To be in the room with Stephanie while she teaches is such a calm and mindful place to be. She brings an infectious joy to ballet, and you can watch the students release their anxiety and tension and consider their technique from new angles. She often asks dancers to approach familiar movements from unexpected directions, and that shift in perspective often leads to wonderful new insights. But the most consistent image you take away from her classroom is a smile, on the faces of the students, in the twinkle of her eye.
Peter Merz
Director of Regional Tours for American Dance Competition
Exploring the intention and the technique behind the magic! Ms. Saland’s distinguished performing career and her enduring, indelible mark on the professional stage are illuminated in the exquisite refinement and soulful authenticity of her work. Blended into every movement, every intention, every nuance, these same qualities are hallmark to her teaching approach, guiding each dancer toward an inner connectivity, a depth of texture and cadence in the physical technique of Ballet, and an organic honesty that drives artistic expression. In an atmosphere of ongoing exploration, creativity, and empowerment, dancers are guided toward an individualized understanding of the technique of movement and the technique of expression, inspired from within, from the community of dancers committed to the pursuit of one's highest potential, and from a visionary who creates a workspace for this exploration. Resulting is the development of secure, personal achievement in the art of technique and the technique of artistic expression, and a shared expansion of the timeless, immeasurable legacy in the tradition of Ballet.
Suzette Madson
Physical Therapist
It’s been a true joy to be in "zoomblend" classes with Stephanie as teacher and to meet some of her wonderful students from the many varied backgrounds of ballet, dance and yoga traditions. The honesty and skill of her approach allows one to go deeper into the body and spirit, to integrate and to move freely. As a beautiful artist in so many ways Stephanie always shares with compassion and heart. With gratitude and thanks to her for making this teaching available.
Maria Calegari
Former Principal Dancer, New York City Ballet; Repetiteur for The Balanchine Trust and The Robbins Rights Trust
Stephanie has a unique ability to tailor both the physical and spiritual needs of her students through movement guidance. Although rooted in her expertise of classical ballet, the flow and content of the class is more expansive than your regular dance/fitness classes. There is a depth and breadth to her teaching, which she passes onto us through vivid imagery, while maintaining simple-to-understand concepts. There is a place for everyone. Her zoom and in person classes are as fruitful as the other, and give a balanced experience for the mind, body and soul, every single time.
Ashleigh Wilson
Professional Dancer
What I’ve discovered about Stephanie’s class is that firstly, her perspective on dance and movement comes from such a uniquely experienced and informed background, from which she takes herself and all of us forward, finding new ways to explore and trust ourselves and bodies. Not to mention she has cues that literally make you do things you didn’t know you could. Also, the individual attention she gives is incredible. It is such a gift, especially to be able to receive it during these uncertain times over zoom, no less, AND from the opposite side of the country. I feel so fortunate to have found her!
Dorothea Garland
Professional Dancer; Gyrotonics Instructor
Stephanie’s class is so much more than a class. It’s a wise and tender yet emotionally and physically rousing journey during which she bridges the divide between her soul and yours. The movements she guides you through allow you to not only express your spirit but also to free it. Her corrections are brilliant: with a few words she teaches you to transform an awkward movement into one of grace. And watching her is the most inspiring sight. She was a magnificent ballet dancer and now she is the very essence of the art of ballet, an embodiment of its delicacy, potency and magic.
Elizabeth Kaye
Stephanie Saland, a beautiful dancer artist, is an equally beautiful teacher artist. One of the most evocative ballerinas of NYCB, Ms. Saland uses her fierce intelligence to explore the elusive nature and qualities of “artistry” in dance and to communicate this to her students. Body techniques and theater movement combine seamlessly with “Balanchine” ballet technique in a class that inspires creative physical and artistic solutions to ballet movement. Ms. Saland directly challenges students to discover where their movement comes from, why, and how they themselves can define and use it. To the young professionals from Mexico who took her class, it was like entering a beautiful ballet wonderland where their bodies became more than just bodies, and where everything somehow made sense. Saland’s warm encouraging demeanor with laser attention to detail insures a learning environment based on the perennial, painstaking quest for improvement and “perfection”. The dancers loved it. And they loved the insights into Balanchine technique.
For me, classical ballet should aspire to share greater and greater beauty. The great ballet stars, with their aura of glamour, elegance, and power, embodied these aspirations. It is not common, nowadays, to encounter this. But Saland, warm, funny, completely personable and very accessible, does. To be in the presence of a star that embodies these aspirations, this magic, is an inspiration, a gift and a lesson for the young artist.
Nina Janik
Professor Emerita, University of Arizona School of Dance & CoDirector, El Centro Compañía de Danza, CDMX
Stephanie’s genius is helping dancers discover and build new paths to fully express and embrace their passion for dancing—while teaching with so much joy, curiosity, generosity. I’ve studied with her for over a decade, and she has helped me grow so much. Each class is a fresh exploration, her ideas and insights into technique and movement continue to blossom. She attends to each dancer’s unique physicality and journey. Musicality, integrity, flow: I always feel completely nourished after taking her class.
