I had the pleasure of interviewing Vicki Parsons who is the director of the Ballet Austin’s Butler Community School in Austin, Texas. The Butler Community School is a non-profit school offering 
classes to people of all ages and experience levels in all different styles. The school has some classes for kids but they mostly target adults ranging from age 18 to 80. All kinds of classes are offered at the school ranging from jazz and hip hop to hula and African Jazz to Pilates and Zumba. The school offers over 100 classes per week and in the past year, the Butler Community School has had over 5,000 people come to their school to take classes. The school is also part of a Ballet academy which helps ballet dancers become professionals. The Academy has over 900 students and is one of the largest ballet schools in the country. The Academy has been open for 57 years and has had many talented people come through their doors.
Vicki’s primary role is to develop, implement and manage dance and fitness programming in the Butler Community School, and through classes and community-based programs, promote the value of life-long health and well-being through a wide variety of movement styles to a multi-generational enrollment.
Ms. Parsons joined the staff of Ballet Austin in 1999 after working as a Ballet Austin volunteer for two years. Ms. Parsons has over 25 years of experience working in the field of Long Term Care, specifically in direct care as a Recreation Therapist, using therapeutic recreation as a treatment intervention to improve overall wellness. Promoting physical activity to people of all ages continues to be an interest to her. Ms. Parsons taught at Austin Community College for 13 years and worked with several non-profit organizations to develop and present workshops on lifelong health and well-being. She holds current certifications as a Senior Fitness Instructor, a Youth Fitness Specialist, and a Group Exercise Instructor. She is also a certified Fitness Business Manager, and has completed her certification in Advanced Sports Nutrition.
Ms. Parsons’ love for developing programs and people is an enjoyable part of her role at Ballet 
Austin. She is currently teaching the Off Campus Physical Education TEKS classes for the Ballet Austin Academy, and teaches the BCS Better Balance & Movement Workshop.
Some of the biggest mistakes Vicki sees the dancers make are not perfecting their technique, not warming up, or not sticking with something long enough to see the result. At the Academy, the dancers should be self motivated and should want to become professional dancers. At the Butler Community School, Vicki motivates the dancers to always have fun and to find the one thing that they enjoy.
The two schools have very different dress codes. In the Academy, students are required to wear a leotard and tights; however, they must be comfortable in what they are wearing while being clean and modest. In the Butler Community School, students can wear what they want to be comfortable but should still allow their lines to be seen. The most important thing for the students is to feel good about the way they look and how they feel.
The goals for the Academy this year are to keep training their students on the professional level and to continue to offer high quality classes and teachers. The goals for the Butler Community School are to encourage people of all ages to keep moving to stay healthy, to inspire people, and to offer the greatest variety of classes they can offer that will keep people motivated and excited. Vicki feels that it is never too late to start dancing and that everybody has to start somewhere. She believes everyone should have a goal and be inclined to want to dance.
The core values of Ballet Austin are as follows:
“We dance…with innovation and creativity.
We dance…to preserve and evolve the rich tradition of classical ballet.
We dance…to teach the next generation of artists.
We dance…to encourage lifelong health and well-being.
We dance…to honor the diversity of the human experience.
We dance…to enrich our community.
We dance…with integrity, excellence and passion.
We dance.”
Vicki believes nothing is impossible.
If you have experience with Ballet Austin or Vicki Parsons please leave a comment below about your experience!
