page_title: Peggy Willis-Aarnio
section_title: Awards and honors
hierarchical_section_title: Peggy Willis-Aarnio / Awards and honors
caption_attribution_description: Picture of Peggy Willis-Aarnio and Prince Philip 1987
context_page_description: Peggy Willis-Aarnio was an American choreographer, historian, author and teacher of classical ballet. She was a professional dancer in the early 1970s with the Ft. Worth Ballet in Fort Worth, Texas. She was the first American ballet teacher to be sanctioned as a "Certified Practitioner and Teacher of the Teaching Method of Classical Ballet" by the Vaganova Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
context_section_description: Willis-Aarnio received  Texas Christian University's Alfie Special Achievement Award for her choreography in Gilbert and Sullivan's ballad operetta, Patience. In 1998, she received the "Woman of Excellence Award in the Arts" from the YWCA, City of Lubbock, Texas.
  Willis-Aarnio held the honor of being the first American to choreograph a new classical ballet work for several top Russian Companies in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. She was an honorary member and North American representative of the Society of Russian Style Ballet. Her ballet company, The Willis Ballet, toured England in 1987 and performed for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
  Willis-Aarnio was the only American to be certified to teach the Vaganova classical ballet training program outside of Russia, a rare achievement for anyone to achieve in their lifetime. Peggy and her sister Sheila Willis Kleiman produced The Willis Ballet Educational DVD Library which also includes Classical Ballet music for the ballet lesson, to be used as companion to How to Teach Classical Ballet Books for Teachers who want to learn Teaching Method. They are educational DVD/videos showcasing Galina Mezentseva's training which lead her to becoming Kirov's Prima Ballerina. ″One of the most significant educational ballet videos of our time. And, Mezentseva turns a mere ballet lesson into a Work of Art!″ Olga Rozanova − Dance Critic, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Ballet, Choreography and Methodology, St Petersburg, Russia.
  Peggy Willis- Aarnio published the book ″Agrippina Vaganova (1879- 1951) —Her Place in the History of Ballet and her Impact on the Future of Classical Dance–. She also produced numerous educational materials throughout her 32 years as a professor at Texas Tech University.
caption: Willis-Aarnio with Prince Philip in 1987
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