Dance Educator

Situated in both the professional dance community and academia, Rachel Oliver Young offers a wide range of educational programming suitable for the general public and colleges and universities.

Rachel Oliver Young is the Education Director of the Classical and Contemporary Pre-Professional Dance Program at Denver School of the Arts, and a certified teacher through the Colorado Department of Education. She holds an MFA in Dance, as an Arts and Sciences Fellow at CU-Boulder,  where she was awarded the Beverly Sears Named Graduate Student Award and the Graduate Part-Time Instructor Teaching Excellence Award by The Graduate School at CU-Boulder. Rachel received her BS in Dance and Biochemistry from Beloit College, having graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Rachel is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction, Critical Pedagogy through CU-Denver. 

Rachel is an American Ballet Theatre® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum, has an Alternative Teaching Licensure through the Colorado Department of Education, a certification through Integrated Teacher Training for mat Pilates, a certification in Progressing Ballet Technique, and is Limón Teacher Trained, all of which have deepened her knowledge in dance education. Rachel has taught dance courses and as a guest artist at public schools, dance studios, community centers and universities. 

Rachel has been a Guest Instructor at the National High School Dance Festival, Performática, Pikes Peak Community College, Radford University, and the University of Montana. Rachel taught as a graduate teaching fellow, and then adjunct instructor at the University of Colorado Boulder, and taught through the Colorado Ballet Education program and the Metro State University Dance Incubator program at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance.  Rachel mentors student choreographers at Beloit College through the dance department’s Alumni Mentoring Program.

Rachel strives to provide a deep and factual understanding of anatomical information, while encouraging proper technical form, body awareness, strengthening, and efficient and healthy alignment in her dance classes. Rachel strives to integrate dance science, and safe dance practice to students at Denver School of the Arts. Rachel completed her Pilates certification through ITT Pilates at A Body of Work in San Francisco, and holds an MFA in Dance, with concentrations in Performance, Choreography and Somatics and Dance Wellness, studying Alexander Technique and Body-Mind Centering.  Additionally, she has worked in physical therapy settings around the country, working one-on-one with patients, educating proper biomechanics and form for injury recovery.

Please feel free to contact me about private dance/movement mentoring.  

 I love teaching dancers and movers of all ages and abilities.