Artist Spotlight: Rachel Zervakos
This week’s spotlighted artist is dancer, choreographer, and instructor, Rachel Zervakos !
ABQ Dance Connect started an Artist Spotlight Series to feature dancers, movers, and creators in Albuquerque. This series is aimed to introduce and connect artists to their ABQ community. If you are interested in being a part of this series, please email info@abqdanceconnect.org or DM ABQ Dance Connect for more information. Look back at the artists who were featured last year.
Rachel Zervakos is a dancer, choreographer, and instructor based in Santa Fe and Los Alamos, NM. She is a graduate of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee (formerly known as The Boston Conservatory) and an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She received her initial dance training at Tolbert-Yilmaz School of Dance in Roswell, GA, and attended summer intensives including American Ballet Theatre, Kaatsbaan Extreme Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Walnut Hill, as well as Regional Dance America festivals. Rachel has performed major roles in classical ballets including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Giselle, as well as contemporary works by José Limón, Trey McIntyre, and Twyla Tharp, and was a guest artist with Lamorris Namari Ballet and Room to Move Dance in Atlanta, GA. In 2012, she had the honor of performing Tommy Neblett’s La Giornata Omicida at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts during the American College Dance Festival gala. Her choreography has been performed at The Boston Conservatory’s New Music Festival, BalletFest Atlanta, Fleetwood Dance Theater’s The Nutcracker, Dance 101 Atlanta Performance Series, and Dance Arts Los Alamos' "Ratcracker on the Hill," as well as original choreography for YAGP and other festivals. Rachel is currently on faculty at NDI New Mexico and Dance Arts Los Alamos, and is passionate about bringing high quality dance education to dancers of all ages and levels.
In 2015, I started teaching adults and realized that this was a sea of talented, dedicated dancers who are often undervalued in traditional dance training settings. I started offering private coaching in person and online for adult students of all levels in 2020, and have continued this practice. What I most admire about adult students is their authenticity and dedication - to arrange work, childcare, etc. to make it possible to attend a class is no small feat. When someone shares that today was their first class in 20+ years, or their first class EVER! - my heart swells. Of course, I absolutely teaching my young and pre-professional level students! But it feels particularly special to create a welcoming, non-judgmental space for high quality dance training for adults of all levels.
