River Elle Johnson, Director

“I want to dance,” proclaimed a 2 year old River Johnson, to Glenda Brown, Director of Allegro Ballet of Houston. “When you are 3,” answer Ms. Glenda. And so it began. At three, after trying a summer camp, River’s mom enrolled her in classes where she took ballet, tap and jazz. While at Allegro River had the opportunity of joining their Company and dancing in various roles of their performances of the Nutcracker. Moving to Adamson Ballet in 2007, River continued to grow in the ballet and jazz classes she took from John Adamson, Karen Adamson and Misty Chamber. There were many performances along the way. There were the Houston Rockets and Comets Dance Clinics and half time performances 2007, 2008 and 2009. After auditioning for Camp Broadway, River danced in the Macy’s Day Parade in New York City in 2008 and 2009. The summer of 2012 she attended the Texas A&M University Teen Intensive. She was challenged when she attended a Hip Hop Clinic with Jimmy R. O. Smith (dancer with Jennifer Lopez). While attending college at Texas A&M University she took ballet and choreography as well as Adult Ballet classes at Munro Ballet Studio. With many performances while at TAMU-CC, she performed in the Corpus Christ Ballet “Nutcracker” and performance of “Giselle” in various roles. River began teaching during college in 2014. Not only did she love it, she was good at it, as some of her former students are now dancing for companies, college dance teams and in the NFL. She loved sharing her passion. In preparation for this role as teacher, River has completed the in-studio Professional Development for the Teacher Training Workshop at the METdance in Houston under, artistic director Marlana Doyle and executive director Michelle Smith; IAP Career College Studio Owner certification program; ABT NTC Levels Pre-Primary to Level 3, and will continue the ABT NTC Levels 4-7 in the future. River has taught ballet, tap and jazz. She taught at Expressions in College Station, Forever Dance in Richmond, and Republic in Katy. River has resided in Katy, since 1999 and is a graduate of Katy High School. Opening a studio like Ballet Elle here in Katy is her long time dream!