Deirdre Hawkins, the founder and artistic director of Hawkins School, holds an MA in Education, with a specialization in dance, from Stanford University.  Her early training began with William and Harold Christensen and the San Francisco Ballet School.  Deirdre studied modern dance under Frank Shawl and Victor Anderson and was a company member of the Shawl Anderson Modern Dance Center in Berkeley.

 

As a graduate student at Stanford University, Ms. Hawkins was a teaching assistant in ballet and modern dance. She also co-founded “Children’s Dance at Stanford,” a program for children of students and alumni, and established the “Friends of Dance at Stanford,” a fundraising organization.  

 

Owner and director of the Hawkins School of Performing Arts for the past 35 years, Ms. Hawkins has won numerous regional and national awards for her choreography.  She was recognized by the City of Folsom for her “Outstanding contribution to the performing arts in Folsom,” her third such commendation by the city council.

 

​Deirdre has had the honor of working with Maestro Michael Neumann and the Folsom Symphony in productions of Peter and the Wolf and The Nutcracker as well as with the Camilla Symphony’s production of Stravinsky’s The Firebird.  Ms. Hawkins is the proud mother of Luke, a dancer/singer/actor currently living in New York City.