Justine Protopapa was born and raised in London, England. She was asked to join The Royal Ballet School at age 9. She won England’s Young Choreographer of the year and knew this is what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Her professional career started at age 10 in the West End of London Production. She was trained extensively in ballet by her mother, a renowned studio owner and Professional honoree of The Royal Ballet in London.

Justine moved to Los Angeles and was honored to be on scholarship with Joe Tremaine and then with Jackie Sleight. She was hired by Millennium (Los Angeles, Ann-Marie Baker) to teach Ballet and Lyrical. She has taught for many prominent studios and has been brought in to either “fix” dance programs or introduce new facets as well as a guest choreographer. She also owned her own studio in CA.

As part of her career, she has been published in the LA Times and the London Times for her teaching expertise in making ballet accessible and fun. Justine was also approached by Dance Studio Life Magazine and asked to write an article entitled “Judging the Judges”. She has subsequently been an occasional contributor.

Justine’s choreographic work has been honored nationally and internationally and she still spends several weeks in London each year, teaching, and choreographing. Her students have gone on to dance for professional ballet companies and currently has several students on Broadway. The West End has countless pieces in competition rotation.

She teaches Contemporary, Ballet, Musical Theater, Pointe, Lyrical, Jazz, and Contortion Acro.