Faculty

DCG would like to Congratulate the dancers, parents and volunteers on an OUTSTANDING season including our Nutcracker Suite Performance, Competitive Dance Teams and our Spring Recital.  Thank you for your support!

 Jeanne Alala, (DCG Director, DCG Dance Instructor) - A native of St. Louis, Missouri,Jeanne began her training in ballet, tap, jazz and tumbling with Barbara Tebeau at age 2! By age 12 she was chosen to perform with the New York City Ballet Children’s Corps at SPAC and at age 16 was chosen “Miss Dance of St. Louis”. At 18, she began her professional career with a National Tour of My One & Only followed by National Tours of Anything Goes and Sugar. Once finished touring the U.S. she joined the World Tour of 42nd Street and finally landed back in NYC performing annually at Radio City Music Hall with the Anti-Gravity Company.  Jeanne has performed in numerous productions throughout her career: My One & Only, Anything Goes, Sugar, Easter Extravaganza, 42nd Street, Here’s Love, Once Upon a Mattress, Hans Christian Anderson, Gigi, A Chorus Line, Wonderland on Ice, The Nutcracker Ballet, Snow White, Peter and The Wolf, Hansel and Gretel, The Magic Flute, Amron, Circus Polka and more. Since moving to Greensboro NC, Jeanne has enjoyed choreographing The King & I, Les Miserable, Grease, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Back to the 80's...The Totally Awesome Musical and Aladdin Jr. for The Greensboro Day School Drama Departments and has enjoyed teaching many children to dance and tumble throughout the triad.  Jeanne has completed her National Cecchetti Ballet Teachers Examinations, Grades I, II, and III receiving the highest honors awarded. She is currently preparing for her Grade IV Teachers Examination for March 2012.  Jeanne is a member of the Cecchetti Council of America, awarded the Charter member Teacher's shcolarship in 2011, presenting students for their National Ballet Examinations. In October 2009 Jeanne completed her National Dance Masters Teachers Examinations for Ballet, Tap, Jazz & Tumbling, receiving the highest honors awarded.  Jeanne graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and was a member of the National Honor Society, Gamma Theta Upsilon, Kappa Phi Chapter. She is proud to be a 2nd generation studio owner/director and believes that if you dream it you can become it!

Alison Williams, (DCG Office Administrator, Zumba Instructor, Choreographer) Alison’s first dance role was Bunny Rabbit Number 2 in her school’s performance of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” and has been hooked on dance ever since.  After graduating with her bachelor of arts from Grinnell College in Iowa, (where she started her own dance company with two of her close friends), Alison moved to North Carolina to teach second grade at Peeler Open School for the Performing Arts in Guilford County.  She realized she had a great passion for dance after performing in three productions for The Community Theatre of Greensboro and went back to graduate school.  Alison graduated in 2009 with her master’s degree in dance choreography and performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and still loves working with children, but now she does it in a different capacity.  Alison currently choreographs and performs for eight theatre companies and schools in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Reidsville, Burlington, and Raleigh.  Alison has studied trapeze and Skinner Releasing in Seattle, Washington and Istanbul, Turkey, aerial silks in Charlotte, North Carolina, and world dance (including Samba and Manipuri) in New York City.  Alison is a 200-hour registered yoga teacher through the Yoga Alliance, has a group exercise certification from The American Council of Exercise, and has been a certified Zumba instructor and member of the Zumba Instructors’ Network for five years.

Mallory Graham, (DCG Dance Instructor),  a native of South Carolina, Mallory began studying dance with Grange Hall once a week and from the first class was hooked on performing for life.  Mallory made his way to New York City where he became a "Broadway Gypsie" performing in at least 15 Broadway shows and choreographing 3 others.  Mallory has studied under some of the dance industry's greats of the day including jazz with Luigi, Gus Giordano and Matt Maddox and tap with Henry Le Tang, Bobo Audy and Danny Hoctor of Dance Caravan.  As a teacher Mallory has over 35 years of experience and success placing his dance students on Broadway in numerous shows including:  Evita, A Chorus Line, Beauty and the Beast, Little Me, Barnum, Meet Me in St. Louis, Cats, Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.  In film including:  Chaplin, A Chorus Line, Xanadu and on television in Loveboat and the Country Music Awards to name a few.  Mr. Graham has produced, directed and choreographed the Miss Mississippi Pageant Show for over a decade and has won 6 Emmy Awards for directing and/or choreographing.  Locally Mallory Graham produced High School Musical and choreographed Hairspray for The Community Theater of Greensboro, Theatre in the Schools for Guilford County, Aida for the Myrtle Beach School system, and Guys and Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, and 42nd Street for the High Point Community Theatre.  The Dance Center of Greensboro is honored to have Mallory Graham join our faculty a a teacher and choreographer to offer our students his expertise, incredible life experience as a professional dancer and performer and as a multi-Emmy Award winning choreographer.

Jennifer L. Antonosanti, (DCG Dance Instructor) a native of Miami, Florida, began her childhood dance training in ballet, Pointe, tap, jazz and lyrical/contemporary at the Dancer’s Pointe Studio in Miami. Her professional experiences include: performing at Walt Disney World, Orlando Florida as a Lead, Dance Swing and Dance Captain for over a decade. Additionally, Jennifer performed as a featured Actor/Dancer at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL and was a featured Dancer and Soloist for Tokyo Disney Seas in Tokyo, Japan. Since 2008, Jennifer has been involved with The American Dance Festival, Durham, NC as School Services Coordinator and has also been a substitute school teacher in Orlando, FL working through Kelly Educational Services. Jennifer has choreographed for the Latin Music Show at Walt Disney World, Pleasure Island. Jennifer’s teaching experience includes creative movement classes for age 3 and up through advanced ballet, Pointe, jazz, tap and lyrical/contemporary. Jennifer graduated from the University of Central Florida, Orlando with a Bachelor of Arts: Interdisciplinary Studies with a Minor in Hospitality Management. Additionally, Jennifer graduated from the New World School of Arts/Miami Dade Community College, Miami, with an Associate of Arts Degree in Dance and General Studies. Jennifer was also named to the Dean’s list with Distinction several semesters. Jennifer is Bilingual-Spanish, CPR Certified and holds her Professional Affiliation with AFAA in Aerobic and Fitness Association of America.

Maiya Silver, (DCG Dance Instructor) a native of Duplin County, North Carolina, began her childhood studies at age 5 and competed and performed extensively throughout Eastern NC.  Her favorite childhood procuctions included beign cast as a feature dancer in the Duplin County production of "Song of Liberty" and performing in a benefit concert for Mutliple Choices.  Maiya has trained in Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Ballet and Pointe.  She has studied under greats such as Gus Giordano, Rennie Harris, Gregory Hines and Savion Glover as well as her teachers at Footworks Express and Wilmington Dance Academy.  Maiya participated in summer programs at Governor's School West and at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where she fell in love with all things modern.  Maiya graduated high school from North Carolina School of the Arts with a concentration in Modern dance.  She studied dance at East Carolina University and completed her BFA with a concentration in Dance Education and Choreography at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in May 2007.  While at UNCG, Mrs. Silver was the 2004-2007 recipient of the Gay Cheney Dance Scholarship in Choreography.   Maiya has taught at UNCG as a guest modern, jazz, hip hop and ballet teacher.  She has been featured in numerous faculty and graduate pieces and has choreographed concerts at UNCG and ECU. Maiya has performed for independent contemporary choregraphers Liz Waddell, Heather Doyle and Kathryn Ullom at NC Dances, NC Dance Festival, First Friday in Downtown Raleigh, and in Washington DC. Maiya's choreography has been featured at Memorial Auditorium, for Stellar Award Nominee Mr. Gerald Hinton and Fletcher Opera Theatre for the Capital City Girls Choir.  Mrs. Silver has taught for Wake County Schools at Salem Middle where she especially enjoyed spending planning perids teaching dance to the special needs group. Maiya occasionally returns home to voluntarily teach the underpriviliged communities of children served by a local community center in Duplin County.  Mrs. Silver continues to guest teach and choreograph for the Syracuse Contemporary Dance Company in Syracuse, NY.  She comes to us from City Ballet of Raleigh, where she was the Director of the Primary Ballet Studes and Modern Dance.  In 2010, she completed her most recent endeavor, her Cecchetti Council of America Teacher Certification.  Next to being a mom to two beautiful daughters, Mrs. Silver's greatest passion is sharing the art of dance with children and audiences as often as possible.

Carlie Fink, (DCG Dance Instructor) a native of Laurinburg, North Carolina, began her childhood dance training in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Pointe, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Modern and Clogging at the Karen Gibson School of Dance in Laurinburg. Carlie has outstanding dance education including: Summer intensive studies at the North Carolina School of Arts in Winston-Salem; Laurinburg School of Dance Arts under Director, Tayna Drakeford; Shake The Floor in New York City; Crystal McInnis School of Dance in Bennettsville, SC; and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance, with a concentration in Performance and Choreography, from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Carlie’s accomplished performance repertoire includes the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Spartan G Dance Team member; Membership on both senior and junior level dance competition teams; and Principal and soloist roles in The Nutcracker Ballet by Encore Productions. Carlie has been teaching dance to children ages 3-12 years in creative movement, ballet, hip-hop, and tap for a number of years.  Additionally, Carlie currently  works as the head coach and choreographer for the UNCG Spartan G Dance Team, and currently teaches pre-school thru advanced classes at The Dance Center of Greensboro and with The Academy of Dance Arts, Inc.  DCG welcomes Carlie’s amazing dance abilities, extraordinary technique, and outstanding role model and leadership qualities into its program.

Alexandra Aparacio, (DCG Dance Instructor) is a native of Huntington, New York, where she first began her dance studies in ballet, jazz, hip hop, and lyrical at Dance Xplosion. She competed at the national level at the NDA competition in Orlando, FL in jazz, pom, hip hop, kick, and team performance with her high school dance and kickline team.  She moved to NC to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where alongside her biology and Spanish studies, she continued her dance studies under Marian Turner Hopkins, founder and director of Modernextension Dance Company.  She also performed and was the modern director and choreographer of the Starheels Dance Team, a nonprofit dance company that performs to raise money for various charities and participates in outreach programs throughout the school year at Carolina. While in Chapel Hill she taught dance to children ages 2-16 for the Carrboro Department of Parks and Recreation after school program.  She later moved to Greensboro where she attended UNCG as a dance major, dancing a lead role for Grad student Melissa Pihos.  Alex currently dances for a new professional Contemporary Ballet Company in Greensboro,  Roayal Expressions, under the artistic direction of Princess Howell.  Royal Expressions has a unique style that uses the precision of ballet and the expressions of contemporary and jazz dance styles.

Heather Nabors, (DCG Dance Instructor), is a native of South Carolina, and began dancing at the age of 3.  Heather's early training was in ballet, Pointe, jazz and tap.  Heather was introduced to Modern dance in College and fell in love with it.  Heather went on to receive her BA in Dance from Coker College in Hartsville, SC and her MFA in Choreography from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  For two years, Heather taught dance technique and theory courses at Louisbury College in Louisburg, NC, where she also served as the Dance Director.  Ms. Nabors has been an adjunct faculty member at Greensboro College, UNCG and Elon University.  Ms. Nabors choreographic work has been presented at The Saturday Series, the Greensboro Fringe Festival and at the American Dance Festival's Acts To Follow.  Heather has choreographed nine shows for City Arts Drama including The King and I, Oklahoma, and Rent.  Currently, Heather is an adjunct faculty member at Catawba College where she is teaching ballet, modern and jazz..

Meredith Knowlton, (DCG Dance Instructor), began her dance studies 18 years ago and has enjoyed teaching dance for the past 7 years.  While a student Meredith studied tap, clogging, ballet, jazz, lyrical, hip hop and Pointe.  As a competitive dancer, for 12 years, Meredith earned numerous choreography awards and overall tap dancing awards.  Meredith also shares a passion for theatre and has been choreographing, primarily at Rockingham High School, for their musical theater performances and choral concerts for the past 7 years.  Meredith still enjoys performing and in her free time you can see her on stage, in shows such as 60 Years of Broadway and Wizard of Oz with Comminuty Theatre of Greensboro, and several other local theater groups within an hour of Reidsville, where she currently resides.  As well as teaching and performing in the dance arts, Meredith is the sports coordinator of the Reidsville YMCA.  She is the JV Cheerleading coach for Rockingham County High School and an aerobics instructor at three different workout facilities.  Ms. Knowlton serves as the co-chair for all community service projects with the Reidsville Jr. Service League and she absolutely happiest teaching and being around children and sharing her passion for dancing and performing!

Hillary Anderson (Assistant Teacher & Assistant DCG Elite Company Teacher)- is a native of Greensboro, North Carolina, where she first began her studies in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical/Contemporary and Modern at Broadway's Dance Factory.  Hillary began competitive dancing at age 7 and finished in 2nd  place in the Petite Small Group Division.  Since then, Hillary has received numerous awards at competitions including the prestigious award of "Most Recognized Dancer."  Hillary attended and graduated from Weaver Academy School of the Performing Arts as a dance major where she attended two dance classes daily, studied the history of dance, and was enrolled in honors and AP classes.  At age 15, Hillary began as an assistant dance teacher for children ages 2-8 years while continuing her own dance studies in classes 4 days per week.  By age 17 she began teaching ballet, lyrical, contemporary, tap and jazz classes to students from ages 7-13.  Additionally, Hillary worked a part time job at the Cookie Jar and upon graduation from Weaver she helped manage Broadway's Dance Factory while teaching, dancing and working as an assistant to the competition team members.  Hillary attended GTCC for one year and is currently enrolled and attending The University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she is a double major in Dance and Business Entrepreneurship.  Hillary's goals include a Masters Degree in Dance and Business and to own her own dance studio one day.  DCG is extremely proud of Hillary's insatious work ethic, her high level of expectations, and professionalism.  DCG welcomes Hillary into its programs and is excited about what the future holds for Hillary.

Amanda Hacker (Assistant Teacher & Sr. DCG Elite Company Member) - A native of Poughkeepsie, NY, Amanda began studying ballet, tap, jazz and Irish river dancing at age 8.  At age 9, Amanda showed so much promise she was selected as the youngest ballerina to join the Galle and Collins Dance Company in New York.  She began her performance career entertaining patients in hospitals, nursing homes and at cultural events.  Amanda continued her dance studies in Greensboro, NC once her family re-located.  Amanda has completed her Cecchetti Grade I and II Ballet Examinations, receiving the highest honors awarded, and will complete her National Ballet Grade III exam this spring.  Amanda has performed, "Kitri's" variation from Don Quixote as her Senior Solo and performed the leading role of "Sugar Plum Fairy" in The Dance Center of Greensboro's premiere performance of The Nutcracker Suite in 2010.  Amanda is currently very busy performing throughout the Triad at numerous dance events, teaching dance at The Dance Center of Greensboro and choreographing the St. Pius X Catholic School's musical productions.  While Amanda loves dancing and performing she has also begun expanding her artistic horizons studying for her degree in interior design.  Amanda plans to audition and perform with the Disney organization where she will continue to complete her college degree and gain professional performing experience simultaneously.  You can see Amanda perform with DCG's Elite Performance Company in our upcoming 2011-2012 season in multiple performances and showcases throughout the year.