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STAFF
cassandratisdale
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Artistic Director & Ballet Mistress
Cassandra Tisdale
Ms. Cassandra, a native of Arizona, has over 25 years of experience teaching dance to students of all ages. With a strong background in classical training, she emphasizes ballet and technique as essential for dancers. Cassandra specializes in working with children, helping them develop skills and proper ballet technique. She has also trained dancers for various opportunities, including competitive dance, high school pom or cheer teams, college dance teams, professional sports dance teams, Disney, and company auditions. Additionally, Cassandra has extensive experience working with special needs children and adults, believing that everyone deserves the opportunity to enjoy dancing and that everyone is worth teaching.
Dance Coach
Vivianna Vargas
Vivianna started dancing at the age of two and hasn’t stopped. She trained with a classical ballet studio at the age of seven and instantly fell in love with dance. She has continued her training though the years in several different styles of dance such as jazz, contemporary, modern, lyrical, ballroom, hip hop, improv, and many other styles. She attend Arizona Conservatory of Arts and Academics from 6th to 11th grade under the direction of Ms. Erin and Ms. Barb. She has trained with Joffrey Summer Intensives and Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas every summer since 2019. She has trained with Tiffany Baker, Allison Burke, Matthew Prescott, Maximilien Baud and many others. She has been a competitive dancer from 2019 until 2023. She has won numerous awards, scholarships, and placed in overalls. In 2022 she was part of Senior Celebrity Crew for Celebrity Competitions. Currently she is enrolled at Grand Canyon University for 2023-2024 school year in their dance program. She has been assisting at DancExpo since 2020 and now is currently on staff as a teacher.
Dance Coach
Christina de Soysa
Christina, born and raised in Phoenix AZ has been training in dance since she was 3 years old. Competing in a variety of styles: hip hop, ballet, jazz. Contemporary, and tap. She graduated with a Bachelors degree at the University of Arizona and aspires to become a physical therapist for dancers. She just came off her first contract working with Royal Caribbean cruise lines and will be continuing with them in the future.
Dance Coach
Lilly Ingram
Lilly started dancing at the age of 5, trained by an arts school. From that point on she found her true passion was ballet and started to induldge her passion quickly. She has been trained in lyrical, contemporary, partnering, modern pointe, jazz, and ballet through many different studios ano mentors. She has taken classes at Master Ballet Academy, Ballet Arizona, DancExpo, and even classes in France. Alongside studio training she has trained in summer instensives including BalletRED, a project created by Josie Walsh. She went on a scholarship for ballet and gained knowledge through the immensly talented Joffrey staff. Now she is a student at the University of Arizona who is also a teacher on our staff here at DancExpo.
Dance Coach
Olivia Studdard
Olivia was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri where she began dancing at the age of two. She has trained ir Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Acrobats, an Heels under the direction of Jo Noth, Heidi Minor, and Stasha Coker at Jo Noth's White Oak Dance Academy (2006-2018), as well as by Eva Moore, Abbey Rice, and Ashley Kiger at Eva Moore's Performing Arts Center (2019-2023). Olivia was a four-year member and Co-Captain of the Blue Springs South High School Touch of Silver Dance Team, and has been a competitive dancer in both studio and high school dance team environments.
Currently, Olivia is pursuing a degree in Entrepreneurial Studies with minors in Dance Performance, Biblical Studies, and Business Management at Grand Canyon University, and is a second year member of the Grand Canyon University Dance team. Olivia has worked with the marketing department at Kansas City Ballet, and teaches at multiple dance studios throughout the country.
viviannavargas
Lilly
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