Faculty

 

Alecia Lakernick (Artistic Director)	Alecia is a 1991 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Meredith College with a B.A. in Dance and a 1990 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Campbell University with a B.S. in Spanish and K-12 ed. certification. As Miss Henderson 1992, she won the Talent Award at the Miss North Carolina Pageant & was a Top Ten Finalist. In 1987, as Miss Topsail Island, she captured the only Non-Finalist Talent Award at The Miss N.C. Pageant and was chosen as a member of the Miss NC Performing Troupe. Alecia toured 5 summers with Hoctor’s Dance Caravan as an instructor, performer and head coordinator for the Caravan Kid program. Studies include: N.C. School of the Arts, The Columbia City Ballet, Wake Forest University, Dance Theater of Fayetteville, Broadway Dance Center (NYC) and Steps (NYC). She has choreographed for Dance Caravan, Miss Henderson Pageant, Miss Erwin-Denim Pageant, Miss Topsail Island Pageant, Louisburg College, Vance Rec Players, Granville Little Theater, Lakeland Cultural Arts center, Broadway & Beyond Theatre Camp, Imagination Station, Vance County Show Choir, as well as, for high school majorettes & twirlers at Triton, Midway, Webb and Northern Vance. She is a certified judge and instructor for Drum Majorettes of America. Alecia has over 27 years experience teaching dance and baton
Brian Youngkin	Brian is a graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts with a B.F.A. degree in dance. He served as ballet master at the 900 student Pierrette Sadlers Danseurs in Raleigh for 14 years. He was also co-director and choreographer for their PowerPac Companies. Currently, Brian is also on the faculty for The Dance Center. Brian teaches, judges and choreographs for various studios and national dance competitions. His students can be seen performing for Cirque de Soleil, Alvin Ailey, Disney and Jose Limon or studying at Julliard and North Carolina School of the Arts.  His students have also appeared on Dance Wars, So You Think You Can Dance, and have also appeared on ABC’s After School Specials.  Brian is a 4th year instructor at Ballet Arts.
Sarah Strayhorn	Sarah is a graduate of UNC-CH where she was a choreographer and performing member of the Blank Canvas Dance Team.  She has studied and performed for nearly 20 years with the Eddie Mabry Dance Co.  Sarah is a 3 time All-American cheerleader and has years experience in national team competition.  She is also an accomplished baton twirler and has performed in the Florida Citrus Bowl, Carolina’s Carrousel Parade and national baton competitions.  Sarah is in her 6th year as an instructor at Ballet Arts.
Jodie Saunders- Carol	Jodie Saunders graduated from Meredith College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance with a double concentration in Private Studio Teaching and Performance and Choreography. While at Meredith she was President of the Meredith Dance Theater, Vice President of the Meredith Jazz and Tap Company, and Vice President of the dance honor society, Nu Delta Alpha. She also received the awards for Choreographer of the Year, Performer of the Year, Dedication in Dance, and Outstanding Leadership in Dance given by faculty and peers. To complete her student teaching, Jodie had the privilege of interning under Kirstie Spadie and Brenda Campbell at the North Carolina Dance Institute in Raleigh.Jodie has performed for multiple American College Dance Festivals, the North Carolina Dance Alliance, and NC Dances. Her choreography has also been performed and adjudicated in the 20ll American College Dance Festival at Elon University. Jodie has been dancing since the age of 4 and is trained in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Clogging, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Modern, and Pointe. She has taken many master classes with well known choreographers, been to multiple competitions and conventions, and taught in many studios around the triangle area.  Jodie is in her 2nd year as an instructor on the  Ballet Arts faculty.
Stacey Markham	Stacey has many years of training and expertise in baton twirling and tap. She began competing in baton from the age of 4 until the age   of 15 and won many Drum Majorette of America local, regional, state, mini-nationals and national titles in solo twirling, fancy strut, basic strut and over-all titles, including beginners, intermediate, and advance categories.   Stacy won the Drum Majorette of America Talent category with tap dance on the state and national levels.  In addition to winning numerous titles and awards in individual competition, she earned many team awards.  She was a member of the Conquistador’s Baton Corp (junior and senior) and  the Conquistador Baton Dance Team (junior and senior) for many years.  Stacey was also a baton instructor for the Conquistadors of Greensboro, NC for several years.  She was the feature twirler for her high school marching band and has choreographed for high school and college baton twirlers with their respective marching bands.  Stacey is skilled in one baton, two baton, three baton, one and two fire batons, fire knives, and one and two flag batons.   She choreographs, coaches and prepares twirlers for DMA regional, state and national competitions.  Stacey is in her 3rd year as an instructor at Ballet Arts.
Cara Mossman	Cara Mossman is a dance major at Meredith College pursuing her degree in Dance Studies. She has been dancing for 21 years and has been teaching for about 7 years. Her favorite genre of dance is tap and jazz, but she also enjoys teaching hip-hop, ballet,clogging, acro, and modern. She was a competitive dancer growing up and is now a full company member in the Meredith Dance Theatre, Meredith Jazz and Tap Company and was the director of the Creative Arts Touring Company. She just recently finished an internship at Disney World in Orlando, FL as a character performer/entertainer where she learned many new skills as a professional performer.  Once she finishes school she hopes to perform professionally and continue teaching in studios!
Amy Brown-Douglas	Amy has numerous years experience teaching and directing praise dance groups.  She is also a certified elementary school teacher and is in her 9th year as our liturgical/praise dance instructor.
Jessica Uzmann	Jesica is a recent graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she earned a B.A. degree in Interpersonal Communication Studies.    She is an alumni of Ballet Arts (where she danced from age of 4 to 18) and was a member of the Ballet Arts “All Stars” company winning numerous awards at regional dance competitions.   ’Jessie’ began assisting classes at the age of 13 and went on to teach  in her final years of  high school.  While at UNC-CH, Jessie continued dancing in student run dance companies (Blank Canvas and Modern Extension) and was featured in a few graduate students’ thesis pieces. We are thrilled to welcome Jessie back to our faculty!!!
Kelsey Williamson-McKeel	Kelsey is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Bryan College in Tennessee and holds a bachelor’s degree in Music with a focus in Musical Theatre. While in college, Kelsey choreographed and danced for numerous musical productions and dance groups including:  her own musical theatre senior thesis showcase, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; the musical Curtains and the Advanced Stage Movement Dance Club.  She has also directed and choreographed multiple children’s plays in the triangle area with Legacy Productions.  She has also studied with Ballet Magnificat.  Kelsey is a Ballet Arts alumnus, having studied under Miss Alecia and Ballet Arts faculty for 15 years.  Kelsey was a member of the Ballet Arts “All Stars” company and won numerous awards at regional dance competitions.   She was previously on the Ballet Arts faculty prior to moving to Tennessee to study at Bryan college.  She is returning to the area and is engaged to be married in September to her college sweetheart Brice McKeel.  Ballet Arts welcomes Kelsey back  to our faculty for her 2nd year teaching at Ballet Arts!

 

Guest Artists:

 

	Kurtis Overby (Ballet Arts Alumni)Kurtis Overby continues to perform professionally, as well as, choreograph, judge and instruct master classes across the nation.   He has been dance captain and assistant choreographer for several national tours and regional productions.   Shows include:  Sweet Charity, 42nd Street, Anything Goes, Cabaret, and Crazy for Youto name a few.  Kurtis also has danced and performed for several years for Carnival Cruise Line and Paramount’s King’s Dominion.  He graduated in 2000 with an A.A. in Dance Performance.  Kurtis is the Artistic Associate, resident director/choreographer, and director of children programming at the Arizona Broadway Theatre near Phoenix.
	Morgan Rudolph Morgan is a graduate of Western Kentucky University with a BFA in Performing Arts with a Concentration in Dance.  She has performed all over the country in many prestigious regional theatres.  She recently performed at the Horseshoe Casino Grand Opening in Chicago with Bette Midler and will be seen on the WeTV show My Fair Wedding as Marie Antoinette.  Some of her credits include: Roxie (Chicago), Babette (Beauty and the Beast), Zaneeta (The Music Man), Helga (Cabaret), Mimi (Guys and Dolls and Gloria Rasputen (Bye Bye Birdie).
	Jack Mattachionetrained at Point Park University in Pittsburgh double-majoring in Jazz and Ballet. He has also trained with Wright State University’s Dance Program for three years under Theresa McWilliams and Jon Rodriguez. He has worked professionally with Ballet Tennessee in A Christmas Carol playing Ghost of the Future, and has performed guest artist works with Attack Theater Dance Company for their 2009 season in Pittsburgh. He has worked on productions such as Ohio Lyric Theater’s Brigadoon playing Harry Beaton, Pajama Game dancing in Steam Heat, and performing in Muse Machine’s My Fair Lady.   Jack has also been in Pittsburgh Opera’s and Opera De Montreal’s Aida at the Benedum Center as a featured dancer.   He has worked for Arizona Broadway Theatre in the productions of Guys and Dolls playing a Havana Dancer and most recently Cats playing Macavity.