Danielle Aikens
Danielle Aikens has been dancing for 29 years. She began her training with the Gainesville School of Ballet. At the age of 10, she was accepted into the Gainesville Ballet Company. At the age of fourteen, Danielle joined the Gwinnett Ballet Theatre, where she was a member of the Senior Company. While dancing with Gwinnett Ballet, Danielle had the opportunity to work with numerous teachers, including Victoria Vittum de Bethencourt and Stanislav Issaev, former gold medal recipient in the National Soviet Ballet Competition in Moscow, and the International Ballet Competition in Bulgaria.
In 1998, she returned to dance with the Gainesville Ballet Company, while earning her Bachelor of Arts degree from Brenau University. She has performed leading roles in ballets, such as, The Nutcracker, La Bayadere, Les Sylphide, The Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Carmen, and Swan Lake. She has also danced in several performances sponsored by the Southeastern Regional Ballet Association (SERBA), as well as performing at the gala concert for the Southeast Region at the first Regional Dance America conference in Houston, TX. She has taken master classes with David Howard, Mignon Furman, Thom Clower, Laura Alonso, and Mia Michaels, to name a few.
Danielle has been teaching dance for 17 years. She has taught for the Lilburn and Snellville Schools of Ballet, Gwinnett Ballet Theatre, and Brenau Academy. She also taught Company classes and served as a rehearsal assistant for the Gwinnett Ballet Theatre. She also directed the dance program for Firespark! 2010. Danielle is currently the Artistic Director of Northeast Georgia School of Music and Dance, where she teaches ballet and piano lessons.
