About Eva

Eva Zitterkob-Hoke received her Masters Degree in Performing Arts Leadership and Management from Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia. In 2013 she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts Studies from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. At BYU she also studied contemporary, jazz, dance improvisation and composition, along with acting in the Stanislavsky and Alexander techniques.

Eva has been a dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor since 2007. Through her years of teaching dance, her students have ranged in age from preschoolers to senior adults.

Eva’s dance training began in 2000 with ballet, tap, lyrical, and jazz instruction. At nine years old she became interested in taking dance classes during a summer arts academy in her hometown of Weatherford, Oklahoma. In 2001, while continuing her dance training, Eva began performing in community theatre at Southwest Playhouse (SWPH) in Clinton, Oklahoma. Her first role was a schoolgirl in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In 2005, after dancing with a ballet company in The King and I at SWPH, she moved her dance training to study with Penny Askew (currently with the Oklahoma City Ballet, Yvonne Chouteau School) at Western Oklahoma Ballet Academy, focusing on classical ballet and modern dance.

Eva choreographed her first musical, Clue, the Musical, in 2007 at SWPH. Through 2013 she performed, choreographed, and taught dance numbers for SWPH productions. Eva learned her love of dance grew through choreographing and teaching. She choreographed for seven community theater productions and performed in over 21 productions as well.

In 2013, Eva worked as a gymnastics coach and dance adviser at Olympic Gold Gymnastics in Clinton, Oklahoma, teaching basic dance techniques and performance strategies under the direction of head coach Sherrel Johnston. While there, she observed the benefit of dance training for gymnasts, along with the potential value of gymnastics training for dancers.

In 2018, Eva became certified with Acrobatic Arts in Acro Dance, enabling her to incorporate her gymnastics acumen, acquired while at Olympic Gold, with dance. Eva is excited to see the world of dance shift to requiring acro training and certification for acro teachers. She believes these measures are essential to assure the safety of dancers and teachers.

Through Acro, Eva has been able to travel around Virginia, Maryland, Canada, and more locations in the coming year. Eva loves Acro and is excited to be teaching and sharing the many opportunities acro can add to dance training.

Eva believes in continual education and that one is never done learning. In 2020, Eva became certified with Alixa Flexibility to assist her in providing a strength/flexibility curriculum to incorporate and expand her students’ education and continual safety in classes.

Eva has a strong focus on physical and mental safety in dance education and is aware of how children develop as they continually grow in performing arts. As a performing child herself, Eva has seen and experienced the short term and long term effects of what good and poor training can have on an individual as they continue to grow.

Eva finds joy in teaching and continually strives to be a positive influence in her students lives. Eva also feels dance is a great way to express feelings and emotions while bringing a calming balance to a busy life.

Eva currently holds three certifications with Acrobatic Arts and two with Alixa Flexibility. She has plans to get more certifications in the future.