biographies, ballet teacher, Elzanne Fields

Elzanne Fields

DIRECTOR & Teacher

Elzanne Crause-Fields studied at the Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa, where she completed her national diploma in dance as a ballet major.

She performed as a principal dancer with Bovim Ballet, Cape Dance Company, and South African National Dance Trust and as a soloist dancer with Joburg Ballet and Free Flight Dance Co.

Elzanne also produced, choreographed, directed, and performed ‘HOPE,’ a fundraising event for south African orphans in collaboration with Young Blood Art Gallery.

Elzanne has worked with national and international choreographers from the USA, Sweden, Canada, Netherlands, and Spain.

She was employed in South Africa by various dance companies, including Tshwane Dance Theatre, Ballet Theatre African, South African Ballet Theatre (later Joburg Ballet), Darkroom Contemporary, and The Fugard Theatre.

During her employment at Tshwane Dance Theatre, her choreographic works for the company began her reputation as “one of the new and upcoming choreographers, “as reviewed by critics. Her accomplishments as a choreographer continued when another work, ‘Five,’ was invited to YAGP Finals NY 2020 and won outstanding ensemble at Icon Dance Convention 2020.

Her most recent work, ‘Parade,’ finished top 12, 2021 YAGP L.A. Her solo ‘Morphametisis’ won top 12 YAGP 2021, junior second runner up at Dancemakers Convention 2021, and 1st place at Spotlight Competition 2021. Elzanne has also had the wonderful opportunity to teach ballet, contemporary, body conditioning, and pilates to some of South Africa’s and San Diego’s top young dancers for the last five years.

Most recently, she has been training and teaching in Austin, Texas, where in addition to teaching ballet, she also started teaching PBT and CTR curriculum. Two of her students finished top 12 ballet at YAGP Houston in 2021.

In the same year, after five years of retirement from the stage, she entered the Ballet Beyond Borders ballet competition. She received a gold medal for her self-choreographed contemporary work “Truth to Freedom” and a bronze medal for her ballet variation from the ballet Raymonda.

CASSIDY de kooker

Marketing Director & Teacher

Cassidy de Kooker is a successful entrepreneur and professional dancer hailing from Johannesburg, South Africa. Her mother homeschooled her, and she began training at a high-performance center for dance at just nine years old.

Cassidy trained there until she was 17 years old, during which she completed her Cambridge AS-Levels, and then went on to study Exercise Science alongside pursuing a professional dancing career.

Cassidy has danced professionally with many esteemed companies and artists, including Royal Flux contemporary dance company in Los Angeles, CA, as a professional guest dancer in Dancing with the Stars and with singer-songwriter John Legend.

She has also performed with Debbie Rakusin, one of South Africa’s most respected and renowned choreographers/directors, in shows across South Africa between 2018 – 2022. Prior to that, she performed professionally with Bowring Levin Dance Company in their contemporary season of Equilibrium, which toured South Africa.

Additionally, Cassidy danced with South African Ballet Theatre (now Joburg Ballet) for 4.5 years, performing Corps de Ballet and Soloist roles in numerous ballets, including Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Cinderella, Giselle, La Bayadere, La Corsair, and The Nutcracker. In addition to her dance career, Cassidy has competed in multiple international ballets, modern, contemporary, and rhythmic gymnastics competitions from ages 7 – 17, including SAIBC, CTIBC, The Geneé, American Dance Awards, Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, IDO World Show Dance & Modern Championships in Germany, where she won gold, silver and bronze medals.

Since 2018, Cassidy has taught and choreographed for various dance organizations in South Africa, winning gold, silver, and bronze medals across international dance competitions in Portugal, Germany, Poland, and South Africa.

At 19 years old, she was selected to teach contemporary classes at the MOOV Dance Convention alongside Alex Wong and Tara-Jean Popowich in 2018. Aside from her dancing career, Cassidy is an entrepreneur.

She has launched two online businesses: Uplift Health & Fitness, where she inspires her clients to prioritize their health and fitness through her personal training expertise, and Kingdom Creations, where she creates Faith-Filled Home Décor to encourage people into a deeper walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Cassidy de Kooker, Accomplished Professional Dancer and Entrepreneur, Austin, Texas