Meet Our Staff

Our Personable, Knowledgeable and Friendly Staff

Ruthena

Ruthena has been the sole owner of Grand Jeté since she opened the store in 1983.

Paula

Paula has been at Grand Jeté since December of 1999, accruing years of expertise in dancewear and specializing in managing inventory and creating special orders for customers.

Grace

Grace began dancing when she was four at Johnny Cavelle Dance Studio in South Dakota.

Lisa

Lisa has been with Grand Jeté since 2008, bringing to the store her talents and expertise in store design, marketing and public relations.

Emily

Emily grew up in the Twin Cities, where she began her dance training from an early age. She has trained at various studios across town.

Georgia comes to Grand Jeté after serving as the 2017-18 Advancement Director for Minnesota Dance Theatre. She has over 30 years in the nonprofit industry, specifically in dance, education, and development.

Ruthena

Owner

Ruthena has been the sole owner of Grand Jeté since she opened the store in 1983. She began ballet when she was seven, studying at the Andahazy School of Classical Ballet in St. Paul, MN through high school and at the Minnesota Dance Theater and School in Minneapolis following her graduation from college. She performed in MDT’s Nutcracker for a number of years and also performed with Jo Savino and the Classical Ballet Academy in ballets such as Giselle, Coppelia, and Firebird. Ruthena has continued to take regular ballet classes twice a week at Saint Paul Ballet and has been a guest performer with Ballet Minnesota. She is an avid supporter of the dancers who come to Grand Jeté, getting to know many of them as they shop at the store and attending many performances for dance schools and companies in the Twin Cities area each year. Additionally, Ruthena was an active board member for the MN Retailers Association for over ten years. In July of 2014, Ruthena received the honor of being chosen as one of five finalists in America’s Retail Champions program at the National Retail Federation Advocacy Summit in Washington D.C.

Paula

Administrative Assistant

Paula has been at Grand Jeté since December of 1999, accruing years of expertise in dancewear and specializing in managing inventory and creating special orders for customers. She was selected as Employee Retail Champion at the Minnesota Retailers Association 2018 Retail Rally. Paula has danced ballet since she was nine, training at Classical Ballet Academy and Saint Paul Ballet. She worked for a number of years in the Saint Paul Ballet costume shop as the wardrobe mistress. Paula was also a member of the St. Anthony Sacred Dance company for over 10 years. She currently continues to take classes in ballet, tap, salsa and swing dancing. In addition, Paula started her own business hand-crafting cards, selling those with beautiful, dance-related designs at Grand Jeté.

Grace

Ballroom and Marketing Manager

Grace began dancing when she was four at Johnny Cavelle Dance Studio in South Dakota. She studied ballet, tap, jazz, character, celtic and pointe and passed her Cecchetti exams through Grade IV. Grace earned her bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance with a Spanish minor and teaches piano and performs professionally in the Twin Cities. In 2011, Grace began training as a competitive ballroom dancer at Cinema Ballroom in St. Paul, MN. She competed successfully in both amateur and pro/am partnerships locally and nationally before accepting a pro partnership and pursuing a career as an instructor at Cinema Ballroom. Grace now teaches full time at Cinema and competes both professionally and with her students across the United States. Grace has been at Grand Jeté since 2011 and is the ballroom and marketing manager as well as an administrative assistant.

Lisa

Administrative Assistant

Lisa has been with Grand Jeté since 2008, bringing to the store her talents and expertise in store design, marketing and public relations. She began taking ballet classes at a very young age, continued throughout high school and college, and has two daughters who grew up dancing with Classical Ballet Academy. Lisa has been involved with Ballet Minnesota for over 20 years in multiple capacities, including serving for many years as president of the board. She has also worked in the costume shop for fifteen years, preparing for shows such as Nutcracker and the spring classic ballets, and has organized mulitple fundraising events. Additionally, Lisa has store display and merchandising experience in both wholesale and retail companies.

Emily

Team Member

Emily grew up in the Twin Cities, where she began her dance training from an early age. She has trained at various studios across town, including Dance Spectrum, Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Arts, Minnesota Dance Theatre, and Classical Ballet Academy. Emily recently graduated from the University of Utah with a BFA in Ballet and a BS in Writing & Rhetoric Studies. She danced in many productions there, one of her favorites being contemporary choreographer Gabrielle Lamb’s “Springload”. She is excited to dance as an apprentice with the Twin Cities Ballet for the 2019-2020 season.

Georgia

Team Member

Georgia comes to Grand Jeté after serving as the 2017-18 Advancement Director for Minnesota Dance Theatre. She has over thirty years in the nonprofit industry, specifically in dance, education and development. Georgia, founder of Saint Paul City Ballet (renamed St. Paul Ballet in 2014), continued its growth and development for sixteen years, garnering foundation and corporate support. Georgia developed two ballet outreach programs in Saint Paul that are still active. She was actively engaged in the Saint Paul business community and president of the Grand Avenue Business Association for three years. Georgia currently works with her husband, helping market his business, Danceprints. She is a firm believer that the arts, in partnership with corporate, business and community support, augment the economy of a city and increase the vitality and aesthetic beauty of its community.