Carole Valleskey, Director
California Dance Institute

Carole Valleskey is currently the Director of the California Dance Institute, an affiliate of Jacques d'Amboise's renowned National Dance Institute, an in-school dance and music program steeped in the belief that the arts help develop life and learning skills. Familiar with the NDI program since 1983, Carole re-connected with founder Jacques d'Amboise in 1998 and worked to bring this acclaimed program to Los Angeles. From 1998-2002, she was Director of Education and Outreach for the Luckman Fine Arts Complex on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles, developing uniquely coordinated hands-on and arts viewing programs for students and teachers. Prior to that she worked with the Music Center Education Division as a teaching artist and writer of their arts study guides Artsource. Ms. Valleskey danced with the Joffrey Ballet from 1976-1991 and was a principal dancer from 1983 on. Receiving national and international notice, her most critically acclaimed roles were as "The Cowgirl" in Agnes deMille's Rodeo, the title role of "Lise" in Sir Frederick Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardee and "The Chosen One" in the re-creation of the1913 Nijinsky-Stravinsky Le Sacre de Printemps. She also danced with Cynthia Gregory & Fernando Bujones, the Basel Ballet in Basel Switzerland, Houston Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre II. Ms. Valleskey was Dance Captain and swing dancer with The Phantom of the Opera from 1991-1995. From 1991 on, she has been active in arts education, performing in schools, as an artist-in-residence in schools for the Music Center Education Division, developing curriculum, and doing teacher in-services in the arts. She has taught and continues to guest teach at Idylwild School of Music and Arts in Idylwild, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and University of California, Irvine. She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Los Angeles in 1997.