Head of Dance
Grace Okonkwo
Teaches jazz and contemporary, and writes the recital programme.
Background
Grace came to us in 2014 from commercial work — stage, television and a long run of corporate industrials that she describes as the least glamorous and best-paid dancing she ever did. She teaches jazz across every age group and contemporary from the intermediates upward.
She builds the recital programme, which means she is the person who decides that a class of six-year-olds is on stage for ninety seconds and not for four minutes. That is a technical judgement about attention and nerves, not an artistic one, and she will explain it to any parent who asks.
Her adult jazz class on Thursday evening is the largest single class in the school and has a waiting list most terms.
Teaches jazz and contemporary, and writes the recital programme.
The point of the recital is not the recital. It is the eleven weeks of knowing one is coming.
The timetable
Every class Grace teaches
| Class | Day | Time | Room | Teacher | Places | Term fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JazzFirst Steps creative dance ages 3 to 5 | Tuesday | 4:00pm - 4:45pm | Studio B | Grace Okonkwo | 12 | $234 |
| JazzJazz 1 ages 6 to 9 | Tuesday | 4:45pm - 5:45pm | Studio A | Grace Okonkwo | 16 | $286 |
| JazzJazz 2 ages 10 to 13 | Tuesday | 5:45pm - 7:00pm | Studio A | Grace Okonkwo | 16 | $338 |
| ContemporaryTeens ages 13 to 17 | Tuesday | 7:00pm - 8:15pm | Studio A | Grace Okonkwo | 16 | $338 |
| JazzJuniors ages 6 to 8 | Wednesday | 5:00pm - 6:00pm | Studio B | Grace Okonkwo | 14 | $286 |
| ContemporaryAdult open eighteen and over | Wednesday | 6:15pm - 7:30pm | Studio B | Grace Okonkwo | 14 | $338 |
| JazzJazz 3 ages 14 to 17 | Thursday | 5:00pm - 6:00pm | Studio A | Grace Okonkwo | 16 | $286 |
| JazzAdult open eighteen and over | Thursday | 7:30pm - 8:45pm | Studio A | Grace Okonkwo | 18 | $338 |
| ContemporaryJuniors ages 9 to 12 | Friday | 4:45pm - 5:45pm | Studio B | Grace Okonkwo | 14 | $286 |
| JazzFirst Steps creative dance ages 3 to 5 | Saturday | 9:00am - 9:45am | Studio B | Grace Okonkwo | 12 | $234 |
| JazzIntermediates ages 9 to 12 | Saturday | 11:00am - 12:00pm | Studio B | Grace Okonkwo | 14 | $286 |
| ContemporaryTeens ages 13 to 17 | Saturday | 12:00pm - 1:15pm | Studio A | Grace Okonkwo | 16 | $338 |
Every fee here is a rate times a number of sessions. Every fee on this site is a per-session rate multiplied by the number of times the class actually meets in that term. The multiplication is shown rather than the answer, because two classes of the same length in the same term can honestly cost different amounts when a holiday falls on one of their weekdays.
What Grace teaches
- Jazz — Fast, rhythmic and the most immediately satisfying class in the building for a beginner.
- Contemporary — Weight, floor and breath — the class that changes how a trained dancer moves.
What to expect in this class
Expect a warm-up that is genuinely earning its place, a combination built across the term rather than handed over complete in the first week, and, if you ask why a six-year-old is on stage for ninety seconds and a teenager for four minutes, a real explanation rather than a shrug — it is a judgement about attention, and she has thought about it.
Fall Term 2026 · enrolment open · one free trial per student per discipline
Book a free trial in one of Grace's classes
One free trial per student per discipline, in any class marked as taking one. It is a real class and the student joins in, taught by the person whose page this is.