Who is Pierfrancesco Valpreda?
Pierfrancesco Valpreda is a former professional ballet dancer turned educator. Trained at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago and the Universidad de Chile, he went on to dance professionally with leading American ballet companies, performing as a soloist at Lincoln Center in 2005 in La Fille Mal Gardée.
How did a professional soloist end up teaching private lessons?
After his performing career, Valpreda dedicated himself to the science of teaching movement. He earned Arthur Murray teaching certification for ballroom, pursued graduate studies in education, and completed certifications in neuroscience, kinesiology and reflex integration — the disciplines that explain how adult bodies and children’s nervous systems actually acquire motor skills. That research is the foundation of the VW Dance method: private instruction calibrated to each student’s body.
What does he teach today?
As owner and director of VW Dance in Weymouth, Massachusetts, he personally teaches every program in the studio — wedding first dance, adult ballet, conditioning and kids ballroom. Beyond the studio, he serves as adjunct faculty at Dean College, created coursework for Bridgewater State University, and directs the LATAM Ballet Grand Prix, an international ballet festival based in Chile.
What results has his teaching produced?
His students range from absolute-beginner couples who delivered confident first dances, to a Fred Astaire Award won with student Dorothy Smith. The studio has been ranked among the top ten in its area, and his professional profile is listed in Marquis Who’s Who 2024.
Questions about the instructor
Who teaches the lessons at VW Dance?
Every lesson in every programme is taught personally by Pierfrancesco Valpreda, the director of the studio. There are no rotating instructors and no assistants: the person you speak to on the phone is the person on the floor with you.
What is his background as a dancer?
A former professional ballet dancer — soloist at Lincoln Center in 2005 in “La Fille Mal Gardée” — who later trained and certified as a ballroom instructor with Arthur Murray. His teaching draws on graduate studies in education and continued work in neuroscience and kinesiology.
Does he teach complete beginners?
Yes, and most students arrive with no experience at all. Because every lesson is private, the pace is set by the student rather than by a class, and the common case — one partner keen, the other reluctant — is planned for rather than treated as a problem.
Which styles does he teach?
Wedding first dance, salsa, social and ballroom dance (waltz, foxtrot, swing, rumba), adult ballet, conditioning with Floor Barre, competitive training and a kids ballroom programme — all of them one-on-one.
