About

Intro:  Ballet Butterfly is a Dancer Lifestyle and Life Coaching brand that helps aspiring professional dancers ‘fill in the gaps’ essential to succeed and sustain a lifelong career in dance - through body, mind and spirit.   

Challenge:  In the US we do not have the luxury of government funded ballet schools to prepare and train the "whole" dancer. Students go to academic schools during the day and attend separate ballet/dance classes at night. This does not allow for development of the "whole" dancer. Dancers are left to "figure out" how to fill in the gaps - leading to dangerous outcomes - such as eating disorders, injuries and careers that are cut short, or sadly never born.  

Why Ballet Butterfly:  Anna Duvall is both an American who intimately understands the gaps in the US system, and who also had the honor and privilege to train at the prestigious ballet school in Russia, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. She understands deeply and personally the differences in the training and the outcomes. She knows and recognize the gaps, as well as the solutions, and has the experience to ‘fill in these gaps’. With a successful professional career, as well as a Masters in Dance Education from New York University and American Ballet Theatre, her knowledge and understanding of how to educate and prepare the dancers of tomorrow is whole. 

Vision & Dream:  Ballet Butterfly's dream is to fill in the gaps and build the dancers of the 21st century – through body, mind and spirit & to make becoming a professional dancer less of a mystery.

Excelling in dance since an early age, Anna was a first place scholarship recipient of the Denver Ballet Guild and among the first Americans invited to study at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, a story which garnered news coverage from both CNN and the Moscow Times.  She received full scholarships from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, San Francisco Ballet and Colorado Ballet School.  Connected with a variety of international artists, Duvall found a guest artist opportunity in Japan to perform, teach, and further her training. Anna’s professional dance career began with Colorado Ballet, where she performed for over a decade in roles such as Clara in the Nutcracker, the Spring Fairy in Cinderella, Russian Girl in Serenade, and the White Cat in Sleeping Beauty. With the Colorado-based Ballet Nouveau – Anna earned critical praise from the Denver Post for her role as Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. Upon later joining California Ballet, she performed in such productions as the company’s Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and various Repertory works. Anna has taught ballet both nationally and internationally for nearly two decades. She has a passion for teaching and loves sharing all of the 'hidden' knowledge she has dug up under the trenches of the ballet world... 

In December of 2015, Anna completed her Master of Arts at NYU on scholarship, to further her teaching credentials and partake in American Ballet Theatre’s Pedagogy Master’s Program at the University.  American Ballet Theatre, National Training Curriculum also has a special focus on the health of the student and proper developmental stages of teaching, as well as outreach programs and training.  Anna has most recently been the Artistic Director of The Sun Valley Ballet School in Idaho and is now a Colorado Ballet Academy Instructor. 

Anna also has experience as a mother. Her daughter was born in NYC, where she had an emergency C-section at the New York University Hospital, shortly before attending her masters at the same university. Anna had a difficult recovery and researched ways to find balance in her body and life again as a mother and dancer. Her daughter, Audrey, inspired Anna to create and design a successful and unique baby ballet class for infants/toddlers and their care takers in Manhattan. Anna went on to teach, choreograph, dance and even perform again after her recovery.

When her daughter, Audrey was 2, she created, produced and performed her original production in NYC, "Soul of a Blue Butterfly" - the true story of her experience in Jerusalem, Israel. Anna also produced and performed productions while she lived in Israel. After the completion of the production in NYC, Anna graduated from New York University with her Masters in Dance Education and American Ballet Theatre pedagogy. 

Anna's mother, Ulla Duvall was a Swedish fashion designer with her own store in Philly, before Anna was born. She always inspired Anna to see the full design and fashion of a dancer and production. Ulla is also a homeopathic doctor who inspired Anna to pay special attention to nutrition, injury prevention and other dancer care regiments throughout her career. This, coupled with her lifelong experience as a dancer, instructor, choreographer and producer has inspired her to create this online venture and resource, to share all that she has learned over the years, as well as the invaluable experience of her peers, mentors and teachers.