Christie Leonard
Christie began her dance training in 1975 and immediately developed a love and passion for the arts.  Her early years of dance training began with Frankie Sherman, Pat Jackson, Felicia Scherz and Laurie McAlister.  Later, Christie spent time in New York City taking classes from nationally acclaimed instructors at STEPS, Peridance, and Broadway Dance Center.

She continues her dance education through conventions, master classes and workshops, taking classes on more than one occasion from such professionals as Joe Tremaine, Frank Hatchett, Karen Herbert, Jermaine Brown, Chio, Sheila Barker, Ray Leeper, and Mike Minery.  Conventions attended have included West Coast Dance Explosion, Dance Masters of America, Tremaine, Adrenaline, LA Dance Magic, Hollywood Connection, Showbiz the Class, Dance Educators of America, Gold Convention, Dance by the Sea and Dancemakers.  She has participated in Master classes from Jason Parsons, Desiree Robbins, Taylor II, Dena Rizzo, Vance Dugosh, Paul Franklin, and Eric Campros. 

Christie’s students have won local & state pageant titles, are members of college dance teams & ensembles and have attended the SC Governor’s School, the Greenville Fine Arts Center and have been cast in local & Off Broadway productions.

Since opening her 1st studio in 1997 & 2nd location in 2003, Christie has produced, directed and choreographed productions of The Nutcracker, and Original productions of Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, The Enchanted Toy Shop and Storm the Stage.      

 She has judged local & national pageants, cheer competitions, preliminaries for DMA and also assisted in writing the rules and regulations for a local scholarship program & competition.   Also to her credit are several awards for her creative style of jazz and lyrical choreography.
   
Most recently Christie co choreographed a number for the Lander University Dance Team with fellow DToM teacher, Angela Rey and was a judge for the National American Miss Pageant.

Christie has been a Certified Member of Dance Masters of America since 1994, first in North Carolina and currently with the Southern Council of Dance Masters.

Angela Rey
Angela has been dancing since the age of 5.  Her dance study has taken her to studios such as the Miami City Jazz Company, The Edge Performing Arts in LA, and the Millennium in LA.  Also, she has studied the art of dance, taking classes and workshops all over the US with well known choreographers like Dee Caspary, Martha-Kelly Fiero, Mark Meismer, Joe Loera and Tina D ‘ Amato to name a few.  As a young girl Angela was part of Bloomingdale’s Teen Board and a dancer for the popular TV series “Teen Scene”.  She went on to become a member of the NBA’s Miami Heat Professional Dance Team.  She has choreographed and performed in such events as the Miss Powdersville Upstate Pageants in 1999, 2000, 2001, Triple Crown Productions Pageants for 2001 & 2002, and was the recipient of the Miss South Carolina Producers Choice Award for the Miss South Carolina Pageant in 2000 & 2001 (Miss America Affiliate).  Also, she was the 2005 Miss South Carolina Producing Choreographer, and the 2006 Miss South Carolina Artistic Director.  Angela was featured on TLC’s National TV show “What Not to Wear, Pageant Rewind” with Stacy London as the Producing Choreographer. ( Angela RAY – credited stage name). 

Trae Leonard
Trae began his tumbling training when he was 6 years old while living in Gwinnett County, Georgia.  He continued his training in an after school program at Hill Country Middle School in Austin, Texas.  While in Austin, Trae was a member of the Westlake High School Gymnastics team and also the assistant spotter for the girl’s floor and beam.  After moving to Alabama, Trae was a gymnastics coach for the Woodland High School cheerleaders.

Jennifer Stockman
Jennifer started her dance training as a child in Missouri and continued taking classes after moving to South Carolina.  Some of her teachers have included Rhonda Marchant, Jeff Lander and Simone Pace.  She has continued her training by attending workshops.  She has performed on a Disney Cruise ship with the Steppin Out dancers, was a member of Panther Prancers, Silver Strut and the Clemson Dancers.  Jennifer has been an instructor at several studios across SC where her students have won numerous “Best in Category” awards.  Jennifer recently graduated form Clemson University with a Bachelor’s degree.

Bridgette Watson
Bridgette started dancing at the age of 8 and became a student at Dance Theatre on Main in 1997.  She has studied locally from Ms. Christie, Glen Irby, Sandra Ramsey, Elizabeth Williams and Angela Rey.  She has also studied from nationally known artists including Eric Campros, Paul Franklin, Sharon Jacobs and Dena Rizzo. She was a member of DToM’s Performance Company where she participated in conventions, master classes and competitions.  Beginning in 1998, Bridgette spent several years in DToM’s work study program assisting staff members with classes.  She is a 2003 graduate of Hillcrest High School and attended Greenville Technical College. Dance Theatre is proud to have watched Bridgette grow up in our studio and become a part of DToM's qualified staff.

Joseph Hutto
Joseph has studied a wide range of dance disciplines including ballet, jazz, modern, hip hop, tap and aerial arts.  In college Joseph had the opportunity to work with many guest artists such as Carlos Orta of The Jose Limon Dance Company, Matt Kent of Pilobolus, Sean Curran of The Sean Curran Dance Company and Emily Kent of Pilobolus 2.  His performance experience included tours in China, New York and California.  For 3 years Joseph was a member of the CORE Concert Dance Company under the direction of Bala Sarasvati.  In 2006 he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance from the University of Georgia.  Before joining the DToM staff, Joseph has been teaching in several schools in the state of Georgia.  He is currently a choreographer with the Sideways Contemporary Dance Company in Atlanta. 

Kjrstn Barranti
Kjrstn graduated from Wells College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2004.  She was a member of the Wells College Dance Collective and Wells College Dance Ensemble from 2002-2004.  Her teaching experience includes positions as choreographer and dance instructor for Ballet Spartanburg, Pine Street Elementary School and Cleveland Elementary School.

Bill Smith
Not only does Mr. Bill hold the title of father, to Ms. Christie and Ms. Tracie, he also volunteers in the studio office several hours each week.  Bill helps answer student and parent questions and keeps an eye on Charlotte while Ms. Christie and Mr. Trae are teaching classes.

Ashley Martin
Ashley attended the Greenville Fine Arts Center and the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and has taken classes at Broadway Dance Center, Phil Black’s and STEPS on Broadway.  She was a student assistant for Frank Hatchett and has had master classes and workshops with many great artists such as Sheila Barker, Edward Villella, Dee Caspary and Jason Parsons.  She studied with Ballet Spartanburg and performed in their production of Westside Story, directed by Carlos Agudelo.  Other performances include the Miss Greenville and the Miss South Carolina Pageants,  Greenville Little theatre’s “A Chorus Line” and as a featured performer in David Dorfman Dance “The Athlete’s Project”.  At Clemson University, she was a member of the Central Dance and Concert Committee, and served as Vice President for the Clemson Dancers.  Ashley also performed with the Southeast Dance Theatre, and with Let’s Dance Jazz, eventually becoming it’s director.  Ashley has worked with the Eastside and Woodmont Dance Teams and is a dance specialist for the Art Works at Heritage Elementary School.  She has choreographed for television commercials, industrials, pageants, festivals and charity events.

Wayne Burritt - Guest Instructor
Mr. Burritt danced professionally in classical and modern works for Southern Ballet Theatre, Naples Ballet Theatre, and the Demetrius Klein Dance Company. After retiring from the stage, Wayne founded a host of schools and companies including Florida Dance Conservatory, Millennium Dance Syndicate, and his newest venture, Wayne Burritt Dance. He has also held posts as Ballet Department Chair, Ballet Master, and Company Manager. To date, he has choreographed over 23 ballets, ranging from Coppelia, Giselle, and The Nutcracker to multimedia contemporary works.  Wayne completed Professional Ballet Teacher Training with nationally acclaimed pedagogue Ruth C. Petrinovic -- “the ballet teacher’s teacher.” Mr. Burritt is a certified ballet teacher and holds an MBA in Arts Management from Golden Gate University and a BA from Indiana University.

Tracie Smith
Tracie has been involved with Music and Dance since she was a child.  She has performed in pageants, choral programs and The Nutcracker.  She studied dance at Cabaret School of Dance for many years and has taken voice lessons at Broadway Dance Center in NYC.  Tracie has assisted Ms. Christie with preschool classes, taught clogging and helped in the office since DToM opened in 1997.

Kristyn Palmer Kristyn Palmer - Kristyn has been teaching dance and acting for almost a decade.  She studied ballet, jazz, modern, pointe, hip hop, musical theatre, acting, tap and alignement at Raskin Dance Studio and was later accepted into The Raskin Dance Company. 
While in the company, she performed in many festivals and concerts as well as attending conventions and competitions such as Tremaine and Urban Jamm.  Later, she started teaching and choreographing while dancing professionally for Walt
Disney World.  She began studying  film acting at a Meisner Intensive school at age 20 and fell in love with the craft.  She relocated to Los Angeles where she continued to teach and direct plays while working as an actress and dancer in
film, theatre and music videos.  She continues to teach dance and acting because she loves sharing her passions and inspiring young people.  She holds a B.A. in Organizational Communications from Rollins College.

dancetheatre@bellsouth.net