Beyond
Technique.
Training dancers to see more, hear more, think more, and bring more of themselves to their art.
Master classes, contemporary movement, choreographic composition, and professional development with Julianna Rubio Slager.
Explore an engagement →
The dancer
as artist.
Technique gives us a vocabulary. What we notice, experience, and imagine gives us something to say.
I believe dancers must become more than excellent technicians. They must become observant, curious, emotionally intelligent artists who understand how to make choices.
My teaching begins with the discipline of classical training and moves toward the larger questions of artistry. What are you listening to? What is happening between movements? How does weight change the meaning of a gesture? What do you want the audience to experience?
I want dancers to develop the confidence to investigate these questions, rather than simply reproduce a shape. The goal is not to abandon technical precision, but to give that precision purpose.
Artistry also develops beyond the studio. Literature, visual art, architecture, music, nature, conversation, and lived experience all expand what a dancer can perceive and express.
The art
of noticing.
Great dancing is not simply the execution of steps. It is the ability to perceive subtle relationships and transform those observations into meaningful movement.
Musicality beyond counts
Rhythm tells us when. Phrasing, harmony, silence, and musical tension suggest how. I ask dancers to listen for the music beneath the obvious beat.
Weight, breath & energy
Movement has texture. Suspension, resistance, momentum, attack, and release create a physical language that communicates beyond the steps themselves.
Movement with purpose
Every gesture can reveal a relationship, a desire, or a decision. I encourage dancers to understand what motivates movement rather than merely completing choreography.
Learning to see
Artists develop by noticing details: the way people move through a room, the architecture of space, a shift in expression, or the rhythm of ordinary life.
Space, shape & contrast
Composition is a series of meaningful choices. Scale, proximity, repetition, stillness, contrast, and what we choose to remove all influence what an audience perceives.
The individual artist
I value specificity, imagination, adaptability, presence, and curiosity. Strong dancers do not all need to look alike to demonstrate excellence.
Technique gives us vocabulary. Life gives us something to say.
From Julianna Rubio Slager's developing artistry workbook, The Artist's Body.
Classes & workshops.
Ballet Master Class
Classical ballet training with an emphasis on musical intelligence, épaulement, articulation, dynamic phrasing, and expressive intention. Appropriate for advanced students, trainees, university dancers, and professionals.
Contemporary & Neoclassical
A movement class exploring weight, momentum, breath, spatial relationships, musical interpretation, and contemporary movement rooted in a strong classical foundation.
Choreographic Composition
An investigative workshop in movement invention, spatial design, motif, variation, contrast, musical structure, and choreographic editing. Dancers practice making intentional compositional decisions.
From School to Company
A practical and artistic exploration of the transition into professional ballet: auditions, rehearsal culture, adaptability, correction, artistic identity, resilience, and what directors look for beyond technical achievement.
Artistic Residencies & Intensives
Multi-day engagements can combine ballet technique, contemporary movement, composition, repertoire, coaching, and conversations about professional life. Programs are designed collaboratively to serve the host institution's dancers and artistic goals.
Selected institutions.
Rubio Slager brings more than two decades of dance education and professional artistic leadership to her teaching, with experience working with dancers at schools and programs across the United States. Selected teaching engagements and professional recognition include:
School of American Ballet
2023–24 National Visiting Fellow
Grand Rapids Ballet School
Guest master class
Texas Christian University
Guest teaching
Baltimore School for the Arts
Guest master class
University of Utah
School of Dance / Guest class
University of New Mexico
Guest artist / Interdisciplinary university engagement
Additional experience includes teaching and mentoring dancers through Ballet Five Eight's professional company, trainee, conservatory, and school programs.
Preparing for
professional life.
The transition from school to company life requires more than technical readiness. Young dancers must learn how to work independently, respond to different choreographic voices, manage professional expectations, and contribute meaningfully to an ensemble.
As the Artistic Director of a professional ballet company, I bring a practical understanding of the expectations dancers encounter beyond their training. I want emerging artists to understand not only how to audition, but how to thrive once they are hired.
My professional-development sessions can be adapted for university students, graduating seniors, trainee programs, and pre-professional dancers.
Let's work
with your dancers.
I welcome invitations from ballet companies, university dance programs, conservatories, and pre-professional schools.
We can shape an engagement around your dancers' experience, artistic needs, and the questions you want them to explore.
Inquire about availability →Master classes, workshops, and extended residencies are available by arrangement.