Victoria Schneider is celebrating thirty years on the ballet faculty at Harid Conservatory. She began her ballet training with Fred Danieli at the School of the Garden State Ballet in New Jersey, performing with the Company while still in her teens and danced soloist roles in a number of Balanchine ballets.

At Pennsylvania Ballet, she took on various jobs: dancer, teacher, administrator, and assistant to both company founder Barbara Weisberger and artistic director Benjamin Harkarvy.  She moved to Italy to become principal teacher at La Scuola di Danza Classica in Florence.

She later opened the school at Tampa Ballet while studying with Jurgen Schneider—who later became her husband—and helped him organize Russian-ballet teaching seminars across the United States and in Australia and Asia. She was accepted into the international teachers’ course at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia - one of only three Americans to be certified through the two-year program. 

In our conversation, Vicki shares about the process of becoming an educator, navigating the professional landscape of dance, and the humility it takes to be willing to grow.

Learn more about Vicki and Harid Conservatory: https://harid.edu/ballet-faculty/victoria-schneider/

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