Sue GunnessFaculty

Sue Gunness has spent nearly two decades as the ballet specialist at Gustavus.  Sue has taught University level dance for well over 20 years.  Growing up in the Twin Cties, Sue received much of her earlier training on scholarship with Jo Savino.  “The ballet classroom is where the world and any sense of time disappears.”  Sue invites classes that are open to questions and much different from the old-school intimidating dictatorships.

Gunness holds American Ballet Theatre Teacher certification, and was tested by ABT’s curriculum author Raymond Lukken.  Locally,  Sue was the  ballet mistress for the Continental Ballet,  and taught Advanced Ballet at the Minnesota Dance Theatre for the late Loyce Houlton. 

Always a student, Sue enjoys travel to prominent Ballet Schools to study different pedagogy ideas and syllabi.  These schools include the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, American Ballet Theatre, and most recently The Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. 

Sue is grateful  to have had wonderful mentors/teachers in her life. Elaine Werner Hutchison (former teacher with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet) and Roni Mahler (former ABT soloist and IBT’s Teacher’s teacher) have greatly influenced her classroom style. She also has a very keen belief that very fine dark chocolate can improve dancers’ feet! AND, like the shingles virus, great ballet technique lives inside everyone! Let's meet at the Barre!

Courses Taught