Meg is a Philadelphia native dancer and choreographer, who currently resides in Los Angeles. She began her dance career at Lorie-Lu School of dance in Philadelphia, and continued training at the University of Pittsburgh where she received her degree in Rehabilitation. Soon after she became a graduate of Broadway Dance Center's Professional Semester in NYC. She has worked and trained extensively with choreographers Mike Esperanza, Cat Cogliandro, Ginger Cox, Jenn Freeman, Tricia Miranda, and Neil Schwartz, among others. She was a company member of LINK the Movement, a guest performer for Mike Esperanza's BARE Dance Co. She is currently a member of Neil Schwartz's The Dradle Project, where she performed in professional venues all over NYC. Along with her company work, Megan also works as a back-up dancer for Avan Lava. Her film and TV appearances include work on NBC's Today show and ABC's Good Morning America, along with a music video for Sonia Montez where she also served as assistant choreographer to Cat Cogliandro. Her most recent project was working with current ACE Awards Winner, Talia Favia, in her own show, “The Difference Between Sinking and Drowning”. Aside her budding career as a dancer/choreographer, Megan has been passing on her expertise to young rising dancers as a teacher. Her class focuses on genuine movement, arising only from the natural human emotions that her students hold. Story telling, musicality and improvisation are things she considers pertinent to her choreography. She hopes that after every class her students leave feeling challenged and fulfilled!

Whitney began dancing at the age of 14 at Extensions Performing Arts Academy, where she was trained by some of the best teachers in the Antelope Valley including Donyelle Jones from So You Think You Can Dance. Whitney was asked to assist several choreographers at Millennium Dance Complex and EDGE Performing Arts Center. Whitney is the assistant choreographer for the Los Angeles Spark’s Dance Team and has traveled all over the country assisting Jess Warfield, Joaquin Escamilla, and TOKYO. She has toured with Hollywood Vibe Dance Convention assisting teachers such as Tessandra Chavez, Kent Boyd, and Melissa Sandvig. She recently performed in Hollywood Vibe’s faculty show and was a soloist in Momentum: An Evening of Dance at the El Portal theatre in North Hollywood. Whitney is a founding member on Joaquin Escamilla’s Los Angeles based company called Project 9. She was a featured dancer in Mollee Gray’s music video “You Don’t Know Anything About Me,” and has worked with other artists such as Ozy Reigns. Whitney has been teaching for several years and her unique understanding of placement and technique provides her students with the tools they need to excel. Whitney currently resides in North Hollywood, CA where she continues to work on new projects.

Jess Warfield is a distinguished choreographer, teacher, artistic director, and studio owner based out of Los Angeles. Her unique style is a result of her extensive and versatile bi-coastal training at several studios in Pennsylvania, New York, and Los Angeles throughout her 25-year dance career. As a choreographer and teacher, Jess is consistently asked to do master classes and set choreography for studios, dance teams, universities, and professional companies across the country. She has choreographed music videos, industrials, set tour choreography, and her work has won countless choreography awards at the regional, national, and international levels. Jess has taught for professional studios around the world including Broadway Dance Center (NYC), EDGE Performing Arts Center (Los Angeles), The Rock School (Philadelphia), Millennium Dance Complex (Los Angeles), Boogiezone (Los Angeles), and Pineapple Dance Studios (London) and was a guest faculty member for Tremaine Dance Conventions, The Pulse On Tour, and The Pulse On Tour Teacher Workshop.

Aaliyah started dancing as soon as she could walk. She trained in various styles including ballet, hip hop, contemporary, jazz, and many more. She is originally from Palm Springs, California and moved to Fullerton to receive her BS in Kinesiology. During her college years she was fortunate enough to train at Millennium OC with choreographers such as Mackenzie Martin, David Slaney, Stefanie Santiago and Azuki Umeda. Aaliyah got to assist and travel with the convention Soul De Soul as one of their Soul Elites. Learning from all these amazing choreographers sparked her love for teaching and she has been teaching and choreographing for the past seven years at various studios around Southern California. Aaliyah wants her students to have a safe space to explore the art of dance. She believes each dancer that steps foot in her classroom gets the support they need to excel during their dance journey!

Dakota was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she graduated from Las Vegas Academy of the Arts in 2019. While growing up and training in Las Vegas she was mentored under the direction of Peter Chu and Robert Contreras; receiving a deep understanding of concert contemporary techniques and an array of dance genres. Dakota recently graduated from the University of Arizona’s School of Dance where she trained extensively with Tammy Dyke-Compton, Jason Horton and Sam Watson. Dakota has danced and worked with choreographers like Linda Kent, Stacey Tookey, Sonya Tayeh, Frank Chavez, Jason Parsons, Jiri Pokorny, Sandra Maria Garcia, and many more. She is excited to be teaching and spending the 2022-2023 season with the dancers of Academy of Dance Westlake Village.

Jazy Kidd began dancing at the age of 5 at the studio, In The Spotlight in Waldwick, New Jersey. She trained in the styles Tap, Ballet, and Jazz for six years while also being a part of their competition team. At 11 years old, she stopped competitively dancing and began training in New York City in the styles Contemporary and Hip Hop. She trained at Broadway Dance Center under Emily Greenwell and joined Generation X, a hip hop crew founded and directed by Kelly Peters. At the age of 13, Jazy moved from the east coast to Los Angeles, California and joined Academy of Dance Westlake Village where she competed with the studio for 4 years. While apart of the competition team, Jazy was also Jess Warfield’s assistant for 3 of those years. Once she graduated from high school, she began studying psychology in college and joined Cameron Lee’s mentorship program. She was a part of Cameron’s mentorship program for a year where she was able to train with choreographers such as Tricia Miranda, Larke Hasstedt, Darrell Bullock, Sienna Lalau, and many more. Currently, Jazy is a senior at Loyola Marymount University where she will be getting a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She has been teaching at ADWV for a little over two years now and is very excited to pass down her knowledge to these young dancers.

Kayla Lynn was born and raised in Minnesota, where her mom owned a dance studio. This is where she discovered her true passion for loving the art of dance. She was a competition dancer who learned the value of versatility at a young age. Since the age of 14, Kayla developed her artistry at Performing Arts Schools as a dance major. Kayla’s well-rounded performing arts training has given her experiences dancing on stage, camera, and acting in commercials, movies, and short films. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, BFA in Dance Theater at AMDA College of the Performing Arts.

Stephanie Gevone Heckert, an Iowa native, is a mover, educator, and choreographer whose work aims to empower and connect artists through dance and motion. She has studied and performed for more than 22 years and has taught dance across the country, as well as in Germany, Holland, Poland, Sweden, and China. Stephanie is entering her eighth season dancing with MashUp Contemporary Dance Company and is a member of its inaugural Creative Council, a four-women artistic leadership team that curates programming dedicated to uplifting female-identifying artists. She has choreographed works for Esteé Lauder and La Mer Cosmetics, TARFEST, Rock It 2 The Core Festival, Nera, MashUp’s International Women’s Day, and Club Jeté. In the Fall of 2022, Stephanie’s current work will be featured at BULLDOZER LA, an arts festival for social change. A passionate educator, she has been a guest teacher for Mount San Antonio College, The Young Americans College of the Performing Arts, Encore Performing Arts High School, and LA Dance Festival. Stephanie’s performance credits include: BEGINNERS, The CW Network’s “I Ship It”, ZEDD, NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” and LA Fashion Week. She is currently on faculty at GENESIS STUDIOS, Liv’art Dance Studio, The Project, and Academy of Dance Westlake Village. Stephanie takes pride in her vision, uniqueness, and tenacity which she believes all people have and has made it a goal to encourage others to discover their own.

Ali Stevens is a dancer, choreographer, & teaching artist based in Los Angeles, CA. She graduated with a BFA in Commercial Dance from Pace University under the direction of Rhonda Miller. At Pace, Ali performed in original concert works by Lauren Gaul, Scott Jovovich, and Dominique Kelley, and in dance films choreographed by Mandy Moore, Jess Hendricks, and Jen Hamilton. Professional credits include dancing in music videos for the bands, Makes My Blood Dance ("Together Apart”) and half•alive (“Did I Make You Up?”). Ali continues to travel and choreograph for a variety of private dance studios across the United States, and is excited to share her passion for jazz and technique with ADWV this season!

Allison (Allie) Truax is a native Houstonian and received her training from Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy, Ballet Austin and Houston Metropolitan Dance Centre. She attended the University of Oklahoma on scholarship and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet Pedagogy. She was also an exchange student at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, England. After graduation, she taught for many dance studios in Houston and danced for Sandra Organ Dance Company, Dancepatheater, Dance Houston, and Red Door Productions. Allie then moved to Los Angeles in order to further her dance career and expand her vision in LA’s vibrant dance community. Since arriving in LA, Allie has taught for Javyee Dance Center, Ohana Dance and California Dance Theatre, to name a few. She was recently a guest choreographer for Kenneth Walker Dance Project, a company she danced with for 5 seasons. “Miss Allie” absolutely loves teaching the immensely talented young dancers of Academy of Dance and being the mom of an incredible 2 year old named Cooper!

Emmy Frevele has brought dance and acrobatics into the lives of people of all ages for more than a decade. Her training began at just 2 years old at Dance Connection Performing Arts Centre in Concord, CA and continues at professional studios in Los Angeles today. Emmy has performed with Paula Abdul, Green Day, Cher Lloyd, Bella Thorne, and many others. Her choreography is featured on seasons 1 & 2 of “I Ship It,” a musical-comedy series on The CW. Having been trained in tumbling via competitive cheerleading, under Morton Burgue (CheerGyms.com), Emmy combines the power from cheerleading with the grace of dance in her acrobatics classes. She's a very well-rounded and versatile dancer and instructor, teaching a variety of styles. Her students are comfortable, confident, and consistently challenged in a fun and positive environment. Emmy’s teaching style cultivates confidence, derived from the idea that working hard pays off, and the outcome is well worth the effort.

Jacqueline Barone was born and raised in San Diego, and has been pursuing art her whole life. She attended Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) for high school, majoring in both Musical Theater and Acting. She trained at Evoke Dance Movement from eleven years old until she graduated high school. Her dance career includes dancing for artists such as Lady Gaga, Camila Cabello, Karol G, and J Balvin, just to name a few. She has danced at the 61st Grammy Awards, in commercials for companies such as NFL and Skechers, multiple music videos, tv shows on CBS and Nickelodeon, and Saturday Night Live. In this chapter of Jacqueline's life, she currently trains with her acting coach, Don Bloomfield, at DBA studios in North Hollywood. She has been working in commercials and with different production companies as an actress. Jacqueline spent a few weeks of her summer 2022 training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), in London doing contemporary drama. She has so much gratitude for her parents, and all they've sacrificed for her artistic education. She feels so blessed to share her gifts while teaching her students.

Jillian has enjoyed a near lifetime devoted to the art of dance, receiving her early education in Albuquerque, New Mexico at Fishback Studio of Dance and Sandra’s School of Dance. She spent many years as a competitive team dancer, developing a passion for choreography and teaching along the way. Jillian was fortunate to be mentored by studio owners who nurtured these interests, which resulted in her beginning her teaching career at the age of 15. She has spent the 20 years that followed teaching multiple styles of recreational & competitive dance for various studios, after-school organizations, and recreational programs, working with all ages and levels of youth dancers and adults. After high school she continued her education in the performing arts at CSUEB, and is currently finishing her dance degree at CSUCI. Career highlights include performing with several Bay Area dance companies including, ‘Mend’ Contemporary Dance Theater Co., and hip hop companies Soul Conspiracy and Academy of Villains. Her choreography has been performed at NBA Warriors half-time shows, college basketball half-time shows, Great America Theme Park, San Jose Dance Fest, as well as numerous youth dance competitions. Jillian strives to create nurturing and fun classroom environments that allow her students to enjoy a quality dance education while developing themselves as artists in the process. She understands and promotes the value of a dance education in a child’s life whether or not they move on to professional dance work.Upcoming plans include completing California’s new ‘Dance’ teaching credential program so that she can facilitate dance in middle schools and high schools, as well as embarking on a long time goal of creating dance films.