History of Hawkins School of Performing Arts
The Hawkins School opened its doors in January of 1987 as the “Deirdre Hawkins School of Dance” in a small historic house formerly known as “Emma’s Place.”  Ten years later, it expanded its class offerings with acting, voice and piano to become the “Hawkins School of Performing Arts” and moved into a 6,000 sq foot facility in the heart of Folsom.  The studio’s final move was in 2008, to a spacious 13,000 sq foot building on Woodmere Road.  The Hawkins School has “raised” many of the city’s youngsters with the joy of the performing arts in their lives, including many who have continued with careers in dance and theatre.

Monica is a native of Sacramento, California who has received dance  training as well as performance and teaching experience from local  studios. Since the age of three, she has undertaken a disciplinary  training in the art of ballet, tap, jazz, and lyrical which has enabled  her to perform at national and international venues such as Disneyland,  Las Vegas, and  Rome. She has also had the opportunity to  perform with the Russian Ballet Company in their production of The  Nutcracker, guest perform with the Folsom Lake Civic Ballet in the  productions of Coppelia and Cinderella as well as lead master workshops  for California Dance and Movement Workshop for Educators. She is a  graduate of Sacramento State University with Master’s degrees in Theatre  and English and currently teaches at American River College as a Dance  Professor.

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Anita Felix, Director of Special Events & Account Manager
Anita was raised in Michigan and has lived in North Carolina, Arizona and Brazil.   She has worked for Coco Cola as an inside Sales Manager and for several financial institutions as a Personal Banker.  Anita and family moved to California in 1991 and, in her plight to find a great dance studio for her daughter, was referred to Hawkins in 1992 and hasn’t left yet.  Her daughter, Andrea, became a company dancer with both the Folsom Lake Civic Ballet and iMPACT Contemporary Dance Company, housed at Hawkins.  Andrea went on to attend Chapman University in Public Relations and Advertising.

Anita has worked at Hawkins since 1993, taking the studio from ledger books to the computer.  In addition to being Accounts Manager, Anita has handled numerous jobs:  Special Events and Showcase Coordinator, Competition Coordinator and Costume Manager.  Anita is an avid reader of most genres and a huge animal lover. She has been married to Ernie since 1984 and has two lovely daughters, Andrea and April.  She also has two pet dogs, Joey and Chica, and a cat, Millie.