Dance Academy

Melinda Gafford is a dancer, teacher, entrepreneur, and choreographer. She was a native San Diegan and spent over 20 years dancing and performing. She teaches a variety of styles and is always adapting her teaching skills. Melinda specializes in ballet, jazz,  and Pilates. She taught in San Diego from 2011-2023. Before that she taught for 6 years at the Academy of Dance in Santa Ana.  She holds a B.A. in Dance from CSU, Fullerton,  and a certificate in Pilates mat work from Body Arts and Sciences International.

As a performer she has had the joy of working with choreographers like: Merle Sepel, Mignon Furman, Jean Travers, Betzie Roe, Spencer Powell, and Elyssa Dru Rosenberg. Her greatest honor was being Lara Segura’s S.U.P. Choreography Consultant for Liquid Flux Part 3 in April 2016, presented by Malashock Dance Company. She also had the pleasure of being a dancer in the piece. This piece was part of the National Water Dance. Fall 2023 she performed on the water again in Finding the Light: a benefit concert.

As a teacher she was at the Kroc Center for over 13 years and worked with a large amount of San Diego’s youth.  Her specialty is delivering the movement in a way that anyone, of any age, of any physical level, can understand.