Instructors
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Riley Fitzgerald
Riley has been dancing since the age of 4 under various dance studios in the Roanoke
area. She is a 2006 graduate in Elementary Education with a minor in dance from
Radford University. She has studied dance with various professional instructors
at Shenandoah University, Radford University, and various dance conventions. She
has been seen as a dancer in the Miss Roanoke Valley Pageant, Miss Virginia Revue
and other local events including Festival in the Park and the Commonwealth Games.
In 2006 she won a national dance choreography award and her students placed overall
in each of their age divisions. Many of her students have won prestigious dance
titles, including America's Mini Miss Dance, America's Petite Miss Dance,
America's Junior Mister Dance, and America Teen Mister Dance. 2009 was a big
year as Riley was invited to choreograph the opening number for a National Dance
Competition and her students took the title of Teen/Senior Grand National Champions
with their piece, "Cell Block Tango". Riley is also a sought after judge
for regional competitions through out the East Coast. Her background of dance is
extensive and she brings this professionalism into the studio by helping each student
achieve their goals.
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Tamarah Alexander
Tamarah has been dancing for 26 years. She took lessons from over 10 studios across
the United States, including Virginia, Texas and South Carolina. She attended the
Roanoke City Magnet School for Dance in middle school while also attending studio
classes. Tamarah could often be seen kicking up her heels in local Mill Mountain
Theatre Plays, such as "Gypsy" and "The Pied Piper" and in productions
such as "The Nutcracker Suite". Tamarah was a member of her high school
dance and drill team and danced in various television commercials. She danced on
a competitive level and has been awarded with many titles, including, "Most
Energetic" by Joan Lather with Dance Makers Inc. Tamarah created and maintained
the Roanoke YMCA Dance Program for 15 years, where she led her dancers to various
competitions where they have placed from 3rd to 1st. Tamarah is also a certified
aerobics instructor and taught adult hip hop, kick boxing and other aerobics classes.
She has had the opportunity to attend many master classes and work with many professional
dancers throughout her career. Most recently she was awarded the "Crowd Pleaser"
award for her work with our Junior Tap company with their piece "We Love Candy".
She also led our teen tap company to several regional and national over-all high
point awards with their piece "Happy Feet".
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Sammi Rader
Sammi holds a Bachelor
of Science in Psychology with a minor in Dance from Radford University. She has
specific experience in hip hop, modern, jazz, lyrical, clogging and tap with ten
years experience as a dance instructor and choreographer. Sammi is an award winning
dancer on both the local and national levels. Sammi has danced professionally and
choreographed for the Roanoke Dazzle Star City Squad, a National Basketball Association
Development League dance team and the Roanoke Steam, an Arena Football League dance
team. By teaching at Divine Dance Center, Sammi hopes to encourage and enable students
to understand and appreciate movement and their own creative ability.
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Elyse Hart
Elyse was born and raised
in New York. She started dancing professionally at age 13 and has been teaching
nearly as long! She has been lucky enough to study with such legends as Luigi, Ann
Reinking, Mia Michaels, and Finis Jhung. Her career started as a member of Ballet
Long Island and she went on to dance with several other dance troupes in New York
and Virginia. Her experience also includes regional and Off-Broadway musicals, television
commercials, as well as Original Cast Recordings.As a choreographer, she has worked
extensively, including, the Off-Broadway shows Metropolitan Music, The Best of Forbidden
Broadway Revue, and Gershwin’s Blue Monday. Miss Elyse will be teaching two levels
of Musical Theatre dance which is brand new to our studio! She will also be instructing
several ballet, jazz, and tap classes.
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