Avalon is a non-profit organization where students become instructors and instructors become students. They offer many different classes and forms of expression from different styles of martial arts to dance. Started in 2010, the institute is now housed in downtown Duluth off of Superior Street. Free to the public classes are taught by those trained in the arts who volunteer their time to the institute. Accountability is a big part of the institute. Students and instructors quickly learn that what they put into the school they get out of it. Whether it's fundraising for equipment or offering new classes those who are a part of Avalon quickly understand the meaning of working towards a common goal. This common goal is Avalon.
Each instructor knows their art and teaches it to the best of their ability, be it martial arts, dance, massage or yoga.
"I need to match your balance, as a teacher, to help bring you back to your balance that we are looking for together," Justin Markus, Director of Avalon Educational Institute said.
"We offer stimulus to be healthy," Cassandra Anderson, Director of Avalon Wellness adds, "but it's the rest and wellness we do that makes you stronger."
Markus believes that if he can give his students the best and worst of what his experiences taught him, they can be far ahead of him by the time they get to where he is.
"We make each other better. Everyone has the support of everyone in the school. This is balance on a larger scale," Anderson said.
Click here to read an article on the beginning of Avalon and the balance it offers.
