Katie Goughan was born and raised in Hollywood, Florida. She began dancing at the age of six in 1998 at Dance Explosion under the direction of Lori Duffy. Katie continued dancing through highschool with Dance Explosion. She won numerous national and regional titles with Dance Explosion’s competition team. After graduating high school in 2010 from Saint Thomas Aquinas, Katie attended Barry University to study photography. Between the years of 2010 and 2017, she continued teaching for Miss Lori at Dance Explosion. Concurrently, Katie began her own photography business, KGPhotos. She became extremely well known in the dance industry for her dance photography. With her success, her work was featured in a national ad for the National YoungArts foundation, numerous magazines such as Dance Spirit and was a featured photographer in Boy Dance Magazine’s 2019 Winter issue. Katie continues to travel to top studios, throughout North America, to work with their dancers. In 2017, she left her home at Dance Explosion to tour with Jump Dance Convention as their lead photographer. Katie has since had the opportunity to work with the best and most sought after choreographers and teachers in the dance industry including; Wade Robson, Teddy Forance, Mike Minery, Melanie Moore, Nick Lazzarini, Al Blackstone, Misha Gabriel, Katy Spreadbury, Kirsten Russell, Francisco Gella and many more! After gaining much experience and knowledge with traveling and working with the dance community, Katie is returning to her home at Dance Explosion. Ready to lead her home studio with love, kindness, and a good work ethic. She hopes to lead by example, and create an environment that is positive for all students to learn and build their love for dance in the same studio where she did!
Mariea began her dance training at the age of six with the Cobb-Marietta Ballet School, just outside of Atlanta, Ga. At the age of 19, she became a principal dancer with The Georgia Ballet, under the direction of Iris Hensley, and toured Germany as a part of the "Sister City" program. While at The Georgia Ballet, Mariea received training from Iris Hensley, Irene "Bunny" Pollock, Valerie Grieg, Terrell Paulk, Sergiu Stefanci, Vanessa Harwood, and Joanie Stewart.
From 1995-2003, Mariea was the director of Dance Stop Studios Ballet Ensemble instructing and choreographing for pre-professional students. She also danced for the Ruth Mitchell Dance Theatre, from 1994-1996, receiving additional training from Martha Goodman and Nicolas Pacana. While at RMDT, she had the opportunity to be in works choreographed by Sarah Yarborough and Jimmy Locust. Mariea participated in Young Audiences, an enrichment program for local schools, and has toured the southeast, performing classical and contemporary works.
Ms. Motter has coached former Miss Georgia and Broadway performer, Stephanie Michels, as well as several other award winning pageant competitors. She also won an honorable mention award in 2000 at the Panoply Arts Choreography Competition for her piece "Legs on the Move".
With 37 years of teaching experience ages 3-adult, Mariea’s unique approach to ballet is well received by her students. Many of her students have been accepted into intensive programs including: Miami City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, School of American Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Dance Theater of Harlem, Atlanta Ballet, Orlando Ballet, FSU, and Ballet Magnificat.
Mariea was the founder and Artistic Director of Envision Ballet Theatre (a youth ballet ensemble) from 2009-2018.
Currently, Mariea is a freelance ballet teacher educating beginning and advanced students throughout South Florida.
Mariea enjoys spending time with her family and playing the drums. She is also a proud cancer survivor and shares her strength with others through her passion for teaching and love of classical ballet.
Angela Cifone found her passion for dance at 7 years old and knew she wanted to pursue it as a career when older. She booked her first professional job as a dancer in the movie Step up 4 choreographed by Travis Wall when she was just 18 years old. Right after that she moved to New York and then to LA for 6 years to pursue her professional dance career. While there, she has done many live performances, a target commercial, was apart of a contemporary dance company, performed at LA fashion week, assisted on “So You Think You Can Dance” and more. She is currently a traveling instructor on NUVO Dance Convention. Her most recent job was working at sea on A Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Ship as a dancer in one of their production shows on Ovation of the Seas. Through that, she has had the opportunity to visit places such as Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong, New Zealand, China, Vietnam, and Malaysia to name a few. She has a passion for teaching kids dance and helping them purse their dreams in life.
Briana is a recent law school graduate from Penn State Law pursuing a Masters in Law at the University of Miami. She is trained in styles such as tap, jazz, lyrical/contemporary, hip hop, & Latin ballroom. Briana was born and raised in Hollywood and spent her time dancing competitively all through her youth. She danced on her highschool's dance team at Chaminade Madonna, as well as danced in college at the University of Central Florida on the Knights and Damsels Dance Company. Briana's performances include Disney's Christmas Special, Miami Salsa Congress, Orlando Fashion Week, and the many other opportunities Knights and Damsels Dance Company provided for her during her time at UCF. Her choreography has been seen at UCF's Annual Dance Concert, Knights and Damsels Annual Showcase, Central Florida's Dancing for Diabetes, and on stage at national touring competitions. Briana has been teaching dance for over 8 years and is super excited to bring her passion to Dance Explosion this year.
COMING SOON!
Jonathan (JAY) Romero is an artist who thrives to inspire others with his widely versatile dance experience and altruistic lifestyle. At the age of 17, he began his training at Dancetown Dance Studio for 8 years under the direction of Manny & Lory Castro. Jay has performed alongside various artists such as Gloria Estephan, Jennifer Lopez, Paula Abdul, Ricky Martin, Neo, Vela Musica, Bianca, Pedro Capo and many more. After years of hard work, dedication and experience teaching all over South Florida, it has provided Jay a platform where he is able to share his passion for the art of dance. His choreographic style and use of textures and movements is highly recognized in the dance industry as he continues to build his house hold name as a choreographer.
Dance Explosion alumni who was Born in Miami, Florida. She trained at Dance Explosion from the age of 7-18. She then attended Jacksonville University where she majored in Dance. While at the university she trained heavily in modern and ballet. Her Senior choreography piece won Best Choreography in her graduating class. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts along with an Associates Degree in Communication. After graduating college she spent 2 years dancing professionally on Norwegian cruise lines staring in production shows and was based out of Europe and eastern Caribbean. After dancing for Norwegian cruise lines she then moved to Los Angeles for 5 years where she auditioned and was selected by MTA Agency (Movement Talent Agency). While represented by MTA Agency she worked with artist such as Bruno Mars,Travis Scott, Saweetie, Gunna and Nav and for companies SHEIN and eplus productions. She is so excited to get back to the place where her love for dance began. So excited to start teaching and sharing her love for dance.
Marisa Fernandez is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher, born and raised in Miami, Florida. She recently graduated from Florida State University, where she received her Bachelor of in Fine Arts in Dance. Marisa began her training at Dance Town Miami and attended the prestigious New World School of the Arts High School. There she had the privilege of working with Benoit Swan Pouffer, Teddy Forance, Lara Murphy, and Peter London. She has attended professional training programs across the country including the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, the Gaga Intensive, SpringboardX, Ate9, Body Traffic, and the TL Collective; where she performed works by Tom Weinberger, Ohad Naharin, Alex Ketley, Micaela Taylor, Ilana Goldman, and Charles Anderson, among others. Her self-choreographed solo Unleash, was chosen to represent FSU at the 2020 American College Dance Association’s Southeast Conference and was described by her professors as “electrifying, thrilling, and powerful”. Marisa’s movement vocabulary is heavily influenced by her in depth training in the Gaga technique. Her passion is fueled by the powerful internal experience movement creates, which inspires her to continue exploring and refining her artistic voice.
Dr Christine Lessard-Lloyd has been a Physical Therapist for 20 years. She was the Supervisor of Outpatient Rehab for the past 10 years and lead PT for the Dance Medicine Program for a local healthcare system. Her passion for dance and physical therapy has driven her to own her own local practice, Dance Medicine. She has more than 30 years of dance experience and is a former Miami Dolphins Cheerleader. She is certified in Progressing Ballet Technique, KT taping, NeuroTour Backstage Injury Prevention, and Harkness Center for Dance Injuries. She is also a 10 year member of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science. Her passion is educating dancers on injury prevention, promoting proper stretching and dance specific strengthening. She has worked with dancers from New World School of the Arts, Miami City Ballet, Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders, The Ailey School, Juilliard, and professional ballroom dancers including US and World Ballroom Champion. She also teaches dance conditioning classes and seminars for local competitive studios, pre-professional and professional companies. “As a PT who is also a dancer, I have the advantage of understanding the physical demand on the body and how to condition dancers by finding the balance between flexibility and stability to minimize the risk of injury.”
Melissa began her dance training at The Dancexchange at the age of 11. She was known as a “studio kid” being at the studio six days a week being trained in ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, modern, lyrical, hip-hop and African under the instruction of Linda Rogers Albritton, Yayi Faretta, Ursino Del Valle, Annalisia Simone and Zedric Bembry of hip hop company Live in Color just to name a few. Melissa was a Senior Performing Group member competing in local and regional competitions winning various awards and performed at numerous venues. She was also a teacher’s assistant during this time. She continued her dance studies through college while teaching at various dance studios, and performing professionally with the Millennium Dancers Dance Company. She has also performed at Disney and Universal Studios and University of Miami’s halftime shows. In addition, she has performed and choreographed for Ft. Lauderdale by the Sea’s Christmas Tree Lighting for several years. She continues to teach all ages and levels at various studios as well as schools and in addition, choreographs pieces for competitions while placing a strong emphasis on discipline and character development as well as dance technique. Melissa graduated from Florida International University with her B.S in Journalism and Mass Communications, but has made dance instruction her full time career.
Born and raised in south Florida,
Ms Gracie started dancing at age 3 and competitively at age 8. participating in many competitions and conventions all the way through high school. After auditioning for the Miami Dolphins cheerleading and Florida Panthers Dance team she learned her favorite form of expressing her love of dance was through teaching. She has been teaching and choreographing dance for over ten years now. Specializing in preschool through kindergarten within school and studio settings. She is dedicated to helping children develop their emotional, behavioral, and social skills through dance. When Ms Gracie is not teaching at Dance explosion she is running the administrative side of her sister’s dance academy as well as being an advocate for blood cancer, after her leukemia diagnosis in 2020.
Her goal is-That every child’s time spent in her classes at Dance Explosion encourages their love of dance to grow, just as it did hers.
Brianna Campbell is originally from Charleston, South Carolina. She is a graduate of Charleston County School of The Arts. She has trained with masters in NYC, LA, and Miami. Brianna has toured and performed with Intrigue Dance Convention, Force Dance Tour, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. Brianna currently runs her own production company - “Zenki Productions LLC” and is the current director of Miami’s newest contemporary company “Styx The Company”. She has a passion for all genres favoring Hip Hop and Contemporary.
MacKenzie (Mackie) Kernohan is a Florida Native, who started her dance training at three years old. Mackie specializes in jazz and tap but enjoys teaching all genres of dance. She currently choreographs for several South Florida theater companies, including seasonal choreography for the Performance Project/Broward Center of the Performing Arts productions.
MacKenzie is a board member of the non-profit Selah's Song, which supports dance education for homeschool students in South Florida. Mackie enjoys giving students the opportunity to improve their dance technique while having fun in the process.
Born in Cuba, Lorenzo began his ballet training in Cuba’s National Ballet School and later graduated with honors from the Royal Professional Dance Conservatory “Mariemma” in Madrid, being recognized as the top graduate of his class. He went on to dance professionally with Víctor Ullate Ballet for six seasons, performing in numerous works by Ullate including Jaleos, Samsara, Après toi, El Amor Brujo, Carmen, Wonderland, and El Arte de la Danza, among others. Lorenzo joined Tulsa Ballet in 2018. Since joining the company he has performed in Derek Deane’s Strictly Gershwin, Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, and Kurt Jooss’ TheGreen Table. He won second prize at the International Ballet Competition of Havana, Cuba in 2003.
Amanda was born in Russia but raised in South Florida. Amanda has been dancing since the age of 3 and her passion for dance over the years has grown tremendously. She has trained in Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Musical Theatre, Contemporary, Modern, and many more. Amanda recently graduated from Calvary Christian Academy where she attended school since the 6th grade. She has been a part of the Dance Endorsement Program at her school which is an audition-based program all throughout her high school years. At her time being at Calvary, she has performed at “Christmas at Las Olas,” Disney Springs, and has been a part of 12 performances. Furthermore, she was worked along many well known choreographers such as Tina Santos, Diego Santorini, and Hannah Baumgarten. She is now continuing her education at Florida Atlantic University where she will continue her studies in Marketing but will also continue to dance. Her goal is to help her dancers grow in their passion for dance.
Laura Marcano was raised in Caracas, Venezuela where she began dancing at the age of 6 . She continued her dance training at Impetu Dance Center and later joined their dance team where she won several national and international titles. At 17 she moved to Florida and joined Dance Explosion’s competition team, participating in many competitions and conventions. She has trained at Joffrey Ballet School and Flux Factor Intensive. She's currently a dance major at New World School of the Arts and a company member at Showstopper Miami. Most recently she got to perform on "Asi Se Baila" a TV show in Telemundo NBC and she hopes to continue to make her dreams come true in the commercial world. She aspires to be a role model for the younger girls in the studio and to provide them positive guidance.
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