About
About The Align Me Ballet Belt
Chicago has been my performing and teaching base for over 35 years and now, Phoenix is my new home. As a national and international choreographer, teacher, convention teacher and adjudicator I have seen dance grow and evolve into the beautiful art form it is. With all this amazing new movement and style added to our dancer’s vocabulary, unfortunately some of the ballet foundations are being sacrificed. Their bodies are changing to accommodate this athletic movement. The sacrifices are in the hip placement and core/center body placement especially. We need to find different ways to help our dancers make the correct alignment part of their muscle memory. Consistency. Then, when their alignment is in place, turns are easier, the correct muscles are being used with balance and line being restored and extended. I wanted to create something to “visually” help our dancers. Experiencing that most of our dancers are visual learners, at times, speaking and repeating corrections without the dancer recognizing, seeing it and feeling it, gets to be frustrating for all. Ballet belts have been around universally for many decades in classical studios. I wanted to bring it back for all dancers. My reinvention with colorful, soft, stylistic elastic and the visual aids of a newer type of ballet belt is what I call, The Align Me Ballet Belt. With an emphasis on “Alignment”.
About Debra Nanni
Debra studied all styles of dance in growing up in Buffalo NY. In 1983, Gus Giordano gave her a scholarship to study at his school in Chicago which started her professional career. She then became a soloist with The Chicago Dance Medium, a contemporary modern ballet company and performed independently with many affluent dance companies until 2004. In 1998 she started to develop her love for teaching and has been mastering it since. Debra was the Studio owner of Progressive Movement Academy and taught in private studios throughout Chicago through 2019. Many of her students received college scholarships, dance with professional companies and perform with recording artists around the world. Nationally, Debra is known for her creative teaching of diverse styles in workshops and master classes. On the convention circuit, she passionately inspires dancers to love ballet and modern. She’s honored to be in her 12th year teaching in Austria and surrounding countries. Debra’s choreography has been given top awards and accolades on the recreational, competitive and professional stages. She created two international works on professional Vaganova ballet company, F.V.G Neu Space in Udine, Italy. Debra is in her 25th year adjudicating for various national dance and talent competitions and recently for the new Dance Moms season. Debra was honored to be the only American Judge to participate in A.S.D.U European National 2018 Dance Championships in Spittal Austria to sit alongside judges from Austria, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic. She now is a new resident in the Phoenix area, relocating in April of 2019 to be closer to her amazing 93yr old Mom.