Foothill Learning Academy
K-12 Homeschool Enrichment Program

In 1983, Sara and her family moved as missionaries to Portugal. Her passion and love for dance motivated her to find a local studio to take Ballet classes. Five years later, she auditioned for a dance school in Lisbon, Portugal, called Escola Tecnica de Profissionais de Bailado (Technical School of Ballet Professionals). She studied there for the 3 years which was equivalent to the 10th, 11th and 12th grade. After graduating, she traveled to Israel and danced with the Feast of Tabernacles Dance Company during the month of October of 1992. The following year, she moved to Ithaca, New York and lived with some close friends and worked with Dawn Sandquist and her dance company for 8 months. After returning to Portugal, she started a dance troupe called, Holy Passion Dance Troupe, with 5 girls who were professionally trained in dance. In 1995, they toured on the East coast of America, performing and teaching in different churches and events. She also started teaching dance to a group of 5-7 year olds at a local school in Lisbon, Portugal.  In 1997, Sara was accepted into the Superior Dance School of Lisbon where she graduated with a Bachelors degree in choreography. Sara was invited to Recife, Brazil to teach dance and English to a group of Brazilians. After graduating in 1998, she married Jamie Schneider and moved to California where she started working with the youth at a local church and teaching dance and choreography. In 1999 she started coaching at Tumble Time Gymnastics ages 18 mos to 8yrs old and teaching dance to young girls. After working there for 6 ½ years and continuing to dance with other women, she decided to take a break and focus on her family and raising her 4 children. Over the past 10 years, her passion and love for dance is still alive and motivating her to continue dancing and inspiring others. She has also acquired a love and appreciation for Pilates and through personal experience used the Pilates technique to stay strong and flexible. To enhance her knowledge on combining both techniques, she completed a training, Ballet Pilates Body Conditioning for Dance, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with Dolly Kelepecz. Shortly after, Sara got her certification as a Pilates instructor and developed a class called, Ba-Lates, Ballet and Pilates Fusion. Her love for dance and teaching children prevailed and she started teaching Pre Ballet and Beginning Ballet at the Sierra Ballet and Pilates studio and later moved to Foothills Dance Studio in Shingle Springs, CA where she currently teaches Ballet from age 4 to 17.