The Conservatory of Movement

Published June 5, 2026

The Conservatory of Movement

For over 41 years, the Conservatory of Movement has been one of the premier dance studios in northern Nevada. A.V.A. Ballet Theatre, the resident ballet company of the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, has been rehearsing its classical and contemporary ballets at the Conservatory for over 35 years.

Filer image element — Conservatory of Movement Recital

Founded in 1986 by former University of Nevada dance professor Barbara Land, the studio has recently changed ownership. Eve Allen Garza, a Teaching Associate Professor for the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Nevada, Reno has taken over the reins of this dance institution. Joining her in this new endeavor is Miriam Allen, who has been an instructor at the Conservatory for the last 35 years and has served as co-director of A.V.A. Ballet Theatre since its inception in 1994.

The Conservatory of Movement is the only Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) registered school in northern Nevada and eastern California. RAD is one of the world’s most influential dance education and training organizations and is considered the gold standard in classical ballet instruction. Recently, the Conservatory expanded its offerings to include contemporary dance syllabus classes through Rambert Grades. With the Rambert Grades syllabus, instructors teach dancers how to explore and interpret contemporary movements and expression.

The Conservatory of Movement offers classes in ballet, pointe work, contemporary, and jazz with creative movement instruction for children as young as three years old and continued training for dancers well into young adulthood. Over the years, the Conservatory has successfully sent students onto continuing training in ballet companies in the USA and further educational programs in colleges and universities. This achievement highlights the dance studio’s dedicated staff and holistic approach to dance.

Eve Allen Garza has a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and a minor in dance from the University of Nevada, Reno. She earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree in ballet from the University of Utah. In addition to her work at the University of Nevada, she is a long-time instructor at the Conservatory of Movement, is an active member of RAD, and is a Registered Teacher for the Rambert Grades contemporary dance syllabus. She is also the Ballet Mistress for A.V.A. Ballet Theatre, where she also performs in character roles and is the founder and director of the Downtown Dance Collective – a collaborative dance organization that aims to bring together local talent and present accessible performances to our community.

Miriam Allen has had a stellar career in dance. She studied at Royal Academy of Dance in England from the age of three and progressed through theater and modern dance into the International Dance Teachers Association. Allen started her international career dancing for Doris Haug and Miss Bluebell in Monte Carlo, the Italian Riviera, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Iran, Tunisia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris. She opened the Hello Hollywood Hello show at the MGM Grand (now the Grand Sierra Resort). After retiring from Hello Hollywood Hello, she began teaching at the Conservatory of Movement in 1988 and is a registered Royal Academy of Dance teacher.

Every year, Allen attends RAD workshops and must receive at least 20 hours of intense instruction for the various levels of dance. Allen stresses the importance of trained ballet instructors. She said, “The United States is the only industrialized country in the world that allows anyone to teach ballet – whether they have formalized training or not.” Allen Garza added, “This can make instruction very unsafe. It is important that the RAD syllabus emphasizes the dancers’ safety.”

Other lead faculty members at the Conservatory of Movement include Alexander Van Alstyne and Jonathan Dummar. Van Alstyne is the artistic director for A.V.A. Ballet Theatre. All of his classical ballets at the Pioneer Center are performed with the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra and A.V.A. Ballet Theatre has been the resident ballet company at the Pioneer for almost 20 years. He teaches the majors classes and most of his students are in the corps de ballet of his ballet company. Van Alstyne began dancing with Ballet West at eight years of age and stayed with the company as an adult. His professional ballet career includes dancing with the Boston Ballet and the San Franciso Ballet. He first came to Reno to dance for Donn Arden in Hello Hollywood Hello.

Dummar began his ballet training in Reno with Nevada Ballet Arts and at the Conservatory of Movement. He went on to graduate as the valedictorian at the HARID Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. He began his performing career at Ballet Memphis and then joined the renowned Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. Dummar has also danced with the National Ballet of China, the Trey McIntyre Project, the Smuin Ballet, and the San Francisco Opera. Dummar teaches majors at the Conservatory.

Additional dance instructors at the Conservatory include Mandy Flocchini, Kelly Rubero, Jenna Fortino, Inez Guerrant, and Katarina Hallerbach. With so much talent, it’s understandable why the Conservatory of Movement has been so successful in the past and has an incredibly bright future as it teaches the beautiful art of ballet to the aspiring dancers in Reno.

Steve Trounday is a board member at A.V.A. Ballet Theatre, the resident ballet company of the Pioneer Center. Their next production is Vortex, the Ballet That Rocks July 17 and 18 at the Robert Z. Hawkins Amphitheater at Bartley Ranch.