Sonja DeSario
Ballet Director
Sonja started dancing at the young age of three years old. At seven she began competing and exploring as many genres as possible. She found that ballet and contemporary were where she thrived. As a preteen she trained at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s pre professional program where she had the opportunity to perform with New York City Ballet soloists and corps members. Her training was aided by summer programs with San Francisco Ballet and under Lazslo Berdo (principal with Boston Ballet). At eighteen, she joined Eugene Ballet Company where she performed and toured multiple soloist roles such as Spring Fairy in Cinderella and Tea in the Nutcracker. After settling in Bemidji, Sonja found herself joining First City Dance as a staff member and head of the ballet department in 2019. She has become one of our competition team choreographers and has loved being able to teach the genres of musical theatre, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, and ballet.
