Strawberry Dance Academy’s owner and founder, Juanita Pretorius, grew up in Bloemfontein where she was trained and schooled by Karon Borslap and Daphne Kruger for 19 years. On completing her schooling, she qualified as a dance teacher in the Cecchetti Ballet Method, AIDT(IDTA) Tap, Modern and Hip Hop. While completing her teachers she started dancing professionally at Thaba N’chu Sun doing Cabaret shows and later danced for corporate events and functions. Once qualified, she received a contract to dance at Sun City and danced there for two and a half years.
Thereafter, Juanita returned to Bloemfontein and started teaching with Karon as well as doing other Cabaret shows at the Windmill Casino. She got married, relocated to Memel, leaving dancing for a while, and had two daughters . While pregnant with her second child, the mothers in Memel convinced her to start teaching dance at the local school.
In July 2012 Juanita started giving classes in Vrede and in January 2013, she start teaching in Newcastle at various schools including Drakensberg Primary School, Hilldrop Heritage School, St Dominic’s Academy, Bergsig Pre-Primary School, Huttenpark Primary School and Sunnybank Play and Learn Centre. In 2016, local ballet teacher, Jenny Devenish, convinced Juanita to join the Dance Academy of South Africa (DASA), a uniquely South African ballet association. Juanita completed her Acrobatics Art qualification in 2018 and is now registered to teach acrobatics.
Juanita has adjudicated talent competitions at the Newcastle Mall and continues to spread her love for dance to all her students.