Our Mission

Pacific Dance Center was created with the mission of bringing together the disciplines of ballet, modern dance, and Irish step dancing in a non-competitive environment. Having 20+ years of experience learning each of these dance techniques, founder Sarah Baresh has seen that training in multiple dance styles strengthens overall dance technique, body awareness, respect for other practices, and widens a dancers movement vocabulary, developing a versatile dancer and a creative maker.

Pacific Dance Center is committed to providing a safe and welcoming community environment for all dancers and their families. We support technical dance training with a focus on developing dancers’ creativity, curiosity, and perseverance, skills that are applicable to a career in dance or any other professional discipline.

Sarah Baresh

Director

Born and raised in Seattle, Sarah's love of dance began with her first ballet/tap class at age 5, and she has spent the years since training in ballet, modern dance, and Irish dancing. Sarah continued studying dance at SUNY Brockport for her undergraduate degree where she discovered her interest in postmodern dance styles. A few of her favorite works she was cast in during this time were Sweet Fire (choreography by Tammy Carrasco | Wild Beast Dance), Infra Suite (choreography by Kendra Portier and restaged by Stevie Oakes), and Set and Reset/Reset (choreography by Trisha Brown and restaged by Mariah Maloney).

After earning her BFA in Dance in 2019, Sarah spent three years in New York City where she rekindled her love of Irish dance with the New York Studio of Irish Step Dance. Sarah now performs with the Seattle Irish Dance Company and has served as the company's Artistic Director since 2024. 

With 10+ years of experience teaching a variety of movement styles, Sarah is passionate about cultivating a rigorous, non-competitive dance training environment that prioritizes high-level dance training, creativity, and community, and brings together the disciplines of ballet, modern, and Irish dance that she has training in.