Carol Schwarzkopf (full bio) holds a degree from the acclaimed University of Utah where she graduated with honors, a Health & Wellness Certification from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and years of study of the brain, motivation, fascial fitness, Pilates, resilient living, yoga, grief, qigong and the human potential movement.
Carol was raised in West Texas where she studied ballet with Ingeborg Heuser, a former soloist of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and a special pupil of the great German pedagogue and choreographer Tatjana Gsovsky. Beginning at age 13, her studies broadened with summers at San Francisco Ballet School on Ford Foundation Scholarships until she left home at the age of 16 to dance with Ballet West and William F Christenson. She has had the good fortune of dancing in many of the major classical ballets of our time as well as in the contemporary works of some of the greatest teaching and choreographic influences of the 20thcentury.
Carol holds a degree from the acclaimed dance department at the University of Utah graduating cum laude, studying with the great Danish ballerina Toni Lander . There she was exposed to some of the finest modern masters in America as well at what is still considered one of the finest post-secondary dance training schools in the world. Her contemporary dance career was launched in order to utilize her ballet and modern training in this new American art form. Additionally, she is a certified yoga instructor, credentialed in 2001 through White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, as well as training as a Street Yoga instructor for work with special populations. More recently, she earned a Health and Wellness Certification from Mayo Clinic College of Medical Science
Carol has authored several dance curricula and taught dance at St. Olaf College , Pacific Northwest Ballet, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Normandale College, Berkshire Pulse in Massachusetts, as well as other fine dance schools nationwide. Carol co-directed the dance program for the Visual and Performing Arts Magnet at North High School in Minneapolis for 10 years where she received a Distinguished Teaching Award from her peers for her exemplary contribution to arts education. She has served as company teacher for Poetry in Motion Contemporary Dance, Ballet Director at Platinum Dance, and Ballet Principal at Creo Arts and Dance. Her work with adults incorporates all this and more, now teaching MovementThruGrief for the losses in our lives.
Honors include the Twin Cities Mayors’ Public Art Award as well as a Minneapolis Public Schools Appreciation Award. Ms Schwarzkopf sat on the advisory board that later formed The Perpich Center for Arts Education/The Arts High School, as well as the committee that successfully lobbied and attained K-12 dance licensure for the state of Minnesota. She is a founding and was a long time board member for Dance Educator’s Coalition, established to support dance artists teaching in the schools. She is proud that her professional coaching, teaching, study, and performance endeavors have taken her all over the world.
Carol is grateful for her mentors, the work itself, and the students and colleagues who have shared her journey.
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“I hope you know that you did your job well! You gave me the push I needed to never give up on myself, to always try harder. You gave me support in everything. You have never given up on me. You poured your heart into me-you were more than just my ballet teacher, you were my biggest advocate. I love you Ms Carol, please know that” Student Elizabeth
Carol Schwarzkopf 