Dance From The Heart PDX
The Dekum Street Theater, 814 NE Dekum St, Portland, OR 97211
About
Dance From The Heart PDX offers ballet classes, creative movement classes, and combined ballet and creative movement classes. The program focuses on ballet and creative movement while maintaining the integrity of classical technique in a supportive, positive, and encouraging environment.
• Ages: 3–9 years old
Dance From The Heart PDX was founded in 2010 in NE Portland by Katarina Svetlova. Since its inception, more than 2,000 students have participated in the program, and many have gone on to study ballet in professional ballet schools around the country, including Oregon Ballet Theatre School, and have danced professionally. The program offers classes for children ages 3–9 years and also directs families to Oregon Ballet Theatre School for more class options for all ages.
Dance From The Heart PDX was established by Katarina Svetlova, who has been teaching children of all ages and adults for more than 25 years and began her professional ballet career at Oregon Ballet Theatre at age 15. Instructors include Robyn Ulibarri, Jackie Genis, and Jenna Johnson, all of whom have extensive experience teaching young dancers in creative and nurturing settings and have taught in studios, camps, after-school programs, and professional dance schools. Robyn has over three decades of teaching experience, has appeared in and choreographed more than twenty musical theater productions, graduated with honors from Columbia College Chicago in 2004, earned an Elementary Teaching Certificate in 2022, and most recently served as Director of Community and Engagement at Oregon Ballet Theatre, where she helped expand access to dance training and experiences across the region. Jackie received classical ballet training on full scholarship with Pacific Northwest Ballet under Janet Reed, Melissa Hayden, and Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, and she currently teaches Ballet 1, adult/teen beginners, and Pre-Ballet at regional studios and at Oregon Ballet Theatre. Jenna has been dancing and acting since age four, has competed nationally, danced with the East Carolina University Dance Team, trained in their Musical Theatre Department, and has been choreographing and instructing for 13 years, including work as a Teaching Artist with the North Carolina Theatre Conservatory and current teaching roles at Oregon Ballet Theatre School and other early education dance programs; she is also studying to become an ASL/English interpreter.
Katarina’s own training includes classical ballet study with Haydee Gutierrez in Florida and at The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre, as well as at the John Cranko School in Germany and The Princess Grace Academy in Monte-Carlo. Her professional career includes seven years at Oregon Ballet Theatre and a principal contract at Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Germany, where she danced principal roles in classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Giselle, and Romeo and Juliet, and worked with international contemporary choreographers including John Neumeier, Mats Ek, Hans van Manen, and Youri Vámos. In her teaching, Katarina uses a combination of approaches based on Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, mindfulness practice, plant-based nutrition, and yoga to support dancers’ development as artists and people.
A parent testimonial from Jamie Lynn Webster describes Katarina’s classes as offering a blend of creativity and dance tradition, and encouragement alongside disciplined practice, and notes that children in the classes learn about movement, vocabulary, etiquette, music, narrative, and drama.
Last updated July 14, 2026.
• Ages: 3–9 years old
Dance From The Heart PDX was founded in 2010 in NE Portland by Katarina Svetlova. Since its inception, more than 2,000 students have participated in the program, and many have gone on to study ballet in professional ballet schools around the country, including Oregon Ballet Theatre School, and have danced professionally. The program offers classes for children ages 3–9 years and also directs families to Oregon Ballet Theatre School for more class options for all ages.
Dance From The Heart PDX was established by Katarina Svetlova, who has been teaching children of all ages and adults for more than 25 years and began her professional ballet career at Oregon Ballet Theatre at age 15. Instructors include Robyn Ulibarri, Jackie Genis, and Jenna Johnson, all of whom have extensive experience teaching young dancers in creative and nurturing settings and have taught in studios, camps, after-school programs, and professional dance schools. Robyn has over three decades of teaching experience, has appeared in and choreographed more than twenty musical theater productions, graduated with honors from Columbia College Chicago in 2004, earned an Elementary Teaching Certificate in 2022, and most recently served as Director of Community and Engagement at Oregon Ballet Theatre, where she helped expand access to dance training and experiences across the region. Jackie received classical ballet training on full scholarship with Pacific Northwest Ballet under Janet Reed, Melissa Hayden, and Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, and she currently teaches Ballet 1, adult/teen beginners, and Pre-Ballet at regional studios and at Oregon Ballet Theatre. Jenna has been dancing and acting since age four, has competed nationally, danced with the East Carolina University Dance Team, trained in their Musical Theatre Department, and has been choreographing and instructing for 13 years, including work as a Teaching Artist with the North Carolina Theatre Conservatory and current teaching roles at Oregon Ballet Theatre School and other early education dance programs; she is also studying to become an ASL/English interpreter.
Katarina’s own training includes classical ballet study with Haydee Gutierrez in Florida and at The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre, as well as at the John Cranko School in Germany and The Princess Grace Academy in Monte-Carlo. Her professional career includes seven years at Oregon Ballet Theatre and a principal contract at Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Germany, where she danced principal roles in classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Giselle, and Romeo and Juliet, and worked with international contemporary choreographers including John Neumeier, Mats Ek, Hans van Manen, and Youri Vámos. In her teaching, Katarina uses a combination of approaches based on Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, mindfulness practice, plant-based nutrition, and yoga to support dancers’ development as artists and people.
A parent testimonial from Jamie Lynn Webster describes Katarina’s classes as offering a blend of creativity and dance tradition, and encouragement alongside disciplined practice, and notes that children in the classes learn about movement, vocabulary, etiquette, music, narrative, and drama.
Last updated July 14, 2026.
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