Peggy Willis-Aarnio

Sheila Willis Kleiman formed the Performing Arts Cultural Exchange a 501(c)3 Foundation in 2018 to continue Peggy Willis-Aarnio's teaching legacy which provides scholarships in her name called The Peggy Willis Classical Ballet Scholarship Award Program.

Peggy Willis-Aarnio died on January 9, 2016, three days before her 68th birthday from undisclosed causes.

She created two Classical Ballets for the Saint-Petersburg State and Academic Ballet (under the direction of Askold Makarov) and their guest soloist, Prima Ballerina Assoluta, Galina Mezentseva. She created the Diamond Ballet in 1999 for the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre of Konstantin Tatchkine. Other works by Peggy Willis-Aarnio are, Beethoven: A Classical Inspiration (2000) The Bluegrass Fantasy (2005) and The Seven Last Words of Christ (2007) (based on the production by Iris Hensley) choreographed for the Saint-Petersburg Classic Ballet Theatre of Marina Medvetskaya.

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.

She studied with John Barker of New York, and Valentina Roumiantseva of the Vaganova Ballet Academy of St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1992, she received an invitation to complete her advanced level pedagogical studies in Teaching Method at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

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 choreographed more than 80 original ballets, including Dracula: The Ballet which aired on PBS in 1982. She created over 70 original ballets and modern ballet works for Texas Tech University students.

In 1977, Willis-Aarnio visited Moscow Russia with the John Barker Ballet Competition Tour, on a two week visit to watch the Moscow International Ballet Competition.

In 1972, Willis-Aarnio received an invitation to join the faculty at Texas Tech University as an assistant professor. Willis-Aarnio's sister Sheila went on to a career in dance, after receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Texas Christian University, performing professionally with Iris Hensley in Marietta, Georgia (now the Georgia Ballet), and also with the Pittsburgh Dance Alloy. Sheila studied and prepared for a second career in design while she was living in Pittsburgh, and earned an Associates Degree in Interior Design from the Art Institute in Pittsburgh.

Willis-Aarnio was a Professor Emerita and former head of the Dance Program in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. She retired from active teaching after thirty-one years, but remained on the Graduate Faculty. She received her B.F.A. and her M.F.A. Degrees from Texas Christian University in 1970 and 1972.

Willis-Aarnio graduated from Bay High School in 1966. During her years at Bay High School, she held the office of president of the drama club, and secretary of her junior class. She won second place in the Panama City Beauty Pageant. She attended Texas Christian University, where she was invited to perform in the American Festival in the UK. During the summers of 1969, 1970 and 1971, she and her sister Sheila Willis were hired as performers at Mr. Koplin's Tombstone Territory on Panama City Beach. During her last summer there, at age 21, she was hired as director and choreographer.

Peggy Willis-Aarnio (January 12, 1948 – January 9, 2016) 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.

Willis-Aarnio's publications include, Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951) : her place in the history of ballet and her impact on the future of classical dance, published in 2002 and the How to Teach Classical Ballet Series. She wrote, directed and supervised the series, Music for the Classical Ballet Lesson with Ludmilla Petrovna Vlasenko as pianist and wrote, directed and narrated the video series, Classical Ballet Lesson which featured Galina Mezentseva. She also produced numerous educational materials throughout her 32 years as a professor at Texas Tech University.