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Melissa Moore, Owner, Competition Dance Director Melissa.Moore@studioelitenc.com Melissa has 16 years of dance experience including 8 years of competitive dance, 8 years of gymnastics and 7 years of cheerleading.  Melissa has taught dance and gymnastics for many years and has been a cheerleading coach for middle & high school and competition teams.  She is a certified Medical Assistant with certification in first aid and CPR and has Childcare Credentials I & II. Suzanne Van Dyke, Instructor Suzanne started dancing before she started walking!!!    Suzanne graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education from Harding University in Arkansas.  She taught third grade for two years and Kindergarten for four years in both private and public settings.  Suzanne has been teaching dance for 12 years and has taught recreational and competitive tap and lyrical.  She specializes in gymnastics, acrobatics and character dance and has had students place Overall in several competitions.  Suzanne is very gifted with children and is looking foward to teaching dance for many many years. Paige Jamison, Instructor As a Gastonia native, Paige has been dancing competitively in local dance studios her entire life!  After graduating from high school, Paige went on to become a Charlotte Checkers Checkmate and performed at the Checkers games.  Miss Paige was also a Honey Bee at the Hornets games for several years. We are thrilled to have Miss Paige as a Competition Team instructor!! Julie Ballard, Ballet Instructor Julie Ballard is a native of Gastonia, NC where she graduated from Ashbrook High School.  She studied under Pat Wall at Gaston Dance Theatre participating in full length ballets and working with numerous well-known choreographers.  She furthered her training at summer dance intensives at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and attended Governors School West for dance.  She graduated from the University of North Carolina Greensboro in 2002 receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Dance with a concentration in performance and a second major of Early Childhood Education.  While at UNCG Julie furthered her technique training, specifically in classical ballet and contemporary styles, in addition to being chosen by audition to perform in several original pieces choreographed by professors and students.  She immersed herself in the somatic approach to dance along with choreography, history, production of dance, music for dancers, anatomy, and dance education pedagogy.  She is a state certified teacher in Dance Education (K-12).  Julie has taught middle and high school dance in the public school system across the state and in several private studios for 20 years.  She has taught jazz, contemporary, creative movement, hip hop, and tap, however most of her studio teaching has been ballet.  She has been a teaching artist with Charlotte Ballet (previously NCDT) and an Interim Director of the School of Gaston Dance Theatre.  Julie specializes in dance technique with proper execution of steps and tailored strength building for each dancer.  She currently teaches dance at W A Bess elementary and Ida Rankin elementary.   Meredith McMillan, Instructor Meredith has been dancing  since the age of two and we are thrilled that she is bringing not only her dance experience to Studio Elite, but also her teaching experience.  Meredith has been teaching in Gaston County Schools for many years and has served as the Preschool Minister at Catawba Heights in Belmont for the past 7 years.  We are so excited that Mrs Meredith has joined the Studio Elite team!! Angie Cummings, Instructor Angie has been a competitive dancer for years.  You may recognize her as one of our dancers, she danced with Studio Elite for many years and has done multiple group dances, as well as solos and duets and won many overall awards!  She is currently a licensed cosmetologist at the Uptown Salon in Mt Holly, NC. Angie is currently teaching our Pearls Competition Team, a 3 to 4 year old class, a 5 to 7 year old class and our Monday evening Mega Class. We are excited to have Miss Angie as a part of our staff!! Maddi Frank, Instructor Maddi has been dancing competitively for many years with Mrs. Cathy and Studio Elite.  This is Maddi’s ninth year as an instructor at Studio Elite and she is loving teaching our Sapphire and Emerald  competition teams! Maddi is a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina, and is a middle school teacher in Clover, SC. Lauren Gaff, Instructor Lauren was a competitive dancer for many years!!  We are so thrilled to have Lauren teaching at Studio Elite.  This year she is teaching our Competitive Hip Hop Classes, competition tap and jazz, 7 to 9 Mega Class, and our Adult Hip Hop Class.  Lauren is a wonderful addition to our Studio Elite Staff. Rachel Hamrick, Instructor Rachel was a competitive dancer for many years with Studio Elite and has won many overall awards as part of group dances and in her solos and duets.  A wonderful all around dancer, we are so excited that Rachel is bringing her love and knowledge of dance to the studio this year.  She is a most welcome addition!  Rachel teaches both Recreational and Competitive dance!  Kristen Hennessey, Ballet & Adult Class Instructor Kristen started dancing at the age of 6 at Karyn Kelly Dance Cneter in Williamsville, NY.  After a few years of recreational tap and jazz classes, she joined the Regional Competition team dancing in styles including tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop and lyrical.  After a few years on the Regional Competition team, she was selected to join the National Competition team where she danced in the same styles at a higher level and traveled for national competitions.  In addition to the competition styles at Karyn Kelly Dance Center, Kristen also studied ballet at Classical Ballet of WNY.  After graduating high school, Kristen went to Rochester Institute of Technology to study Industrial Engineering and joined the RIT/NTID Dance Company to continue her passion of dance.  Later that year, she and a few other students founded and choreographed for a new club, Vis Viva Dance Company, that competed locally against other college teams.  After graduating college and moving to NC, she was thrilled to find Studio Elite's Adult Team in 2020.  After dancing with the class for a few years, she began to teach the Adult Tap and Adult Ballet classes and is now excited to get more involved with the competition teams at the studio! Julie Zimmerman, Instructor Julie was born and raised in a small town in Ohio where she began dancing at the age of 3. She continued to dance and compete through high school, began teaching at the age of 17 and danced her first 2 years of college. Julie taught for multiple studios teaching styles ranging from Jazz, ballet, modern and hip hop all through her 20’s, led and grew an adult as well as children hip hop dance crews who competed. Dance and fitness have been her major career, passion and focus. She began to teach Zumba back in 2009 as well as many other class formats of fitness and found a great balance of teaching fitness and dance to boys and girls of all ages. Growing up dancing and loving to move, this was a great fit! Julie is nationally certified through the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America® /NASM as a personal trainer and has received several other specialty fitness training certifications over the years. She has taught a variety of fitness classes and styles and enjoys attending dance and fitness workshops herself for a good challenge as well as to stay current and inspired.  She has attended dance and fitness training programs and workshops in Chicago, Columbus, Atlanta, and Orlando. Julie moved to Charlotte in 2017 and then to Belmont in 2020. She enrolled her daughter as a student at Studio Elite at the age of 3 back in 2020. She is very excited to join the staff and continue to share her love for dance with many more! Fitness, dance and nutrition are her passion and her calling is to inspire and help others by improving their quality of life.  Julie loves meeting new people and is so excited to be a part of the Studio Elite family! Gracie Cardamone,  Student Instructor Gracie has been dancing competitively from a young age and has been with Studio Elite for 4 years.  She has won many overall awards with group dances and solos, duets and trios.  Gracie is a Sophomore at Highland School of Technology.  Gracie will be assisting Melissa and Cathy with our Sapphire, Emerald and Ruby Competition Teams. Zoe Deo,  Student Instructor Zoe has been dancing competitively for many years and has been with Studio Elite for 4 years.  She has won many overall awards with group dances and solos, duets and trios.  Zoe is a Junior at Stuart Cramer High School and plans to attend college next year.  Sara will be assisting Melissa and Cathy with our Sapphire, Emerald and Ruby Competition Teams as well as in our Hip Hop Competition class with Mrs. Lauren. Pam Russell, Owner, Office Manager Pam.Russell@studioelitenc.com Pam has been a dance student for 20 years.  As a Gastonia native she attended Ashbrook High School and went on to graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Communications Public Relations.  Pam also has a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and has 25+ years experience as an office manager.