Our Team
Miss Alex D. (Teacher & Social Media Manager)
Miss Alex is a proud alumni from Anastasia’s Spotlight Dance studio. In her years there, she has competed in dance competitions, performed with Flower City Ballet, and danced at local church events. After assisting classes for a few years, she became an instructor in 2015 teaching many different styles of dance such as Hip-Hop, Jazz Funk, Modern and more. She has lead one of our CDT classes for the past 4 years bringing them to many local church events around the area. Alex earned her B.S. from SUNY Brockport with a major in Arts for Children and a minor in dance where she studied Irish, Modern, and Ballet. Alex earned her M.eD from Roberts Wesleyan College and is currently teaching in Churchville-Chili CSD. Alex has a passion for children and helping them grow.
As a teacher, Alex believes building positive relationships with students is the key to helping them grow to be a confident and well-rounded dancer.
Miss Sarah (Teacher)
Miss Sarah has been dancing for 17 years training in ballet, Irish step, lyrical, and modern at King’s Dancers, then Redemption Dance Institute in Albany New York. After assisting for a few years at Redemption Dance, she became a teacher leading choreography, and worship classes for four years. She has taught worship dance classes at a homeschool group, as well as conducted a Pop Dance camp at a local church. Miss Sarah was an instructor at Bethlehem Traditional Irish Dance for two years holding both classes and private lessons. She encourages students to express themselves through dance, and be confident in their artistic expression. She aims to create a loving team-based environment in which dancers support, and cheer each other on. She recently graduated from the University at Albany with a Bachelor's in Linguistics. She has a passion for learning new languages, and connecting with people in their native tongue. She hopes to pursue teaching English as a second language in the future.
Miss Mady (Teacher)
Miss Madison graduated as a dancer from Anastasia Spotlight Dance in 2018. Throughout her 13 years of dancing, she has competed in acrobatics, jazz, hip-hop, modern, and tap. She has competed in group dances, solos and duets that have received high scores and special judges awards. Madison has competed at competitions such as N.Y.S.D.C and Starboard National Talent Competition. Madison has had the honor of dancing for the Flower City Ballet Company in the production of the Nutcracker. Her favorite styles of dance growing up were hip-hop and acrobatics. As a teacher, she is uplifting, positive, and always pushes her students to do their best. She is supportive and compassionate. Her energy, passion, and love for dance has never diminished and she is looking forward to her future at Elevation Dance!
Miss Kezia (Director)
Miss Kezia has been dancing for 17+ years. She is trained in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Modern, Contemporary, Lyrical, and Hip Hop and has coached gymnastics at Northern Hemisphere and Challenge Athletics. She competed for 8 years, receiving 1st place awards for group and solo dances on numerous occasions. Kezia attended a Christian Dance training in Syracuse with- Light of the World Ballet. She has taken master classes from companies like NUVO and Broadway Dance Center. As well as performing with companies like Rochester City Ballet, Flower City Ballet, and Project Dance in NYC. Kezia has also had the opportunity to work with countless professional Modern dance companies and choreographers such as: Koresh, David Dorfman, Heather Roffe, Hettie Barnhill, and Heather Acomb. She attended Nazareth College, where she obtained her B.S. in Dance and B.A. Community Youth Development. At Nazareth, competed at UDA regional and national competitions through the NCAA certified Dance Team.
As a teacher, Kezia strives to create an environment where dancers can praise the Lord, be themselves, and use dance as a healing tool.
Miss Tiana (Teacher)
She has been dancing since 2000, beginning her journey in the small town of Niskayuna, NY. She primarily studied tap, jazz, ballet, and lyrical under her biggest influencers. Entering her senior year of high school, she received a scholarship award for her improvement at her home studio. She spent her summers leading up to college dancing at the American Academy of Ballet, where she worked with teachers from all over the world. Tiana graduated from Nazareth College in 2019 with her B.S. in Dance Studies. Her dance knowledge grew tremendously in various styles including tap, ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, and musical theater. Tiana started competing at a college level with Nazareth’s dance team. She became captain of this dance team in 2017, where she found passion for teaching dance and choreography to her peers, as well as being a leader who people can look up to. She is excited to meet new young, aspiring dancers and share her passion of dance with them!
Miss Alex K. (Teacher & Administrative Manager)
Alex began dance at 7 years old, focusing on classical ballet training. She has taken classes from numerous studios and has traveled all over the country to expand her knowledge. Alex started competing in 9th grade and has won many awards since. Most recently, she has been studying gymnastics and has applied it to teaching solely acro and tumbling. Many of her students have gone on to win national awards and have performed for acclaimed dancers such as Paula Abdul and Derek Hough. She hopes to impart her love for dance to all the students she meets!
Miss Heather (Teacher)
Miss Heather has been teaching dance for over 20 years and started ballet training when she was five years old. In 1988, she became a member of the Genesee Ballet Repertoire Company where she danced in the productions of Sleeping Beauty and Coppelia. She was also the Principle dancer in the Nutcracker and performed the Nutcracker Pas de Deux. Heather attended Genesee Community College on a full talent scholarship and then attended Mercyhurst College as a dance minor in ballet and modern. She has danced in and choreographed routines for various regional and national dance competitions such as Starbound, Rising Star, Star Systems and Dance Masters of America. She helped choreograph the Nutcracker at GCC for 2 years. She has attended the Dance Masters of America's Teacher's Training School and the Christopher National Dance Teacher Seminars.
Miss Lori (Teacher & Administrative Assistant)
Miss Lori has been dancing since she was in elementary school. She continued her studies at Long Island University where she was a member of the Post Concert Dance Company and then on to the University at Buffalo where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with BA in Dance. She studied under many great teachers like Tom Ralabate, Cara Gargano, and Jeanne Fornarola. She studied with numerous professionals such as ABT and Kirov Ballet. She also choreographed for and performed in Dancer’s Workshop for several years. She has been teaching dance since the late 90’s and has been with the studio family that preceded Elevation Dance since 2005. Miss Lori believes that dance is for everyone and there are no boundaries. God gave us all the gift of movement and she encourages students to always believe in themselves and to not give up.
Miss Hannah (Teacher)
Miss Hannah has been dancing since she was two years old and is also an Elevation Dance alumni! She is well-versed in many styles of dance including ballet, hiphop, pointe, modern, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, and tap. Other than her training at Elevation, she has performed with the Flower City Ballet and has taken classes with Garth Fagan Dance. Miss Hannah has won several awards over her years as a competitive dancer with her solos, duets, and group pieces. Most recently, she placed first with her tap solo at the NYSDC nationals. She is currently a student at Nazareth University where she will be minoring in dance studies and hopes to join the dance team. As a teacher, Miss Hannah plans on creating a positive and loving environment where students can feel free to be themselves, as well as helping them to improve and work hard throughout the year.
Guest Teachers
Keisha Laren Clarke Gray
Marianne Dalton
Linnae Corgan
Lauren Demo
Mary Cole-Glover
Amanda Ball
Caitlin Mahon
Neyda Colón-DiMaria
Laura-Jean
Stacey Raab
Janelle Baker