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Anne Sakolsky-Basquill, Director/Owner

Anne started her ballet studies as a child at the Miami City Ballet School in Miami, Florida. By the age of 14 she became a member of the Ballet Royal, a regional civic ballet company based out of Orlando, Florida. When on break from the company she studied at Jacobs Pillow with Margaret Craske, Ted Shawn and Norman Walker; the Washington School of Ballet in Washington DC, and the North Carolina School of the Arts. During her university studies she danced at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After graduation she continued to dance professionally in Texas, New York, California and Germany. Anne has been teaching ballet since 1977 throughout the US and Germany. She has been teaching at Backstage since 1995.

Eric Coffman, Founder

Eric was introduced to dance by his mother, an accomplished dancer herself. By age 10, Eric was taking ballet classes every day, in addition to playing tennis, doing gymnastics, and swimming. At age 15 he won a Ford Foundation Scholarship to the San Francisco Ballet and began dancing with that company the following year. Eric later moved to New York City, where he danced with the Robert Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. From there he joined the renowned Royal Danish Ballet, and was the first foreigner to be chosen to dance leading roles. He went on to dance in movies, TV shows, night clubs and opera houses in 22 different countries. Eric passed away in 2008, and the studio remains his legacy to Boise.

Our Talented Staff