Staff

Brooke Desnoës is Director of Dance Programs at Wallace State Community College where she teaches classical ballet, pointe, dance history, dance pedagogy, dance composition and contemporary dance to undergraduate students. She also teaches master classes and is a guest artist choreographing

and staging ballets. Brooke Desnoës received her early training from Sonia Arova at Alabama School of

Performing Arts and at Atlanta Ballet. She has performed with Scottish Ballet, Alabama Ballet,

Gainesville Ballet, Loudoun Ballet, and Georgetown Ballet. Her education includes a BA from Brenau

University and a MA in Professional Practice Dance Technique Pedagogy from Middlesex University in

London, England. After a period of teaching at The Washington School of Ballet in Washington D.C.

under the direction of Mary Day, Brooke Desnoës founded L’Académie Américaine de Danse de Paris

(AADP) in France. Since its creation in 1997 AADP grew to become one of the largest (over 900

students) and most reputable ballet schools in Europe.

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“Brooke is one of the few people I have ever known who sees such a ‘big picture’ and she immediately

recognizes what is valuable and where someone’s possibilities could take them. She is not afraid to

consider all possible connections and benefits, with a diversity that informs her teaching and choreography

that makes for a more complete education in a dancer of today’s time.” – Violette Verdy

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While establishing her Ballet school in Paris with the financial support of The Annenberg Foundation, Ms.

Desnoës devised several educational programs among which a pre-professional training course that

welcomed young dancers from across Europe, North America and Asia. In 2007 she also successfully

started a Master Class Series, which gave young talented European dancers the opportunity to study with

prominent dancers and instructors such as; Violette Verdy, Suki Schorer, Gailene Stock, Gary Norman,

Amanda McKerrow, John Gardner, Deborah Dobson, Karin Averty, Elizabeth Platel and Jolinda Menendez

among others. Her students have gone on to study at schools such as; American Ballet Theatre (ABT),

The Washington School of Ballet, Atlanta Ballet School of Dance, Alvin Ailey Dance Center, The Boston

Ballet School, The Cranko School, The Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet School, The Joffrey

Academy - Chicago, Nutmeg Conservatory, The Rock School and Die Ballettschule des Hamburg Ballett.

At the end of their training a number of her dancers joined companies in Europe, North America, Japan

and Mexico. In 2010 Brooke created “Le Jeune Ballet Franco-Américain” providing young professional

dancers, between the age of 17 and 22, the opportunity to perform full length ballets and original

choreographies multiple times a year across France and Europe. With her young company, Ms. Desnoës

has staged classic ballets as well as her own creations at Le Palais des Congres de Paris, Le Théâtre de

Verdure de Ramatuelle, Le Théâtre de Neuilly, Le Centre Culturel de Porto-Vecchio, the Camara Municipal

de Caiscais in Portugal and more rencently in China on the Yinchuan and Guangzhou campuses of Minzu

University.

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Ms. Desnoës has initiated a collaboration with Florida State University, and Columbia Global Centers in

Paris. These programs offer US students the opportunity to study ballet at AADP and obtain university

credits for the classes successfully completed over a trimester. She is frequently invited to hold masterclasses in Europe and abroad in classical ballet, variation and in dance history. She is a regular teacher at the Joffrey Academy, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Principia College and is invited to teach at Ruth Page, the University of Cincinnati and New York University/Tisch. She has also implemented a series of

teacher exchange program with the Joffrey Academy and The Royal Ballet School of London.

Her students can also be found in the finals of international dance competitions such as Youth America

Grand Prix, Prix d’Europe, Tanzolymp in Berlin. Brooke is a regular jury member and master teacher to

numerous international dance competitions. Ms. Desnoës has also formed partnerships with charity

organizations and offered community outreach programs for institutions such as Hopital Necker, Envol,

Votre Ecole Chez Vous. Her dancers have performed in several benefit performances hosted by the

American, the British and the Czech Republic embassies. Ms. Desnoës has also remained at the heart of

fundraising and development for AADP. In 2017 she partnered with the town of Le Chateau d’Oleron,

France to create a satellite school for AADP. This extension serves local students and will be the home of

an International Summer Ballet School.

 

Ms. Desnoës obtained the French state ballet teaching certificate in 1993 and has been a member of the

“Conseil International de la Danse”/ UNESCO since 2006. She worked directly with the Royal Academy of

Dance to coordinate events in Paris where she was granted the title of Mentor in 2009. In 2014, for its 25th

anniversary, the Annenberg Foundation identified Brooke Desnoës as one of the 25 vision-driven leaders

chosen to represent the 8500 grantees whose visions they supported since its creation. In 2021 she

beccame a certified teacher of Progressing Ballet Technique and is a current member of NDEO.

In 2019, Ms. Desnoes returned with her family to her native Alabama and created the dance program at

Wallace State Community College. Conjointly, she created the BD Ballet Academy and Ballet South, its

junior dance company. Since returning to the United States, Brooke has continued to serve as a guest

teacher, featured choreographer, and a panel member to Alabama Dance Festival, North Alabama

Dance Festival, American College Dance Festival and other leading dance schools across the

southeast. Her current research is focused on community engagement through dance. She focuses on

an in-depth look into the current types of programming, motivations, and effects dance has on

communities. Brooke Desnoës is committed to the achievement of the highest standard for all of her

students. She believes that every dancer must be provided with careful guidance and be offered the

opportunity to maximize one’s potential through a learning process that involves a deep understanding of

the physical, technical and artistic attributes that compose the diverse and multiple facets of ballet.