WENDY JAMES - STUDIO DIRECTOR is an Emmy Award winning Broadway performer with over 40 years of teaching experience in dance, music and theatre. She won the International dance Championship in Prague, Czech republic for her Jazz Choreography and has performed all over the world in China, Russia, Japan and Londons West End. In 2008 she moved to Mt Shasta and started the Mt Shasta Childrens Theatre in 2011. She was the founder and creator of Broadway Camp which just celebrated its 13th anniversary. She has directed and choreographed numerous productions at College of the Siskiyous and is the founder and director of Jefferson Center for the Arts in Mt Shasta. She is honored to hold space for the arts in our community and is incredibly proud of her many students throughout the years.
SHERRI DEGRAFFENREID danced through Nelda and Lennie’s Dance Studio and multiple Performing arts Companies in Nevada County through High School and early college years. after moving to the Pacific Northwest was a guest dancer for the Pacific West Performing Arts Guild and taught for Gig Harbor Dance Academy and Children’s Theater. Although ballet is her love she has performed in multiple stage shows in both dance and acting rolls such as Grease, Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma, Follies and original theater productions. Her longstanding roll as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker is her favorite and most memorable performance. She then began choreographing for shows such as My Fair Lady, Grease, Annie, returning home to her childhood studio and becoming co-owner. She continued the traditions of the dance studio for years until she left the dance and theater world to move to Mt. Shasta helping as a back stage mom with her oldest daughter’s theater dreams and coaching cheerleading. She came back to the ballet world to teach at Shasta Studios 7 years ago to support her youngest daughter’s love of ballet.
KRISTIN DAVIS began her tap dance journey at age 4 when she discovered she could make music with her feet! Drawn to fascinating rhythm and speedy footwork, she has cultivated a deep respect for the historical roots of tap dance. Kristin is honored to teach the steps of legendary tap dancers and use them to create combinations of movement and sound.
Sharing her favorite form of art, Kristin finds inspiration in her students' smiles as they grasp new tap steps and discover the natural rhythm of their feet. One of the highlights of teaching, she says, is hearing students talk about practicing tap steps on the playground, in grocery store aisles, and even on tree stumps in nature!
AMY MA began her classical ballet training in Hong Kong at the age of seven, studying through the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) system. At fourteen she was selected for a full scholarship to study ballet at the prestigious Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
While choosing to purrsue her college education in Environmental Health and Montessori Leadership, Amy continued her lifelong dedication to ballet training with teachers whose backgrounds included the Vaganova method, Mariinsky Theatre, Bolshoi Ballet School and Russian classical ballet traditions.
Amy brings a deep appreciation for the discipline, artistry, musicality, strength and grace of classical ballet. She is delighted to return to teaching and the share the beauty and foundations of classical ballet with youth, teens and adults at Shasta Studios.
AYDAN PEARSON started dancing at four years old. She has danced for Siskiyou Dance Company, Dance Depot, Cascade Conservatory and is currently dancing with Shasta Studios. Ballet, Modern and Lyrical have followed her for her whole life with hints of hip-hop and breakdance along the way. In recent years she has begun to swing dance with her family and fiancé as well . She continues to advance in ballet achieving the highest level at Shasta Studios and staying on point for four years and counting. She is excited and ready to share her love of dance with her students, helping them learn to love dance as well as push them to try new things. She hopes all of her students learn valuable techniques and rhythms from her teaching as she starts and continues their dance journey.
BRYNN WITHERELL Brynn grew up around the performing arts and started acting when she was 11 years old performing with Mt Shasta Childrens Theatre, College of the Siskiyous and many other community theatre productions. Shes been dancing and performing for years, studying Theatre Arts at College of the Siskiyous. She was the assistant director of FOOTLOOSE this summer and has been MSCT1 primary instructor for the past three years. She is dedicated to help kids find their passions and is looking forward to working with the childrens theatre again this season.
EMMA GRACE DEGRAFFENREID has been dancing since she was 2.5 years old. She has danced for Tana, Rena and currently Shasta Studios. Emma has been a ballet student her entire dance career but has taken all different types of dance including tap, jazz and musical theatre. She became a student teacher helper 8 years ago helping with our youngest dancers in our Daisies and Butterflies classes. In the last 5 years Emma has taken on a larger roll teaching butterflies ballet and hip hop. She is excited to work with the young dancers this season.
Emma continues to broaden her dance experience taking classes in Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz and Lyrical.
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MEGAN HAWK began dancing as a young girl shadowing her mother's Colombian dancing steps. One of her greatest joys is to let the rhythms of music from around the world move her. As a drama and dance graduate from Bard College in New York, she hasn't stopped exploring the world of dance... modern, hula, flamenco, ballet, west African, samba, salsa, theater, jazz and bellydancing are some of the many forms
she has enjoyed. These past 12 years, she studied ballet in Santa Cruz and is now back in Mt Shasta to see where her dancing feet will take her.
Megan led Daughters of the Moon Belly Dance in Mt Shasta from 2008-2011 where she shared dances from Veils of the Nile Belly dance whom she performed with in Washington state. Now she has decided to dust off some of the same dances and offer them once again to the community.
LAURA ANDERSON has been dancing throughout her life. She has studied ballet, modern and samba dance. She feels most alive when dancing and loves to share her passion for the dance with her students.