Heather Hill Owner/Director

Heather began dancing 25 years ago under the instruction of Tom Irwin at Corvallis School of Ballet then later with Shelly Svoboda when it became Regional School of Ballet. At the age of 11, she began to study with the Eugene School of Ballet under Toni Pimble, Riley Grannan, Susan Zadoff, and Sarah Lombardi. She spent two winter seasons dancing the role of “Clara” on tour with the Eugene Ballet Company. Her training also includes summer dance intensives at Eugene Dance Pursuit, Ballet Aspen, Royal Winnipeg School of Ballet, and JoAnna Kneeland & Mary Price Boday's Dance Kinesiology. Teaching for the last 10 years at RSB, Heather has also continued her dance education and has participated in the David Howard teachers' seminar while still continuing to dance and perform each year. Heather feels that every dance instructor in her past has taken part in giving her a wonderful gift, one that she hopes to pass on to aspiring dancers.

Kaisa Laukkanen/Dance Instructor

Kaisa is a versatile dancer and experienced teacher. She has been dancing for 18 years and teaching dance for nine years. She began dancing at Windance School of Performing Arts under the tutelage of Wendy Vasion, learning ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, and character dancing, as well as acting skills and performing in many leading roles. Kaisa then went on to attend Washington University in St. Louis, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a Minor in Ballet. At WashU, Kaisa studied under Christine Knoblauch O'Neal, who was one of Anthony Tudor's dancers at American Ballet Theatre, and Sally Brailey Bliss who danced with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, co-founded Joffrey II and is Executive Director of Tudor's Trust. At WashU, Kaisa also danced four years with Jive, the University’s dance team, and performed hip hop, pom, funk, lyrical, swing, jazz, and kick routines. After college, Kaisa began teaching ballet, tap, jazz, and creative movement as Artistic Director of Dance at RiverCity School of Arts & Crafts in Ilwaco, Washington where she fell in love with teaching dance. The passion of sharing dance with students and witnessing their growth and gain in self-confidence led her to study Arts in Education at Harvard University, where she graduated with a Master's degree in Education. Kaisa is a licensed elementary teacher, as well as a yoga and pilates instructor. Currently, Kaisa teaches a credit ballet course at Linn Benton Community College, as well as non-credit yoga and pilates classes. She also teaches ballet and jazz at the Regional School of Ballet. As part of her continued dance education Kaisa takes advanced level classes, continues to perform, and attends local dance performances for inspiration and choreographic innovation. More than anything else, Kaisa loves to share her passion of dance with students of all ages and abilities.

Samuel Hobbs/Dance Instructor

Sam Hobbs was a former university track athlete until he was exposed to dance in 2004. Switching his major from Mathematics and Computer Science to the visual and performing arts, Sam began his dance training in both contemporary dance and classical ballet, studying on scholarship at the Long Beach Ballet Summer Intensive, Western Oregon University, and the American Dance Festival. As a student, Samuel has three times represented Western Oregon University as a performer at the American College Dance Festival and once at the National College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. Choreographing a number of pieces, Samuel’s “48 More Hours” was selected to represent Western Oregon University in 2007 at the American College Dance Festival, and earned him the Outstanding Student Choreography award from Western Oregon University. His first stage experience happened as the role of the Cavalier for the Regional School of Ballet’s Nutcracker in Corvallis, OR in 2004 where he continued to perform for the next three seasons. In 2005, Sam began performing with Rainbow Dance Theatre (RDT) of Monmouth, OR both nationally and internationally—most notably at the World Exposition in Nagoya, Japan. In 2006 Sam began his first season with Minh Tran & Company of Portland, OR, and since graduation, has performed in The Portland Ballet’s “La Boutique Fantasque” as the Cossak Soldier, and has just completed his first year in the ranks of the Portland based company BodyVox. Currently, Sam is performing once again with Rainbow Dance Theatre, while teaching here at Legacy Ballet.

Ashley Lindquist/Dance Instructor

Ashley Lindquist started dancing when she was 11 at the Da Vinci School of Arts. In high school she studied jazz, tap, lyrical, modern, ballet, and hip hop at The Dance Studio in Port Townsend, WA. During her first two years of college she danced on the Peninsula College dance team where she also helped with choreography. Currently, she is a Junior at Oregon State University and is very excited to be able to share her love and passion for dance through teaching.