dANCERS BLOOM HERE
Our mission at Westside Dance is to create a space for dancers to bloom. In our nurturing studio, young students find a love of dance and attentive teachers ready to help them grow as athletes and artists. Opportunities for growth as a dancer and a person are endless at Westside Dance and we pride ourselves in the lifelong positive impact of ballet education done right!
MEET THE TEAM
JENNIFER PHILLIPS
As the primary teacher and owner of Westside Dance, Ms. Jen (as her students call her) has created a beautiful community ballet school. While many dance studios feel like "big business", Westside Dance offers a boutique variety of dance education that focuses on the different path of each individual student.
Ms. Jen was born in Honolulu, HI where she received her ballet training from Russian-born John Landovsky, of Hawaii State Ballet. At 17 she was chosen as one of ten juniors to represent the US in the 2002 International Ballet Competition. Shortly after competing, she was offered a company position with State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara where she performed leading roles including Clara in the Nutcracker, Cinderella and Snow White. After performing and traveling across the country for a decade, she has retired as a principal level ballerina to open her own school.
MS. KAT
Ms. Kat has been teaching at Westside Dance for over five years, and has loved every minute of watching this magical community grow. She received her dance training from Juline School of Dance in Modesto, CA and joined Central West Ballet in 2008, where she remained for six years and danced in full length ballets such as Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and more. She has since received her BA in English Literature from USCB and started a secondary dance career as a choreographer of musical theater, including shows like Grease, Mamma Mia!, and Beauty and the Beast. She loves to push her students to strive for excellence and passion. Or, in other words, to try their best and have fun while they’re at it.
MS. ANNA
Anna trained primarily with Santa Clarita Ballet, completing the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus. After graduating from UC Irvine with a BFA in Dance Performance and minor in Education, she studied with LINES ballet of San Francisco and danced professionally with Oakland Ballet and Menlowe Ballet. In 2012, Anna moved to Santa Barbara to join State Street Ballet, where she was a soloist and principal dancer for eight years and toured across the US, China, and Chile. She was an instructor and choreographer for SSB’s Professional Track program, and assisted in rehearsal direction, educational outreach, and fundraising. She later revisited UCI to earn a Certificate in Arts Management. Anna began working with Westside Dance in 2022 and is excited to continue sharing her love of the arts and the joy of dance.
TAKE A LOOK AROUND tHE STUDIO
