Faculty:
BETTIJANE GREY-ROBINSON, Director
Bettijane graduated with High Honors from Northeastern University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education. She also holds a Master of Arts Degree in Literature.
She began dancing at the age of three and her love of dance has never diminished. When she was a senior in high school, she was offered a place in Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. On that same day she received an acceptance letter from Northeastern University, informing her of an almost full scholarship to the college. The decision to accept the scholarship is one that she has never regretted. While in college she danced professionally in a Regional Ballet Company. She started her dance school when she was a freshman in college. When she graduated she became a Boston Public School teacher, but continued to teach dance. She was the recipient of two Federal Mini-Grants to introduce public school children to diverse dance forms.
Bettijane has studied dance extensively with master teachers in Boston and New York City, California and Europe. She is Past-President of Dance Masters of America, New England Chapter, as well as the Dance Teachers' Club of Boston, and she is a member of Dance Educators of America. She has taught Master Classes for the major dance organizations, and has been a faculty member for the Boston Dance Teachers National Convention.
She founded Commonwealth Dance Academy when she moved to Walpole in 1984. Over the past 27 years she has seen the school grow. Several of her students have been awarded scholarships to National Ballet Seminars and National Convention Workshops in New York City, Orlando and Las Vegas. Her dancers have won Platinum, Gold and Silver Medals at Regional and National Dance Competitions. Former students have become professional dancers and certified dance teachers. Many of her students have chosen to major or minor in dance in college.
When Bettijane Grey-Robinson reflects on her accomplishments in dance, her greatest joy is in sharing her love of dance with all her students.
ELAINE MANNIX
Elaine discovered her love for dance as a student of Bettijane Robinson at the age of three. As a dancer in Commonwealth Dance Academy she had the opportunity to compete successfully at regional and national levels of competition as well as begin her teaching career. During her studies at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts she helped establish the school’s dance company in which she was a choreographer as well as a performer. Elaine is a graduate of Dance Teachers Club of Boston Dance Education Training Course, and is a certified member of that organization. In the summer of 2010 she was recognized for her dedication to dance education by being asked to serve as a committee member and student advisor to the Dance Teacher Training Course.
Elaine has been part of the Commonwealth Dance Academy faculty since 2003. She teaches Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, Hip Hop and Intensive programs as well as assist Bettijane in running the school’s performing Dance Company. Her routines are consistently recognized for their innovative choreography, most recently at Dance Educators of America’s 2010 Regional Springfield competition where they received Golds and Platinum medals along with numerous specialty awards.
She enhances her training by attending dance conventions sponsored by Dance Teacher Magazine, Dance Educators of America, and Rhee Gold’s Dance Studio Life This will be Elaine’s 22nd year as a part of the Commonwealth Dance Academy family and she couldn’t be happier!
