Ballet Director
Melinda Palmer has loved the arts as long as she can remember. She began her formal training at the age of 4 in Southern California. In high school she was the dance captain for Show Choir and studied classical ballet extensively at the Inland Pacific Ballet Academy in Montclair, California. While at IPBA she also had a chance to study jazz, character, modern, and Pilates, trained by Kelly Lamoureux, Sarah Spradlin and Victoria Koenig, co-founder of the Los Angeles Chamber ballet. Throughout college, Melinda also studied modern, folk dance and of course, ballet. As a young mother, Melinda tried to take any opportunity to dance at the community schools of Reparatory Dance Theater and Ballet West in Salt Lake City. Melinda moved to Tooele in 2006 with her husband Jason and one daughter, and has been blessed with three more children since that time. She is a senior at USU-Tooele, studying Accounting and Economics.
Melinda found Tooele Valley Academy of Dance in 2009 and was immediately impressed to find ballet being taught so masterfully to the youth of Tooele County. Her oldest daughter began studying under Sarah Westhora in 2011. Melinda was a member of TVAD’s company in 2013-2014, and danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker 2013 and Mother Queen in Swan Lake 2014. Melinda has had the opportunity to teach on occasion at TVAD and is thrilled to be able to join Ms. Sarah in teaching the youth of Tooele County the rich profusion of benefits that come from the love of and participation in the arts.