Owner/Director, Scranton Civic Dance Centre, Artistic Director, Scranton Civic Ballet Company, Rostered Artist with Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Former Director of Dance, Marywood College, Trained in Scranton, New York City, Kingston, Ontario and Toronto, Canada, Member, Royal Academy of Dance, London, England

Ms. Gaus has instituted a program called "Youths for Ballet". This program, which was funded by the City of Scranton and the Lackawanna Regional Cultural Council, gives underprivileged and economically disadvantaged youths the opportunity to learn dance and gives them greater appreciation of the arts as well as instilling a sense of pride and accomplishment that will influence them in the future. She has also taught and trained many of our area's dance teachers, Ms. Gaus has taught children from the Scranton State School for the Deaf, and has also taught dance in surrounding public schools for the past ten years as a PA Council for the Arts Rostered Artist.

Instructor: Teacher at Ballet Theatre of Scranton, Ballet Mistress of Ballet Theatre from 1959 to 1978., Polish Women's Dance Alliance for 15 years, Abington's Dance Academy for 15 years, N.E.I.U. Summer Program at P.E.E.C. and Keystone Junior College, Choreographer of Polish National Union's Annual Debutante Ball since 1980, Choreographed Polish Women's Alliance Debutante Ball for 10 years, Choreographed local television commercials as well as special Hatchy Milatchey children's TV programs and mall shows, Choreographed musicals for local high schools, Choreographed for Opera IV of Scranton and Mostly Opera.

Awarded: Marywood College Order of St. Genesius Award, Lackawanna Arts Council William L. Connell, Jr. Award, 1983 Chamber of Commerce Award for 25 Years of Teaching Excellence, The Scranton Times Woman Of The Week, 2007 Northeast Intermediate Unit (NEIU) Teacher of the Year.

Recently Miss Helen Gaus has celebrated her 50th anniversary of teaching. The advantage of dancing at Scranton Civic is the chance to truly appreciate this petite dynamo with perfect poise, tenacity of elephant’s skin, a quick sense of humor, a true love of dance and children, and extraordinary creativity and talent.

Faculty

Ms. Linda’s smile has been greeting many of us for as long as we can remember, so we probably don’t think of her as a Civic Alumnus! But Linda Dougher, a Scranton native, started dancing with Miss Helen at the age of 12 years! She was inspired to dance because her Mom danced with Miss Helen, and Miss Linda watched her sister’s jazz class. She is one of 8 children of Dolores O’Boyle, having 4 sisters and 3 brothers. Little Linda was thrown out of class one day because her hair was in her face! She remembers Miss Helen always making her go back and do it right, and now appreciates the discipline she was taught. Linda’s first part in the Nutcracker? Rag Doll. Her favorite parts were Russian and Dew Drop Fairy.

Linda went on to dance professionally for six years with the Wilkes-Barre Ballet Company. During her career she performed in dozens of roles, including roles in Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Bolero.

When asked about her hobbies, Miss Linda lists first teaching children. It is not surprising that she started teaching dance at the age of 16! She also enjoys ice skating, skiing, working out and aerobic exercise.

Miss Linda lives in Clarks Summit with her husband, Dan and beautiful daughter, Alyssa. She shared with us her love of working with all the children at the studio and her appreciation of the support from all the parents throughout the year.

Faculty

Karli Musheno started dancing with Scranton Civic Dance Centre in 1991 at the age of four. Over the years, she took classes in ballet, tap, jazz, and modern dance. Throughout her dancing career, she has had the honor of performing a variety of roles, including: Sleeping Beauty in the ballet Sleeping Beauty, the Snow Queen in the ballet The Nutcracker, and her personal favorite, the Sugar Plum Fairy in the ballet The Nutcracker.

Karli earned a BA in Business from Lackawanna College in 2007, and a BS in Business with a Marketing/Management concentration from Penn State University in 2009. She also earned a Graphic Design Certificate from The University of Scranton in 2010. Karli currently works full-time at Penn Security Bank as a Marketing Specialist. In her spare time, she also serves on the Scranton Civic Ballet Company’s Board of Directors and volunteers in various community events with The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, POWER!, the Scranton Lions Club, and other local organizations.

Karli began working for Miss Helen Gaus at Scranton Civic Dance Centre in 2000 as a Demonstrator, and is currently the Dance Instructor for the Lilliputian Department. She is very grateful for the opportunity to share her love of dance with the younger students at Civic Dance Centre.

Faculty

Danielle Pasternak started dancing at an early age and began pursuing her dance training with the Scranton Civic Dance Centre and Helen Gaus at age 8. Throughout her time as a performer, she has had the honor of performing with the Scranton Civic Ballet Company nationwide, as well as throughout Germany, Austria and Italy. She has also had the pleasure of performing fabulous roles such as Cinderella (Cinderella), Bluebird (Sleeping Beauty), and her most favorite role of Dew Drop Fairy (The Nutcracker) although, she’ll admit her heart is most fond of Tap.

On a personal note, Danielle is also a full-time wedding coordinator which allows her to take all of her “production” knowledge and use it to create spectacular events for local couples. As a NEPA-native, she grew up in Clarks Summit with the best family ever (statistically proven, of course) and currently resides in the Scranton area. Danielle is also a blog writing, nap taking, laugh having, book reading, tweet sharing, dog walking kind of gal who secretly wishes she can cook like the folks on Top Chef.

When Becky was ten years old, due to her burgeoning love of dance, she started lessons at a new studio under the direction of Claudia Rudolph, a serious ballerina, and former student of George Balanchine. During this time the New York City Ballet came to Cincinnati to perform. As the Ballet Mistress of the Cincinnati Ballet Company, Miss Rudolph was able to arrange a backstage visit for her students. One of Becky’s fondest memories is meeting George Balanchine. She said it was extremely exciting when Claudia told Mr. Balanchine that Becky was one of the best jumpers in class. He asked her to show him something, and she immediately did a grande jete. As Mr. Balanchine patted Becky on the head, she thought she was going to explode with joy. Becky remained a student of Miss Rudolph throughout her high school years becoming a more accomplished ballet dancer through many classes, increasingly difficult technique including pointe work, and more intricate repertoire.

While dancing through her youth, Becky had also become a rather accomplished clarinetist. For college, she chose to study clarinet at the very prestigious Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. During her first semester of college Becky realized that her love for dance was still there. She was accepted into the Cincinnati Ballet Company’s Apprentice program. This was where she was introduced to modern dance. Her first modern teacher was James Truitte, one of the founding members of the famous Alvin Ailey Dance Company and a master teacher of the Lester Horton technique. In addition to her studies, Becky danced approximately three hours per night, three nights per week in an intense ballet program. During this time, she realized that her love for dance had begun to eclipse her love of music.

Becky moved her collegiate career to Ohio State, where she thrived in their modern dance program, led by Nancy Fenster who had danced with ABT and the Joffrey Ballet. Classes included improv, lighting, choreography, and ethnic dance forms. She says that it was in this program that she discovered “Modern Dance is the opening of the mind- a creative process expressing yourself through dance”.

Becky interrupted her college career to marry Peter and start their family. The next portion of her life was dedicated to being a wife and mom, leading girls scout troops, attending PTA meetings, traveling to soccer tournaments, helping her husband run a business, etc. But after her third child was born, she decided she didn’t want to have 170 college credits without a degree any longer. Inspired by her mother, who was a school teacher, Becky went to Marywood University for an elementary education degree, and graduated valedictorian in 1996. She was hired by the Abington Heights School District right after graduation. But dance was in her blood- it had never really left her. It was at a school “Arts Alive” program, that Becky saw the work of Miss Helen and Mr. Karl and knew she wanted to work with them. She started by taking a modern class at Civic where she said she “fell in love with dance all over again”. When circumstances changed, she was asked to start teaching the modern classes. The rest is history. Over the past decade she has also collaborated with Miss Helen on several artists in residency programs and a director of Civic’s Summer Musical Theatre program.

Faculty

Meg was the Coordinator of Musical Theater Department of Somerset County Vocational School in Bridgewater, New Jersey from 2007 – 2010.  She was the lead teacher in an audition-only Gifted and Talented Musical Theater training program for high school students.  She also wrote and implemented pilot Musical Theater curriculum according to New Jersey state education standards.  Also, she produced and directed three musical productions per year.

Meg was also the Artistic Director of the Performing Arts Summer Intensive program for Somerset County Vocational School in Bridgewater, New Jersey from 2007 – 2010.  She was also the Artist in Residence for Young Audiences of New Jersey in Princeton, New Jersey from 2007 – 2009. She was also the Artist in Residence for the Institute for Arts and Humanities Education in New Brunswick, New Jersey from 2004 – 2007.

Meg earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater with a Concentration in Directing from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.  She trained with the New Jersey Ballet Company.

Meg has extensive classical ballet training, and is a certified Vinyasa yoga teacher. 
 

Artistic Director: Helen Gaus

"Leap Above Ballet"
Civic Dance Centre: Official Dance School of the Civic Ballet Company

Classes available:
Lilliputian Department (Ages 3-7)
-Pre-Ballet, Pre-Jazz, and Pre-Tap
 

Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced Levels (Ages 8 - Adult)
-Ballet and Pointe
-Tap, Jazz and Modern

All company members who audition receive at least 1 performing part in our annual Nutcracker performance.