Concepts in Motivation - Olney Faculty

Miss Jennifer Alexander

Miss Jennifer is a recipient of a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her destiny with dance started at the age of 3 at Linda Natoli Studio of Dance. She joined the competitive company at age 7. In addition to Linda Natoli Studio of Dance, she has received some of her training at the Dance Theater of Harlem Pre-Professional Residency, Dance Place, Maryland Youth Ballet, Creative Dance Center, Joy of Motion Youth Dance Ensemble, and DC Dance Collective. She has been professionally trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Lyrical, Contemporary, Gymnastics, and Hip Hop. She has also studied in classes and special workshops under Savion Glover, Vincent Bingham, and Bakarri Walker from Bring In The Noise, Bring In The Funk; Brenda Bufalino, Liz Lerman, Helanius J. Wilkins, Gesel Mason, Monica Bill Barnes, Alvin Mayes, Nejla Y. Yatkin and Keith Johnson. Jennifer is certified in Cecchetti. She was also invited to the Ailey Dance Kids Camp and has competed in such competitions as Showbiz, Showstoppers, Starpower and Tremaine. Jennifer has performed at such places as the Black Family Reunion, The Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center and Showtime at the Apollo. Jennifer’s competitive choreography has won numerous platinum medals in addition to special and high score awards in competition. In addition to her work at dance studios, she enjoys choreographing for high school dance teams, teaching after school dance programs for underprivileged children, and continuing to dance and perform herself.

Miss Melanie Barber

Miss Melanie has been dancing since 1991, having taken classes in ballet, jazz, modern, tap, and hip hop. Along with majoring in Dance at Montgomery College, Melanie has a certificate in Early Childhood Education. She also teaches and choreographs for a homeschoolers' theater group. Melanie loves performing as well as teaching; and was the Dance Intern and ensemble member for MC Summer Dinner Theatre's production of Beauty and the Beast. Melanie loves her teaching role at Concepts in Motivation!

Miss Natalie Blank

Miss Natalie holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree in Acting and a Bachelor's of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Dance and Culture from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She trained in the Cecchetti Method of Ballet at the Florence Gardner School of Ballet for thirteen years and continued her ballet training throughout college in addition to modern dance and jazz. Miss Natalie has also studied Laban Principles, Alexander Technique, and Fitz Maurice. She has an extensive theatre background and has performed in a variety of shows at UMBC, Rep Stage, and the DC Fringe Festival. Miss Natalie loves to teach children the art of dance and drama. She works for Montgomery County Public Schools as a paraeducator for Tilden Middle School.

Miss Vanessa Carmichael-Elder

Vanessa Carmichael-Elder is a proud mother of three that has been teaching dance and fitness in the metropolitan area for the past decade. Herself, the daughter of an Opera singer and artistic director, Miss Vanessa is no stranger to the stage. Initially, she performed as a vocalist and actress in Guyana, South America, and later, as a dancer while majoring in Kinesiology at the University of Maryland. Miss Vanessa has studied modern, jazz, and ballet with many local instructors and has performed commissioned works with some well known choreographers. She integrates her knowledge of exercise physiology, Pilates, and body mechanics into her dance curriculums.

Miss Lindsey Christensen

Miss Lindsey, a native of Frederick, has studied dance in the area since the age of 4. More recently she has graduated from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina with a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology and a Bachelor’s of Art in Dance Performance. A greater part of her study at Winthrop in dance was in classical ballet, va

rious forms of modern and contemporary with a strong emphasis in performance. While in attendance, Lindsey had the privilege of performing in more than 15 main stage shows as well as the Medal of Honor in the Arts, South Carolina Dance Association, American College Dance Festival, Charlotte Dance Fest and Rock Hill’s Rockhettes Christmasville Annual Show. She was also fortunate to have received the Producer’s Circle scholarship and the Herbert L. Dean Scholarship for several years while at Winthrop University. Currently she is continuing her dance career as an educator, choreographer and performer at various studios throughout the Maryland and Virginia area as well as earning another degree as a Physical Therapy Assistant.

Miss Joanne Finlay

Miss Joanne comes to us with a degree from Towson University with a Bachelor’s in Science degree in Mass Communications/ Television Production and Broadcast. At Towson she was part of the Towson University Dance Team. Miss Joanne studied under Linda Natoli and has been enjoying ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip hop and gymnastics in the area for many years. She has performed at the Kennedy Center in the American Tap Dance Day and in the Jazz Dance World Congress-Dancer. In addition she has performed at RFK Stadium for the Redskins halftime show. Miss Joanne was a previous owner and artistic director of her own studio.

Miss Paige Friedeman

Miss Paige began with the Concepts in Motivation Family of studios in 2007. Currently, Miss Paige uses her energetic style to teach Hiphop but she also teaches Pom & Kickline, Jazz, Contemporary, Ballet and more. She has been dancing and performing since age 5, winning performance awards as well as choreography awards since 2000. Paige began her dance teaching/coaching career while studying to be an Art Studio Major at the University of Maryland. Paige participated in one of the largest creative and performing arts events in the DC/MD/VA Area - Art-O-Matic and not only showed her paintings but also taught four very successful Hiphop Workshops. She has taken classes/workshops from Teresa Espinosa, Fanny Pak, Brian Friedman, Dave Scott, The Boogie Bots, NappyTabs, Wade Robson, Jamile McGee and more. In 2009, Paige's competitive Hiphop team won 2 Maryland State Championships and placed 3rd in the USA! Paige is excited to bring her fun, creative side to share with her dancers.

Miss Stephanie Hettchen

Miss Stephanie joins us with 16 years of dance experience. She is currently a Washington Redskins Cheerleader and was a member of the B Funk Dance Company. She is experienced in ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, and lyrical. We are happy to have Stephanie join us and bring her years of experience (and exciting Redskin stories) to us.

Miss Carrie Hunter

Miss Carrie has been dancing since 1990. She began dancing at Fran’s Studio of Dance, in Oxon Hill where she studied ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, drama, and was also a member of the P.M. Dance Company for 4 years under the direction of Fran Peters. She successfully competed locally and nationally for solo and group performances. While attending Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, she was co-captain of the Pom Squad for 2 years and did choreography for the hip hop and the lyrical routines. Carrie, having the love for tap, then wanted to focus primarily on Tap and started dancing at Knock on Wood Studio where she was a member of Tappers With Attitude under the direction of Yvonne Edwards and Renee Kreithen. Carrie had the opportunity to take lessons from many tap masters such as Lane Alexander, Bakaari Wilder, Jeannie Hill, Dianne Walker, Brenda Buffalino, and Jimmy Slyde. She later joined the adult dance company, Step Aside, while attending Trinity University. Besides being a part of dance companies, Carrie also has been sharing her dance through teaching. She has been teaching dance since 1996 and taught at Knock On Wood Studio, Concepts of Motivation at Olney Studio of Dance, Body Rhythms Performing Arts, and Joe’s Movement Emporium. Carrie is currently a Quality Assurance Analyst at Overture Technologies in Bethesda and working towards her masters degree in IT - Information Assurance at University of Maryland University College.

Miss Nancy Mapother

Miss Nancy comes to us with a B.F.A. in dance from Juilliard School. She has extensive performance experience with Juilliard Dance Ensemble, DC City Ballet, Jason Taylor Dance Company, Washington Dance Theater and has performed at the American Dance Festival and Wolf Trap. Nancy has many years of experience teaching toddlers.

Miss Lisa McKay

Miss Lisa has been dancing since 1988. She has been teaching since 2001 and joined the teaching staff at Concepts in Motivation in 2003. She has competed in many competitions including Dance Educators of America, Dance Masters of America, Dance America Preliminary, Dance Xplosion, Headliners, StarQuest, Star Power, Star System, On Stage New York Nationals, State Dance Championships, Hall of Fame and many others winning various medals. Lisa has taken part in many workshops and conventions including DMA, DEA, ADA, Teachers Intensive and many more. Her styles of dance include Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap, Lyrical and Musical Theater. Her favorite is Lyrical. She loves teaching children of all ages and is looking forward to another great year.

Miss Mariel Miller

Miss Millers dance training began in 1996 at New England Ballet Company in Connecticut. She then moved to Maryland where she was accepted into the pre-professional Program with Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland. Mariel studied the Vaganova Syllabus under the instruction of some of the most prestigious dancers in the world such as, Vyacheslav Mesropov, Bat Udval, Engenia Singur, Olga Tozyiakova, Svetlana Kravtsova and the vice president of Youth America Grand Prix, Larissa Saveliev. In her pre-professional training she danced alongside ABT’s Maxim Beloserkovsky, Irina Dvorovenko, Stella Abrera, Sascha Radetsky, Katie Williams, as well as Manassas Ballet’s; Alexandru Glusacov, Vadim Slatvitskiy, Melissa Zoebisch, Ballet Classique of Paris’ Nickolai Balatsenko, and freelance dancer Alexander Kozadayev. Miss Mariel also worked with and performed pieces choreographed by Alvin Ailey’s Alicia Graph, Alex Neoral from Companhia de Dança, and ABT’s Alexei Agoudine.

She was an assistant teacher to Svetlana Kravtsova for four years. Mrs. Kravtsova graduated from the Ballet Academy of Republic of Moldova. After retiring from her dance career Ms Kravtsova earned the position of Lead Teacher at Ballet Academy of Moldova and was recognized for excellence in teaching and choreography.
Miss Mariel taught at Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland and helped choreograph several pieces for their pre-professional level.

She is currently dancing with CityDance Ensemble in their Studio Company. She has performed with their main company in their production of Carbon, and Jungle Books, and was in the world Premier of Jason Ignacio’s “Mountain”. Along with dancing for CityDance she has also worked in their outreach program.

In her Professional Career she has performed works by Choreographer and dancer Christopher Morgan, choreographer Karen Reedy, and choreographer and dancer Jason Garcia Ignacio.

Miss Candice Peterson

Miss Candice began her dance career at the Germantown Dance Center at the age of three. She has studied ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and lyrical. She studied dance at Patricia Kelbaugh’s Dance Studio, Denise Shores Studio of Dance, Clopper’s Mill Dance Center and the Olney Studio of Dance. Candice was a member of the competition team at her dance studio and competed from the age of five until she was nine winning many awards from Bronze to High Gold. She was also a member of her high school’s team pom squad as well as the Olney Studio’s Competition Team. Candice has been with Concepts in Motivation since she was ten years old and has been teaching at Concepts in Motivation since 2002.

Miss Katarina Rodgaard

Miss Katarina joins us with numerous years of dance and teaching experience. She has taught in the area since 1999. She was a soloist for the Washington Potomac Dance Ensemble, was a dancer/soloist with the Conservatory of Performing Arts for Point Park University for 3 years, has performed at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2002 which aired nationally on CBS, and most recently danced with Dakshina/Daniel Singh Company. She has intensive training from Parsons Dance Company in New York. Miss Katarina has her Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Miss Brittany Rose

Miss Brittany has been dancing since 1995 and has studied ballet, tap, jazz and modern. She has danced at the Kennedy Center's Opera House, with the American Ballet Theatre, in their production of NUTCRACKER and LA CORSAIRE. She also danced with the Universal Ballet of Korea in their production of LA BAYADERE. Miss Brittany has spent four summers studying at the Miami City Ballet. Brittany’s other training has included for many years the Advanced Release Time II class at the Maryland Youth Ballet. Miss Brittany is the CM Premier Dance Camp Director and currently attends Winthrop University in South Carolina and is pursuing a dance education degree.

Miss Rhonda Rose

Miss Rhonda, a native Washingtonian, started her dance and baton training at the age of 9. She formally trained in jazz, tap, Hawaiian, and baton twirling. Rhonda taught dance and baton for many years. Rhonda was a competitive baton/dance twirler for over ten years (within the National Baton Twirling Association NBTA). Rhonda has held state and regional championships in Baton. Rhonda was also a former certified NBTA judge. She has held numerous titles within the Maryland Scholarship Pageant for the Miss America pageant. Rhonda is currently the director of the Chesapeake Bay Pageant held each June. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management. During the day, Rhonda is a Subcontracts Manager at Lockheed Martin Corporation in Rockville. Rhonda continues as Concepts in Motivation’s Damascus Studio of Dance and is happy to be teaching young children. Rhonda serves as the studio coordinator of both CM’s Damascus Studio of Dance and Mt. Airy Studio of Dance.

Miss Kathy Root

Miss Kathy has been dancing since the age of 9, beginning with instruction from Miss Angelique Waldron and Bonnie Slawson and continuing on to a number of other dance studios in the DC area. She was a member of her high school’s pom squad where she earned several UDA All Star awards and captain awards. Kathy has also been lucky enough to attend numerous workshops and learn from choreographers such as Wade Robson, Brian Friedman, Dan Karaty, and Rhapsody James. She was a member of the dance team at Hofstra University and later at the University of Delaware. She was also the Vice President of Dance Education and frequent choreographer for the Delaware Repertory Dance Company, a student-run dance company at the University of DE. Kathy holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware in Health Behavior Science with a concentration in Fitness Management, and a minor in Strength and Conditioning. She is also a Certified Personal Trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

Miss Stephanie Schrider

Miss Stephanie began dancing at age four taking tap and ballet at the Mt. Airy Studio of Dance. She has taken classes at Mt. Airy Studio of Dance in all areas of the curriculum offered (tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, and hip hop). She was a teacher’s assistant at Mt. Airy Studio of Dance for the past two years. Miss Stephanie is a proud member of the Urbana High School Pom and Dance Squad and Urbana High School Dance Company. She's also a member of the National Dance Honor Society at Urbana High School. She has competed in a number of regional dance and pom competitions. Miss Stephanie is currently a junior at Urbana High School.

Miss Sarah Stoodley

Miss Stoodley is thrilled to be a member of the D.C. metropolitan dance community. Her childhood was spent on a small farm in Central Maine, and her early training involved studying ballet and jazz. She spent thirteen seasons with the Bangor-based Robinson Ballet Company, performing principal roles in many classical and contemporary works. After a short stint in the DC area as a Marketing Intern for 4H Council, her 2000-01 season was spent as a company member with Maine's only professional modern company, Ram Island Dance Company (RIDC). She credits Sara Whale, RIDC's Artistic Director, with helping foster her love of modern dance. Locally, Sarah has worked with Contradiction Dance Company, CrossCurrents Dance Company, and Jazzdanz/dc. As rewarding to Sarah as dancing, is her joy found in educating others by passing along her love of ballet, jazz and modern dance. In past years she has had students ranging in age from 3 to their 70's. She is presently taking a break from performing and has returned to school on a major academic scholarship to obtain her degree in Dietetics from the University of Maryland.

Miss Jennifer Teitelbaum

Miss Jennifer has been teaching at the Olney Studio of Dance since 2001. She began her dance career as a young child in the early 1980s. In 1991 she became an assistant and also attended CM Premier’s Dance Camp as a counselor. Miss Jennifer loves to teach young children. She returned to the Olney Studio upon her college. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Environmental Science and Geology from Kutztown University and a Masters degree in Environmental Management from the University of Maryland. She and her husband, Mike, live in Rockville.

Miss Angelique Waldron

Angelique, a native Washingtonian has studied many styles of dance since the age of 3. She is formally trained in tap, jazz, ballet, and modern. Growing up, she competed at regional and national dance competitions as well as participated in many dance workshops locally and abroad. Angelique was captain of her high school pom pom squad. She was awarded NCA Superstar for two consecutive years and awarded first place Captain at the County Championships.

Angelique moved on to attend Shenandoah University where she majored in Dance. She was a member of the Shenandoah Dance Ensemble, as well as a member of the Shenandoah Sensations Nationally Competitive Collegiate Dance Team.

Angelique has been teaching dance in the Metropolitan area since 1996. Formally the Children’s Director & Artistic Director of Jr. & Teen Dance Company in Montgomery County. She is a former judge of the Washington Wizards Professional Dance Team. She has also served as head judge for the past three years with American Cheer and Dance Academy.

She earned her Early Childhood Education Certification in 1995. She resides in Olney with her husband and son.

Angelique is the director for Concepts in Motivation.

CLOPPER´S MILL | MT. AIRY | OLNEY STUDIO OF DANCE | DAMASCUS STUDIO OF DANCE