About
The Walla Walla DANCE Company, Co-Directed by Justine Clark & Jennifer Clark and Founded by Nancy Wells, has been offering classes in physical dance training in the community for over 30 years.
Located in the Historic Copeland Building at 129 East Alder, in the Creative District of Walla Walla!
We believe the art and discipline of dance training has many benefits, offering opportunities to develop skills, creativity, coordination, spatial awareness & musicality in an environment that fosters individual growth and expression through movement.
Justine and Jennifer both grew up in Walla Walla studying Jazz with Nancy Wells, Ballet with Idalee Hutson-Fish, as well as many guest Teaching Artists through workshops and intensives in their youth, including Summer Dance Lab at Whitman College for several years.
located upstairs in the historic Copeland Building at 129 East Alder in downtown Walla Walla.
Faculty
Justine Clark
Dancer / Teacher / Choreographer / Artistic Director
Justine grew to love dance classes and performing, as well as helping with the younger classes around age 10 and first began teaching at the studio as a teen. She went on to teach at WWCC while a student and captain of the dance team, assisting Teri Rowe and gaining valuable experience. She taught for Universal Dance Association, was a judge for State dance team competitions (Jen, too!) and traveled around the region to set choreography and offer workshops to the teams.
Upon graduation, Justine moved to Seattle to pursue training and concert dance at Westlake Dance Center, joining the WDC Performance Group. Her many hours of training in all available classes led to her joining the teaching faculty as well as the Hip Hop company, IN - EFFECT and performing the work of all the teachers and choreographers at WDC including Kari-Lee Florentine, Sheri Lewis, Kirsten Cooper, Kirsten Barron, Daniel Cruz, and Kim Gockel.
Justine gained further experience assisting Kirsten Cooper with the WDCPG, developing her skills and passion for training pre-professional dancers. Students have gone on to work in film & television, dancing professionally in Los Angeles and New York, touring with popular artists, in awards shows and live concerts, attending NYU, SUNY / Purchase, Chapman, Loyola Marymount, Barnard and more…
While in Seattle, Justine taught at the highest level in surrounding studios and at the prestigious school of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. She taught at the Dance Underground / Seattle, Summer Dance Lab / Whitman College Campus, and occasionally at Cornish College of The Arts.
Beyond Seattle, Justine spent many years training in Los Angeles, first arriving on a year-long scholarship at Edge Performing Arts Center (sadly, it has since closed). She had the opportunity to study alongside and work with top dancers and choreographers in the commercial industry as well as to perform, gaining her own professional experience and learning from some of the greatest contemporary dance artists in Los Angeles. As a member of Hysterica Dance Company, Directed by Kitty McNamee with Co-Artistic Director and company member Ryan Heffington + Nina McNeely, Mecca Vazie Andrews, Marlon Pelayo, Scott Hislop & more. Some of her favorite well-known places to perform were LACMA, MOCA, L A Opera, L A Philharmonic and the Ford Amphitheater.
Justine was called back to the Pacific Northwest to pursue the other side of dance that she loves (teaching!) and to begin building the foundation of a professional partnership with her twin and best friend, Jennifer.
jennifer clark
Dancer / Teacher / Choreographer / Artistic Director
Jen has been an instrumental part of the development at the Walla Walla DANCE Company for the last 25 years. Generously sharing her passion for dance and her creativity in choreography, along with an unwavering dedication to impeccable technique (a quality she shares with Justine!).
Along with teaching, Jen has performed professionally in Seattle with Cruz Control (Daniel Cruz) alongside notable performers and artists, in Sign of The Times (WDC) in Los Angeles with Nina McNeely and has taught at Westlake Dance Center, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Dance This / Seattle Theater Group and more.
Her teaching and choreography is at the core of the DANCE Co. and her students have gone on to dance in college and in companies.
We look forward to seeing where our current students’ training and love of dance will take them.
Working together in the studio has helped us to strengthen ourselves as teachers in partnership as well as independently. We are incredibly thankful for the opportunity to continue the legacy of the studio space that we grew up in, with our own studies and experiences informing our philosophies in teaching and the importance of the technique that supports the artistry. The importance of the discovery, the discipline, the joy of movement, the effort and reward; the benefits of dance have the potential to last a lifetime.
Thank you for supporting our journey with the Walla Walla DANCE Company. Our lives in dance have been full of inspiration and awe. We are honored to be here sharing what we love with an outstanding faculty of dedicated teaching artists and our students.