The Mission
- inspire joyful movement
- instill a love of reading
- foster freedom of expression
- champion strong girls and strong women
- honor the beauty, discipline, and artistry of ballet
- share uplifting stories and positive messages
- provide authentic, empowering role models
- focus on kind, compassionate characters
- encourage breath, connection, and self-care
Recurring Themes
- joy in practice and perseverance
- bravery to stand tall and stay kind
- magic of friendship and family
- strength of self-acceptance
- lessons in empathy that extend to all creatures great and small
The Power of Dance
Dance celebrates a shared humanity.
💕It heals the heart, strengthens the body, and shelters the soul.
👣 Every step expresses resilience, courage, and agency.
🎈Dancers play with joy, embrace life with wonder, and honor their essence, their journey, and their dreams.
A Mother-Daughter Team
Both mother and daughter were happily immersed in the ballet world until March 2020. K is the ballet heroine and the face of Once Upon a Dance. Her mom, Terrel, spent the pandemic diving into InDesign, publishing, and a stack of skills far beyond a dance instructor’s wheelhouse.
What began as a pivot has become a passion: Terrel has fully embraced her author–publisher journey, discovering it as a fusion of everything she loves: ballet, books, dance, photography, early education, compassion for animals, and a belief that the arts shape our best selves.
Teacher Terrel
Teacher Terrel, who taught creative movement and ballet for decades, was honored to be recognized by her local City Council for embodying the spirit of partnership and commitment to children in our community for her work with young dancers.
Her training included Ballet Met and The Louisville Ballet. Before having children, her dance classes were for older kids and adults, but she developed toddler and preschool curriculums after witnessing the joy her young daughter found in dance.
Complementing extensive dance experience, she served as a Program for Early Parent Support Board Member as well as Bellevue College’s Family Advocate. She studied child development and early childhood education in graduate school. As a Peace Corps volunteer, she taught English and dance at the University of Namibia.
As part of her dance devotion, Terrel serves on the Board of Pacific Northwest Ballet and is a passionate advocate for change in the treatment and representation of young women.
Once Upon a Dance
Once Upon a Dance is a mother-daughter duo with a passion for dance and storytelling. They strive to share joyful movement, honor the beauty and discipline of ballet, and foster freedom of expression.
Teacher Terrel and Ballerina Konora create books that inspire children to explore movement, breath, joy, connection and imagination through stories. Their catalog includes six series and 43 titles available wherever books are sold online.
They were named a top 10 author 2022-2025 by Outstanding Creator Awards, and they’ve been honored by a BEST IN SHOW, over 60 book awards, 3000+ 5-star reviews, and a Kirkus Star.
They donate all royalties to charities supporting the arts, animals, environment, or people through 2030.
Ballerina K
Ballerina K
Ballerina Konora is a play on the word CORONAvirus.
At the onset of the pandemic, she was in the Pacific Northwest Ballet Professional Division, and she considers herself lucky to have secured a job during those challenging times.
As an accomplished company artist, Ballerina K has graced the stage with performances in works by renowned choreographers such as Alejandro Cerrudo, FLOCK, Joseph Hernandez, Penny Saunders, and Eva Stone.
Her dance career includes performances with Ballet West, FLOCK, Ballet Idaho, Texture Contemporary Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, and Seattle International Dance Festival.
In addition to her passion for ballet, K also loves all things science; she studies biology and genetics as she pursues her B.S. in tandem with her professional ballet journey.
Accolades & Associations
Once Upon a Dance books have won many awards/endorsements:
• BEST IN SHOW 2025 Writely Literary Awards
• Outstanding Creator Awards Top 10 Author of 2025
• Wishing Shelf 2026 Gold Winner Books for Ages 6-8
• PenCraft Award First Place Winner
• Mom’s Choice Gold Award Recipient
• Family Choice Award
• Firebird Book Award First Place
• Royal Dragonfly Book Award First Place
• StoryMonsters Approved
• Purple Dragon Book Award First Place
• B.R.A.G. Medallion Award
• International Impact Book Award Winner
• Maincrest Media Award Winner
• Golden Boar Cover of the Year
• Pinnacle Book Achievement Award - Best Book Juvenile Fiction
• Outstanding Creator Awards Winner (Winter 2022 Best Children's Book)
• Outstanding Creator Awards Top 10 Author of 2024
• Outstanding Creator Awards Top 10 Author of 2023
• Outstanding Creator Awards Top 10 Author of 2022
• Readers Favorite Certified Great Read
• Love Reading 4 Kids Indie Books We Love
• Literary Titan 5-Star Book Award
• Indie’s Today 5-Star Recommended
• Wishing Shelf 5-Star Emblem
• Kirkus Reviews Starred Review
Once Upon a Dance is a proud member of
· Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
· American Library Association
· Alliance of Independent Authors
· American Booksellers Association
· Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association
Mom-Daughter at ArtEmotion Summer Intensive
Bio
Blending whimsy with movement, ONCE UPON A DANCE offers an award-winning collection of interactive children’s books and ballerina wisdom.
Forty books across nine series deliver toddler twirls through pre-professional career advice. These stories are created by a former dance teacher passionate about sharing movement and life skills, and feature her daughter, Ballerina K, as a gentle guide and positive role model. Frequent themes include the joy of practice and perseverance, the bravery to stand tall and stay kind, the magic of friendship and family, the strength of self-acceptance, and lessons in empathy that extend to all creatures.
Dance-along adventures inspire young readers to twirl, leap, and dream with whimsy and wonder:
• Kittina Ballerina's Dance-Along Adventures (age 3+)
• A Ticket to Dance! Magic Train Movement Adventures (age 3+)
• Prop & Play Dance-It-Out! Movement Stories (3+)
• Dance-It-Out! Creative Movement Stories (series spans 4-9)
• Dancing Ever After: Loosely Twirled Spin-Offs (age 4+)
Books on what to expect, technique, mindset, and method:
• First Dance Experiences: Little Steps, Brave Beginnings (3+)
• Dancing Shapes: Ballet and Body Awareness (6-9)
• Ballet Inspiration & Choreography Concepts (8-12)
• Ballerina Moments: Insights, Ideas, and Inspiration about Dance (12-16)
Once Upon a Dance inspires joyful movement through stories that celebrate connection, imagination, and grace. Books honor the beauty and discipline of ballet while championing capable girls and strong women. With empowering messages and live-management tools, they invite every reader to build confidence and creativity.
Once Upon a Dance was named a Top 10 Author (2025) by Outstanding Creator Awards. They’ve been honored with Best in Show (2025), over 60 book awards, and 3000+ 5-star reviews. All royalties this decade are donated to charities supporting the arts, animals, people, and the planet. Visit OnceUponADance.com to explore stories, learn about the mother-daughter duo, or find free resources. Audio/video content and curriculum extension is free for families and educators.
Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/onceuponadance
Bookshop.org: www.bookshop.org/shop/OnceUponADance
AUTHOR VISITS/Conversations
Terrel's happy to talk books, ballet, or author life with anyone, anytime. She especially loves connecting with bookstores, dance studios, dance shops, schools, Girl Scouts, libraries, classrooms, or daycares.
Podcasting
Dance-Related
Anything/Everything including
- Benefits and Joy of Dance
- Teaching Littles
- Mental Health for Dancers
- How Studios Can Provide a Better Experience
- Working with Seniors in Movement
- Working with Adaptive Dancers
- Tips for Pre-Professional Dancers
- Should You be a Dancer?
- Choreography for an Audience
- Competitions Maybe Aren't Healthy - Fostering Collaboration
- Opinions about Classic Ballet Stories (Spoiler: Not a Fan)
- Ideas on Needed Change in the Dance World
- #WomanPower
Author-Related
- Self-Publishing Process
- KDP/Ingram Spark
- Social Media
- Picture Books
- Best Resources
- Learning Publishing from Ground ZERO
- Anything/Everything
Presentations
Dance-Related
- Benefits of Dance
- Encouraging my Dancing Child
- StoryMoving
- Breathing into Dance
Author-Related
- Working with Illustrators
- Self-Publishing: 10 Mistakes I Made So You Don't Have To
Teaching-Related
- Dance Camp Curriculum
- How to Use the Dance-It-Out! Series for Class
- Dance and STEM
School Visits
Importance of Books/Reading
A discussion of how books launched a whole new career, then an interactive reading.
Ideally 20 minutes for 10-50 K-3rd grade students
Creative StoryMoving
An interactive reading, then we create a new story together.
Ideally 20-30 minutes for 10-20 2nd or 3rd grade students
Ballerina K Dance Career
Ballerina K's professional performances include:
· FlockWorks Dance (Video)
· Ballet Idaho
· Texture Contemporary Ballet
· Pacific Northwest Ballet
· Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
· Seattle International Dance Festival
· Eva Stone's Wander in the Wonder
· William Miglino's Catalyst
Prior to COVID, she was a Professional Division student at Pacific Northwest Ballet under Artistic Director Peter Boal. Her previous ballet training includes Ballet West Trainee Program and Emerald Ballet Academy.
She’s a YAGP regional first-place winner and took a contemporary duet to YAGP (Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition) New York finals.
She attended summer programs at:
· Ballet Met, Edwaard Liang, Artistic Director
· LINES Ballet, Alonzo King, Artistic Director
· Hubbard Street, Johnathon Alsberry, Artistic Liaison
· Grand Rapids Ballet, James Sofranko, Artistic Director
· Pacific Northwest Ballet, Peter Boal, Artistic Director
· ArtEmotion Choreographic Workshop, Allison BeDona and Rex Tilton, Artistic Directors
· Ballet West, Adam Sklute, Artistic Director
· Ballet Austin, Stephen Mills, Artistic Director
· Ballet Chicago, Daniel Duell, Artistic Director
· Oregon Ballet Theatre, Kevin Irving, Artistic Director
She'd love the opportunity to guest with contemporary or ballet companies as schedule permits. She teaches classes in contemporary, ballet, improv, or choreographic process and is an avid choreographer.
Ballerina Konora - Something beautiful from CORONAvirus.