Educator Of The Month: Daliana Gutierrez

Daliana Gutierrez was around the age of some of her youngest current students when she began intensive training to become a professional ballet dancer. From the ages of 7 to 24, performing took precedence over school, planning a future career path, and college. When COVID hit, Gutierrez’s dance company shut down, but she didn’t let it stop dance from being an important part of her life.

“My dancing days are over — I’m not going to go back on that stage anymore, so it’s really important to me to give over all of my knowledge,” Gutierrez said. “I feel like I have a lot of valuable things that I’ve learned, and I want these kids to just have it all.”

Gutierrez, a Millersville resident, has worked at The Dance Center at Severna Park Community Center since fall 2022, teaching classes for elementary students, middle-schoolers, high school students and adults. During the academic year, Gutierrez teaches classes a few nights a week, leading up to a recital at the end of the year. The students begin each lesson with stretching and barre work then meet back in the middle of the room for the remainder of the class.

Over the summer, Gutierrez taught a pointe class to help students stay in shape and not hurt themselves when they return to pointe in the fall. Her pointe class was a mixed-level class including both beginner and intermediate dancers. During one of the last days of the class, Gutierrez had former students who had since moved on to college drop by to see her and say hello.

“When you’re in this classroom, the entire world almost disappears,” Gutierrez said. “It’s just you and your students, and I love building those connections. And whether you’re 10 years old or 80 years old, to gain the trust of the student who’s willing to learn and keeps coming back to your classes, that’s really just a priceless thing, just because you’re making these human connections through this art form that’s dance.”

In addition to teaching dance, Gutierrez has a day job as an executive assistant at an architecture firm. “I love being like that, like, ‘Go, go, go,’ all the time. But for me, this job here at the community center also helps me, I feel like, because it’s really that creative outlet,” she said.

Some of her free time is spent enjoying fishing with her boyfriend on the weekends, but a lot of her time after her day job goes into preparing for upcoming dance classes. In addition to the time she is in the classroom, Gutierrez also spends hours planning what she wants to teach her students. This allows her to figure out the best way to build upon previously learned skills, and she tries to tailor her choreography and lessons to the strengths and weaknesses of the students she’s teaching.

“She is an experienced and talented dance teacher whose presence has boosted our program,” dance center director Kellie Greer said of Gutierrez.

While Gutierrez enjoys teaching every age group, her favorites and the ones she teaches most frequently are middle and high school, because she enjoys helping build upon the foundations of dance knowledge that they might already have. One of her favorite parts of being a teacher is getting to watch her students’ growth over the course of the year, both in terms of skill and in confidence.

“That’s my biggest joy, these kids realizing how much they’re capable of,” Gutierrez said.

Do you know other great educators? Nominate them today by emailing spvnews@severnaparkvoice.com.

The Educator of the Month is sponsored by Cafe Mezzanotte.