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Tiffany CarpenterArtistic Director
Tiffany began her dance training in Utah at age 8. At age 16 she received a scholarship to train at the Tremaine studio in Los Angeles. While taking class there, she realized that she had to dance professionally. Tiffany eventually moved to L.A. where she received another scholarship to train for a year with Jackie Sleight and her staff of accomplished teachers. She stayed for an additional year and worked professionally. Eventually she made her way back to Utah and in 1995, began a fulfilling 7-year run with the professional jazz/ballet company Odyssey Dance Theatre, directed by Derryl Yeager. That same year, Yeager also directed her in the original cast of the musical “Utah!” at the Tuacahn Theatre in St. George, Utah. While a member of Odyssey, Tiffany had the additional honor of working with New York choreographer Mia Michaels, and then of representing Mia’s company in a 5 1/2 week European tour.
Some of Tiffany’s other credits include: “42nd Street”, the “Move to the Groove Ball” for Mari Winsor, industrials for Reebok, Starter, Rampage and Novell, music video “Canadian Rose” for Blues Traveler, a Honda commercial, dancer and dance double in the opening credits for the lead in the movie, “Out of Step, and promotional videos for Novell, and NuSkin. Tiffany has also had the wonderful opportunity of teaching and directing over the past 11 years. She has won numerous awards for her choreography as well as New York City Dance Alliance’s Critic’s choice award. She has enjoyed teaching master classes and workshops throughout the United States.
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Derryl YeagerArtistic Director; Odyssey Dance Theatre and The Pointe Academy Faculty/Advisor
As a professional dancer for over two decades, Derryl Yeager has had experience in every style and medium. He received his BFA and MFA degrees at the University of Utah while becoming a principal dancer with Ballet West. He then went on to perform in the Broadway Shows A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls, and Cats and has appeared in numerous TV and Film projects that include Staying Alive, She's Having a Baby, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, A More Perfect Union, Moonlighting, The Tracy Ullman Show, The Young and the Restless, and General Hospital.
As a Choreographer and Director he has worked professionally from Ballet to Broadway, Film, Music Videos, and numerous Television Shows. He has taught at two major universities and was Artistic Director for the BYU Theatre Ballet for 2 years. He has choreographed numerous successful ballets with several professional companies and has been the production choreographer for Pirates of Penzance, Damn Yankees, and Joseph at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, winner of the Tony Award for best regional theatre in the year 2000.
At the Tuacahn Amphitheatre in St. George, Utah, Derryl has directed and choreographed 2 smash productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicholor Dreamcoat and Oklahoma and has choreographed Utah, Annie Get Your Gun, The King and I, and the Wizard of Oz. This fall he will direct and choreograph Tuacahn's production of CATS.
As Founder and Artistic Director of Odyssey Dance Theatre, Derryl has directed, choreographed and produced over 24 works for this world renowned jazz-ballet company. Derryl is thrilled to call The Pointe Performing Arts Academy as Odyssey's rehearsal home and hopes to have many dancers from The Pointe join his company as they graduate from this excellent program.
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Stephanie ColeThe Pointe Academy Ballet Director
Stephanie Cole began her training at the age of 8 in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Stephanie received scholarships from American Festival Ballet and Ballet Idaho. She has performed with Eugene Ballet, Ballet Idaho and American Festival Ballet. Stephanie attended University of Utah and worked with the Ballet West Conservatory. She attended and graduated from Brigham Young University in dance. Besides much performances experience, Stephanie has choreographed and restaged classical pieces for BYU, Rocky Mountain Ballet, Rocky Mountain Repertory Dance, and Studio One of Idaho Falls. Stephanie has also choreographed productions of Nutcracker and Coppelia for the Pearl House of Idaho Falls, a non-profit children and youth center.
Stephanie is married to a ballroom dancer which she said she would never do and has four children.
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Michelle LapioliBallet Instructor
Michelle began dancing at age 7. Her training intensified three years later when she started at the Studio 1 Dance Center in Orem. It wasn’t until she was 13 that Michelle began to even enjoy ballet; the following year she joined the BYU Youth Artists ballet company, which was under the direction of Shani Robison. When the Youth Artist program was dissolved the subsequent year Michelle took all the extra ballet classes she could. At age 16 she was accepted as the only ‘youth’ member of the BYU Ballet Showcase Company. Michelle performed and toured with the BYU Ballet for four years.
Michelle also received training at several summer intensive programs, her favorite being the Burklyn Ballet Theatre in Vermont. With the Burklyn Ballet she was also able to travel to the annual Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland to perform in an original production of Beauty and the Beast.
Michelle has been teaching ballet and jazz at local dance studios for seven years. She also taught jazz classes at BYU as part of the dance curriculum for two years. Michelle enjoys watching her students learn and progress. She strives to maintain a fun atmosphere in the classroom while encouraging the students to do their best. Michelle describes her approach to ballet as being very logical and not only incorporates proper technique into her classes, but also ballet terminology, human anatomy, appropriate ballet music, and occasionally some ballet history.
Michelle graduated from BYU with a BA in Dance, Ballet emphasis, and a Minor in Math. She was also honored when her senior research paper, American Jazz Dance: a Melting Pot of Cultural Expression, was published in the ’07 BYU Dance Journal. Michelle married her wonderful husband in June ’06; they have no children—yet.
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Ashley RodgersJazz Instructor; Pulse Pointe Director
Ashley Rodgers started her dance training at the age of three years old. She trained numerous hours each week and enjoyed every second of it. She trained in Jazz, Hip-Hop, Ballet, Tap, and ballroom. She competed at the award winning studio Pulse 31 where she won numerous scholarships and titles such as ICON of the year, Jump VIP 2 years in a row, NYCDA yearlong scholarship and many more. At the age of 17 she had the opportunity to travel with a famous convention called Hollywood Connection where she assisted numerous choreographers such as Brooke Lipton, Rob Schultz, Bill Bohl, Lisette Bustamante, Laura King, Chonique Sneed and Zach Woodlee. She has recently been assisting the top hip-hop convention “Wrap It Up” for the last four years. Ashley moved to L.A. after graduating high school where she continued her dance career. Working with numerous choreographers and performing in many shows. Her credits include 2002 Winter Olympics, back up dancing for Aaron Carter and the new and up coming artist Dior. She also was an opening act for Diamond Rio and Michelle Branch. Her movie credits include, The Curious Case of Ben Buttons and she recently was the assistant choreographer for the famous movie GET SMART. She enjoys teaching and watching students push themselves to be the best that they can be. She is currently attending school where she is majoring in health and nutrition.
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Shauna OliverioJazz Instructor; O2 Assistant Director; En Pointe Director
Shauna Oliverio, grew up in Detroit, Michigan and studied her first years of dancing at Suzettes Masters of Dance. She trained on scholarship under the direction of Joey Malone and Jackie Sleight at the Performing Arts Center in Van Nuys, CA. During these years of training, Shauna focused on Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Lyrical, Modern, Hip Hop, Acting and Voice. Shauna has been teaching children of all ages for the past 10 years and there is nothing in the world that she is more passionate about! She has also found her love for setting choreography and has had the chance to work with many competitive studios, national material for high school and college competitive dance teams, and professional production shows. Some of Shauna's professional dance credits include, Detroit Pistons Automotion, a few episodes of Ally Mc Beal, The Tracy Ulmann show, a Microsoft Industrial for "Xbox", Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, main dancer in an NFL half-time show with Enrique Iglesias, Windsor Casino and Tuacahn "Broadway in the dessert". A few years ago Shauna found her love for Musical Theatre and played Liz in "Chicago", Rosie in "Cabaret" and Etcetera in "Cats"! Shauna currently lives in Salt Lake City, UT, where she trains, performs and travels with Odyssey Dance Theatre.
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Seneca MinerCombo Instructor; Synergy Pointe Director
Seneca has trained in dance since the age of 5 at such places as All American Gymnastics, The Dance Club, Utah Academy of Dance and Center Stage Performing Arts Studio She was seen in the CMT Music Video “Going Home” and the TV commercial “In Your Face” and was Brigitta in the Scera Shell production of “The Sound of Music”. In High School she was on Dance Company and was a Varsity Cheer and Song Leader. She won Dance All Star at the USA Song Competition. She has done professional choreography for Ally’s Dance Studio and for local High School Teams. She has been on professional staff teaching at United Dance Studio, The Pointe Academy and The Vibe Performing Arts Studio. She is currently a performer with Rick Robinson and Kellie Meserly’s “One Night Only.”
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Sarah AezerInstructor
More Information coming soon.
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Audrey KinghamJazz Teacher and En Pointe Director
Audrey Kingham is a twenty year old native of Las Vegas, Nevada. Audrey began dancing at Bunker Dance Center and continued dancing there until she graduated high school from the Las Vegas Academy for Performing Arts where she majored in dance in 2007. Audrey then moved to Utah to pursue a bachelor’s degree in modern dance at Utah Valley University. She is currently on their contemporary company, Contemporary Dance Ensemble. Audrey has worked with choreographers such as Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo for four years, and is currently an assistant to Stacey Tookey from “So You Think You Can Dance”. Audrey has been teaching for six years, and has been dancing for fifteen. She is excited for the new challenges and opportunities that teaching at The Pointe Academy will bring.
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Gev ManoukianHip-Hop / Break Dancing / Funk Director
Gev Manoukian, of Armenian descent, was born and raised in Kazakhstan. In his senior year of school, Gev formed the first break-dancing group in his hometown. Together, they learned their moves by watching videos and through trial and error.
In 2003 Gev moved to Salt Lake City, UT. He soon found a local break-dancing/hip-hop group and joined the ranks, picking up where her left off in his hometown. The group, “Extreme Dance Studio”, introduced him to the world of hip-hop. With his natural ability to pick up new dance movements, and his zeal to dance, the new genera took flight; brining him to a new level in dancing. As he continued developing his dancing abilities, he soon discovered a new transition in his dancing…the combination of break-dance, hip-hop, and classical movements all rolled into one.
Gev engages audiences with his self-taught moves and passion. In 2004 Gev auditioned for the Hollywood block buster, High School Musical 2, and was chosen as a featured dancer. Two years later, he was cast as a principal dancer in movie, “The American Mall”. In 2008 Gev’s dancing talents took him to the nationwide auditions of the Fox reality, hit, TV show, “So You Think You Can Dance”. Gev’s unique, versatile, and powerful dancing abilities, won the judges and America over, as he danced his way to the top 10 dancers.
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Mindy RobbinsRobbins Musical Theatre Academy Director
Bio coming soon.
