“I am a waiter – for God. We are all servants of God, or destiny, whatever you wish to call it. I am not so proud, and I am not so great – I’m nothing but what He has wanted me to be. He has said to me, ‘You are going to teach and serve and make them dance,’ and I know that nothing anybody on earth could do could prevent me from doing what He wants me to do.”
— George Balanchine
JULIE BLACKSTEN
BFA in Dance, Owner/Director
Julie's background and expertise in dance is unmatched, as well as her love for her students.
Julie's training began at the age of 3 with Dance Master Paul Michael, with whom she credits her first love of dance. After his passing, she was fortunate to begin ballet training with Mary Margaret Holt at eight years old. Later, her studies in New York City were one of the highlights of her dance career. There, she studied with the Joffrey Ballet School at the advanced level and with David Howard. Julie has also studied with numerous other well-known teachers such as Richard England, Bruce Wells, Francoise Martinet, Ann Reinking, Marjorie Tallchief, Syvie Suillem, and Brian Loftus.
Julie holds a BFA in Dance, Ballet Pedagogy emphasis from the University of Oklahoma, where she is currently a Dance Partners member and remains closely connected. After receiving her degree, she returned to the OU School of Dance in their graduate program. While in the bachelor's and master's programs, she was featured in both the Oklahoma Festival Ballet and Modern Dance programs and both companies. She trained with legendary instructors Miguel Terekhov, Yvonne Chouteau, Mary Margaret Holt, Ko Yukihir, and others.
To continue her dance instructor education, Julie attends ballet teacher conferences, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, David Howard's Teacher seminars for numerous years, the American Academy of Ballet Teachers Training program, and others.
By invitation, Julie traveled to London during the 2012 Olympics and again in 2014 and 2019 to Lincoln Center in New York City, where her dancers performed. In 2016, Julie was invited to teach and choreograph ballet in Vizitsa, Greece, for the Music and Dance Festival.
Julie has been a ballet adjudicator many times for the Oklahoma Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain and has been an instructor/choreographer for the NAC Artist in Residence program. Memberships include the International Dance Entrepreneurs Association and Wingman for Dance.
Julie with her four grandchildren
OUR Teachers
Emelyn Arthur
Emelyn has been teaching at CBA since 2017. She started dancing at Classical Ballet Academy at the age of four, and it became her life. She has studied ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip hop, and lyrical and was on the CBA competition team for two years. As a member of Norman Dance Theatre, she has performed in the Nutcracker at schools and other local venues and traveled to London to perform during festivities coinciding with the summer Olympics of 2012. She also most recently traveled with several other CBA dancers to perform at the 12th Anniversary Performing Arts Educators Invitational at Lincoln Center in New York City. Emelyn enjoyed being on the NHS Pom squad for four years. She enjoyed putting together music and choreography on occasion for halftime performances, serving as a dance technique advisor for the squad, and being a member of the Pom competition team. She has also been active in CBA’s Pointe to the Future program as a member, Treasurer, and President, and participated in CBA’s Dance Instructor Apprentice Program. Emelyn truly enjoys working with kids of all ages through activities like the Pointe to the Future Halloween Dance Clinics, NHS Pom Clinics, and as a co-teacher for the first-grade class at her church. Emelyn is currently the Choreography Director for Alpha Phi’s OU Sooner Scandals. She is so very excited to have the opportunity to share her love of dance with some of CBA’s youngest students this year!
Ava Aubé
Originally from Hampton Bays, New York, Ava Aubé is currently a Senior at The University of Oklahoma, where she continues her study of Ballet as a Ballet Performance Major with a minor in Health and Exercise Sciences. She started her formative training at Seiskaya Ballet under Mme. Valia Seiskaya. She then continued her dance education at The Rock School for Dance Education. While at OU, she has had the opportunity to learn and perform works by established choreographers such as George Balanchine, Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe, Jerome Robbins, Yury Yanowsky, and Penny Saunders. Ava is beyond excited to teach and share her passion for ballet with these students!
JULIA FERREIRA
Originally from Birmingham, AL, Julia Ferreira is currently a Junior double major at the University of Oklahoma. She is studying musical theater and communication. Theater is Julia’s passion, and she has plans to eventually move to New York and pursue a Broadway career. Some of her favorites credits include: Margarita & Maria u/s, West Side Story (Porthouse Theater); Ensemble & Dance Captain, The Wild Party (University Theater); Vivienne, Legally Blonde (Virginia Samford Theater); Acrobat & Adult Ensemble, Matilda (Red Mountain Theater).
Jennifer Franks
Jennifer is a graduate from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and earned her Master of Fine Arts in Modern Dance in 2008 from the University of Oklahoma. While at OU, she was a graduate teaching assistance for various dance history and modern classes. She was a member of Contemporary Dance Oklahoma and received the Scott Salmon Modern Dance Choreography award. She has completed significant research in various dance forms including American Modern Dance techniques, Polynesian dance, African dance and early Ballet history. She has worked locally with the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company's Kids Opera Camp, choreographing the Mikado and Rudigore.
Most recently, Jennifer completed her JD at the University of Oklahoma, College of Law, and was sworn in by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma in April of 2017. She is married and the proud mother of 3 boys.
Jennifer has taught at Classical Ballet Academy since 2008 and looks forward to another wonderful year!
Grasyn Fuller
Grasyn has been performing and studying dance since the age of four when she began her dance career at Classical Ballet Academy. For 14 years she trained in ballet tap, jazz and competitive lyrical styles and performed several featured roles including Aurora and the Sugar Plum Fairy. She was a principal dancer with Norman Dance Theatre. For eight years, Grasyn participated in the University of Oklahoma Saturday Youth Ballet & Modern Dance program and Summerwind Intensives. She also starred as a featured dancer in numerous high school musical productions, including Thoroughly Modern Millie and Pippin. In 2016, she was honored to train at the Rocket Summer Intensive in New York City. While an undergrad at OU, Grasyn was heavily involved with University Sing and Sooner Scandals-serving as a choreographer, dance consultant and, most recently, the Vice Chair of Performance for the past two Scandals seasons. She graduated from with a bachelors and a masters in 4 years and just graduated from OU Law. Grasyn is thrilled to be back at Classical Ballet Academy to share her love for performance in ballet, tap and jazz classes! the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Monica Griffin
Monica Griffin has taught at Classical Ballet Academy for over 10 years. After a hiatus, she is returning to teach tap. Monica started tapping at a very young age and studied under Erin Milligan, Larry Nye and many other great Oklahoma tap teachers. She has competed in various tap competitions in solo and group categories. She studied tap at the University of Oklahoma while getting her Bachelor’s in History and Archaeology. Monica holds a Masters in Natural Resources Management from Texas A&M and a Juris Doctorate from Oklahoma City University School of Law.
Monica loves Vaudeville and Broadway style tap with fun choreography. She is excited to be back at Classical Ballet Academy to work with amazing instructors and students.
Monica is CEO of Reagan Smith, Inc., a natural resource management company which specializes in projects on Federal and Tribal lands focusing on energy, broadband and infrastructure projects. She lives in Oklahoma City with her husband and three kids.
Sydney Pierce
Sydney is an alum of Classical Ballet Academy and attended her first dance classes at the age of six. From there, she continued to train for twelve years in ballet, pointe, jazz, modern, lyrical, and hip-hop. Sydney was also a part of the CBA competition team for seven years and enjoyed this opportunity to perform several group, duet, and solo routines at local dance competitions. With Norman Dance Theatre, Sydney performed in the Nutcracker ballet each winter and traveled with this group to New York City in 2019 where they performed in the 12th Anniversary Performing Arts Educators Invitational at Lincoln Center. Sydney attended both the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute and OU Summer Intensive where she further strengthened her studies in ballet and modern technique. She was a member of the Norman High Pom squad for all four years of high school and served as a team captain during her senior year. While on Pom, she enjoyed performing jazz and hip-hop halftime routines and competing at state pom competitions with her team. Sydney began her teaching experience at CBA’s Pointe to the Future Halloween Dance Clinics, and from there began assisting dance camps and working as a substitute teacher at the studio. She has continued dancing in college by being involved with OU Sooner Scandals. Now, Sydney is excited to return to the studio as a first-year instructor!
Hannah Ferguson
Hannah has been a student at Classical Ballet Academy since she was 5. She has also been a member of CBA’s Norman Dance Theatre, where she has danced numerous roles. Her most recent was the beloved role of Governess, and also the Spanish dancer. She has been a member and officer of “Pointe to the Future” dance club.
Hannah has been trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, hip hop, and her favorite, tap. Hannah also loves musical theater, and plans to go to college to further her performing arts career. Hannah has performed in numerous musicals, and one of her favorite roles was Janice, in Mean Girls. Hannah can't wait to share her love of dance with the students this year!
Lily Rowland
Lily began dancing at Classical Ballet Academy at the age of four and since then has studied ballet, pointe, jazz, modern, and lyrical. As a member of Norman Dance Theatre, Lily enjoys performing the Nutcracker ballet every year to students in local schools and other venues. She began her teaching experience by working with young children at Cochran Music Preschool. Once she found that she had a passion and love for teaching kids, she became a member of CBA's Pointe to the Future program, where she has opportunities to teach dance and be a part of dance clinics. Lily looks forward to bringing her love of dance and teaching to the studio this year!
OUR STAFF
Cassie Autrey
Cassie started dancing at Classical Ballet Academy when she was 3 years old up until she was a senior in high school. Over 15 years she studied ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hiphop, modern and lyrical. She also did musical theatre from ages 8-18 at Lyric Theatre, Poteet Theatre and Sooner Theatre and was a part of the Norman High Pom squad. Cassie went to the University of Arkansas where she graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts. She now runs marketing and social media for Classical Ballet Academy. Cassie is a wife and mother of 2. Her daughter is 2 1/2 years old and loves ballet!