Flaunting her black Doc Martins and shiny new iPhone, graduate student Dawn Urista reiterated her love of discussing food and her hatred of the color pink. The only thing signaling the fact that Urista teaches ballet at the University was her hair primly slicked back into a neat bun.
After growing up with a single mom and moving from town to town, Urista didn’t have the luxury of after-school activities. Finally, at age 17, Urista began taking ballet classes and received a partial scholarship from her first dance teacher to continue classes three days a week.
Urista graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 2002 with degrees in dance and history. She is now pursuing her master’s degree at the University in dance.
Known for her energetic personality and unique teaching style, Urista constantly uses food as a metaphor for dance moves.
“There are so many images we have growing up with food, like spreading the icing on a cake, and you can bring that same sort of tactile image to making your foot do that same movement,” Urista said. “As an instructor, I try to be really aware of what I’m saying and what sort of images I’m projecting.”
Using everything from the term “ooey-gooey caramel” or the made-up word “schmaltzy,” Urista creates a language to illustrate to her dance students how a movement should look.
Last summer, Urista taught an intensive ballet course that many graduate teaching fellows attended. Ann Moffett, a third year graduate student who teaches ballet, modern, jazz and African dance, participated in Urista’s summer course.
“She has the ability to explain movement with a high degree of clarity and specificity, while at the same time keeping the classroom atmosphere fun and engaging,” Moffett said.
While Urista gives students and colleagues constructive criticism, she keeps the atmosphere light with constant references to tasty dishes, such as her beloved apple dumplings.
“One thing I just love about Dawn is her passion and commitment to … dessert,” Moffett said. “I know that during her summer ballet class, the whole class took weekly field trips to Prince Puckler’s after class. What a great idea for building community and connecting with students on a personal level.”
Urista also has an avid following of students who regularly take her ballet classes, such as linguistics graduate student Marcella Crawford.
“I would say Dawn is more open and fun than other teachers I have had in the past,” Crawford said. “When I was little and taking ballet, I would always be so nervous that I was doing a movement wrong, but with Dawn I never feel like that.”
After almost five ballet classes with Urista as her teacher, Crawford has had her share of “schmaltzy” experiences in class.
“When Dawn says to ‘make it schmaltzy,’ that’s the time for me when I imagine I’m a ballerina with a big tutu, and I try to do stuff way over the top, even if we are just doing plies,” Crawford said.
Despite Urista’s attempts to make giggling students really feel the music by telling them to “make it schmaltzy,” she truly enjoys dancing on an emotional level.
“There’s something about stepping on stage, not seeing the audience’s faces, and then when the music takes over ­— it’s just magical, and I get lost,” Urista said.
In her ballet classes at the University, Urista teaches multiple types of students. Although some students may be dance majors, often times there are older students just looking for a fun exercise, she explained.
Amidst mentions of pastries and several dramatic gasps, Urista professed her hopes and goals as a teacher of dance.
“My hope is that months or years from now students can say it was a hell of a lot of fun, and if they get dragged to somebody’s ‘Nutcracker’ performance, they can recognize some of the movement and come out of it with an appreciation for something they may never have been exposed to in their lives before,” she said.
From the cheesy strings of a pizza or chocolate icing on a cake, Urista works to inspire students with her inventive methods.

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