ken Lipitz and Shelley Ziebel in Massachusetts. Her talents allowed her to attend summer programs with Boston Ballet, Walnut Hill, and The Juilliard School, and complete a year in North Carolina School of the Arts ballet program. Jenny earned a BFA in 2004 from The Juilliard School. Their program put equal emphasis on ballet and modern dance and allowed her to work with everyone from Jessica Lang to Ohad Naharin. After graduating she married a classical musician and together they traveled West, spending several years with the Milwaukee Ballet School and performing at the Santa Fe Opera. Her husband won the Oregon Symphony Orchestra's second clarinet position in 2008, landing Jenny in Portland. She currently performs with Polaris Dance Theatre and Key Turn Project. She looks forward to sharing her love of diverse movement with Classical Ballet Academy students.

• Susan Fischer
• Susan Fischer fell in love with ballet after seeing Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev perform. She first studied in her home town of Pittsburgh, then Atlanta where she studied and danced with the Atlanta Ballet. She was able to study with some of the greats in New York City, including the School of American Ballet Theater before leaving dance to pursue other interests. She attended Oberlin College and Parsons School of Design and went on to become the VP of Design for GapKids In NYC. She moved to Portland in 1991 for a life style change, and began to teach fiber arts to underserved and at risk children with both Friends of the Children, and Caldera.
  
  Her return to dance is celebratory, proving that dance and it’s benefits extend long into our adult lives. She is now back taking class six times a week, a student herself of Ms Rigles, and thrilled to share her love of dance with young students. She has two sons who are both musicians.

• Candalee Wrede
• Candalee began her dance training at age four with Marcelle Renoux, founder of the oldest dance studio in Portland. Her training included both RAD and Cechetti methods plus many techniques Miss Renoux learned from studying the Balanchine technique in New York. Candalee's dance studies were primarily in ballet and extensively in pointe and pas de deux. She also studied jazz, modern, folk and theatrical dance. At age fourteen, Candalee was honored by becoming the youngest lead soloist for Renoux's performing company which allowed her to learn and perform many classical roles as well as to learn of the art of developing complete original story ballets. She was a dance major at the University of Oregon and she continues an ongoing pursuit of the study of dance with all its different forms, methods, theories and all the aspects of physical training as well as participating in various kinds of classes.
  
  Candalee began teaching in 1972 as the Ballet Mistress for the National Academy of Gymnastics, training both former and future Olympians. She owned and operated her own dance studio housed in Cascade Athletic Club from 1981 to 1992. She established a Junior Ballet Company as part of the studio and the members performed original ballets such as "Pippi Longstockings" and "The Last Unicorn". She was granted an honorary teaching certificate from the State of Oregon when she designed and implemented a full dance and dance history program for Sam Barlow High School.
  
  Presently, Candalee pursues teaching for studios like CBA to promote a long legacy of dance training for the younger and very talented generation of dancers and studio owners in the Portland area.

• Lauren Richmond
• Lauren Richmond graduated from Portland State University in the Spring of 2007 with a BA in Communications, and a minor in Dance. Lauren has performed in ballets such as Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Coppelia, La Sylphide, La Boutique Fantasque, The Nutcracker, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Secret Garden, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, and Raymonda. Lauren performed for two years as a trainee and company apprentice in Portland Festival Ballet's Trainee Company, directed by John Magnus the former Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet School. Before that Lauren graduated from Classical Ballet Academy's pre-professional ballet school under the direction of Sarah Rigles in June of 2009 and accepted a position as a ballet instructor.
  
  Lauren first performed professionally in modern dance when joining Kinetic Images Dance Company directed by Kimm Mahoney-Watson in March of 2008. Lauren also performed with the multi-form pre-professional Legacy Dance Company directed by Anna Rigles, as well as understudied with the Polaris 2 group directed by Robert Guitron. Lauren received additional dance instruction from Beverly Byrd, Daniel Black, Gavin Larson, Amanda Simnitt, Joan Scott, Judy Patton, Nancy Davis, Alex Ballard, Davy Brun, Heather Jackson, Eric Skinner, Zack Carroll, Lavinia Magliocco, Anita Mitchell, Les Watanabe, Melissa St. Clair, Rayne J. Tafoya, Sarah Slipper, Mary Hunt, Kim Smiley, Liuba Kozireva, Elaine Bauer, Laura Haney, Artur Sultanov, Rachel Lidskog, Anya Klimova-Preston, Donna Oefinger, Rafaela Gillette, Russell Bruner, and Brenda Russell. Lauren recently joined Agnieszka Laska Dancers in August of 2011.
  
  
  
  

• Anna Rigles
• Anna Rigles has been dancing, choreographing, studying and performing tap, contemporary ballet and modern dance in Portland, OR, Los Angeles, CA, and Vancouver B.C. for over twenty years. She has taught at Terry Brock's School of Dance, Stites Performing Arts Center, Classical Ballet Academy, and headed the tap department at Scripps College.
  
  
  Over her many years in dance she has had the privilege to study with as well as dance with some of the most acclaimed dancers. She has been a student of Tap Master, Terry Brock, for over two decades and has also had the opportunity to study with Tap Legends such as Savion Glover of Happy Feet, Charles "Honi" Coles, Cholly Atkins, Buster Brown and many more. She has performed alongside the world class tap company, Rhapsody in Taps, at Los Angeles' National Tap Dance Day, with Tap legend Dianne "Lady Di" Walker in Portland, Oregon and alongside Portland dance legend Terry Brock. She has had the privilege of studying with the great Julane Stites while attending Jefferson High School's prestigious dance program and also with Oregon Ballet Theatre's Fred Locke. She has trained with Melissa St. Clair, Mary Oslund and was a company member of Keith Goodman's Modern Dance Laboratory.
  
  
  Ms Rigles has multiple bachelor degrees from Portland State University, and is currently working towards a Masters Degree at Oregon State University. She works with elite CBA dancers competing in Youth America Grand Prix choreographing contemporary variations and also trains CBA dancers to perform in other prestigious dance competitions. Ms Rigles has trained dancers that have been accepted and trained at elite summer programs including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In addition to teaching dance Anna founded, Directed and choreographed for the multi form dance company, Legacy Dance Company. She is a sought out choreographer in the dance community and her choreography can been seen in professional shows in Portland. She is currently the head of the Contemporary program at Classical Ballet Academy.
  
  

• Sarah Jarvinen - pianist
• Sarah Jarvinen fell in love with ballet after seeing the Joffrey Ballet dance an all Nijinsky performance in Chicago. In addition to playing for classes at the Classical Ballet Academy, Sarah is the church pianist at St. Stephens Catholic Church, the organist for Cantores in Ecclesia's Childrens Choir, the pianist for the Portland Lesbian Choir and is a member of The International Guild of Dance Musicians. She earned her Bachelor's of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied composition with Elinor Armer. She received her Master's of Science Teaching in Music from Portland State where she studied with Dr. Susan Chan, and worked as a graduate teaching assistant. In 2008 Sarah's composition, “Caprice”, tied for 1st place in Portland State's first annual Composition Competition. Sarah also enjoys teaching piano privately at her studio in SE Portland, and is a member of Oregon Music Teachers Association.

• Alex Stewart
• Mr. Alex has been dancing with Ms. Sarah and CBA for over ten years. He is thrilled to be teaching Boys Ballet! He has danced many roles in The Nutcracker including Snow King, Cavalier, Russian and Rat King. Mr. Alex spends his little spare time between ballet and school with Krayon Kids Musical Theater Company, whom he has performed with for many years. Mr. Alex has been able to travel internationally with the group and has learned many skills involving leadership and respect which he brings into the ballet classroom.