JORDANCE STUDIOS - Key Persons
Born in Lima, Peru but raised in Las Vegas, NV, Flavia Morante naturally followed in her mother's footsteps towards a career in ballet. By the age of 13 she began attending national ballet summer intensives in Connecticut, New York, San Francisco, Houston, and internationally by the age of 15 in Barcelona, Spain. Not too long after, at 16 years of age, she was invited to and attended the 2014-2015 year round program at the San Francisco Ballet School. The following year she was awarded a full scholarship to attend Houston Ballet Academy as a trainee with Houston Ballet II; where she then decided to attend and finish her ballet studies. By 2017, at just 19 years old, she accepted her first professional contract with the Philadelphia Ballet II and was promoted to Apprentice by 2018 with the main company.
In Philadelphia she has performed corps de ballet roles in productions such as: George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Jewels (Rubies), Swan Lake, Jerome Robbins The Cage and Glass Pieces, Christopher Weldon's DGV, and many more. As a second company member she has also performed in leading roles such as Snow White in Samantha Dunster's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". Finishing her third season with Philadelphia Ballet, she made the decision to move back to her hometown and since then has been teaching the up and coming generation of dancers at Jordance Studios. Here she has also performed with The Nevada Ballet Theatre, co directed the Nutcracker with a Latin Twist and our annual spring showcases. She is inspired daily by her students and she is eager to continue sharing all this beautiful artform has given her to the stars of tomorrow.
Jimi has been dancing salsa since he was 12 years old under the Las Vegas Salsa Kids. After focusing on his studies and meeting his future wife Paula, he started dancing again. He now additionally trains in Ballet, Cuban Rumba, and Afro Cuban Contemporary to provide more for Jordance Studios and their students. Jimi enjoys choreographing and social dancing!
Mrs. Luz Morante graduated from La Escuela National de Ballet in Lima, Peru.
As a Professional Ballet Dancer she was invited to become a member of Peru's foremost Classical Ballet Company, Ballet Municipal de Lima. Mrs. Morante has performed in all the major ballet classics including "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty," ‘La Fille mal gardée", "Giselle", "The Nutcracker", "Don Quixote" among others. In 1995 she was a founder member of the AACP, Christian artists associations of Peru. In the United States her ballet career continued in California where she was Assistant Director and choreographer for Placer Theatre Ballet. She was also active with Sacramento Ballet School and taught classical ballet at the Conservatory of Dance in Rocklin and was the spiritual líder and assistant choreographer for the Ballet Rejoice.
In Las Vegas, she Directed the ballet program at North Stars Dance Academy and afterwards became Owner and Director of Nevada School of Dance until 2016. Starting in 2005 and continuing for 9 years in a row, Mrs. Morante produced, directed, choreographed, and staged the full length ballet "The Nutcracker" in the Las Vegas Valley, while also highlighting the most famous ballets such as Le Corsaire, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, La Bayadera, Raymonda and others throughout the years. In 2015 she co-directed "Coppelia" with Placer Theatre Ballet and In 2016 was part of the Masters Ballet Teachers of Ibstage International Summer Program in Barcelona, Spain. In 2018 and 2019 she was invited to be part of the International Ballet Festival Summer Intensive in Sacramento California.
Mrs Luz not only trains Ballet dancers but also is certified in Zumba Fitness where she is able to teach all over the world. Expanding on this she developed her own fitness program called Flavor Fit combining her knowledge of dance, fitness, and ballet to give a unique and fun workout.
Since 2018 she is the Director of the ballet program at Jordance Studios in Las Vegas and directing, choreographing and staged the new modern "The Nutcracker with a Latin Twist". From 2006 to this day She is the owner, director and choreographer of "The Bridge Ballet"Christian Dance Group.
Mrs. Morante is a teacher, coach and mentor, and many of her students have qualified for extended training at the most prestigious Ballet Schools in America. Mrs. Morante's dedication to the art of Classical Ballet is a unique and enduring source of inspiration for her students.
Paula begun her dance journey in her native country at the age of 9 with a full scholarship to the Municipal Ballet of Lima-Peru. Being born from an artistic mother and an entrepreneur father, she always knew that one day she would combine both of her upbringings together. Her passion for dance and movement began years before she began her ballet studies. Her mom, a professional ballet dancer, would always take her to work with her, where Paula was immersed into the professional world of training and performing at an early age. Paula's love for entrepreneurship came from her father. He would always share his savvy ways in coming up with different ideas for new businesses. At age 9, Paula and her cousin Johanna decided they wanted to start selling homemade popsicles as their first business. Her father began teaching them about a start up cost, capital, savings, and especially about debt. One of the most important lessons she remembers is him saying, "a loaner is a slave to the lender." He let them borrow 5 soles to help them get started, and they got right to work.
The Morante family relocated to the United Stated in 2001, a month before her 12th birthday, where she continued her ballet studies with The Conservatory of Dance & Performing arts in Rocklin, California where her mom, Mrs. Luz, was one of the main ballet instructors. She also continued her quest of being independent and would always sign up to sell chocolate for her school field trips instead of asking her parents for money.
In 2005, they relocated one last time to Las Vegas, Nevada where Paula continued her ballet studies in the Academy of Nevada Ballet. She graduated from the academy in 2009, and decided she would take a break while she decided her next move. She signed up for a few college classes where she met her now husband, Jimi. They both became really good friends, always tackling the class assignments as teams. It was not until a year later that he would ask her on their first date, where he took her out salsa dancing. Paula immediately fell in love with the dance, and decided that salsa would be her next move. As she became more obsessed with dancing, it awakened Jimi's passion again, and decided he would begin training with her. They both trained with Broadway Hall - Jimi's first salsa instructors as teen, and later with Naiboa where they begun learning ‘On2' otherwise known as NY Style. After a few years of training, they decided it was time to take their training further and moved to Milan-Italy in 2015 to train with one of the most renowned salsa dancers, Adolfo Indacochea and Tania Cannarsa. They spend a full year training and traveling Europe before coming back to the United States. Once they headed back to Las Vegas, they realized how privileged they were by training in Europe and wanted share with the city everything they have learned in their year overseas, and funded Jordance Studios in 2018. She is very grateful to be able to combine all of her passions under one roof. Her passion for dance, her passion for instructing, her love for entrepreneurship, and her love of teamwork with her husband. She knows how lucky she is to do so, and although it comes with many challenges it also comes with many lessons, and here she gets to grow along all her students and staff, which is her favorite part of all.
Paula has been dancing ballet since she was 9 years old and graduated from Nevada Ballet at 19 years old. Her training has given her a solid foundation to perfect other styles of dance and movement and even created her own form of movement therapy called Danzen. Out of all things dance-related Paula enjoys teaching and social dancing the most!