FACULTY MEMBERS

Anne-Marie Hartley Spradlin

Anne-Marie was a professional ballet dancer for over 15 years, dancing with the Boston Ballet, The Richmond Ballet, Ballet Austin and Indianapolis Ballet Theater. She also taught for all these professional schools as well as The Nashville Ballet and the NH School of Ballet, along with guest teaching at several major dance schools in the New England area.  Over the past five years she has been on faculty at Dance Dimensions and Metamorphosis Dance Academy.  Anne-Marie studied with the La Pierre School of Dance, Ma., The Maine State Ballet, The Ballet Workshop with Jackie Cronsberg, The Bay State Ballet, The Boston Ballet, and three summers at The School of American Ballet in New York City. She was fortunate enough to study with legendary former principal dancers such as Alexandra Danilova, Edward Villela, Violette Verdy, Suki Shorer, and Nicholas Pacana. Along with her dance training, She has performed in numerous well-known classical and non-classical ballets including The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Cinderella, Don Quixote, and Coppellia. Anne-Marie has worked with several well-known choreographers such as Choo San Goh, Nicolas Beriozoff, Charles Czamey, Ron Cunningham, Bruce Wells, Frederic Franklin, Jimmy Starbuck, Lambrous Lambrou, William Solo and Stephen Mills. She has toured all over the country including a three week tour on Broadway with Rudolph Nureyev and The Boston Ballet in Don Quixote. She also performed in a six week European tour to Manchester and London, England, Belgium, Italy, and Sicily. She has had the honor to peform with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca in The Boston Opera Company's production of Orpheus in the Underworld. She made her first movie debut as an extra in a film titled "The Little Sister" starring Tracy Pollen, Kevin Bacon, and John Savage. Anne-Marie was also part of a documentary film in a study about the training of young dancers and their lives. She has been interviewed on several radio stations and has appeared as a model for several major organizations throughout the state including the Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.

Erin LeBlanc

Erin has been dancing since the age of three and is trained in ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, clogging, tumbling and drill team.  She has taught dance since 1998 to dancers ages 2 to adult. Erin has taught for Alisa's Dance Academy and Let's Dance in Austin as well as Danceworks in Groves, Texas. She has been a member of several dance teams including the UT dance team, Lamar University's spirit team, and LU's Ragin' Jazz dance team. She was also chosen as lieutenant of her high school drill team in Port Neches-Groves, Texas. Erin competed for 15 years at several dance conventions; New York City Dance Alliance, Kids Artistic Review, Starlight, Dance America/Olympus, and Headliners. She has won numerous awards; among them are High Gold Soloist at Headliner Competition and National Dance Champion at Dance America. She has performed in a UDA National competition and several UT rallies and sporting events including Camp Texas and UT basketball games. Erin has a Bachelors degree in Human Development in Family Sciences from the University of Texas and a Masters degree in Early Childhood Special Ed.  She is certified in CPR, First Aid.  Erin currently is a Behavior Coach at Pflugerville ISD.

Kimberly O'Bryant

Kimberly has been dancing since the age of four and began choreographing dances and teaching them to local dance/drill teams at the age of sixteen. She is proficient in hip-hop, drill team, jazz, ballet, tap, character, and modern. She trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts dance studio in Houston until she was sixteen. In eighth grade she was a member on her junior high cheerleading squad where she attended a UCA camp and was named a UCA All-Star. She became a member of her high school varsity dance/drill team in ninth grade and was a member for all four years of high school. While in high school she was named an All-American and was chosen for Who’s Who among America’s High School Cheerleaders/Dancers. She has competed at the national and regional level for six years, and has performed in over 15 recitals/spring shows. Kimberly is currently a member of the University of Texas dance team and has performed in UDA National Competitions, NDA dance camps, and several events around the UT campus including UT rallies and sporting events. Kimberly is studying elementary education at UT, is a member of Tau Sigma honor society, Sigma Alpha Lambda honor society, and holds an officer position in her sorority.

Marian Stukey

Marian started dancing at four years old. She has trained in tap, ballet, jazz and lyrical. Marian started her dance career as a student and eventually an assistant at Taylor Dance Studio in Nederland, TX. In 2000 she joined her high school drill team, Indianettes, and was lieutenant in 2001-2002. Marian attended Lamar University in Beaumont, TX and danced for the Lamar Spirit Team. In 2007 she began teaching dance and cheer to 7-11 year old girls and boys in an after school dance program, Wolfe Star Dancers. Marian has a degree in Elementary Education and teaches third grade for Pflugerville ISD.

Melynda Phillips

Melynda chassed onto the stage at the age of three and hasn’t stopped dancing yet! She has trained in ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop. She was a member of her high school drill team, college dance team and a member of LA Dance Company in Houston. While In Houston, Melynda started teaching ballet and tap to pre-school age children. She has continued that teaching in the Austin area since 2007. Melynda is CPR and First Aid certified and has a Radio/Television/Film degree from Sam Houston State University.

Jennifer Teeters

Jennifer has studied dance since the age of three, including tap, ballet, jazz and acrobatics. She began her dance training at Judith McCarty School of Dancing (JMSD) in Texarkana, Texas. She began assistant teaching at JMSD as a high school student where she also underwent three years of dance teacher course training and regularly attended Texas Association Teachers of Dancing (TATD) annual summer conventions. Jennifer was a member of the Texas High School Highsteppers and was awarded 'Miss High Kick" and choreographed several dances for her team. Jennifer also danced in "South Pacific" and played the lead role of lola in "Damn Yankees" for the Texarkana Repertory Company. Jennifer has her masters degree in mass communications from Texas State University.

Paige LeBlanc

Paige has been dancing since the age of three and has taught dance for five years. She has trained in ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, clogging, and drill team. Paige began teaching at Danceworks in Groves, Texas where she was also a member of her high school dance team. She has competed and attended conventions since the age of ten; some of the dance competitions she competed at include Starlight, Kids Artistic Review, and Dance America/Olympus. She is a Victor Calamia scholarship recipient and five time National Dance America/Olympus dance champion. Two of her favorite choreographer she has had the privilege to train with are Jamie Marshall and Joe Istre. Paige has a Marketing degree from Lamar University and a Masters in Business Administration from UTSA.

Aisha Melhem

Aisha specializes in musical theater and has a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from St. Edwards University and a Master of Arts (Directing) from Texas State University. She has an extensive performance background that includes roles as singer, dancer and performer in theater pieces at Concordia University, Dougherty Arts Center Theatre, and Mary Moody Northern Theater to name a few. She was awarded Best Supporting Actress in Tartuffe and Best Musical Performance in An Ideal Husband. She is currently the Drama Club Director for San Juan Diegs CHS. She has taught the Introduction to Fine Arts, Ballet History at Texas State Univeristy and was the Cultural Advisor for Kneeling Down at Noon.