Julestarz Dance Academy
Faculty & Staff
Academy Owner
Ms. Julie Kenny
Owner
Ms. Julie Kenny holds a Masters Degree in Arts and Humanities in Dance and Theatre from The State University of New York at Buffalo and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education from Westminster College. Julie has been a faculty member of the Theatre Studies Program at Niagara University where she taught dance classes for three years. She also taught theatre, acting, and public speaking classes at Daemen College. She is a tenured music teacher for the Buffalo Public School District and the Baltimore County Public School District, where she taught music to grades K through 8. Julie was an NFL cheerleader for the Buffalo Bills for three years, and served as captain for one season.Read More…
Dance Instructors
Ms. Liz
Competition Team Director/Dance Instructor
Ms. Liz Strehle started dance at age three and has had nineteen years of dance training in Ballet, Tap, Modern, Lyrical, Hip Hop and Jazz. She has been teaching dance classes for five years. She is from Pensacola,FL and recently moved to Tampa in June to pursue her bachlor of arts in Dance. Liz has danced for Pensacola School of Ballet and the Emerald Coast Ballet Company, training under Anthea Nader and Marrol Hiederaly.Read More…
Ms. Sarah
Assistant Competition Director/Dance Instructor
Sarah Lochridge has been dancing for 32 years, and has had the opportunity to teach at studios across the country and beyond. Her career began at Cheryl’s Dance Studio of Baytown, Texas where she studied and competed in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical and Musical Theatre. As a dance scholarship recipient, Sarah studied modern dance under Dr. Suzanne Oliver and Rob Davidson at San Jacinto College in Houston, Texas. While completing school, Sarah was on staff at Premier Dance Academy as the Mini Company director..
Ms. Candice
Dance Instructor
Ms. Candice Cunningham is from Mesa, AZ, where she graduated from MCC with her AFA in dance, highest distinction. She continued her Dance Education at Cornish College of the Arts where she graduated with her BFA in Dance. While at MCC she performed with the MCC Dance Company for two years, during which time she displayed her choreographic works alongside faculty.Read More…
Ms. Shani
Dance Instructor
Miss Shani is originally from a small town in New Hampshire. She started her training at Kathy Blake’s Dance studio at the age of eight. Starting with Jazz she quickly grew to love dance and continued training in more styles such as Ballet, Modern, Lyrical, Musical Theatre and Hip-hop. At the young age of 13, she was chosen to join the studios dance company and was able to travel to New York and L.A. for different intensives. After graduating high school in 2009, Shani attended The University of Tampa majoring in Business Management and Minoring in Applied Dance. During college she was captain of the Spanish Dance Team and choreographed for the University’s Fall and Spring Dance Happenings.Read More…
Ms. Isabella
Dance Instructor
Ms. Bella Watts has been dancing at Julestarz for over 10 years. During her training she has experience in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Acro, Tap, Lyrical, Contemporary and Hip Hop. She is currently starting her 8th season on the competition team. In addition to her training at Julestarz, she also had the pleasure of attending Progress Village Middle School for Performing Arts where she was on their performance dance team.
Ms. Lily Cummings
Dance Instructor
Lily Grace Cummings, originally from Clemson, SC, moved to New York City at the age of 14 years old to be a Jazz & Contemporary trainee with Joffrey Ballet School, receiving a four-year dance certificate. Following her time at Joffrey, Lily received her BFA in Dance from New Jersey City University, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Lily has since relocated to Tampa, FL after a decade of working professionally in the arts and entertainment industry in the Big Apple, and two years in Upstate South Carolina, as both performer and dance teacher. Read more…
Ms. Trisia
Dance Instructor
Trisia LaShon is an international choreographer that has worked withmajor artists such as Flo Rida, Trina, Natalie LaRose, Gladys Knight andmore! Her work has been featured on Major Television shows such as TheEllen Show, The Nickelodeon Awards, The Today Show , The Voice, andAmerica’s Best Dance Crew! Trisia has over 15 years of experience working with the NBA, NFL, and many competitive dance and cheer teams. Trisia LaShon has worked internationally on televised production shows…
Ms. Suzie
Dance Instructor
Ms Suzie’s passion for dance began at the age of 2. She has experience in Ballet, Tap, Ballroom, jazz and lyrical types of dance. She also held multiple national titles in ballroom and Latin dance from her youth. She taught for a local dance studio while in college where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Entrepreneurship and decided to continue teaching dance after moving from Portland, to Houston, and now here locally at Julestarz. She passionately loves dance and feels that dance is the hidden language of the soul. Suzie seeks to cultivate a love of dance for all her students.
Ms. Lora
Dance Instructor
For the past 24 years Lora Pfeiffer has been shaping the lives of children and adults through dance and movement. A native of Florida, she began her dance training at the age of 10. Her training continued at Palisades Performing Arts Center in Nyack, NY under the direction of Bill Hastings, Lisa Lockwood and GeoffreyDoig-Marx..
Ms. Krystal
Dance Instructor
Krystal Huot is a dancer, instructor and choreographer originally from Miami, FL. She has a strong ballet foundation and has trained in various styles, including pointe, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, modern, and hip-hop. She began her training at Academy of Arts and as part of the Senior Company performed lead and pas de deux roles, including Nutcracker’s Arabian and Snow….
Ms. Sara
Dance Instructor
Ms. Sara is a certified acrobatics instructor through the acrobatic arts originally from Orlando, Florida. Her love of dancing and gymnastics started at the early age of 2. As a competitive gymnast, Sara trained in the USAG program and competed at elite levels nationwide. She received training for ballet at the Orlando Ballet and has experience competing dance in Jazz and Hip-Hop. She was also a competitive cheerleader, winning multiple national titles over the years. In college, Sara was selected to the Florida Atlantic University cheerleading team. She later graduated from University of Central Florida with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She is so excited to be a part of the Julestarz team and share her love of dancing and acro with the young dancers.
Ms. June
Dance Instructor
June Kaiser is a lifelong gymnastics enthusiast that will bring more than 15 years of competitive experience and 25 years of coaching knowledge to Julestarz Academy. Many of her earliest and fondest childhood memories are of teaching neighbors how to cartwheel and building lasting friendships with gymnastics teammates. Throughout her career June has worked with hundreds of recreational and high level competitive athletes while serving in a number of Gymnastics Director roles for private gyms and public and nonprofit organizations. June is motivated by helping all athletes achieve their personal goals in the sport whether they are for the competition floor or to learn a cool trick…
Ms. Bailey
Dance Instructor
Bailey is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Fine Arts with a concentration in Choreography from Wilson College. During her professional performing career, she was a member of Kairos Dance Company, Embark Dance Theater, and Blurred Ink Dance Company of Los Angeles, CA. She also spent one season with AscenDance and J. Lindsay Brown Dance of Chicago, Illinois. She then moved to England where she taught lyrical and contemporary technique classes for the University of Cambridge Dance Society as well as performed as a member of Scatter Dance Company in London…
Ms. Livia
Dance Instructor
Bio Coming Soon!
Mr. Nick
Assistant Dance Instructor
Bio Coming Soon!
Music Instructors
Mr. David
Music Instructor
Mr. David Cannistraci received his Bachelors Degree in Music from the The City College of New York, minoring in Education. He spent four years teaching piano, music theory, and music history at the New York learning Center in New York City and has extensive experience as a percussionist for Broadway Musicals and jazz sets.Read More…
Ms. Kay
Music Instructor
Ms. Kay was born in Tokyo and began learning music at a very young age at the Yamaha Music Institute in Kanagawa Japan. A couple years later her mother placed her in a music academy to learn classical piano. She learned to play serious classical piano music throughout her childhood and into adulthood, graduating the academy and continued with professional private lessons.
Mr. Joe
Music Instructor
After hearing his music teacher strum a few chords in class Joe Weaver at the age of 9 begged his mom to let him take guitar lessons. Hearing the sound of the guitar was a life changing experience.
Mr. Duc
Duc Anh Tran is a professional musician and passionate educator. Growing up in Vietnam, he spent most of his schooling years receiving professional training in piano performance at the Vietnam National Academy of Music. In 2018, he moved to the United States to pursue his American dream. Mr. Tran graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2024 with a Bachelor of Music Education….
Mr. Hamilton
Music Instructor
Mr. Hamilton Ortiz is an active music teacher, currently working for Dr.Kiran Patel Elementary. He holds a Masters Degree in Arts in Music Education from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. He has been a music teacher for more than 10 years in which he had taught music from K-12 for diverse populations in group and individual settings. Read more…
Ms. Lidia
Lidia Biedlingmaier was born in Ukaraine and has been playing the piano since the age of 8. Graduated with honor from Lutsk college of music and then received a Bachelor of Arts degree at Volyn National University. She has been teaching piano classes in Ukraine for over 25 years and has significant experience working with students of all ages…
Ms. Tanya
Music Instructor
Ms. Tanya Ortiz comes to Julestarz with experience from the famous music conservatory, madeo Roldán and Paulita Concepcion in Cuba. She began studying at the age of 4 and continued through the duration of her years in elementary and high school. She is now studying music at Hillsborough Community College and finds passion in teaching her students piano and voice.
Mr. Abrien
Music Instructor
Abrien W. Nelson is a vocal and acting coach, piano and guitar instructor at Julestarz Academy of the Performing Arts. He is also a certified K-12 music educator and a second-year K-5 music teacher at Valrico Academy. Mr. Abrien holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theater with a concentration in vocal performance from Jacksonville University. Mr. Abrien is a strong advocate for encouraging students to become lifelong learners and creatives. He employs a diverse range of teaching methods and resources to engage and inspire all types of learners. He believes that each student possesses unique talents and will contribute something distinctive to the community county, and the world. Mr. Abrien fosters confidence and encourages his students to develop their skills. He derives great satisfaction from witnessing his students blossom with innovation and creativity. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Mr. Abrien is an accomplished actor, singer, songwriter, and producer. His aspiration is to share his insights and knowledge with the next generation of artists.
Mr. Camron
Music Instructor
Bio coming soon!
Ms. Joyeux
Music Instructor
Bio coming soon!Academy Staff
Ms. Kristen
Director Of Operations
Ms. Maggie
Office Staff
Ms. Kelly
Office Staff