Joan Walton’s energetic,
focused teaching, theatrical choreographies and morning warmups
have become well known to dancers over the years. She has the
ability to communicate movement concepts with energy, humor and
interest. A keen observer of learning styles, Joan has an
ongoing interest in understanding the many ways that people
learn to dance.
Her classes in Ragtime, Jazz Age, Swing Era and 19th Century
dance have been seen at Vintage Dance workshops across the USA,
in Paris and the Czech Republic. As Assistant Director and
dancer in Cincinnati with Richard Powers' Flying Cloud Vintage
Dance Troupe for 10 years, she performed on the ABC-TV
mini-series North and South.
Joan designed choreography for award-winning operas and musical
theatre productions at the University of Cincinnati's
College-Conservatory of Music, and other schools in the midwest.
She was a guest artist with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under
the direction of Keith Lockhart, performing Morton Gould’s
challenging Tap Dance Concerto.
Along with free-lancing around the country and teaching dance at
Google Headquarters in Mountain View, she currently teaches
Dance in World Cultures and Dance Appreciation at San Jose State
University, along with Social Dance, Swing Dance, Waltz, Latin
and Tap Dance classes at the College of San Mateo. She has a
Master’s degree in Dance Education from Stanford University’s
top-ranked School of Education