 |
|
Cathy
Makison
Cathy
Makison is the owner,
director of DayStar Dance Academy. Cathy has 30
years teaching experience. Cathy owned her own
successful dance studio in South Carolina for
7 years, she then moved to Florida and was on
the teaching faculty for Southern Ballet theatre.
From there she went on to teach at the Royal school
of dance for 4 years. Many of her teaching experiences
were in a studio setting as well as public school
settings. Cathy is also a certified member of
Florida Dance Masters, and a licensed early childhood
music educator through the nationally known MusikGarten
program. Cathy brings to the school a great love
for teaching children in a loving, caring, disciplined
environment. With these 3 key ingredients children
are certain to carry this positive learning experience
in all walks of their lives. |
|
Melanie
Whitbeck
This is Melanie Whitbeck's 8th
year teaching at Daystar. She has been taking
dance since the age of 2 1/2. She started competing
at the age of 8 years old. She has had the privilege
to have trained under the Ballet Master Ramazon
Bapov who performed with the Bolshoi Theater for
2 years. Mia Michaels, (So You Think You Can Dance),
Joe Tremaine just to name a few.She also studied
at the Royal School of dance in Orlando Florida
as well as Southern Ballet theater and Dance Explosion
here in Kennesaw Ga. Melanie brings her wonderful
choreogrpahy skills to the Daystar Company Dancer's
and Competition team. Many of her dancers have
walked away with Gold medals as well as Platinum
awards for Solo performances at Regional dance
competitions. She has also choreographed Duet,
Trio dances and group competition numbers and
have also walked away with high golds and Dance
scholarships to go to conventions. Melanie is
now working with Junior Company teaching Lyrical
and Jazz. She is also a licensed cosmotologist,
married to Josh Whitbeck and has a 1 year old
daughter Blakely.
|
|
|
|
Barbara
Fortier
Barbara
Fortier is a transplant from California,
and has been teaching ballet in the Atlanta Metro
since 1990. She has had fourteen years of private
study of the Vaganova ballet training system with
former principal dancers: Stanislav Issaev of
Moscow Classical Ballet, Ramazan Bapov of Bolshoi
Theatre, Natalia Shevchenko of Moldova Theatre,
and Leonid Flegmatov of Russian Ballet Theatre.
She has performed locally in Atlanta, and with
the Kingsport Ballet in Kingsport, Tennessee,
under the directorship of former principal dancer
of Novosibirsk Theatre, Valeria Sinyavskaya. |
|
Anneka
Maquay
Anneka
Maquay is a great asset to Daystar. This
is Anneka's first year at Daystar Dance Academy.
Anneka will be teaching Hip Hop, Ballet, Jazz,
Lyrical and Cheerleading. She was formerly
a NFL Kansas City Chiefs Choreographer. She has
also perfromed with "Stomp The Yard TV performance,
as well as appearing in other TV commercials for
Coca Cola. "Coke And A Smile". Her Choreography
numbers include "Lyrik London Video Reel,
POL Choreographer's Show Case, MTV's Made
"I Wanna Be A Hip Hop Dancer",
Nat'l Groove Alliance Performance Company. She
studied with Gotta Dance, National Groove Alliance,
and Dance 411 here in Atalnta. She has also been
a judge for Dance and Cheerleading competitions.
We are very excited to have Anneka with
us this year. Her energy and her love for dance
is a great example to the kids, she is excited
to bring to Daystar the Joy and discipline of
dance and performance. |
 |
|
|
Brian
N. Dixon
Brian
Dixon attended Jacksonville State University
majoring in Drama and minoring in English. He
is a former graduate and faculty member of Sprayberry
High School, where he was the head varsity Dance
Team coach. He led the Dance Team to 3 National
titles, 2nd place in the State for 2 years in
a row.
Brian was awarded Best Hip Hop/Funk Choreography
at the 2005 National Championships in Myrtle
Beach, South Carolina. At the 2004 Nationals,
six members of his team were awarded All American,
leading Brian to take them to Honolulu Hawaii
to perform in the 2004 Pro Bowl. Brian has performed
in the Amphitheatre in Indiana holding lead
dancer roles in "Oklahoma" and "Young
Abe Lincoln". Brian has also performed
in Taste of the Town Dinner and Children's Theatre
holding lead roles in Star Spangled Girl, Story
Ville, and Sunshine Boys. Some other areas for
which he has choreographed and performed are
regional and national beauty pageants, Hip Hop,
and PomPom dance competitions for Studio South
in Dallas, Georgia.
Brian is now teaching at Daystar Dance Academy
and the Kennesaw Rec. Center where he teaches,
Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Lyrical and Diva Dance
and Cheer.
|
|
Allie
Adeli
Allie
Adeli
has been dancing since the age of 3 and now
20 years later, she still canot help but dance
her way through life. Allie was a member of
Daystar Dance Academy’s company ensemble,
and has taught various classes and camps throughout
the years at Daystar. As a dancer, she has competed
in numerous competitions where she helped take
home top awards for her studios; and participated
in workshops where she received training from
top choreographers like Mandy Moore and Joe
Lanteri. She was afforded the opportunity to
perform at various events, such as the Breast
Cancer 3-Day Walk, aboard the Royal Caribbean
Cruise Ship, and many more. Allie is passionate
for children and the elderly and hopes to find
a career that allows her to work with both populations.
A recent accomplishment she is proud of is her
bachelor’s degree from Georgia College
& State University in Business Administration,
her minor in French, and her undergraduate certificate
in Gerontology. With her motivation, positive
attitude, and love for dance, Allie can’t
wait to see what the New Year has in store for
her and her students.
|
|
|
|
Leia
Travis
Leia
Travis began taking ballet at the age
of 4. She has been involved with ballet, pointe,
jazz, modern, lyrical and tap her entire life.
At an early age, she performed in the Atlanta
Ballet’s Nutcracker for several years. She
was also a part of both her studio’s ballet
and jazz companies for 10 plus years. She began
teaching at the young age of 13 all the way through
high school, she taught 3 and 4 year old ballet
in studio. She was a member of her high school
dance team and helped her team become state champions
for 4 years in a row. The team was also nationally
ranked amongst high school competitive dance in
both pom and jazz. Leia attended the University
of Georgia and majored in Broadcast Journalism.
While attending college, Leia was a part of the
Dance Department and attended ballet, jazz and
lyrical classes throughout her college years.
She has a minor in ballet. As she got her career
underway she wanted to find a company that believed
in what she did when it comes to dancing. She
has found a home at Daystar and is excited about
teaching children about the love of dance. As
she has grown as a teacher she has found her love
of teaching and continuing to watch her dancers
grow. |
|
|
| |
|
