Annette Barcelona is a San Diego-based dancer, choreographer and teacher and is the Dance Department Chair at The San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts.

She earned an M.F.A. degree from The Florida State University’s School of Dance where she received the 2015-2016 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. She received her B.F.A. in Dance Education from Brenau University, in Gainesville, GA, where she was awarded the Carol Smiarowski Memorial Dance Scholarship recognizing both artistic and academic excellence. While at Brenau, she completed her Teaching Licensure in Dance Education K-12 and holds a California Single-Subject Teaching Credential in Physical Education/Dance. She holds a California College Career & Technical Credential (CCTE) in Arts, Media and Entertainment and Fashion & Interior Design. 

Annette is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She is a Certified Balanced Body University Pilates Instructor and Progressing Ballet Technique Instructor. 

Originally from Michigan, Annette received early ballet training from Therese Bullard (Royal Winnipeg Ballet) at The Bullard School of Ballet and later with Carol Radovic (Vaganova Academy) 
at CAS Ballet Theatre. She has trained in various ballet styles including, Royal Academy of Dance, Vaganova, Cecchetti and Balanchine (Suzanne Farrell).
 Barcelona attended numerous intensive programs including The Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Vail, The Kirov Academy of Ballet, and The Eglevsky Ballet. She was also accepted into The Boston Ballet School’s year round program.

Annette’s performing career began at a young age touring with The Kalamazoo Ballet Company.  She attended and performed as a company member for multiple Regional Dance America Festivals where she earned a full scholarship to the Craft of Choreography Conference at The University of Iowa. She has danced professionally as a principal dancer with
 Ann Arbor Ballet Theatre and The Gainesville Ballet Company performing leading roles 
in numerous full-length ballets including The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and A Midsummer Nights Dream.
 She has been privileged to perform works by George Balanchine, Marius Petipa, Anna Sokolow, Marina Leonova, August Tye, Luba Gulyaeva, Anjali Austin (Dance Theatre of Harlem), Anthony Morgan (Martha Graham Company), and Rick McCullough (Nederlands Dance Theatre).

Annette travels nationally for master classes and choreographic commissions for ballet studios, regional companies, universities and schools. Her choreography has been presented across the nation at a variety of festivals including, The American College Dance Association Festival, Regional Dance America Pacific Festival, The Ballet Alliance Festival, BalletFest, Northwest Regional High School Dance Festival, Art Schools Network Conference and Youth America Grand Prix. She was a 2018 Finalist at the McCallum Theatre Choreography Festival in Palm Desert, CA. She has choreographed numerous shorter works in addition to two full-length ballet productions. Her recent choreography has been performed by Ballet Yuma, North Coast Ballet of California, The Tallahassee Ballet, Company Etudes Youth Ballet, The Gainesville Ballet Company, Brenau University, Florida State University and San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts.