About
Challenge. Accomplish. Empower.
Strengthening Minds, Bodies, and Communities Through Ballet and Capoeira
Our Values
Access
We opened our school in downtown Pasco to offer high quality ballet and capoeira training in an underserved area. We work with multilingual students and families, and don’t require uniforms, costumes, or parent volunteer hours. We serve students with a variety of interests, lifestyles, and body types. We welcome beginning adults and teens, and are committed to making ballet and capoeira accessible to all kinds of learners.
Quality
We are highly trained professionals in dance, martial arts, music, learning, and language. We continually work to improve our skills and expand our knowledge. We set high expectations for ourselves and our students, and provide our students with tools to meet those expectations.
Community
We offer a safe and welcoming multilingual space where people throughout the Tri-Cities can come together and support one another. We empower our students to set goals and accomplish them, to create the kind of community that they want for themselves and their families.
Our Mission
To offer high quality ballet and capoeira instruction for adults, teens, and children of all abilities and backgrounds in a supportive environment where every member of our community can feel challenged, accomplished, and empowered.
What is Capoeira?
Capoeira was developed by African slaves in Brazil desiring freedom from their oppressors. They combined music, dance, acrobatics, and fighting to both express and defend themselves. This Afro-Brazilian martial art continues to be a source of hope and pride for many people. Capoeira is a Brazilian Portuguese word pronounced "kah-poo-way-dah."
What is Ballet?
Ballet is a European dance form that is used to train athletes and artists all around the world. At Find Your Center, we emphasize the power of ballet training to improve athletic and artistic performance, build confidence, and contribute to overall fitness and wellbeing. Ballet originated in Italy and gained popularity as a French court dance in the 17th century. Most ballet terms today are in French.
The Community Approach to Learning
We encourage adults, children, and teens to take classes together in order to support and learn from one another. Social science research shows that people learn best when they share a social connection with other learners and practitioners. This is why we encourage students to take class with their children, parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. Novices learn from observing, imitating, and helping out with more experienced practitioners, and experts hone their skills by demonstrating to novices. At Find Your Center, we create a space where students not only learn from us, their teachers, but also through interactions with one another both in and outside of the classroom.
To Find Your Center is
To be in control of your center of gravity.
To find a place of confidence and power.
To move with efficiency.
To know and honor yourself and respect those around you.
To be part of a community.
To discover and create a vibrant downtown.
To find a place of confidence and power.
To move with efficiency.
To know and honor yourself and respect those around you.
To be part of a community.
To discover and create a vibrant downtown.
Who We Are
We are a husband and wife team living in Pasco, Washington. Get to know us by reading our Blog.
Kate Feinberg Robins began her ballet training with Nan Klinger in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. There she performed with the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet, dancing lead roles in ballets by Francis Patrelle and Michael Vernon. Kate also studied at Ballet Hispánico, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, North Carolina School of the Arts, Chautauqua Institution, School of American Ballet, BalletMet, Ballet Cristina Helena (Brazil), Richmond Ballet, Embrujo Flamenco (Chile), and with acclaimed Spanish dance teacher Aileen Passloff. She has taught ballet to professional flamenco dancers, young folk dancers and gymnasts in Chile and the US. She taught the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus and choreographed for children and teenagers in Champaign, Illinois. Kate holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology and has conducted research on learning, culture, language, and child rearing in bilingual communities. She has led sustainable development projects in community-based education in South America and the United States. At Find Your Center, Kate enjoys combining her expertise to strengthen her own community through instruction in cultural arts and wellness.
DeShawn “Quiabo” Robins began his capoeira training with Gary “Trovoada” Williams in Detroit, Michigan. After eight years of intensive study in the Mandinga style, DeShawn joined the Cordão de Ouro school, where he trained and taught under Denis Chiaramonte in Champaign, Illinois for seven years. DeShawn has given guest classes at capoeira events throughout the Midwest. In 2009, he choreographed the capoeira section of Millicent Johnnie’s The Hip Hop Project for the University of Illinois Dance Department. He is also a composer and a runner, and has cross-trained in boxing, fencing, aikido, and kendo. DeShawn currently serves as Geographic Information Systems Administrator for the City of Pasco, where he manages and analyzes City data. For DeShawn, capoeira has always provided a creative outlet, a physical and mental challenge, and a sense of community. At Find Your Center, he seeks to share with students the guidance, inspiration, and pride that capoeira has offered to him throughout his life.