As Odette, Swan Lake Act Two Photography by Michael Ives, 1989

Ask Desiree about the 2020

Body-Mind-Spirit Connectivity Workshop

•Explore imagery, anatomical awareness, and full embodiment of motion.

•Create and ride the wave of your fluid breath.

•Discover joy, moving through time and space with clear intent.

For booking information and availability, please contact Desiree directly at desireeroan@gmail.com

Desiree LaVigne-Roan has thirty plus years professional dance experience as a performer, educator, choreographer and director.

Desiree is a frequent guest teaching artist with The Oklahoma City Ballet Yvonne Chouteau School, University of Central Oklahoma Department of Dance, Oklahoma University School of Dance, Tulsa Dance Company, Lawton Ballet Theatre, Brownsville Dance Center, Bellas Artes Academy and Dancing Expressions Studio.  She has served on the roster for teaching and performing artist with The New Mexico State Arts Council, Alaska Arts Council and continues with the Oklahoma Arts Council since 1998.

Desiree enjoys being Guest Resident Character Artist for Oklahoma City Ballet and will be featured this season as she revisits the role of Nursemaid in OKCB Director, Robert Mill’s full length production of Romeo and Juliet. 

Desiree continues to explore and enhance her craft as a mature performer, independent choreographer and educator.  She is a member of the National Dance Educators Organization, is entering her forth and final year as a Candidate for Bill Evans Dance Teacher Certification; Evans Dance Method/Evans Pedagogy, and is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology at University of Texas Rio Grand Valley.  Over the past decade, she has redefined and honed in on her teaching method and style, creating a more holistic, somatic based approach. Guiding her classes through imagery, anatomical awareness, total body-mind connectivity and full embodiment of movement, she leads participants in an exploration of positive choices where they discover inner joy moving through time and space with clear intent while developing efficient, pain free, fluid patterns of motion. Desiree is dedicated to the further development of dance education and her choreographic voice in an effort to engage, inspire and transform.

A word from Desiree:

“I love guiding dancers through self-exploration of movement patterns. Together we may discover where we are bracing, holding or possibly blocked. Together we find out how to unlock what is limiting growth, full movement potential and efficient injury free motion. Moving in this way and sharing the process with young dance students, has greatly nurtured my being on a cellular level. As a dance educator, witnessing these discoveries by my students is very gratifying and feeds my soul. It is especially inspiring to see one let go of embedded fear, embrace fluid breath, unlock limitless range of motion and create healthy efficient patterns of movement, that in itself, creates a whole new vibrant and alive form of expressivity. When my students are awakened to all the positive possibilities they can choose, and move in a real-life organic way, then I know I’ve been apart of something truly profound. It deepens my love and passion, loving what I do and doing what I love!!!” ... Desiree LaVigne-Roan

What others say about Desiree:

 “Desiree is a generous and engaging teacher who works well with different levels and ages. She brings a wonderful energy to her work that is infectious!” ... Penny Askew, Director of Oklahoma City Ballet Yvonne Chouteau School of Dance

“I had the pleasure of taking a class with Desiree LaVigne-Roan when she served as a substitute for our dance majors’ ballet class at the University of Central Oklahoma.  I feel that as a teacher, she did so much more than to just provide a standard barre.  She used terms from anatomy and Laban Movement Analysis which gave the students vivid images and accessible information to enhance their experience. The whole class was very well thought-out and I felt grounded, aligned and ready to move following her class!”  ....Tina Kambour, Artistic Director of Kaleidoscope Dance Company and Faculty of University of Central Oklahoma 

“Ms. Roan is an accomplished and responsible teacher who relates well with her students. Her classes are structured and disciplined with the needs of each student taken in account. It is a pleasure to recommend her.” ...Juan Burgos, Artistic Director of Bellas Artes Academy in Brownsville, Texas

“Ms. Desiree was really a breath of fresh air for my dancers. She’s fun, energetic and passionate about her work and she really shows that in her award-winning choreography. My dancers and I couldn’t be happier to have worked with her this year.” … Eneyda Dimas, Owner & Artistic Director of Dance Expressions in Brownsville, Texas

Biography

Desiree began studying dance at the age of seven with Caroline van Rossum-Dublisky in Lawton, Oklahoma at the Lawton Academy of Classical Ballet where she was first introduced to R.A.D. training.  She completed her formal ballet education in Ft. Worth, Texas with the Southwest Ballet Center under the direction of William Martin-Viscount, where she studied Bournonville and Vagonova ballet techniques.   Desiree has been coached by and studied with such ballet legends as Madame Nathalie Krassovska, Madame Yvonne Chouteau, Royal Danish Ballet’s Kirsten Ralov, Keiv Opera Ballet’s Galina Samsova and Kirov Prima Ballerina, Irina Kolpakova. She has studied modern dance technique with William “Bill” Evans and Jennifer Predock-Linnell at the University of New Mexico and Jamie Jacobson at the University of Central Oklahoma. 

Desiree began her professional career at the age of sixteen, performing many soloist and principal roles with the Fort Worth City Ballet, Ballet Midland, Ballet Oklahoma, Southwest Ballet Company and her own touring company, New Mexico Dance Umbrella.  Her favorite roles include; the title role of Gisele, Peasant Pas from Giselle, Odette from Swan Lake Act II, Spinning Girl from Les Patineurs, Princess Aurora from The Sleeping Beauty, Lise from La Fille Mal Gardee and Sugar Plum, Snow Queen and Dew Drop from The Nutcracker.  Desiree has enjoyed performing in and staging such classics as; Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, La Fille Mal Gardee, The Nutcracker, Copellia, La Grande Pas de Quatre, Les Sylphide, Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadere,  Napoli Act III, La Ventana, Flower Festival and Pas de Dix from Raymonda Act III, Romeo and Juliet. 

Desiree serves as Guest Resident Character Artist for Oklahoma City Ballet and has been featured as Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz, the Innkeepers’ Wife in Robert Mills’ Paris Rouge, Grand Mama in The Nutcracker and Nursemaid in Romeo and Juliet.  She is proud to serve as teaching artist on the roster for both the State of Alaska’s Council on the Arts and Oklahoma State Arts Council where she has reached thousands of children, sharing her passion and joy for the art of dance.  She has been a visiting Ballet Master for such universities as; University of New Mexico, University of Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma University School of Dance, Hamilton College New York, and Winona State University Wisconsin.  Desiree has served as director for Dance New Mexico, Albuquerque Ballet Company (guest), Victoria Ballet Theatre (guest), Ballet Lubbock, Rochester Ballet School, Academy of Dance Arts, DanceXpress Oklahoma, Ballet Esprit, Ketchikan Theatre Ballet.   

Currently, Desiree and her husband Charles, reside in the sunny Rio Grande Valley during the winter months. They enjoy gardening, bird watching and the local Mexican Cuisine. During the hot summer months, they escape north traveling the country in their RV visiting family, friends and attending dance educator’s conferences, workshops and intensives.