[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1530791278145{margin-bottom: 106px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1598294866591{padding-top: 13px !important;}”]<\/p>\n
Willis-Aarnio received Texas Christian University’s Alfie Special Achievement Award<\/i> for her choreography in Gilbert and Sullivan’s ballad operetta, Patience<\/i>. Willis-Aarnio held the honor of being the first American to choreograph a new classical ballet work for several top Russian Companies in Saint-Petersburg, Russia.<\/sup>\u00a0She was an honorary member and North American representative of the Society of Russian Style Ballet. Her ballet company, The Willis Ballet, toured England in 1987 and performed for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1530791293663{margin-bottom: 106px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1598294993596{padding-top: 13px !important;}”]<\/p>\n Willis-Aarnio was the only American to be certified to teach the Vaganova classical ballet training program outside of Russia, a rare achievement for anyone to achieve in their lifetime. Peggy and her sister Sheila Willis Kleiman produced The Willis Ballet Educational DVD Library which also includes Classical Ballet music for the ballet lesson, to be used as companion to How to Teach Classical Ballet Books for Teachers who want to learn Teaching Method.<\/p>\n They are educational DVD\/videos showcasing Galina Mezentseva’s training which lead her to becoming Kirov’s Prima Ballerina. \u2033One of the most significant educational ballet videos of our time. And, Mezentseva turns a mere ballet lesson into a Work of Art!\u2033 Olga Rozanova \u2212 Dance Critic, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Ballet, Choreography and Methodology, St Petersburg, Russia.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”2451″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1530791303361{margin-bottom: 106px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”2456″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1598296013074{padding-right: 15px !important;}”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1598295045186{padding-top: 13px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;}”]<\/p>\n Peggy Willis- Aarnio published the book \u2033Agrippina Vaganova (1879- 1951) \u2014Her Place in the History of Ballet and her Impact on the Future of Classical Dance\u2013.<\/p>\n She also produced numerous educational materials throughout her 32 years as a professor at Texas Tech University.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces”][vc_column][vc_mad_cta title=”Learn More about Peggy Willis-Aarnio at her Wikipedia page” type=”type5″ image1=”339″ title_color=”#ffffff” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FPeggy_Willis-Aarnio|title:GO!%20Opens%20in%20new%20page|target:%20_blank|” custom_button_color=”#ffffff”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1530791278145{margin-bottom: 106px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1598294866591{padding-top: 13px !important;}”] Awards & Honors Willis-Aarnio received Texas Christian University’s Alfie Special Achievement Award for her choreography in Gilbert and Sullivan’s ballad operetta, Patience. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-589","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"campaignId":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paceballet.org\/PACE2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paceballet.org\/PACE2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paceballet.org\/PACE2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paceballet.org\/PACE2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paceballet.org\/PACE2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/paceballet.org\/PACE2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2458,"href":"https:\/\/paceballet.org\/PACE2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/589\/revisions\/2458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paceballet.org\/PACE2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIn 1998, she received the “Woman of Excellence Award in the Arts” from the YWCA, City of Lubbock, Texas.<\/sup>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”2450″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1530791286117{margin-bottom: 106px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”2449″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1598295394199{padding-right: 15px !important;}”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1598295934975{padding-top: 13px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;}”]<\/p>\nQueen Elizabeth & Prince Philip.<\/h3>\n
Dedication & Rewards<\/h3>\n
Performance Measured<\/h3>\n