Artistic Motion Studio Faculty & Staff
We take pride in carefully selecting the highest quality instructors who reflect our values and commitment to excellence. From professional dance companies to major musical theatre stages, our adult faculty have extensive, first-hand knowledge of their field and what it takes to make it to the top. They have a passion for passing on that knowledge in order to make our students the very best they can be!
Staff
Natalya Igitkhanyan Davison
Executive Director
Natalya studied at the Armenian Choreographic Academy as well as GITIS, the world-renowned Moscow State University of Dramatic Art. She specializes in Ballet and international folk dances, with over thirteen years of teaching experience.
Natalya's first teaching position in America was for The Dance Project: School at City Arts, where she taught for four years. She opened her own studio, Artistic Motion, in 2000.
Known for her enthusiasm, caring nature and advocacy for all facets of the performing arts, Natalya continues to share her passion and knowledge throughout the community, having taught Ballet and Dance History at Greensboro College and teaching Advanced Ballet at The Dance Shop in Asheboro, in addition to the numerous dance classes she teaches at Artistic Motion.
During the summer of 2007, Natalya organized Artistic Motion's first cultural exchange project with the professional dance company Barekamutyun in Yerevan, Armenia. The dancers learned Ballet and Armenian Folk Dances from professional teachers and performed with the professional Company dancers. They spent two intense weeks before the trip preparing and learning original choreography in Modern and Jazz that was then performed at the beautiful Opera House in downtown Yerevan.
Lynn Angermeier
Business Manager
Lynn Angermeier teaches several classes with Artistic Motion including Adult Beginning Ballet, Ballet III, Ballet IV, Ballet I/Tumbling and ZUMBA. She has studied with Guest Artists Valery Lantratov and Eric Campros. She has performed around the Triad as well as Yerevan, Armenia with Artistic Motion's first cultural performing arts exchange.
Lynn holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Texas, has over 15 years of experience teaching in public schools, and is a certified Zumba® instructor.
Lynn also serves as Artistic Motion's Business Manager, taking care of billing and parent/student correspondence.
Dance Faculty
Kiemberle Barton
Bio Coming Soon!
Susie Beekman
Susie Beekman is passionate about fitness and wellness. She was a dancer, gymnast and cheerleader throughout college when she finally found her true calling through yoga. She is a strong believer in the mind/body connection and the necessity of working to keep, or add, balance to our lives. She has been practicing yoga for the past ten years and teaching for the past five years. She is YogaFit® certified, and currently working on her RYT 200 at The Triad Yoga Institute. Originally an educator, Susie holds a B.S. in Education from Miami University in Ohio. She loves to teach and instill in others a love of yoga.
Katrina Blose
Katrina Blose began dancing at a young age in Illinois, studying at the Rockford Dance Company (Vaganova Technique), Metropolitan Ballet (Cecchetti Method), and Northern Illinois University (French and American Classical Techniques). She relocated to North Carolina to attend the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Katrina moved to New York to dance with the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School, and it is there that she began her freelance dance career that led her to Europe. Following her return to the United States, she worked as a guest artist up and down the East Coast, soon finding a home at the Columbia City Ballet.
Though happily teaching, coaching, and dancing professionally, Katrina's quest for knowledge about other dance techniques took over. She is now at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro completing her degree in Dance, and she continues to work as a guest artist and also do aerial performance work throughout the area.
Ellis Gatewood Elliott
Ellis Gatewood Elliott has taught a variety of different dance styles the past 25 years. Most recently she founded and was the director of Dance Arts Iowa in Mt. Vernon, IA.
Ellis has her Grade III Teacher Certification in the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet, is certified in YogaFit® and is also Stott-Pilates Mat certified. She recently completed her Stott-Pilates Reformer training as well.
Ellis has taught in private studios, as an adjunct-faculty member at Wesleyan College in Macon, GA., in public school grant-funded programs, and at various summer programs. She has her Bachelor of Arts in English and Secondary Education from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN and a Dance Minor from Georgia College and State University.
Dustin Hall
Dustin Hall began dancing at the age of two in Charlotte, NC. He competed in tap,jazz, lyrical and contemporary dance for 10 years. Dustin has studied with some of the nation's most well known tap instructors such as Jason Janas, Sabrina Perrell,Ayodele Casel, Derick Grant, Acia Grey and Mike Minery. He has studied in New York and Las Vegas, perfecting his craft with top instructors and at the industries best dance conventions and workshops. Dustin has taken home multiple 1st place awards in tap solo competitions and has placed in the top ten of every competition he has competed in.
Known for his amazing tap skills, he is a highly sought-after tap teacher in the area. Also proficient in jazz, lyrical/contemporary and ballet, Dustin is a well-rounded dancer and teacher. After intensive ballroom training, he is also a popular Ballroom instructor at the Greensboro North Fred Astaire Dance Studio.
Stephenie Thomas
Stephenie Mathews Thomas has been dancing since the age of 2. She is trained in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, hip-hop, Broadway, and finally Swing, where she found her "home.quot; Swing dancing in college lead Stephenie to Ballroom dancing and a world of opportunity. Under the tutelage of Kem Overby at the Asheville Ballroom, Stephenie competed in a college ballroom troupe and later began her Ballroom teaching career. She was recruited by the well-known studio Arthur Murray of Raleigh and trained with some of the top, world champion Ballroom coaches. She has taught and competed all along the east coast and has taught students from 2 to 98!
Jonathan McDonald
Bio Coming Soon!
Jen Guy Metcalf
Jen Guy Metcalf received her Master of Fine Arts in Dance/Choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance/Ballet from Point Park University in Pittsburgh. She has trained at Ballet Met, Jacksonville Ballet Theatre, Ballet Regent, New World School of the Arts, and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. Jen has performed with Bodiography Contemporary Ballet, Playhouse Dance Company, kearns dance project and with numerous independent choreographers.
Aside from teaching at Artistic Motion, she also teaches dance at Elon University, UNCG, and is in high demand as a guest artist for many ballet companies and universities along the east coast. Jen is the Artistic Director of TERRANOVA Dance Theatre and has presented work in the U.S. and Canada.
Christopher Morgan
Christopher Morgan was born in New Jersey and moved to North Carolina at the age of 16. He began his dance training at Western Alamance High School in Burlington.
Aside from his regular dance classes, he performed in many musicals at Western Alamance including The Diary of Anne Frank: The Musical, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin where he performed the lead role of the Genie.
Throughout his formative years he trained in Tap with Connie Rea at Centre Stage dance studio in Gibsonville, NC. Connie has trained with such greats as Gregory Hines, Savion Glover and Gene Medler. Christopher has won several Choreography Awards and received the Alamance Award of Excellence in Performing Arts in 2009. He has also performed with Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA and is currently choreographing The Big Easy directed by Richard Wayne Poe Jr. Christopher has performed with Greensboro Ballet Company and was an apprentice with the Cyrus Art Production directed by Duane Cyrus.
Aside from teaching Hip-Hop at Artistic Motion, he is also a popular guest artist/instructor at many studios and universities.
Stephany Rayburn
Stephany Rayburn has studied dance for eighteen years in disciplines ranging from classical ballet to postmodern dance. She has studied ballet under Elissa Fuchs, Brantly Shapiro and Anne Papet-Lapine (Dijon, France), jazz under Jeff Hill, Nina Lucas and Tina Yarborough Liggins, and modern dance under Christina Tsoules-Soriano, Sean Sullivan, Duane Cyrus and Larry Lavender.
Stephany recently finished a contract with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company where she worked as the costume assistant for their 2010-2011 season as well as choreographing Jon Jory's critically acclaimed adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, directed by D. Lynn Meyers.
Stephany holds a Bachelor's degree in Theatre from Wake Forest University with minors in Dance and French.
Brandi Scott
Brandi Scott has over eleven years of teaching experience. She teaches many dance classes at Artistic Motion including Creative Movement, Ballet/Tap I, Ballet/Tap/Jazz II, Adult Intermediate Modern, and various Summer Camps each year.
Brandi earned her Bachelor of Arts in Dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. As a performer she has danced with Sidelong Dance Company of Winston Salem and X-Factor of Boone.
Lauren Starr
Bio Coming Soon!
Carol Terry
Carol Terry teaches tumbling and acrobatics at Artistic Motion. She holds a BS and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She fell in love with tumbling at the age of five when she took her first tumbling class. That love of tumbling turned into a love for cheerleading as she cheered throughout middle and high school, and on the Varsity Squad at Campbell University. Carol was also a cheerleading coach for many years and has teaches Artistic Motion's summer cheerleading camp at Greensboro Day School. As a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a Tae Kwon Do instructor since 1997, she also has a passion for Martial Arts. She uses this passion to teach a women's fitness and practical self-defense classes at Greensboro Black Belt Academy. Carol enjoys sharing her love for tumbling with children of all ages. She takes the fear out of learning new skills with her soft spoken style of encouragement and praise. Carol's strongest trait is her ability to build on each individual student's skill level within a diverse class setting.
Allyson West
Allyson West has been teaching for over 15 years throughout the Triad and New York City; including instruction as the Associate Artistic Director and Emerging Choreographer for the High Point Ballet. She began her training with the High Point Ballet and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Contemporary Dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Allyson has performed and trained with the Southeastern Regional Ballet Association, Regional Dance America, American Dance Festival, NC Dance Festival, Steps on Broadway and the Merce Cunningham Studio. In 2005 she was awarded the "Monticello Award" for her work Industrial Revolution from Regional Dance America. While living in New York City, Allyson served as Regional Manager for Pointe Magazine, Dance Spirit Magazine, and Dance Teacher Magazine. She is currently completing her Master degree in Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is a member of the American Dietetic Association, the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science and the High Point Arts Council.
Music Faculty
Karina Mkhitaryan
Piano Instructor
Karina Mkhitaryan graduated with a degree in piano performance from the Music Academy in Tbilisi, Georgia, after which she completed her Graduate degree in music education and accompaniment. Mrs. Mkhitaryan worked as a piano teacher at Tbilisi's Professional School for Music until her family moved to Yerevan, Armenia.
She then began a 26-year career teaching piano at the L. Sauryan School. Her students have performed in professional piano competitions, attended professional music conservatories, and had successful professional music careers. Throughout her tenure at the Suaryan School, she taught many master classes to students from all over Armenia's capital.
In 1998, she moved to Moscow, Russia, where she has taught private piano lessons for 12 years.
Dr. Garrett Saake
Voice Instructor
Garrett Saake is the Director of Music at Guilford College United Methodist Church. He recently received his Doctorate in Musical Arts in choral conducting with a cognate in vocal pedagogy from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
While completing his undergraduate degree from San Diego State University and his master's degree from The Boston Conservatory, Garrett has been a member and soloist of such groups as the Bach Colligium of San Diego, PACEM Choir, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Boston Symphony Chorus, and the Bel Canto Company of Greensboro. Garrett has been teaching private voice for the past five years.
Jaclyn Surso
Voice Instructor
Soprano Jaclyn Surso is a native of the Cleveland, Ohio area and recently finished her Master's Degree in Opera Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM.) She began studying with Dr. Mary Schiller at CIM as a young artist in High School, then went on to receive her Bachelor of Music degree from there as well.
Jaclyn was awarded First Place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Regional Competition for four consecutive years, as well as winning the NATS State Competition. Her most recent performance was a scene from Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur as Adriana in CIM's Spring Scenes Program. Before that she pursued the full role of Second Lady from Mozart's The Magic Flute. She has also performed parts of The Marriage of Figaro as the Countess, Leonora from La forza del destino, Giuletta in Les contes d'Hoffman and almost the entire role of The First Lady in The Magic Flute. She recently enjoyed meeting and performing in master classes of the well known artists Warren Jones and Martin Katz.
Jaclyn currently resides in Greensboro where she continues to pursue auditions while teaching private voice at Artistic Motion.
Employment at Artistic Motion
We are always accepting resumes for experienced dance, music, and drama instructors. To apply, please Send a cover letter, resumé and three professional references here.