Devon Adams  Driven by her love of movement, Devon has performed professionally from New Mexico to New York City with companies such as Ballet Repertory Theatre of New Mexico, Blackbird Dance, The Angelo Dance Project, and Sparrow Dance. A member of New York City-based modern company Blackbird Dance, she joins them for regular tours throughout the 2013-2014 season. She has trained with some of the nation’s top teachers and choreographers, graduating summa cum laude with a B.F.A. in Dance Performance from Southern Methodist University in 2009. A versatile mover, Devon has performed works by distinguished choreographers such as Paul Taylor, Donald McKayle, and Alex Ossadnik, and appeared as a dancer in the 2013 Walt Disney film The Lone Ranger, directed by Gore Verbinski. She began assistant teaching at the age of 15 at the Academy of Ballet Repertory Theatre of New Mexico, and quickly discovered the joy of sharing her passion with students. She has been teaching ever since, investing in each student as she helps them explore and refine their art form. Now embarking on her second year in Austin, Devon is so thrilled to be joining the faculty at Balance Dance Studios.

Dane Burch  Dane grew up in Oregon, where he started training in dance at the age of 10. He quickly fell in love with movement and the expressiveness of it. He moved to Los Angeles, when he was 18, with a scholarship to EDGE Performing Arts Center. After completing his training, he continued to dance and perform. He worked with Tremaine Dance Convention for 5 years. He also worked for Move Dance Competitions, where he judged and taught master classes all around the U.S. In 2008, Dane moved to Austin. He is now the Co-director of Rise Dance Company and Reverence Dance Project. He works for numerous studios and high schools all around Texas. He loves sharing his knowledge and love for dance with all.

McKenna Carr  McKenna has been dancing since the age of two, where her first performance on stage was to ‘Animal Crackers in My Soup’. Through her high school years, McKenna danced competitively, began teaching and started choreographing. Following her love of ballet, she earned her certification of completion through grade 6 in the Cecchetti Ballet Method and continues to work toward further certification. She attended the Cecchetti Ballet Summer School in Michigan, the Ballet Austin Summer Intensive, and the Joffrey Ballet’s Ballet Intensive in NYC. McKenna loves to “see a student begin to do things they never thought they could and to watch their confidence climb”. This is evidenced in McKenna’s involvement as the director of 2dance2dream, a dance program for children, teens and adults with special needs.

Jarius Carr

Maranda Creamer  Maranda Creamer loves living a fit, healthy and active lifestyle. She has over a decade of cheerleading and gymnastics experience. Maranda began tumbling at age 9, and then cheered from middle school to college. After graduating Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communications from Texas State University, she moved to Austin where she now resides. Maranda is a licensed Zumba and Zumba Toning instructor, and also holds certifications in CPR/AED and First Aid, as well as AFAA Group Exercise. She is excited to bring her own spin to Zumba classes and provide fun, safe and effective dance cardio workouts. She brings a balance of various international music styles and rhythms to her classes, and strives to make each class different so that her students are constantly challenged.

Rachel Culver  Rachel Cox Culver holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Sam Houston State University (SHSU). Since earning her degree, she apprenticed with Bruce Wood Dance and performed the works of Joy Bollinger. While pursuing her BFA, she performed a variety of ballet and modern repertoire as a Nicolay Dance Works company member, under the artistic direction of Dana Nicolay. Rachel guests frequently with NobleMotion Dance, based in Houston. While studying at SHSU, Rachel had the pleasure of working with guest choreographers Maurice Causey, Gerard Theoret, and Gregory Nuber, and performing in many SHSU faculty creations. Hailing from Elida, NM, she studied classical and contemporary ballet with S-W School of Dance and Ballet Lubbock. She spent her summers training with LoneStar Ballet, Virginia School of the Arts, and the Kirov Ballet. She has performed lead roles in Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, The Nutcracker, Carnival of the Animals, and Firebird. Rachel currently performs as a freelance dancer throughout Texas, and enjoys sharing her love for ballet with young dancers.

Tracy Dunivan  A native Texan, Tracy has successfully coached and guided the careers of young performers for over 25 years. Because of her strong training and diverse performance abilities, she undertook many artistic endeavors and opportunities, including choreography gigs and acting roles in local and regional playhouses including Houston’s renowned Theatre Under the Stars. During the evolution of her career, she began to specialize in training and promoting young actors. Through her highly successful SHOKIDZ acting classes in Houston and Los Angeles, a “career changing” professional level seminar series, and her artist management company, numerous young actors found their niche and began rewarding careers. She helped launch the professional careers of Hilary & Haylie Duff, Renee’ Olstead,  the late Skye McCole Bartusiak, Sarah Hagan, Mariah Parks, and Jinhee Joung. Tracy saw a need within the competitive and pre-professional dance community for better performance understanding; so, she developed an innovative approach to teaching dancers how to honestly, organically and fully create and interpret the “story” of the choreography given them. Tracy’s goal is to help her clients recognize their full potential so they may realize all life’s gifts!

Kim Frueh  I have been practicing yoga for 7 years and teaching for almost 3 years. Yoga came into my life while I was working at a very difficult and mentally exhaustive job. I was looking for a way to find peace and balance in my life, while continuing to work on my physical self. Being a dancer my whole life, yoga seemed a very natural fit, with it’s graceful and strong postures. I love the practice of yoga because it is challenging and introspective and a great way to turn off the busy outside world. I received my teacher training with Malia Scott and Chrispy Bhaghat Singh at Say Om Yoga through the e3 Vinyasa 200 hour teacher training. My goal is to share this incredible practice of yoga, meeting students where they are, with challenges and support, hoping they find the same joy, emotional freedom and personal strength. Namaste.

Kenah Fuller

Amanda Howes-Keith

Kennedy Huff  Kennedy Huff started dancing at the age of 2 in Plano Texas. She trained in all styles of dance and is now teaching jazz and contemporary for Balance/Pivot. She spent her life as a young dancer traveling and training at Prodigy Dance Center and Dance Industry while attending many conventions and competitions around the Dallas/Houston area. She has trained under many amazing artists such as Emma Portner, Matt Luck, Jessica Hendricks, etc. She attended high school at Booker T Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts where she trained daily in styles such as ballet, modern, and composition, while also getting an academic education. She is now attending the University of Texas at Austin and will be teaching classes weekly at Balance. She is very excited to be part of the teaching staff at Balance!

Kalee Irwin  Kalee Irwin is an urban American artist based out of Austin, TX. She received her BFA in dance at Sam Houston State University. In her final year, Kalee received the fallowing: Spectrum Costume Design Award, Excellence in Dance Research Award, and Dance Service Award. Kalee has advanced training in modern, jazz, ballet, contact improvisation, dance technology and choreography; as well as training in costume design and sewing. In the summer of 2016 Kalee attended Dance Italia in Lucca, Italy where she received training from Cristina Planas Leitao, Chisato Ohno, Elitia Cannata, Erik Abbott-Maine, Nicole Von Arx, and Christiano Fabbri. Kalee’s favorite aspects of dance are choreography and improvisation. She likes to explore the boundaries of movement and express ideas, philosophies, and meaning through dance. In the fall of 2016, Kalee was selected to perform a spontaneous Improvisation performance, at the Texas Dance Improvisation Festival’s closing concert. In the spring of 2017 Kalee was selected to debut her new work “You and Me, Me and You” in the Mid the Gap festival run by Dance Source Houston. Kalee is now currently teaching at Balance Dance Studios, as well as The Dance Spot where she is the Co-Director of Envision Dance Company. Kalee has four years experience in the field of costume as a designer, assistant to the designer, and stitcher/drapper/cutter. She is self-employed as a costume designer, clothing designer, and alterations specialist. In the fall of 2017 Kalee was invited back to Sam Houston State University as an over hire professional stitcher/draper/cutter, as well as assistant designer, for the Dance department’s Spectrum Faculty concert. Kalee currently works at David’s Bridal as one of their alterations specialist. In the fall of 2018 she will begin her new journey as the costume designer and costume manager of both Balance Dance Studio and The Dance Spot in Austin, TX. On the side, Kalee is working toward building her own business in costume design and alterations.

Jordan Johnson  

Kelsy Leyendecker  Kelsy Leyendecker is our assistant director of Elevate and PUSH Dand Company’s Opal director. She began dancing at the age of 3 and has been teaching since the age of 16 years old. She began her studies and competitive years at Irvine Dance Academy but went on to receive training at some of the best studios in the country in the styles of ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, cheer, tumbling, and musical theatre. She has had the opportunity to study under legends such Joe Tremaine, Doug Caldwell, Molly Lynch, Christine Baltes, Jerome Robins, and Susan Stroman. In addition to them, she credits much of her growth and passion to her mentor, Monie Adamson who is a 3 time Emmy nominee and 2004 American Choreography Award winner. While still in school, she began choreographing young for her high school show choir and other local area theatre and children’s programs. As a diverse and performer, Kelsy danced as an extra on a couple TV shows, strutted the parade routes and stages of Disneyland as well as toured parts of the US as a member of the company, “Dance N’ ETC” and the “Concordia professional Chamber Choir”. She quickly found her passion in musical theatre and was cast in multiple theatre company ensembles such as “Guys and Dolls”, “Cabaret” and “Oklahoma” as well as lead roles such as Penny in “Swingtime” and Carol in “South Pacific”. She is proud to be a part of the Austin dance community and loves teaching all her students of all ages at Balance Dance Studios.

Andi Loo  Native to Texas, Andi Loo graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Spanish and quickly jumped on the earliest flight to Los Angeles. While in L.A., Andi worked for a local newspaper while studying dance at local venues. She recalls pre-Zumba days in L.A. being filled with healthy doses of “Latin Hip Hop” and “Salsa-esque” aerobics. Needless to say, her love and commitment to dancing grew quickly and after 3 children and a move back to Texas, she found her passion in teaching dance fitness classes.

Danielle Storey Loredo  Danielle has been dancing since the age of five and has studied an array of genres, her favorites being jazz, modern/contemporary, and musical theatre. She trained with Tempe Dance Academy in Tempe, Arizona while growing up and has received numerous regional and national competition titles. She was captain of her Arizona state champion high school dance team. Danielle made her way to Texas after accepting a dance scholarship to Southern Methodist University in Dallas. At SMU Danielle trained with a world renown faculty studying Jazz, Ballet and the Martha Graham modern technique. In college, she kept busy performing, teaching, choreographing and pursuing a degree in Corporate Communications. She is loves to stay active as a performer and choreographer in the local dance scene and is a dancer with the Austin companies The Dance Project and Reverence Dance Project.

Mark Moy  A veteran instructor and choreographer with over 20 years of teaching experience, Mark has a passion for teaching the love of dance. Beginner and advance students alike benefit from his warm, enthusiastic, and patient style. Mark’s greatest joy is watching his students have the “lightbulb” moment. Mark tries various approaches for presenting concepts until that happens for each and every student.

Giving back to the Austin community and participation and local charitable events is important to Mark. In 2011 and 2012, he was a featured dance professional in the Lake Travis Dancing with the Stars event to benefit the Lake Travis Community Library, and in 2011 & 2016, he was a featured professional in the Dancing with the Stars Austin, benefiting the Center for Child Protection. He served on the Board of Directors of the prestigious Mayfair Dance Club from 2011 – 2013 and served as Membership Chair of the organization in 2014.

David Nava  David Nava, also known by Navaji, started his career at 16-years-old shortly after representing Texas and the United States in the 2008 Rudolph Nureyev International Ballet Competition in Budapest, Hungary. Afterward joining the Sarasota Ballet Company in FL as a corps de ballet. Nava, has performed in works by Andre Prokovsky, Frederick Ashton, Dame Ninette De Valois, John Cranko, Robert North, and Sir Peter Wright’s. His lead and feature roles include Classical – Anthony Tudor’s Lilac Garden, George Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, Matthew Bourne’s Boutique, Peter Darrell’s Othello, Contemporary- Dominic Walsh’s Trilogy & Napoletani, Leymis Wilmott’s In Flight & Aftermath, Elizabeth Bergmann’s When We No Longer Touch. Recently Nava was invited to audition for Wayne McGregor’s company in London and performed at the Florida Dance Educators Conference alongside Complexions. Currently enrolled as a full time student at The University of Texas at Austin, David Nava has 10 years of professional dance and choreography experience and 6 years of teaching experience recently the Director of Ballet at The PAC in Houston, TX.

Quinton Weathers  Quinton Weathers started dancing at the age of eight, at Joyce Willett School of Dance in Austin, TX. He studied in jazz, tap, ballet, hip-hop, lyrical, musical theater, gymnastics and also performed with Body Talk Dance Company. He won numerous scholarships from L.A. Dance Force, Urban Jamm, West Coast Dance Explosion and New York City Dance Alliance. At twelve he started training at the Edge in Los Angeles, where he trained with Bill Prudich, Mandy Moore, Adam Parsons, Doug Caldwell, Malaya, Tabitha & Napoleon, Marty Kudelka, and Roger Lee to name a few. Quinton’s fresh choreography and outgoing attitude has made him a sought after teacher and choreographer. He has taught master classes all over the United States, Canada, Korea and Japan. Quinton has judged and taught for Break the Floor Productions, V.I.P, Flow 40 and Hall of Fame Dance Challenge. For five years he taught lyrical, jazz and hip-hop at Simi Dance Center in Simi Valley, California. His students won numerous scholarships and awards and have gone on to work as professional dancers. He has also had the opportunity to assist award-winning choreographer Mandy Moore in Seoul, Korea at the International Jazz Festival and at the Edge. Quinton lived in Los Angeles for five years and is still represented by Bloc Talent Agency. He has worked with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, Angie Stone, Snoop Dogg, Salt & Pepa, Kylie Minogue, Anastasia, Clay Aiken, Ruben Studdard, Solange Knowles, Yasmeen, Parker Posey and Chris Katan. His T.V. and film credits include Nickelodeon’s “All That” and “Taina,” “2002 Olympics,” “Soul Train”, “Trading Spaces,” “Varsity Blues,” “Honey,” “Adam and Steve” and “Dreamgirls”. He has done commercials and industrials for “So You Think You Can Dance,” I-pod, Motorola, Smashbox Cosmetics, Nintendo, Diesel and Levi Jeans, Nike, 7-up and Pepsi. Quinton was also a dancer on the American Idol 2 Tour and traveled around the U.S. and Canada. Quinton is now back in Austin, TX and has his own dance studio, The Dance Spot.