Ballet Wooster’s Schwinn celebrates 50 years of teaching

Brenda Schwinn has been teaching ballet for as long as she can remember — most recently as the artistic director emeritus and ballet instructor at Ballet Wooster, which will celebrate its 10-year anniversary in 2025.

Schwinn’s 50th teaching year will begin this fall as she continues on the teaching faculty at Ballet Wooster, which will start its fall semester on Aug. 26. Ballet Wooster is a preprofessional ballet company that offers instruction in classical ballet from creative movement through pointe classes and is led by Artistic Director Zelie McClain, Schwinn and dance instructor Samantha Canfield.

Schwinn began her dance career when she was 9 years old, studying with Virginia Stevens Jones at her ballet studio in Lakewood, Schwinn’s hometown.

“After studying with Stevens Jones, at age 13 I began intensive training at the Cleveland Ballet Center in downtown Cleveland, taking daily classes,” she said.

Schwinn’s ballet instructors were illustrious teachers with impeccable ballet pedigrees, helping propel Schwinn to a Ballet Guild of Cleveland invite, a coveted spot for an aspiring ballerina.

“I trained through my senior year in high school and performed with the guild numerous times throughout Ohio and in Massachusetts and Canada, dancing many and varied roles,” Schwinn said. “I also did a summer intensive at the Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, New York.”

Schwinn’s favorite ballet production was “Fandango,” a ballet choreographed by Sir Antony Tudor with music by Padre Antonio Soler. It is the story of five girls who meet in a town square in the south of Spain for a dance competition of sorts.

“The ballet was fast-paced, packed with personality, and at one point in the middle of the ballet, I had to sing,” she said.

From the Cleveland Ballet Guild, Schwinn went on to study dance in college, studying at the University of Akron with well-known teachers Valerie Grieg and Heinz Poll.

Unfortunately, Schwinn suffered a significant knee injury while in college that derailed her dance career — but to her many students, it’s proved fortuitous.

“Following my knee injury, it became clear I wouldn’t be able to continue training and performing with the required intensity, so I decided to focus on my teaching career,” Schwinn said.

Schwinn has taught for 40 years in Wooster alone, most recently at Ballet Wooster. “Ballet has been a lifelong passion for me, and it is my hope to instill that in the students I have the privilege of teaching,” she said.

This winter students age 3-12 will participate in Ballet Wooster’s first “Winter Showcase” performance, and in the spring, Ballet Wooster will present “The Wizard of Oz,” a ballet spin on the classical story first told by L. Frank Baum in his book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’’ published in 1900 and immortalized in the classic 1939 film starring Judy Garland.

Also new this year for Ballet Wooster is a home-school ballet class for children age 6-10 and an intro to classical ballet class for teens or older students who want to try ballet. For more information on classes at Ballet Wooster, visit www.balletwooster.org/fall-semester-2024.