Not long after Family First Community Center first opened its doors in Renton in the summer of 2023, free ballet classes were offered by professional ballerina Destiny Wimpye, a corps de ballet dancer for the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

“My mom came to me and offered this opportunity,” Wimpye, 20, said of her start at Family First. “We went to the opening and it blossomed from there.”

And blossom it did.

Officially titled “Introduction to Ballet Technique with Follow Your Destiny,” the class is designed for young children ages 6-11, and ages 12 and up, though the class does have 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds as well.

“I love teaching young kids. They’re so excited and willing to try new things,” said Wimpye.

A dancer since age 3, Wimpye grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, where she did jazz and tap dance competitions before moving to Los Angeles at age 13 with her mother, Keisa Glover.

Wimpye was accepted into The Debbie Allen Dance Academy where she pursued ballet.

“We went there and I had the best time and Debbie Allen, she asked me to stay for the year round,” Wimpye said. She also studied ballet at the Colburn Dance Academy and eventually the Pacific Northwest Ballet School.

Now that she is a company dancer for the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Wimpye has performed in George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” and Kent Stowell’s “Swan Lake (Four Swans)” and even performed as Belle in Bruce Wells’ “Beauty and the Beast.”

While she started out in other dance styles, Wimpye was drawn to the structure of ballet.

“What drew me in and made me become a pro was that other styles became easy for me, hip-hop and jazz felt easy,” Wimpye said. “Nothing was ever good enough with ballet and I love a challenge in my life.”

Wimpye’s professional career has taken her many places, from television shows like the revival of “The Odd Couple” and “This Is Us” to becoming an ambassador for Brown Girls Do Ballet, an organization that promotes diversity in the arts, to performing at the White House during the Obama administration.

Now that she is settled in Seattle, Wimpye hopes to start her own foundation and continue teaching at Family First.

“I do love teaching and reaching out. I love to get a way to reach out to the community in Seattle,” she said. “I think dance is great because it’s a community within what we’re doing.”

With the latest round of classes finishing up for the season at Family First, the next session will begin in May. The classes are free, but pre-registration is required.

For more information on upcoming classes, visit familyfirstrenton.org. For more information on Wimpye and her work, visit destinywimpye.com.