My Dance Journey
My mom noticed that I was dancing & choreographing & teaching the neighborhood kids my dance routines at a very young age. I am forever grateful that she signed me up for tap & jazz dance classes with Betsye Kay Finch, a former Broadway Equity Actress & Dancer, in Lakeland, FL when I was 7 years old.
I loved watching MGM movie musicals, Solid Gold, Soul Train, American Bandstand, the Lawrence Welk show, the Jackson Five, In Living Color's Fly Girls, MTV and VH1, and would often challenge myself to pick up the steps by the end of the show. My mom & I got to see the Broadway tour of Dancin' & Bob Fosse became an immediate inspiration.
As a teenager, I was on the Anchorette Dance & Drill Team at my high school, where I won ribbons for High Kick Performance and 3rd place in the Miss Florida Drill Team Competition with a dance solo to "All That Jazz." I also performed that solo at the Junior Achievement National Convention in front of 3,000 kids, while my own company won "most profitable." A clear sign that dance and business would be my future. That is the photo above.
Inspired by my mom's lost dream of becoming a tap dancer, I kept training, teaching, and dancing professionally into a successful Choreography,
Co-Directing, and Stage Managing career.
I spent 20+ years as an Entertainment Choreographer, Professional Dancer, and Stage Manager in Central Florida, working for Disney/MGM Studios, SeaWorld, Cypress Gardens, Boardwalk & Baseball, Miss Florida Teen & USA Pageants, Community Theatres, Ballet Companies, Performing Arts High Schools, and Universities.
Shows I have choreographed include: Pippin, West Side Story, 42nd Street, The King & I, Anything Goes, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Nunsense, Godspell, Cabaret, The Full Monty, The Prom, and two Sesame Street Live Shows for SeaWorld.
Shows I have performed in include: Colorado Riders (Boardwalk & Baseball), More Than Magic (Cypress Gardens), Here Come the Muppets (Disney/MGM Studios), and the Dinosaur Parade (Disney/MGM Studios).
Shows & Parades I did Staging for at Walt Disney World include: Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin Parade, Muppets 3D Movie, Muppet Show, Toy Story Parade, and The Little Mermaid.
I completed a BS in Business Administration and a BA in Modern Dance from the University of South Florida in Tampa. I received an Award for Excellence in choreography and other dance scholarships from the USF Dance Department.
I was introduced to Pilates for Dance, Massage Therapy, and Dance Kinesiology, as a university student and went on to train and certify as a Licensed Massage Therapist in FL and CO, and as a Pilates Post-Rehab Practitioner with Polestar Pilates. I ran my own private practice, rehabilitating dancers and seniors, for many years.
I taught Ageless Pilates Mat and Ageless Boogie Jazz Dance at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. I also taught Pilates, Tap and Jazz dance classes at the Estes Park Senior Center, the Estes Valley Community Center, and the Greensboro Senior Center.
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I adore my ageless ladies and love keeping them moving with joy!
I had the great honor of performing in Colorado with One Big Yes Productions in Boulder, directed by Nancy Cranbourne, as well as two cabaret show​s with New Breed Dance Company in Boulder, directed by Linzee Klinkenberg. I performed and stage managed for Art as Action's annual performance, and assisted in the launch of the Broomfield Community Players.
Twin Flames Productions has produced three successful sold-out Dance & Music Shows in Broomfield, CO and Estes Park, CO!
2019 Performance with Art as Action, a dance company for dancers with and without Parkinson's, located in the Colorado Conservatory of Ballet in
Broomfield, CO.
Dedication dance, That's Life, to my mentors Betsye Kay Finch, Paul Hughes,
and Joel Strack.
Since the pandemic, I am grateful to Zoom for allowing me teach weekly Ageless Jazz, Tap, and Pilates classes to ageless students all over the country.
I also completed my Masters & Doctorate Degrees in Metaphysical Science, a long-time dream to earn a Ph.D. in something I'm passionate about. I now assist clients with healing & transforming their health, relationships, finances, & creativity through shadow work, energy work, & the law of attraction.
