Early Childhood Program

ABOUT US

Duvall Performing Arts is committed to encouraging dancers of all levels and abilities to strive for excellence through the art of dance. Our morning and early afternoon arts enrichment classes allow us to continue this mission for our preschool aged students. DPA's early childhood classes combine music, visual arts, creative movement, and personal expression into a 2-3 hour learning experience for the 3-5 year old.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of our Early Childhood classes is to support families in their child's preparation socially and emotionally for Kindergarten. Using the arts to nurture their creativity and make new friends while practicing their pre-school skills in preparation for their next steps.

PHILOSOPHY

The teachers and staff of DPAP believe that every child has the capacity to learn and grow through adult instruction, peer modeling, and free exploration.  We also believe that a student learns best when both their brain and body is actively engaged.  Our arts enriched early childhood classes enable children to engage their imaginations and develop their own sense of artistic creativity through song, dance, visual arts, and self-expression.

FACULTY

Tara Orman:
Young Ones, DPA EC Director/Teacher

Tara's love for dance started at the age of 2 in ballet and continued throughout her student life at the Betty Johnson School of Dance (now Bender Performing Arts) in Phoenix, Arizona. There she studied ballet, pointe, tap, lyrical, and jazz and participated in their Performance Division, Dance Motion, competing and traveling both in and out of state. Throughout college at Northern Arizona University, she continued taking classes and sharing her love of ballet by teaching at their local community center. Tara's dual degree in Special Education/Elementary Education has given her many local opportunities to teach but now she has the best of both, teaching here at DPA both early childhood arts enrichment classes and dance!

Mary Kozleski:
Early ChildhoodTeacher

Mary Kozleski, originally from Montana, was a competitive gymnast as a child, but always preferred pirouettes to tumbling. Mary enrolled in several dance classes in college and especially enjoyed studying modern dance. As a college freshman, she was chosen by her instructor to perform the lead in a modern dance showcase. Mary graduated from the University of Colorado with a BA in Communications and emphasis in Japanese. After college, she moved to Japan and studied jazz, contemporary and ballet at the Yayoi Dance School in Fukushima City. She joined the Yayoi Performance Team and had the amazing opportunity to dance in the closing ceremony for Japan’s National Sports Competition hosted by Fukushima Prefecture in 1995. Upon returning to the United States, Mary taught dance fitness classes to adults and children. She loves sharing her passion for dance and music with children and has done so as the choreographer for elementary school musicals, an artist-in-residence for LWSD elementary schools and a preschool dance instructor. When Mary’s dance shoes are on the shelf, she works as a translator for a company in Tokyo and she teaches Japanese Arts & Culture classes to children.