Pamela Trokanski Dance Workshop and Performing Arts Center

The Pamela Trokanski Dance Workshop and Performing Arts Center helps students hone both the art and craft of dance through classes that focus on technique and through performing opportunities. Students of any age and any level of experience can find challenging classes with a supportive and positive atmosphere.

The Pamela Trokanski Dance Workshop provides classes in

• Modern/Contemporary
• Jazz
• Ballet
• Hip Hop
• Dance Team (combines Jazz and Hip Hop in a popular performance style)
• Belly Dance (both Traditional Cabaret Style and American Fusion Style)
• Earth Rhythms (an African Ethnic derived dance style)
• Tap
• Dance for Musical Theater
• Pre-Ballet for children 4 - 6years old
• Zumba

July 2002 — In honor of Susan Mangel on the 30th anniversary of her helping people move.

Pamela Trokanski - Director of the Dance Workshop. She holds degree in Dance and has been teaching, choreographing, and performing for 30 years. She teaches a wide range of classes at the studio, reflecting her interest and belief in the importance of a "multilingual approach" to a dancer's training. She teaches the Modern/Contemporary Classes, as well as Jazz, Earth Rhythms (an African -ethnic based dance form,) Dance Improvisation and Ballet level Beginning I for children. She also teaches all the Pre-Ballet Classes. She has a teaching certification for Physical Education K - 12. She is the Dance Teacher at Davis Senior High School, and a Dance Critic for the Davis Enterprise.

The Dance Workshop maintains a faculty of 10 - 13 teachers with training in a wide variety of technical styles.

The Pamela Trokanski Performing Arts Center is home to three performing companies:

• The Pamela Trokanski Dance Theatre is a post-modern, contemporary dance company. They present fall and spring concerts each year in Davis, in addition to multiple community outreach programs.
• The Third Stage Dance Company is an associate company of the Dance Theatre, focusing on a multi-generational approach to choreography and the use of the non-traditional dancer in concert dance.
• The Apprentice Company a post-modern, contemporary dance company. It is compromised of younger dancers working for the future.

• See also dancing, dance studios, and dance classes.

2009-06-30 16:31:13   not —bam

2012-04-17 19:53:53   I have danced at Pamela Trokanski's Dance Workshop for 10 years. I have studied Jazz, Modern/Contemporary, Improvisation and Earth Rhythms. My daughters danced here from ages 4-14 and remember classes here as fun, challenging, wonderful for creative expression and learning dance technique. This is a great place!

—CindyRobinson

2013-05-06 10:15:04   I started dancing at this studio in 2006 and have been there ever since. The first time I called the studio, I heard a message on their answering machine talking about how everyone can dance at any age and I knew this was the place for me as an adult who just wanted to keep dancing. The quality of the training here is far beyond any studio I have taken classes at. The teachers care and make sure students use good technique to keep them safe. I mainly take jazz and modern/contemporary classes, but I've taken ballet, dance team, break dance, dance team, and hip hop occasionally. There are even opportunities for everyone to perform if they want. It's an amazing place and and excellent community. The dancers are friendly and encouraging. —MicheleTobias

2013-05-08 13:53:09   I started dancing at this studio about a year and a half ago, after trying nearly every studio in Davis and Sacramento. I have to say it is THE BEST dance studio in the entire Davis/Sacramento area! As someone who moved from the bay area not long ago, I would even say that this studio is comparable and even better than some of the best studios in the bay area. Another bonus this studio offers is lots of performance opportunities for people of all ages and skill levels. If you really want to see your dancing improve with high quality dance instruction, no matter where you are as a dancer, then take classes here. —SaraDelorena

2013-05-24 13:06:31   I’ve taken many classes at the Pamela Trokanski Dance Workshop over the years, and the instruction has always been consistently excellent. Prior to moving to Davis in 1989, I had taken many professional-level ballet and modern classes in the SF Bay Area and was surprised to find that level of instruction here. Pamela has the unique ability to structure the classes so that both the aspiring and professional dancer receive the training they need, and if you are dancing just for fun, she shows you the respect of giving you corrections (rather than just focusing on the aspiring and professional-level students) and providing sufficient challenges to foster growth and progress. This is the most humane, responsible studio I have ever attended: if you have physical limitations, she shows you alternatives. Another great thing: this really is a “workshop.” The choreography portion of most classes consists of choreography in process for upcoming concerts, rather than dry exercises. —JanFiore