Teacher Biographies
Mrs. Wade was the the Director of the Arlington Heights High School Dance Department for 7 years before founding North Texas Dance Arts with Emily Hunter. Upon receiving her B.F.A. from Texas Christian University's School for Classical and Contemporary Dance, Mrs. Wade went on to become the Co - Assistant Director of Denton City Contemporary Ballet. Mrs. Wade has danced professionally with Muscle Memory Dance Theater, Epiphany DanceArts, CholoRock Dance Collective, and Impulse Dance Project. She has also had the opportunity to be a Rehearsal Assistant at the TCU School for Classical and Contemporary Dance. Passionate about advocating for dance in the Metroplex, Mrs. Wade is a founding member of Further Dance Fort Worth, an organization committed to growing the dance community in Fort Worth. Mrs. Wade is the recipient of the Bates Dance Festival Teacher Fellowship Scholarship and the Dance Council of North Texas' Glenda Brown Choreography Scholarship. Most recently, Mrs. Wade received her M.A. in Dance Education from the University of Northern Colorado and is the recipient of the 2017 Bass Teaching Chair for Teaching Excellence in Dance. She is married to her husband Kole and mother to their two children, Tucker and Etta.
Rachel Wade
Advanced Contemporary Modern
Roxanne Lyst is an Associate Professor of Modern Dance and has been at the University of Oklahoma (OU) since 2016. She is the Artistic Director of OU’S resident modern dance company Contemporary Dance Oklahoma and is the Master of Fine Arts Graduate Liaison. Ms. Lyst began her professional dance training in Washington D.C. under the mentorship of Alfred Dove and Adrian Bolton. She continued her studies at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and as a fellowship student at the Ailey School. Ms. Lyst has been a member of AILEY II, The Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO), and The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She received her MFA from Hollins University in 2013 and was on faculty at Rutgers University from 2011-2016.
Roxanne Lyst
Advanced
Horton
Technique
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Kerry Kreiman is the artistic director of Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth. A past adjunct faculty member of Texas Christian University and Saint Mary's College at Notre Dame, she also previously served as the director of the dance program at The Culver Academies. Kreiman holds a BFA in Modern Dance and a BA in Philosophy from TCU, in addition to an MFA in Dance with an emphasis in performance and choreography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has been teaching dance for over 40 years and Pilates and fitness for over 20 years and has taught master classes at colleges and universities in the U.S. and internationally. Additional credentials include: Franklin Method® Level 1 Educator and FM Pelvic Fascia Trainer (Franklin Method Institute, founded by Eric Franklin); Bill Evans Modern Dance Technique Certification; NCPT - Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher (formerly Pilates Method Alliance); Comprehensive Pilates Instructor (Balanced Body University, originally with PhysicalMind Institute) & MOTR Instructor (Balanced Body University); Functional Aging Specialist, Functional Aging Group Exercise Specialist, and Brain Health Trainer (Functional Aging Institute); Corrective Exercise Specialist (National Academy of Sports Medicine); PFilates Pelvic Floor Performance Training Certified Instructor (Insight Biodesign, LLC, with Dr. Bruce Crawford); YUR Back Licensed Instructor (PhiPilates); Neurosensory Specialist and Barefoot Training Specialist - Level 1 (Evidence Based Fitness Academy).
Kerry Kreiman
Intro to
Franklin
Method
Associate Director of Texas Ballet Theater Schools and Director of Texas Ballet Theatre Studio Training Company. Former Principal Dancer with Houston Ballet and Ballet de Santiago in Chile.
Kathy
Warakomski-Li
Ballet
Dr. Kihyoung Choi is Coordinator of Dance Program and the Director of Movers Unlimited Touring Dance Company on the Northeast Campus of Tarrant County College. She received the 2017 Tarrant County College Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Award. Kihyoung holds a Ph.D. in dance with an emphasis in Dance Pedagogy from Texas Woman’s University. She received her M.A. in Dance Kinesiology with a specialization in Biomechanical Analysis of Ballet Movements from Yonsei University. Kihyoung began her professional dance training in Yewon Art Middle School in Seoul, Korea where she rigorously studied ballet, Korean dance, and modern dance. She has performed with the Korean National Ballet Company, Sangmook Chae Traditional Korean Dance Company, and Satellite-Dance as a professional dancer. Kihyoung has served on the faculties of University of North Texas, the American College Dance Festival, Denton Dance Conservatory, Yonsei University (Korea), and Dankook University (Korea). Kihyoung has been an invited guest teacher for dance and the Child international (daCi) and the Cecchetti Council of America, as well as a guest artist for Dance at Texas Christian University and Faculty Concert and Symposium at the University of North Texas. Her choreography has been commissioned and presented for dance festivals and conferences including Dallas DanceFest, American College Dance Association Gala Concert, the Barefoot Brigade Dance Festival, the Regional High School Dance Festival, Community College Humanities Association National Conference, Contemporary Dance Fort Worth: Dance Exchange, Fusion and World Cultures Symposium and Dance Concert to name a few. In 2019, her work, “人[In]; human" has been chosen at McCallum Theatre’s Palm Desert Choreography Festival and won the Ensemble Award.
Dr. Kihyoung
Choi
Contemporary
Korean
Traditional
Dance
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Hyun Jung (Jenna) Chang is an Associate Professor of Dance on the Northeast Campus of Tarrant County College. She is a TCC NE Dance Program and Movers Unlimited Touring Dance Company alumna and received her B.A and M.F.A in Dance at Texas Woman’s University. She is in her fifth-year teaching at her home campus and is the Assistant Director of Movers Unlimited. Through various performance opportunities and studies in dance, Jenna gained experience and knowledge in a wide range of dance forms including K-pop, Funk/Hip Hop, Drill Team, Jazz, Contemporary/Lyrical, Ballet, Modern, Tap, Musical Theater, and traditional Korean dance. Hyun Jung is passionate about sharing the joy of movement and the power of unity that has helped her through numerous difficulties and continuing challenges of life.
Hyun Jung Chang
(Jenna Chang)
Studio Hip-Hop
Carrie Cheng, Director, was born in Miami, Florida, and started her training with Thomas Armour of the Miami Conservatory. She continued her training under Dulce Anaya and the Jacksonville Ballet Theater. Cheng earned a BFA in ballet from the University of Utah with a full, four-year scholarship. She has danced professionally with numerous companies, including the Utah Ballet, Eugene Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Boston, North Atlantic Ballet, and Ballet Concerto. She has made guest artist appearances throughout the United States, Mexico and Taiwan. She has been a guest teacher for summer ballet programs for schools such as Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Texas Ballet Theater, Atlanta Ballet, and Ballet Theatre of Boston. Internationally, she has taught in Taiwan and China. Cheng has been adjunct ballet faculty at Texas Christian University and Tarrant County College and served on the Dance Council of North Texas Board of Directors. She was an instructor in ballet for Texas Ballet Theater School in Fort Worth from 2008-16 and is currently the Director of Ballet at Fort Worth Country Day. Cheng received a National Honor Roll’s Outstanding American Teachers Award in 2005-06 and teacher of the year for Texas Ballet Theater School for 2013-14 and 2014-15. In October 2017, she was awarded The Fine Arts Chair for Distinguished Teaching in the Arts at Fort Worth Country Day. Cheng is an “ABT” Certified Teacher who has successfully completed the ABT* Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 5 of the ABT* National Training Curriculum.
Carrie Cheng
Ballet
KRISTA LANGFORD graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in Ballet and Modern Dance and a BA in Writing from Texas Christian University. She has performed and choreographed with a variety of companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area including imPULSE dance project and wild goose chase dance. Her work has been presented at Wanderlust Dance Project, Fort Worth Youth Dance Festival, Regional High School Dance Festival, and Dallas Dances. She has taught ballet and modern/contemporary dance for many programs including Texas Ballet Theater School, Gayle Corkery School of Ballet, Kids Who Care, American Classical Ballet Academy, and Texas Dance Conservatory. She was a co-founder and former board president of FurtherDance Fort Worth, an organization serving the Fort Worth dance community. Langford joined the dance faculty at Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts (FWAFA) in 2015 and was appointed as chair of the department in 2018. She currently teaches Middle School and High School Dance and directs FWAFA’s Academy Dance Company. She is also pursuing her MFA in Dance, Creative Practice through Saint Mary’s College of California.
Krista
Langford
Choreography
Tools
Audrey
Kennedy
Contemporary
Infusion
Audrey Kennedy started her dance training in Classical Ballet, Jazz, Tap, and Lyrical at a very young age, as well as being a competition dancer. Audrey continued her dance journey through high school, and joined her high school’s drill team. Audrey was Co-Captain of her high school drill team, the Trinity Troy-Anns, in 2007. After high school, Audrey attended the University of North Texas, where she got a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts majoring in Dance. After college, Audrey began to dance professionally for contemporary dance companies; teaching, choreographing, and adjudicating dance competitions. Audrey has been teaching for over 10 years, as well as choreographing for dance companies and studios. Audrey enjoys teaching, as well as choreographing for students and adults of all ages, and she truly enjoys getting to watch her students grow through their love of dance.
Jasmine
Jaramillo
Jazz Technique
Jasmine Jaramillo is originally from Denton, TX and grew up training at Denton Dance Conservatory with Lisa Racina-Torre. Ms. Jaramillo has been a dance educator for over 16 years and started teaching dance as a freshman in high school in exchange for her dance tuition. Ms. Jaramillo holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in History with a dance minor and a Master of Arts degree in Dance History from Texas Woman's University. Ms. Jaramillo is the co-artistic director for the CholoRock Dance Collective in Denton. The collective is a division of the CholoRock Dance Theatre which was founded by Jose Zamora-MFA, in 2011 at Texas Woman's University. The collective celebrates Hispanic and Tejano heritage through contemporary movement. In 2021, Ms. Jaramillo founded the Jaramillo Dance Group, focusing on performance art from the female perspective. Ms. Jaramillo’s choreography has been presented at the 254 Dance Festival, the Denton Dance Festival, the Youngtanzomer Tour in Austria, Texas Woman’s University Alumni Dance Concert, and others. Ms. Jaramillo is currently in her third year as a faculty member of the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts Dance Department.
Lori Vasquez
Lori Vasquez was born and raised in Fort Worth, TX, and grew up training at dance studios in the DFW area and at Arlington Heights High School under the direction of Joy Bollinger and Rachel Wade. Ms. Vasquez has been a dance educator for over 7 years and began teaching as a teaching artist in the after-school programs of the Chicago Public School system. Recently, she has taught a variety of dance techniques including ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, and hip hop at Texas Ballet Theater School, Dance Connection, and Texas Dance Conservatory. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Columbia College Chicago specializing in teaching and choreography, and a Master of Arts degree in Teaching from Texas Woman's University. Ms. Vasquez has been choreographing since high school and has presented work at the National High School Dance Festival and the Dance Center stage of Columbia, and has set work for Arlington Heights High Dance Department. She currently teaches Elementary Dance, and directs Junior Company and is the co-director of Company II with Ms. Jaramillo and Ms. Langford. Ms. Vasquez is excited for her second year with the FWAFA Dance Department.
Contemporary
Jazz
Jennifer
Mabus
Modern for Contemporary Dancers
JENNIFER MABUS, a dance artist currently living and working in Texas, possesses a rich performance background. Hailed as “bold” (New York Times) and “living calligraphy” (Boston Globe) and she has performed internationally as a soloist and founding member of Battle Works, Robert Battle’s company before he became the director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Additionally, Mabus has danced for the Amy Marshall Dance Company (NYC), Heidi Latsky (NYC), Takehiro Ueyama (NYC), Bruce Wood Dance Project (TX), Noble Motion Dance (TX), and Dark Circles Contemporary Dance (TX), among others. Mabus has presented choreography in festivals, such as the Dance Gallery Festival (TX), the Dumbo Dance Festival (NYC), Cool/NY Festival, Wanderlust Dance, and the 254 Festival (TX). She has also been commissioned to create work for the dance companies, Houston Contemporary Dance, Avant Chamber Ballet, METdance, Contemporary Ballet Dallas, Pilot Dance Project, Muscle Memory Dance Theater, Omega Dance Company, and Elle Danceworks, as well as for university dance programs around the nation.
In Houston, she has been commissioned to create work for the Miller Outdoor Theater and Zilka Hall at the Hobby Center by the Foundation for Modern Music and the Windsync Ensemble.
Mabus was a Rice University Dance Artist in Residence, a Noble Motion Dance “Next Step” emerging artist, and a Dance Source Houston Artist in Residence. She is also a founding member of the Transitory Sound and Movement Collective, where she has co-created original, experiential evenings in venues such as the Contemporary Arts Museum/Houston, Rothko Chapel, the Rice University Gallery, and the Blanton Museum (Austin).
Mabus founded and chaired the Dance at the University of St. Thomas, and she has served on the dance faculties of Texas Christian University, Sam Houston State University, Houston’s HSPVA, San Jacinto College, Booker T Washington HSPVA, and Interlochen Arts Academy. Mabus received a BFA in Dance from Southern Methodist University and an MFA from Sam Houston State University, and she is also a 500-hour certified yoga instructor, cat lady, and Argentine Tango dancer. She is very excited to be back in the DFW area and teaches teaches at Booker T Washington HSPVA, while also choreographing and presenting her own work.
Shawn began his dance training in Arlington, TX at the age of 5. He has had the privilege of training all across the country under elite industry professionals. He broke into the professional scene at the age of 9 when he was a part of Debbie Allen’s production of Pepito’s Story. He continued his professional dancing career by becoming the youngest company member with Ft. Worth Ballet at the age of 10. He performed in productions of Peter Pan as Michael and the Nutcracker as Fritz under the direction of Benjamin Houk.
He continued his professional ballet career with Svetlana Stanova Ballet’s productions of Sleeping Beauty as the Blue Bird and the Nutcracker as the Cavalier and the Russian. He has appeared in several Chuck ‘E Cheese commercials and promotional videos.
He had an opportunity to perform at both the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Desperados half time shows. He was a backup dancer for Clint Black. He has since moved his focus towards teaching and sharing his gifts with his students. He has been awarded several Best Choreography awards and has had the privilege of setting dances for studios all across the country. He was a resident instructor and Company Director for Millennium Dance Complex. He was also the producer and choreographer for the Miss Arlington and Miss Grand Prairie Scholarship Pageants which are a part of the Miss America Scholarship Organization. He was an assistant instructor with Hollywood Connection Dance Convention and a guest instructor with Showstoppers Dance Convention. He was a lead faculty member of War Dance Workshops. Shawn is also a published dance photographer that travels the country. Shawn is now the proud Owner and Director of The MoveMeant Project, a preprofessional training company located in Grand Prairie, TX.
Shawn Lawson
Improvisation
LaSheta Skinner
Soulful Contemporary
I am a professional Dancer, Choreographer, Educator and Director. I am originally from Houston, TX and have been dancing since the age of 7. I have trained in various styles such as Contemporary, Ballet, Tap, Hip Hop, Breakdancing, Modern and more. I was a member of my high school drill team, where I served as Spirit Leader and Senior Lieutenant Colonel. Upon graduating high school I was awarded a scholarship and spot on the Trinity Valley Community College Cardette Dance Team. Along with being a member, I was a Freshman Representative and a Lieutenant on the officer line. Currently I hold two degrees: an Associates in Kinesiology and a Bachelors in Creative Advertising. During my time in college and after, I continued my dance career as a dancer and teacher. I have worked at numerous dance studios and performing arts centers in the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area such as; North Texas Performing Arts Center, Texas Ballet Theatre, Amotion Dance Studio, to name a few. Currently you can find me at Bryan Adams High School, where I am the Assistant Director to the Drill Team and Head Director for the Hip Hop Crew and Freshman Spirit Dancers. In addition to being the Director, I also choreograph for all of our productions and competitions!
Webster Dean
Ballet Technique
WEBSTER DEAN, artistic director of Ballet Concerto, is a former soloist with Ballet West, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the Milwaukee Ballet, and has danced seasons with Ballet Oregon, the Colorado, and Richmond Ballets. He has also performed in musical theater at the Cleveland Playhouse, Casa Mañana, Lyric Stage, and Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular as well as with the Colorado, Dallas, and Fort Worth Operas. He began his ballet training in Fort Worth with Margo Dean. Teachers and choreographers he has worked with subsequently during his career include Bruce Marks, Toni Lander, Denise Schultze, Fernando Bujones, David Howard, John Butler, Malcolm Burn, Eugene Loring, André Prokovsky, Frederick Franklin, Kim Abel, and Michael Vernon. He has staged works by Bruce Marks as a guest stager for Nevada Ballet Theatre, Ballet West, Orlando Ballet, Charleston Ballet Theater, and Kansas City Ballet. He holds a BFA from University of Utah. He has been guest ballet instructor at Texas Christian University and he has taught at Margo Dean School of Ballet for the past thirty years..
