Director/Instructor/Owner

Pedro Szalay

Pedro is our inspiration, our example and the beating heart of Star City School of Ballet.  A great teacher in all the sense of the word. You can read more about him here.

Founder/Teacher

Tess Post

Founder of both our school and Southwest Virginia Ballet.

A true visionary and wonderful teacher. Miss Post is an important presence within the academy  and a link to our community. 

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Tess (Terri) Post, originally from Norfolk, Virginia, received her early ballet training at the Norfolk Civic Ballet. She continued her studies and professional career in NYC with many legendary teachers and directors. Tess opened The Post School Of Ballet in 1987 and in 1990 founded the Southwest Virginia Ballet Company, serving as Artistic Director until 2006, when she and her husband Gene moved to upstate NY. Mrs. Post is thrilled to be back in the Roanoke Valley and teaching at Star City School of Ballet.

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Educator/Choreographer

Lawrence Blake

A native of Virginia, attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC.  During his senior year, he toured nationally with the Agnes DeMille Heritage Dance Theater and upon graduation was asked to join the North Carolina Dance Theater. After two seasons with NCDT, Laurence joined The Joffrey II Dancers and joined The Joffrey Ballet in the fall of 1977. He has danced ballets by such notable choreographers as Glen Tetley, John Cranko, Twyla Tharp, Sir Fredrick Ashton, Agnes DeMille, Gerald Arpino and Robert Joffrey. 

He has taught both nationally and internationally, most notably at the BalletKadiem in Stockholm, Sweden; Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA; University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ; Governors Magnet School of the Arts, Norfolk, VA; Orange County High School of the Arts, Los Alamitos, CA; Regional Dance America/ Pacific Festival, Bremerton, WA; the Conservatory of Performing Arts, Pasadena, CA; Nevada Ballet Theater; and Island Moving Company, Newport, Rhode Island.

Laurence served as Assistant, Associate and Interim Dean of the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at the California Institute of the Arts, as well as served on faculty from 1982 until his retirement in 2017. Laurence taught ballet and contemporary dance, composition and choreography at CalArts.

As Resident Choreographer for the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet, he has received nominations for the Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Choreography for his ballets “TUNNEL”, “BLACK ANGELS” and “THE NUTCRACKER”. Laurence has served as Associate Artistic Director of the Pasadena Dance Theater where he has choreographed several ballets for the company. His ballet “HOLBERG SUITE” was awarded the National Choreography Plan Award ‘97. The Regional Dance America/Pacific region presented his ballet “ORIGINS” at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS in June 2006. Laurence has been commissioned to choreograph work on the Island Moving Company, Los Angeles Chamber Ballet, Hawaii Ballet Theater, Inland Pacific Ballet, Cal State University Long Beach, Loyola Marymount University and the Houston School of Performing and Visual Arts.  

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Educator

Justine Thomas

Justine is our resident baby ballerina charmer. She is an expert at keeping the littlest ballerinas engaged and enjoying their class. She graduated high school in the class of 2021. She has been training
in dance for fourteen years with various dance schools and had been with
Southwest Virginia Ballet for two years, but she has had a passion for dance all of her life. Currently, Justine has been working towards and will be graduating from Virginia Western Community College with an associate’s degree in General Studies this year. She hopes to attend Hollins University and major in dance and creative writing. In the future, Justine wants to pursue a career in dance and become a dance teacher. She also wants to pursue a career in writing and becoming an author. 

Modern Dance/Teacher

Isabel Meyers

Isabel Meyers is a contemporary and modern dance artist and choreographer. She grew up as a student of the Academy of Dance in Warner Robins, Georgia, and went on to earn her degree in Dance from Hollins University in the spring of 2021. For three years, she served as the co-director of the Hollins Repertory Dance Company, where she organized and choreographed company performances and taught dance classes in her community. She is an alumna of American Dance Festival and Bates Dance Festival, and she is certified in the National Dance Institute Art of Teaching. 

Pilates Instructor

Sarah Early

I started seriously practicing Yoga in 2007 after attending a weight lifting class that left me so sore that I could barely move!  I thought I would go to the Yoga class to try and "stretch it out".  The first class had me hooked and I soon found myself attending class at least 3 times a week from then on, if I missed a class I felt so unbalanced. 

2013 Group Exercise Certified

2014 Yoga RYT 500/YogaFit 

2014 Pilates /Jeff Howard/ Pilates Unlimited/PilatesFit

2015 Barre Above Certified/Tricia Madden & Leslee Bender

2015 PLYoga certified

2016 Became Master Trainer for Barre Above

Works at the YMCA, SpaFit, Star City School of Ballet, as well as wellness work for corporations.  

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I love my work!  I’ve been able to turn one of my biggest hobbies into a career!  

Musical Theatre / Tap Instructor

Elizabeth Francis

Elizabeth Francis began her dance training at The Meredith Gravely School of Dance in Danville, Virginia, where she received a strong foundation in ballet, tap, and jazz; she then furthered her dance education at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance. In her performance career, she has humbly shared the stage with the Moscow Ballet as well as World Champion Magician Wayne Alan; additionally, Elizabeth has also performed in Cabaret (Showtimers Community Theatre), Goodnight Moon (Hollins University Theatre) and 42nd Street (Mill Mountain Theatre). Elizabeth is incredibly excited to be a part of the Star City School of Ballet family as a jazz, musical theatre, and tap teacher.