SARAH LONG

Sarah Long, is a scholarship winner and an alumnus of Chapman University’s Performing Arts School and the renowned Jimmie Defore Dance Center in Southern California where she has studied under some of the most respected dancers, instructors and choreographers in the United States (Tanya Durbin, Leann Alduenda, Christine Baltes and Steven Inskeep to name a few).  She has trained extensively in Modern/Contemporary, Ballet, Musical Theatre and Jazz, has received several Choreography Awards, has danced in many stage productions and has been a principal dancer with the respected contemporary dance company, KT Davis Dance. She began her extensive dance training in the California Central Valley where she joined a local All-Star Dance organization, captained by friends Hollie and Heather Bettencourt, to further her dance education. She credits that All Star organization with creating a strong foundation in Jazz and Hip-Hop that later assisted her in other genres of training. She also credits the group with creating a strong work-ethic and an understanding of commitment and excellence that she still carries with her today. Sarah has returned to her Northern California roots and recently had the pleasure of contributing to STRUT Performing Arts annual NOTcracker Stage Production with her visually stunning Monarch Butterfly piece, Into the Garden.  Sarah writes that her strong Modesto roots and her experiences dancing with the Bettencourt’s and their All-Star comrades broadened her dance repertoire and stimulated her interests to their present direction…she enjoys teaching, choreographing, and performing many genres of dance.