Meet the Creators

Ashley Hartford
Founder + Director of Once Upon a Ballet

Ever since she was a little girl, Ashley loved ballet. She first fell in love when she saw The Nutcracker on TV at age five, followed by Cinderella on stage on a school field trip. Growing up in east Tennessee, she trained at Dance Arts under Bruce Alan Ewing, and Van Metre School of Dance under Cheryl Van Metre and Amy Morton Vaughn. She also attended Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts for Ballet under full scholarship and studied ballet at the Washington Ballet School and Maryland Youth Ballet.

Ashley danced with the Appalachian Ballet Company in Knoxville, TN, performing as a principal dancer her last six seasons with the company. She performed at numerous Southeast Regional Ballet Association festivals, as well as Regional Dance America’s 2007 national festival. She has performed both classical and contemporary ballet, including original works such as In the Shadows; Black, White and Read All Over; Virulent; Flying Dreams; and When the Dust Settles. She has performed in the Appalachian Ballet’s full-length productions and classical excerpts of The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Swan Lake, Don Quixiote, Romeo and Juliet, Carmina Burana, and Witchboy on Bald Mountain. Her favorite roles have been the Dew Drop Fairy in The Nutcracker, Tiger Lily in Peter Pan, and the Autumn Fairy in Cinderella.

Ashley began teaching dance in 2002 through Rising Stars, a grant-funded outreach program with the former Knoxville City Ballet and University of Tennessee. She later taught at Van Metre School of Dance in Maryville, TN. In 2014, Ashley opened the Once Upon a Ballet Dance Academy in Westminster, Colorado, and taught ballet until moving to Castle Rock, Colorado. Since closing her studio, Ashley has turned Once Upon a Ballet into an online resource, providing teaching guides and story-based ballet lesson plans. Once Upon a Ballet has now been used by more than 2,000 teachers in over 30 countries around the world. 

Through working with ballet teachers and studio owners around the world, Ashley has come to realize a few things: Teachers and studio owners need fun and engaging curriculums for their preschool and young dancer programs. But they also need curriculums that take child development into account and foster a love for learning and strong technique. She found it hard to find all of that in a single program or curriculum, which is why she created Once Upon a Ballet. 

What Ashley loves most about Once Upon a Ballet is how far its reach has stretched. From teaching just a few ballet classes a week, to running a program that helps teachers and studios bring joy and imagination to thousands of young dancers around the world, Ashley’s journey has been one of creativity, expression, and joy. “To all of you who use any part of Once Upon a Ballet, whether it's our curriculums, our course, our membership, or our studio licensing—thank you! Thank you for making this possible, and thank you for all that you do for your students. You make such a difference in their lives and they are truly blessed to have you.”

Kristin Mueller
Once Upon a Ballet Contributing Teacher

Kristin started dancing at age four at a recreational studio in Deerfield, Wisconsin. She began with ballet, but eventually expanded to all dance forms. After 14 years at her dance studio, she attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she received professional training in Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Body Movement, and African Dance.

Being creative and imaginative in dance has been integral in Kristin’s teaching technique and the evolution of her curriculum in the classroom. She always strives to engage every student's learning style by utilizing descriptive imagery, guided improvisation, props, and developmentally appropriate motor skill growth. Kristin believes that the vulnerability shown for this type of teaching is the gift that children yearn for, and she wants her students to know that dance is their safe place, a place to express who they are.

Kristin is the mother of three children: Jackson, Adleigh, and Isla. She met her husband Camden in 2006 at her childhood dance studio, and they have been together ever since. Recently, the family decided to make their life goal come to fruition and move from the Midwest to the South. In Georgia, Kristin teaches at the Savannah Cultural Arts Center and Savannah Dance Company. She is honored to have become a contributor at Once Upon A Ballet this year, knowing that she is able to express her creativity while teachers all around the world are bringing magic into their classrooms.