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 25 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 3rd 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.  Sarah is in her 5th year as an instructor at Ballet Arts.

Katie Shannahan

is a graduate of Appalachian State University with a B.A. degree in dance.  While at ASU,  Katie was a member of the Appalachian Dance Ensemble and the Momentum Dance Club.  She performed daily for two seasons at Tweetsie Railroad and choreographed one of their shows last season.  Katie is also on the faculty at several triangle area studios.  Katie is in her 2nd year as an instructor at Ballet Arts.

Jodie Saunders

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.  We welcome Jodie to the Ballet Arts faculty!

Megan Argetsinger

Megan has recently moved to the area from New York where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary and Special Education with a concentration in dance. Megan has been dancing since she was eight years old. Her passion for dancing continued to grow as she studied several styles of dance on the competitive team of her local dance studio.  At the age of 16 Megan had a great year as Miss Acrobat of Central New York and performed at various venues in NYC and Orlando, FL as a member of the United States Acrobatic Team. She took her pursuit of dance into college where she was given several opportunities not only to continue her studies of ballet, jazz, and modern, but also to perform, teach and choreograph alongside her fellow dancers and professors. At college Megan performed on the student run dance team, Orchesis; the Geneseo Knightline; and the Geneseo Dance Ensemble. Her senior year she was given the privilege to work with her professor choreographing, rehearsing, and staging a piece she created for the end of the year show. Megan was also awarded the Merit Scholarship in Dance during her years at school. Megan is excited to continue to share her love of dance with those around her and is looking forward to a great year at Ballet Arts!  We welcome Megan to 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.   Stacey is in her 2nd year as an instructor at Ballet Arts.

C.C. Johnson

C.C. Johnson is a 2003 graduate of Kerr-Vance Academy and a 2007 graduate of North Carolina State Univeristy with a B.A. in Political Science. She is currently employed with the Division of Community Corrections as a Probation/Parole Officer in Granville County, N.C.. Born and raised in Henderson, N.C., She studied many years of dance, gymnastics and baton and is a Ballet Arts alumni.  C.C. was member of the Ballet Arts ‘All Stars’ Company and competed ballet, tap, jazz and lyrical in numerous competitions. She is an active member of a United States Tennis Association club in Oxford, N.C. and an avid goer of Zumba. She is looking forward to bringing pizzazz and finesse to her new students at Ballet Arts.  We are excited to welcome C.C. to our faculty!

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.

Amanda Blanchard

Amanda has trained for many years in ballet, tap, jazz, yoga & Pilates.  She has appeared in numerous regional theater musicals and plays and has been a part of Ballet Arts faculty for 9 years.

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 You to 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 Mattachione trained 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.