FACULTY
ALECIA LAKERNICK
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Alecia is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Meredith College with a B.A. in Dance , a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Campbell University with a B.S. in Spanish with K-12 education certification and is certified in Early Childhood Education. As Miss Henderson 1992, she won the Talent Award at the Miss North Carolina Pageant & was a Top Ten Finalist. In 1987, as Miss Topsail Island, she captured the only Non-Finalist Talent Award at The Miss N.C. Pageant and was chosen as a member of the Miss NC Performing Troupe. Alecia toured 5 summers with Hoctor’s Dance Caravan as an instructor, performer and head coordinator for the Caravan Kid program. Studies include: N.C. School of the Arts, The Columbia City Ballet, Wake Forest University, Dance Theater of Fayetteville, Broadway Dance Center (NYC) and Steps (NYC). She has choreographed for Dance Caravan, Miss Henderson Pageant, Miss Erwin-Denim Pageant, Miss Topsail Island Pageant, Louisburg College, Vance Rec Players, Granville Little Theater, Lakeland Cultural Arts center, Broadway & Beyond Theatre Camp, Imagination Station, Vance County Show Choir, as well as, for high school majorettes & twirlers at Triton, Midway, Webb and Northern Vance. Alecia has judged for many dance and baton competitions including: Star Talent, Applause Talent, Stars of Tomorrow and Drum Majorettes of America. She is a certified judge and instructor for Drum Majorettes of America and has over 30 years experience teaching dance and baton.
DASH MICHAELS
COMPETITION DIRECTOR
Dash Michaels began dancing at the age of eight in Charlotte, N.C., under the direction of Kathy Baldwin, Joanna Nichols and Jayson Michaels. Dash was a dancer for the Energy Source Dance Association and helped raise money for Operation Smile and was also a Dance Caravan Kid with Scott Benson. Dash studied very closely with teachers such as Frank Hatchett, Mia Michaels, Stepp Stewart and Devora Cooper. Dash Michaels was named Mr. Dance of Virginia for Dance Educators of America, as well as a three-time Mr. Dance of North Carolina for Dance Masters of America. He has been featured in many dance productions such as Gypsy as Tulsa, Coppelia, Road to Victory, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake to name a few. In 2000, Dash won Best Choreography for Encore DCS, Premier2000, Kids Artistic Revue and Choreographer of the Year for Star Systems Nationals. He has worked on productions for PBS, MTV, ABC Broadcasting, FOX television and 19 Entertainment. Dash has had the honor of teaching at conventions alongside Wade Robson and Marquis Cunningham on the Convention circuit. In 2006, Dash appeared on the syndicated television show, “So You Think You Can Dance”. Dash is the Executive Director of his own digital production company, DMDC and has directed & produced numerous shows such as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Grease, The Miss Gastonia Pageant and the Junior Miss Pageant of Lynchburg. Dash has choreographed for Madonna’s 50th Birthday Bash at the Volstead Club in London, England and in 2022, he became the resident Hip Hop Instructor for the All Stars Competition Team as well as the Ballet Arts Competition Director.
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ALIAH parker
JAZZ, ACRO, HIP HOP, TAP
Aliah is a graduate of East Carolina University with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health. She was a proud member of the ECU Club Dance Team in 2015 and earned double platinum and overall ratings with her team at Showstoppers and NYCDA. She is a native of Clinton, NC where she trained for over 12 years in classical ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, and hip hop at Quisan's Dance Academy (QDA), under the artistic direction of her mother, Quisan Parker. Aliah was a member of the National Champion QDA Dance Company for 10 years earning multiple platinum, high platinum, and overall high score awards. She’s taught at several studios for the past 5 years and also served as an assistant and company team instructor at QDA for 5 years where her students earned numerous platinum, high platinum, and overall awards. In addition to her studio training, she has studied with many dance "greats" including Frank Hatchett (Broadway Dance Center), and "So You Think You Can Dance" finalists Kameron Bink, Caitlin Finney, and Kent Boyd, just to name a few. She has also had the honor of performing at Madison Square Garden in NY for U.S. Dance Days and at Disneyland in CA. In addition to dance training, Aliah has several years of voice and theatre training. She also enjoys coaching young girls in pageants to be their best selves and has held several titles including Miss NC High School 2014, Miss Black NC Talented Teen 2015, and Miss Black Talented Teen USA 2016. She has served as a judge for dance competitions in NC & VA. Aliah believes dance has helped her through many stages of her life and hopes it will do the same for others. Aliah is the resident Acro & Jazz Instructor for the All Stars Competition Dance Team.
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cayla reed
contemporary
Cayla Reed has been dancing since the age of 10. She was born in Tampa, FL and moved to Geneva, Ohio when she was 5 years old. Her dancing career didn’t take off until she moved to Wake Forest, NC in November of 2004. She attended Dance Works Studio in Youngsville, NC until her senior year of high school. She competed at many dance competitions and attended multiple conventions/intensives all credited to her wonderful teacher and choreographer, Wendy Penatello Denney. In December of 2016 she graduated from The University of North Carolina Greensboro where she studied to get her BFA in dance. She’s performed an original piece from Martha Graham’s Chronicle, Prelude to Action, at the Joyce theatre in New York. She lived in North Hollywood, California as a freelance dancer/choreographer for 4 years. She is currently in North Carolina excited to get back into the dance competition scene, sharing her love and passion for the beautiful art of dance. Cayla is the resident Contemporary Instructor for the All Stars Competition Dance Team.
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linda slonski
clogging
Linda has been clogging since age 9. She was a member of the Silverheel Cloggers in Randleman, NC and taught clogging classes there until attending UNC Chapel Hill. While at UNC-CH, Linda joined the NCSU Clogging team. She is a member of the competitive clogging team, Pride of Carolina Cloggers, where she continues to compete, perform and attend workshops, in ACHF and Cadence competition sanctions. Linda was inducted into the American Clogging Hall of Fame All American Clogging Team at the 2012 World Championships. Linda is the resident Clogging Instructor for the All Stars Competition Dance Team.
aijia bryant
jazz, hip hop, lyrical, acro, ballet
Aijia Bryant is a graduate of UNC-G, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Dance and also obtained her masters degree in Business Administration. While at college, Aijia was on the dance team, was a student choreographer, interned in dance therapy and was a member of the National Honorary Dance Fraternity, Delta Chi Xi. She trained at Ballet Arts and was a member of the ‘All Stars’ company.
kaitlin davis
tap
Kaitlin Davis holds a BFA in Dance Performance from East Carolina University, where she was also recognized as the 2014 Outstanding Senior in Dance. After graduation, Kaitlin performed in North Carolina with Opera House Theater Company, Forward Motion Dance Company, and at the Cucalorus Film Festival. She then moved to the Atlanta area where she has danced with SIDEWAYS Contemporary Dance Company, Atlanta Dance Collective, Stella Entertainment, and Britt Fishel & Artists. Kaitlin has performed as part of the Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Asheville Fringe festivals, Dance Canvas, and Fall for Fall Dance Festival. She choreographed for the NBC film Gametime: Tackling the Past in which she was also a featured dancer, and has performed with Earth Wind and Fire on tour. Kaitlin has taught students of all ages in the Wilmington and Atlanta areas. In her spare time she enjoys relaxing with her boyfriend Daniel and their dog Lainey, and making tap TikTok videos with her sister Sarah. Kaitlin is the resident Tap Instructor for the All Stars Competition Dance Team.
ALEX KEDROV
CLASSICAL BALLET & POINTE
Classical Ballet & Pointe Born and raised in Moscow, Russia, Mr. Kedrov graduated from Moscow Choreographic Institute.He was a Ballet soloist with The State Bolshoi Theater, Moscow, and toured extensively around the world with them until the Bolshoi Theater USA Tour where he accepted an invitation from Boston Ballet Co. to join the company as a soloist. Here he had the chance to work with known Western choreographers and broaden his repertoire. Throughout his career, Alexander has worked with many different companies as a guest artist, teacher and choreographer in dance and musical theater productions in the USA, Canada, Spain, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, including: a tour in Germany as a guest artist with “Russian Ballet Stars” Company, staging of “Nayada and Fishermen” ballet in Japan with Myaki Dance Theater in Tokyo, and choreography and participation as a featured artist in various fragments from American Musicals with Jean Ann Ryan Productions Co. on the Asuka Cruise Ship in Japan.
steele goldman
Ballet
Steele Goldman was raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He began his dance training during his teenage years under the direction of Melody Eggen. Goldman graduated in 2018 from the Dance and Choreography department at Virginia Commonwealth University. He was selected during his freshman year to perform “Attempted Murder” choreographed by Ivy Lohn at the ACDA conference held at George Mason University. During his time at VCU Goldman had the pleasure of performing in pieces by faculty including Martha Curtis, Courtney Harris, Scott Putnam, Autumn Proctor Waddell, and Dr. Gaynell Sherrod. Goldman was also selected to perform in guest artist works including the 40th year anniversary of Liz Lerman’s seminal work “Still Crossing”, “Mélange” choreographed by Helen Simoneau and “Multiplicity of Intimacy” choreographed by Jenna Riegel.
Goldman was able to dance and do a work-study position in the costume department at the Bates Dance Festival. During that time he was selected to perform in works by international choreographers Junichi Fukuda and Li Wenqi. While attending the American Dance Festival on
full tuition scholarship Goldman was selected to work with Lucinda Childs and perform two of her minimalist ballets “Kilar” and “Concerto”. In 2018 Goldman performed two Shen Wei works “Maps” and “Undivided Divided” as a part of the ADF summer performances.
Goldman has performed with Richmond Ballet, Stavna Ballet, Conflux Ballet Theatre, OM Grown Dancers, Annielille Gavino and her company Malayaworks, and Richmond dance company RVA Dance Collective. In 2017 Goldman performed “Phosphorescence” a multimedia site-specific piece choreographed by his dance colleague Michelle Koppl as a part of the 1708 Gallery’s InLight exhibition. Goldman worked with VCU guest artist Ching-I Chang Bigelow for a site-specific piece in collaboration with Dutch sculptor Noor Nuyten “Let’s Meet at Three
O’Clock (Another Uniform Time)” at the VCU Institute of Contemporary Art.
Including dance, Goldman’s second passion is Japanese cinema and he has been studying the Japanese language since high school. He was the recipient of the VCU Dance Department’s Student Research Award for his research in Japanese art history.
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EMILY HUNSINGER
VARIOUS GENRES
Emily was born and raised in North Carolina and started dancing when she was two years old in Wilmington. After moving to Cary when she was four, she danced at Premier School of Dance under the direction of Monica Derrenbacher and later at Cary Dance Productions under the direction of Tondalaya Pearson. She was a member of the Competitive Company at CDP for 5 years.
Emily is a proud graduate of Appalachian State University with a BS in K-12 Special Education and will begin coursework with the ASU Graduate Studies program in the fall to receive additional licensure in Birth through Kindergarten Education. She teaches Pre-K for Vance County Schools and loves incorporating dance and movement into her daily instruction.
Outside of teaching little ones, Emily enjoys painting, gardening, crafting, and going to Kerr Lake with her husband and three pups.
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CINDY BLEVINS
VARIOUS GENRES
Miss Cindy has performed as a soloist with “The Land of the Sky Civic Ballet” in Asheville, NC in her youth, but her teaching and performing career spans the last four decades. She opened The Dance Center in 2005 to spread her love of dance far and wide. Her former students have various accolades including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe Award, held leads in feature films/broadway productions, placed in the top 10 on a popular reality television dance program, danced on collegiate and pro sports team dance squads, as well as being accepted as full time resident students at North Carolina School of the Arts and Julliard.
guest choreographers
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OFU CAIRNS
specialty choreographer
Ofu started dancing at Ballet Arts when he was 8 years old and took classes in the styles of tap, contemporary, jazz, clogging, ballet, and lyrical. Early on, Ofu showed a passion and dedication to the art when he started assisting Ballet Arts faculty members on top of his own training. He eventually became a student-teacher when he was 15 years old and taught tap classes here until graduating from high school in 2020. He is now pursuing his bachelor's in Biology at Swarthmore College where he's currently exploring the field of physical therapy and continuing to dance. Ofu now works as a guest instructor, coming back on his breaks to share his love for dance with our students.
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BAILEY HADDOW
specialty choreographer
Bailey began dancing at Ballet Arts when she was 3 years old. She took classes like contemporary, tap, ballet, acro, jazz, and had many solos. Bailey loved dance and eventually decided to share her love by teaching classes at the age of 16. These classes consisted of ballet, acro, and tap. Bailey graduated high school in the year 2021 and began her studies at NC State University. She is now pursuing a bachelors degree in psychology with hopes of completing a masters and doctorate in clinical psychology. However this doesn’t stop Bailey from sharing her love of dance with others. Bailey is now working for the studio as a guest choreographer to choreograph solos and duets for our students.
contracted faculty
TATYANA ROSARIO RATLIFF
various genres
Bio coming soon
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AMY BROWN
various genres
Bio coming soon
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AMAYA BROWN
various genres
Bio coming soon
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ALEXIS BROWN
various genres
Bio coming soon
BALLET ARTS OFFICE STAFF
pHIL LAKERNICK
OFFICE MANAGER
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