Ballet instructor to receive Lifetime Achievement Award

Congratulations to Patel Conservatory dance instructor Richard Sias!

Sias was recently selected by a panel of dance educators to received the Lifetime Achievement Award by the CORPS de Ballet International.

"I can't believe it. It's Iike winning the lottery," said Sias, who founded the organization in 1998.

The CORPS de Ballet International is a professional organization dedicated to the development, exploration, and advancement of ballet in higher education.

"I founded the organization as a model for dance professionals to be the guiding force in ballet training and education at the university level," he said.

Sias has been a ballet teacher for 35 years and presently teaches Next Generation Ballet (NGB) trainee and partnering classes at the Patel Conservatory in Tampa

He taught for 25 years at Florida State University before joining the faculty of Canada's National Ballet School. He stayed in Canada for six years until the cold winters brought him back to Florida, where he settled in St. Petersburg.

The award will be presented to Sias in June, 2013 at the organization's international conference in Paris, which will be hosted by the American Academy de la Dance de Paris and the Paris Opera Ballet School.

“There is no finer gift of recognition than to be honored by one's professional colleagues. I am truly humbled,” he said.