Summer Intensive
Welcome to the Civic Dance Centre, official dance school of the Scranton Civic Ballet Company. The Scranton Civic Ballet Company was founded in 1978 by Northeast Pennsylvania's most respected dance instructor, Miss Helen M. Gaus. Originally as a regional resident company, the Scranton Civic Ballet Company is at the forefront of ballet and the performing arts in Northeast Pennsylvania.
Our school makes every effort to instill in its students the discipline and knowledge needed to approach learning in a professional way, whether one's intent is to become a professional dancer or to learn the rigorous discipline of dance to carry oneself through life.
At "Civic," we believe that our role is to guide young dancers through increasingly disciplined levels of dance in a friendly, caring atmosphere. Creative energy, gracefulness, a heightened awareness of music and musicality, and a focus on technique are only some of the benefits our programs have to offer. The Scranton Civic Ballet Company is dedicated to bringing quality dance training within reach of young dancers to make dreams a reality.
The Scranton Civic Ballet Company is a non-profit organization focused on dance education and performance. It is the company’s mission to educate our members and the public in the art of dance while bringing the talents of well-known artists, choreographers, and master teachers into northeast Pennsylvania for the benefit of our students as well as our audiences.
Welcome to the Civic Dance Centre, official dance school of the Scranton Civic Ballet Company. The Scranton Civic Ballet Company was founded in 1978 by Northeast Pennsylvania's most respected dance instructor, Miss Helen M. Gaus. Originally as a regional resident company, the Scranton Civic Ballet Company is at the forefront of ballet and the performing arts in Northeast Pennsylvania.
Our school makes every effort to instill in its students the discipline and knowledge needed to approach learning in a professional way, whether one's intent is to become a professional dancer or to learn the rigorous discipline of dance to carry oneself through life.
At "Civic," we believe that our role is to guide young dancers through increasingly disciplined levels of dance in a friendly, caring atmosphere. Creative energy, gracefulness, a heightened awareness of music and musicality, and a focus on technique are only some of the benefits our programs have to offer. The Scranton Civic Ballet Company is dedicated to bringing quality dance training within reach of young dancers to make dreams a reality.
The Scranton Civic Ballet Company is a non-profit organization focused on dance education and performance. It is the company’s mission to educate our members and the public in the art of dance while bringing the talents of well-known artists, choreographers, and master teachers into northeast Pennsylvania for the benefit of our students as well as our audiences.
FEATURED ALUMNI
ELIZABETH GAUS
For over sixty years, Miss Gaus, our founder and artistic director, has defined the Scranton Civic Ballet Company with her brilliant choreography, and more importantly, her caring tutelage of our dancers. She is a retired PCA Rostered Artist having worked with school children in Northeastern Pennsylvania for ten years. She spent three years as the owner and operator of the Ballet Academy of Baltimore and has also taught students from the Scranton State School for the Deaf. In addition, she has directed and choreographed local television commercials, special programs and mall shows, as well as various summer works with children in the Musical Theater Camp in Southlake, Texas. Miss Gaus was awarded an “Arts Engage!" grant from Lackawanna County Council on the Arts and Children and Youth Services for a new multi-discipline art camp in June 2009.
Miss Gaus maintains membership with the Royal Academy of Dance in London, England and the Mostly Opera Company in Pennsylvania. She has also received numerous awards including Marywood College Order of St. Genesius, Lackawanna Arts Council for outstanding contribution to the arts, Northeastern Pennsylvania Woman of the Week award from the Scranton Times, the 1983 Chamber of Commerce Award for 25 years of Teaching Excellence, American Heart Association Commitment Award, the Easter Seal Award for 25 years of service and the Achievement Award for MDA, and Northeast Intermediate Unit's Artist of the Year for 2007.
Miss Gaus began her formal dance education with Constance Reynolds. She later became her assistant and taught for nineteen years. She was a featured soloist and ballet mistress with Ballet Theatre of Scranton since their first performance in 1958 until 1978, working with outstanding choreographers such as Hilda Butsova, Stanley Herbett, Henry Danton, Evelyn LeMone, Paul Glover, Michael Falatico, Paschel Guzman and Valerie Deakin.
Miss Gaus furthered her studies in Canada at Queens College, Kingston, Ontario and the National Ballet School in Toronto, as well as various schools in New York City. She has studied under the direction of prominent teachers such as John Burker, Bettina Byers, Marjorie Haskins, Betti Olyphant, Sonia Chamberlain, David Howard, Jack Stanley, Paul Draper, Ernest Carlos, Charles Kelly, Luigi and Roye Dodge.
Miss Gaus has taught traditional ethnic dance for the Polish Women's Alliance. She also taught for several years at the Jewish Community Center, was on the faculty at Marywood College as the director of dance and was the director of the Abington Heights Dance Academy for fifteen years.
