Stephanie briones

artistic director

Stephanie Elder-Briones grew up dancing in St. Louis, Missouri under the direction of well-respected instructors Norma Buetell and Mark Krupinski. She performed as a company member of Gateway Ballet of St. Louis and spent her summers performing at "The Muny". Despite an emerging career, she decided that her heart was in teaching and guiding young dancers in a positive, balanced environment. She, alongside her sister, Lauren, founded Stephanie Elder School of Dance (now Camarillo Academy of Performing Arts) in Camarillo, California in 1999. Under her direction, the studio flourished and was recognized at the local and national level. Many of her students have gone on to pursue professional dance careers: Broadway/regional theater, Ballet/Modern companies and some have even followed her footsteps and became teachers and studio owners themselves. After an absence while she focused on raising her five beautiful children, she is beyond excited to be back in the studio! 

Rashelle SOUDANI 

Assistant Director/
Company Director/
Instructor

Rashelle, born and raised in Southern California, began dancing at the age of three and hasn't stopped ever since. She grew up competing as a member of CAPA's performance company and attending summer intensive programs all over the country. Those experiences moved her to pursue dance as a career, so after High School, she moved to New York City to attend college at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy(AMDA). She graduated with her conservatory degree in Dance Theater from AMDA. After graduation, she moved back to Los Angeles where she fell in love with teaching. She loves sharing her experience and passion with all aspects of dance and performance with her students and her students thrive because of the positive, creative energy she brings to every one of her classes at CAPA! 

Shalynne armstrong

Shalynne Armstrong trained in Los Angeles at Retter's Academy of Dance as a Rhythm Machine Company and Dancer's Bridge Member. She is a Summa Cum Laude graduate from Pace University in New York City with a BFA in Dance and a Minor in Arts and Entertainment Management. Shalynne has expanded her craft with acting and modeling. She believes that being an artist allows her to share her emotions for the purpose of creating the human necessity of positive connections. Shalynne hopes to contribute her passions for dance, acting, and modeling to all art forms, mediums, and stories. Her goals are to also pass down her knowledge of dance and to give her students feelings of joy, accomplishment, and growth. Shalynne has a patient teaching style and focuses on teaching dance in a way that is healthy for the physical body for a non-injury journey of learning and practicing the dance craft, as well as giving and guiding the freedom of expression. Her diverse background of being a student, performer, and teacher has provided her with a variety of expertise. She has worked in live stage performances, site-specific work, devised theater, short films, television, immersive events, and in print ads and artworks. Some of her performance credits include Nickelodeon’s The Thundermans, a commercial for Vroom "Flake the Musical", music videos Shawn Amos "Ain't Gonna Name Names", Rich Brian "100 Degrees", and Pavel Kazarian "Pandora" which appeared at Rio WebFest and Divulge Dancers' Film Festival, Crown City Theater Company's "Nosferatu", a Tik Tok Social Media Ad, and many other projects. You can visit www.ShalynneArmstrong.com to learn more.

Instructor

JO BLISS

Instructor

Jo Bliss has been teaching dance to children since 1983. She owned and operated her own dance studio in Oklahoma City, Okla. from 1989 until 2005 when she moved to California to nanny for her daughter. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Dance Education from the University of Central Oklahoma, studied dance on a dance scholarship at Oklahoma City University from 1983 to 1987 and enjoyed taking class with Ballet Oklahoma for over 10 years. She danced in over 20 musicals including “Annie”, “My One and Only”, and “Crazy for You”. She was awarded the “Gypsy” award twice and served as dance captain in “Dames at Sea.” She is a member of Dance Masters of America.

jennifer whalen

Instructor

Jennifer Whalen, a Ventura County native, was a full company member of American Ballet Theatre from 2002-2017. Prior to joining ABT, she danced professionally for State Street Ballet, was awarded the Gold Medal at the New York finals of Youth America Grand Prix, and received first place at the Spotlight Awards in Los Angeles. She appeared in the movie Black Swan, on the Jimmy Kimmel show, and in numerous national ad campaigns, including Under Armour with Misty Copeland. She is very excited to share her vast performing and educational experience with our CAPA dancers!

Justin de Vera grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Watching his sister dance growing up, he soon followed in her foot steps at the age of 6, studying hip hop, tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical, and contemporary. He booked his first professional job when he was 12 years old as a dancer on Gilmore Girls. After graduating high school, he studied at the University of Arizona furthering his craft as a dance major and while he was on winter break, he booked the Britney Spears World Tour at the age of 19. Since then, Justin has continued his career dancing for Artist, TV shows, awards shows, and movies. Some credits include dancing for Madonna, Justin Bieber, Camila Cabello, Usher, Chris Brown, Christina Aguilera, Paul Abdul, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Glee, The Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, Video Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and Footloose

Justin De Vera

Instructor

diamonique bell

Instructor

Her name is Diamonique Bell, but she is more commonly known as DYMO. She’s a local professional dancer/choreographer that loves to share her passion for dance with her community and inspire others to tell a story through their bodies with dance.
From a young age, Dymo studied all forms of dance at CAPA and performed with their resident dance company where she received numerous high scoring awards and judges choice awards. Some of her professional credits include working with artists Iggy Azalea, Chris Brown, Lil Dicky and Master P. . Dymo has also worked with top choreographers in the industry, recently she has worked with the famous choreographer Tony Testa, who was the choreographer and director of the films, " The Greatest Showman" and " The Descendants". In 2018 she traveled to Toronto, Canada to dance for Tony at The Parliament of World Religions, where she had the chance to meet leaders around the world and fight for change on world issues such as the Refugee Crisis and Ocean Pollution to find solutions and spread awareness. Dymo was also recently featured in a Super Bowl Commercial called “ Who Are We “ showing a recap of the year 2020.  
You can also see her modeling dancewear for Covet Dance. She is thrilled to be back to her roots at Camarillo Academy of Performing Arts and can't wait to share her love for dance with her students. 

Ms. Hanna Chudinova comes to CAPA with a graduate degree from Kyiv Choreographic College in Kyiv, Ukraine. She has toured the world with Young Kyiv Ballet, St. Petersburg Ballet, Ukrainian Ballet Theater, Russian Grand Ballet and Moscow Ballet. As much as Ms. Hanna loves being on stage, she loves being in the classroom sharing her love of dance with up and coming ballet dancers just as much. She presents the structure and consistency of ballet in a warm and positive way. 

Hanna Chudinova

Instructor

megan hansen

Instructor

Megan Hanson is a dancer, performer, and artist currently residing in Santa Barbara, CA. Previously, Megan trained at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA, where she received her BFA in Dance in 2020 as a department scholarship recipient. After two years in State Street Ballet’s Professional Track division, she is delighted to be dancing with Selah Dance Collective for the upcoming season and teaching at several local studios. In addition to dancing, Megan also performs as a singer and actress, as well as teaching visual and performing arts and working behind-the-scenes as a stage manager, lighting designer, and charge artist. 

harper harris

Maggie put her first pair of tap shoes on at 12 years old, and she knew she had found her passion in life. She met Danny Daniels along with her twin sister Mary, and as the saying goes “the rest is history”. She learned her craft exclusively from Danny. Thanks to Danny Daniels, she has pursued a wonderful career in tap dancing. She had a starring dancing roll with Danny Daniels in The John Denver Variety special for NBC in the 1970’s. She went on to dance with him in a television show for HBO called “Opening Night." She was a charter member of the Danny Daniels Dance America Company and went on the road with The Columbia Artist Tour production of “Dance America." From there, she went on to dance in the MGM Movie "Pennies from Heaven." She has taught dance for celebrities such as Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez,  Gallager, Holly from the” Girls Next Door”, Julie Kavner,  and Andy Dick, just to name a few. Her choreography life started with competitions. She was named Top Choreographer for LA Dance Force and Dance Masters of Southern California 5 times each. She won The New York City Dance Alliance's highest honor, “The People’s Choice Award”, in 1999. Maggie also received the honor of top trio for the "Showstoppers" television show. Her favorite award to win, is not "Top Choreographer”, but "Most Entertaining”. She feels the most accomplished when she receives this. She was honored  twice as one of LA’s Top Choreographers in the Los Angeles Dance Invitational. Maggie has choreographed more recently for the television show "Gilmore Girls", and “Grandpa for Christmas” for the Hallmark Channel starring Ernest Borgnine. She choreographed a show for Tahj Mowry, "The Smart Guy," at the Greek Theatre for the ABC Network, as well as for "An Evening with Golda Meir" staring Renee Taylor and directed by her husband Joe Bologna. Most recently, she choreographed and starred in JC Penny’s and Big Sexy Hair Industrial atop the Kodak Theatre. Maggie went
back to New York be a master teacher at "Tradition in Tap" with Avi Miller and Been Ofer, celebrating the Works of Danny Daniels. Maggie is currently the President for Dance Masters of Southern California Chapter 1.

maggie danielsen

Instructor

Harper - Jewel Harris began dancing at the age of 3, their passion for movement was clear early on. Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Harper grew up training and competing around the midwest and in 2018, moved to Los Angeles to receive their BFA in Dance Theatre at American Musical Dramatic Academy College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts. Since then Harper has completed their 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training, worked with brands such as Adidas & Audible, as well as taught at multiple studios in both Oklahoma and Los Angeles. It is a dream that Harper is able to have a life full of movement, connection, and continued education!

Ashley feinsinger

Instructor

Ashley Feinsinger grew up dancing in Southern California. She traveled to Austria and Paris to perform at the Tanzsommer Invitational Dance Festival and competed nationally for over ten years. Ashley has danced for Disney, Warner Brothers, performed at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Greek Theater. She has had the privilege of working with greats such as Danny Daniels, Sam Webber and Gregory Hines. She received the NYC Dance Alliance Critics Choice Awards, was Dance Masters of America’s “Miss Teen Dance of Southern California 2000″ and Spotlight semi-finalist in 2001 and 2002. Ashley was featured in Dance Spirit Magazine, and has won numerous awards for her beautiful and thought-provoking choreography. She holds a Ph.D in Philosophy, and is now a professor at the UCLA School of Medicine.

Kira Guzman

Instructor

Kira began dancing at the age of two at Camarillo Academy of Performing Arts where she trained in all forms of dance-Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap and Contemporary. She performed with her High School dance team and served as dance captain for three of those years. During her time on the dance team, she and her team mates won seven national titles. After graduation, she trained with Motion Grounds. Today, Kira has the honor of being one of the Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders where she gets to live out her dream of dancing professionally for her favorite sports team. Go Rams! 

Instructor

Guest Faculty and Choreographers

leconte banks

guest choreographer

Sabrina Phillip is an innovative choreographer, passionate dancer and engaging teacher. Sabrina is originally from Canada where she trained intensively in Ballet, Jazz and Modern dance in her early studies and went on to work at the international level in London, England. She taught Master classes at The Pineapple, Danceworks and The Urdang Academy. She has since been asked to travel the globe to work as a teacher and choreographer at countless dance studios, workshops and conventions, most recently in Italy, Mexico, Sweden, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Holland and Singapore.

Sabrina is on faculty with Transcend Dance Convention, on guest faculty with Artists Simply Human (ASH) and a proud finalist of the 2016 and 2017 Capezio ACE Awards! Her degree in Exercise and Health Physiology provides her with a special understanding of the human body and the mechanics of movement. As a teacher, her intention is to challenge dancers; focusing on placement, correct technique, strength, agility and musicality. She is currently on faculty at EDGE Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles and is a guest teacher at Movement Lifestyle and the the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School: West LA.

Sabrina has performed with dance companies including Sera Danza, S.H.E., EnCorps, and Unity Dance Ensemble. She appears in commercials for Dex, Hip Hop Abs, Corvel and appeared as a dance expert in Hollywood’s 10 Best Dance Movies. Her choreography has been featured on So You Think You Can Dance as well as a commercials for MoBeam and BCBG, as well as My Fair Wedding with David Turtero. Live performances she’s also choreographed for include the Carnival Choreographer’s Ball, LA Dance Magic’s Final Cut, EDGE scholarship showcase, Jete, and Silverlake Contemporary Ballet’s modern rendition of Swan Lake. Her music video credits include choreography for Stay and Play by Holly Conlan and Jenna Bryson’s Clear.

justine menter

guest choreographer

Chloé Grace Roberts was born and raised in Houston, Texas. Chloe is trained in ballet, contemporary, jazz, modern, musical theatre, hip-hop, tap, ballroom, and improvisation. She has worked with choreographers including Jodinik Jo of the Centre du Danse Marais in Paris and Tucker Knox of So You Think You Can Dance. Company work includes Urbanity Dance Company (Boston), Selah Dance Company (SB), Nebula Dance Company (SB), The Prague Shakespeare Company (CZ), and Reject Dance Theatre (NYC). Recent productions include Chicago (Liz and Dance Captain), American Psycho (Choreographer, West Coast Premiere), Grease (Cha-Cha and Dance Captain), How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (Choreographer), and High Society (Mavis and principal dancer). Chloe travels across the US to set choreography for studios and companies for both the competition and concert stages. She is a judge and member of Impact Dance Adjudicators. She is also the Jazz and Contemporary Director at Santa Barbara Dance Arts. @chloerobertsdance #chloerobertschoreo

guest choreographer

LeConte Banks is a Louisiana native that moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of his dream to be a professional dancer. While growing up, he was able to train and perform in theatre productions such as Brothers of the Knight and Just Dance which were produced and directed by Debbie Allen. LeConte later started working with Royal Carribean Cruise Lines performing as a dancer, aerialist, and tumbler. 

Upon moving to Los Angeles, LeConte became a professional assistant for Hollywood Vibe Dance Convention and Radix. LeConte has worked with artists such as Alicia Keys, Kanye West, JoJo Siwa, Derek Hough, Blake McGrath, RKCB, Hilary Roberts and can be seen on World of Dance with Season 3 Runner ups Unity LA and on Season 2 with Embodiment. He traveled the world on tours with JoJo Siwa and Mystic India. In addition to dancing, LeConte loves to give back to his community by teaching and inspiring kids across the world.

sabrina phillip

With 15 years of experience in LA, Justine Menter brings industry knowledge and professionalism to every project she works on. Best known for teaching Kim Kardashian on Keeping Up the Kardashians, her choreographic work spans Paris Jackson, America’s Got Talent, LMFAO, CBS, FOX, HULU and more. She is the former Owner/Creative Director of FLIRT, the current host of the podcast Dance Careers: Unfiltered which runs alongside her business MNTR MGMT, as well as an internationally-renowned dance educator. Justine is repped by Movement Talent Agency (choreography/education) and Jenny Stricklin Talent Agency (commercial/print). 

guest choreographer

chloe roberts

HANNAH GALLAGHER

guest choreographer

Hannah Gallagher is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer located in Los Angeles, California. Hannah has performed with numerous artists including Janet Jackson, Lil Wayne, KidFresh, and Eden XO. Most recently she was working with Tessandra Chavez’s Company, UnityLA, and performed in the UnityLA Live Company Show. She has performed in “Othello’s Touch” in Romania directed by Mario Atelier and was also Assistant Choreographer for this show. Hannah has also taught different styles of dance all over the world in places such as Mexico, Europe, and all over the United States.

Alanna hurd

guest choreographer

Alanna grew up dancing at CAPA from the age of 3. She was a member of the competition team starting in 2006 and became a teacher at CAPA in 2015. After graduating high school in 2017, she began choreographing for the competition team while attending California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. While in college, she was a member of Orchesis Dance Company and the Urban Hip Hop Crew, as well as participating in the annual spring concert. Alanna loves her CAPA family and is excited to continue to work with these wonderful dancers! 

MEREDITH CABANISS VENTURA

guest choreographer

Meredith Cabaniss received her BFA in dance from UC Santa Barbara, and her MFA in dance from Hollins University in collaboration with the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, with an emphasis on choreography and pedagogy. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Dance at UC Santa Barbara. As the founder and artistic director of selah dance collective, Ms. Cabaniss has produced full evening-length performances and presented works throughout the United States and abroad, with recent performances in Estonia, Norway, Finland, and Italy. While traveling nationally and internationally as a dance educator and advocate for the arts, Meredith also serves as Program Manager of Children’s Creative Project and as choreographer and Dance Director of Lights Up! a pre-professional theater company in Santa Barbara. Known to her students as Miss M, Meredith’s passion is making dance accessible and relatable to her students while challenging them to be their best.