Gervais School of Performing Arts

Specialties

A professional, boutique Dance & Performing Arts school for children, teens & adults, we offer small, quality classes for all levels and ages. We are a non-​competitive school, and focus on Dance as an Art form, not a sport.

Our staff is well-​trained, professional and cares for each student. Many of our teachers have degrees in Dance and Performing Arts and have gone the extra mile to make sure they are trained well to teach our students.

We specialize in Ballet, Tap, Modern, Jazz, Musical Theater, Hip Hop and Social Dance. We have classes for anyone ages 2.5 — 100. Our oldest dancers are 70+! Class size is between 3 — 12 dancers. Private and semi-​private lessons are available.

We have 2 annual performances for all of our dancers, which take place locally at California Institute for the Arts’ Sharon Disney Lund Dance Theater. In addition, we offer 2 dance company opportunities for our students: Junior and Senior Dance Company.

History

Established in 1997.

Formerly of Hadley and Concord, Massachusetts

199‑2009

Relocated to Valencia, CA

2012 — Present

Meet the Business Owner

Joanne Gervais AInsworth A.

Business Owner

Joanne grew up near Boston, Massachusetts, where she studied Dance under the DeLutis sisters, Diane Sweeney and with the Dance Teachers’ Club of Boston. She was the recipient of the DTCB/​AS annual award for excellence in Jazz Dance, 1987 – 1990 at their annual Teacher Training Course. A member of the DTCB/​AS from 1997 – 2009, Ms. Ainsworth served on its Educational Committee, training and testing new teachers. Ms. Ainsworth has been the owner and lead teacher of the Gervais School of Performing Arts/​Gervais Dance Studio from 1997 – 2009 in both Hadley and Concord, MA. In 2009, Joanne sold her Concord studio to move to California with her family. As an active member of the Massachusetts Dance community, committed with her peers to excellence in Dance Education, she has been a teachers’ teacher. Mentoring Dance Majors in Dance Education from the Five Colleges and also from College programs in the Boston area, she taught as an Adjunct Professor of Jazz Dance at Mount Holyoke College.