Sharon Tolczyk Biography
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Prior to her teaching career, Sharon danced with the Dayton Ballet Company and Peridance, a contemporary ballet company in New York City. While in Dayton, she also served as Ballet Mistress for the company and apprentice company, Dayton Ballet II. She has choreographed for the Amherst Ballet Theatre Company, Dayton Ballet II, Walnut Hill, and Albemarle Ballet Theatre. Sharon received her early training at the Princeton Ballet and in London, England. She studied at Walnut Hill School and the Amherst Ballet Centre during high school, and completed the Major Exams for the Royal Academy of Dancing, London, qualifying her as an Associate Member. After graduating from high school, she was a scholarship student for two years at the School of the Pennsylvania Ballet where she trained with Lupe Serrano and performed in the Pennsylvania Ballet’s Nutcracker. During her professional dancing career, she studied in New York City with Maggie Black, Marjorie Mussman, Benjamin Harkarvy, Larry Rhodes and others. She attended workshops with the Twyla Tharp and Paul Taylor dance companies. Since moving to Charlottesville in 1996, Sharon has studied art at PVCC with Chica Tenney, John Hancock, and Rebekah Wostrel, and at Mary Baldwin College with Sue Marion. She was a T.A. at Murray Elementary School, where she also served as Chair of the PTO’s Cultural Enrichment for three years, and was an Art Print volunteer. She is a member of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society. She and her husband, Dariusz, a Professor in the Slavic Department at the University of Virginia, have lived in western Albemarle since 1996; they have two adult children, Adam and Aleksandra. Sharon is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Crozet Arts.