Miss Emily is very excited to be returning to the staff of All About Dance! as an instructor. Miss Emily has been dancing since the age of three. She has been a part of All About Dance! as a student and a student assistant for fourteen years. Emily performed on AADbK’s national award winning competition teams for nine years. She has successfully completed her Cecchetti level V examination and is currently working on her level VI. Miss Emily stays active in dance by attending weekly dance classes in tap, jazz and ballet. She also attends local dance workshops and conventions. Last summer, she attended the DanceLife teacher's conference in Disney World, with several other instructors, where she studied from Gregg Russell, Joe Tremaine, Joe Lanteri, and Jo Rowan. She is very excited to incorporate all of the new ideas she learned about at this great conference. Emily graduated from Stow Munroe Falls High School in 2008. She is currently attending Kent State University and is working toward a major in Early Childhood Education with an endorsement in Special Education. Miss Emily enjoys spending time with her friends and family in her spare time — especially her “cuddle-bug” nephew, Aiden!Miss Emily is very excited to be returning to the staff of All About Dance! as an instructor. Miss Emily has been dancing since the age of three. She has been a part of All About Dance! as a student and a student assistant for fourteen years. Emily performed on AADbK’s national award winning competition teams for nine years. She has successfully completed her Cecchetti level V examination and is currently working on her level VI. Miss Emily stays active in dance by attending weekly dance classes in tap, jazz and ballet. She also attends local dance workshops and conventions. Last summer, she attended the DanceLife teacher's conference in Disney World, with several other instructors, where she studied from Gregg Russell, Joe Tremaine, Joe Lanteri, and Jo Rowan. She is very excited to incorporate all of the new ideas she learned about at this great conference. Emily graduated from Stow Munroe Falls High School in 2008. She is currently attending Kent State University and is working toward a major in Early Childhood Education with an endorsement in Special Education. Miss Emily enjoys spending time with her friends and family in her spare time — especially her “cuddle-bug” nephew, Aiden!

Miss Jaime has been a wonderful asset to the AAD Instructor program for the past seven seasons. She began her dance training at the age of four and took classes from a number of area studios including Nan Klinger and Akron University’s ballet program. Jaime began teaching dance in college. She received her degree in public relations in 1982 from Bowling Green State University. She continues to take classes herself and most recently attended the Dance Life convention in Orlando, Florida this past summer.
Jaime and her husband, Scott, have lived in Kent since 1995 and have three children: Rachel, 19, Brett, 18 and Brooke, 15. In her spare time, Jaime serves as an advisor to United Youth Fellowship, a high school youth group, and is the Liturgical Dance Director at the Kent United Church of Christ.

Danielle has been a part of All About Dance! by Kristen for sixteen years. She has participated as a AADBK student assistant for six years and been teaching classes of her own for six years. Miss Danielle has competed as a member of our own award-winning AADBK Competition Team for three years. Danielle was a member of the Stow-Munroe Falls High School Varsity Cheerleading Squad for all four years of high school. As a member of the 2003-04 Varsity Cheerleading Competition Team, Danielle traveled to Columbus, Ohio where their team claimed the honor of National Champions in the Cheer Power National Competition. Miss Danielle graduated from Stow-Munroe Falls High School in 2006 and graduated from Kent State University May 2010, where she majored in Fashion Merchandising. July of 2007, Miss Danielle went with the rest of the competition teams to National Dance Week in Columbus, Ohio where the team placed 5th overall. Miss Danielle traveled to Arizona and Disney world this and last summer for the DanceLife Teacher Conference. She also has traveled to Chicago where she attended The Pulse Dance Convention. This past competition season she received a special choreography award for her "Funky Masquerade" piece. She stays very active in dance by attending weekly classes in jazz, hip-hop, and acro as well as attending other local dance workshops.

Miss Christina is happy to be back for another year at All About Dance! She began studying dance under the direction of Richard Moore when she was seven years old and performed and choreographed for Theatre Dance Centre™’s award winning competition team, as well as the affiliated Theatre 8:15, for several years. Christina has also performed in the opening ceremony of the Ohio Games as well as the half time show of the Cleveland Crunch. She enjoys doing volunteer performances for places such as the Stark County MRDD, the Green Township YMCA, and the Massillon Women™’s Club. Christina has been teaching dance since she was sixteen and continues to attend many workshops and conventions to keep up with ever changing dance styles. She has studied with teachers such as Gus Giordano, Bob Rizzo, Stepp Stewart, and more recently with Mia Michaels, Brian Friedman, and Wade Robson. Christina successfully passed her Ballet and Jazz exams at Dance Masters of America’s Teachers Training School in Buffalo, New York, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Akron. In addition to teaching dance, she is a Title I Tutor in Akron Public Schools, and is working towards her Masters in Instructional Technology. She enjoys life with her wonderful husband, her two cats (Samba and Shinobi), and her dog (Penny).

Ms. Cheryl is a veteran instructor of over 40 years and has motivated, educated and inspired hundreds of students. She took her first dance steps around the age of 4 and was trained in Tap, Classical Ballet and Jazz. Being raised in a family of professional performers and teachers she was exposed to many facets of the Performing Arts but soon found her passion for teaching at the age of 15. She has since dedicated herself to learning the "art" of teaching not just what to dance, but how and why, with a little history thrown in. Cheryl has owned her own successful studio where many of her students have gone on to higher education dance programs, became teachers themselves or in related fields. In addition to her studio work, she has taught dance and choreographed for a large variety of venues and has choreographed shows such as 42nd Street and Cabaret for community theater. She taught recreational Jazz and Ballet classes at Kent State and also designed and taught a Children's Program for them. Ms. Cheryl feels privileged to have expanded her knowledge throughout the years by studying with many of the great master teachers of our time such as the late Gus Giardano, Danny Hoctor & Betty Byrd, Luigi, Art & Jules Stone, Ruth Pryor of the Ballet Russe and more recently Tony Locascio of the famed "Tap Dogs". She continues to hone her teaching skills and keep current of educational trends by attending 'teacher specific' conventions and workshops whenever possible. She most recently attended Dance Life Teacher Conferences in Arizona and last year in Florida. Cheryl received her teaching certifications through Dance Masters of America at Kent State and is a graduate of the Teacher's Training School at SUNY, Buffalo. After retiring and closing her studio, Ms. Cheryl found she couldn't quite give up her passion and would like to thank Kristen for the opportunity to once again bring a wealth of experience to teaching the many wonderful students at All About Dance and is looking forward to her 6th season with great enthusiasm.

Mickey Valdez has been dancing for 33 years and teaching for the last 18 years. A native of Akron, Miss Mickey attended Oklahoma City University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Dance Management. While in college, she was a member of the American Spirit Dance Company, performer with the Oklahoma Musical Theatre and Light Opera Company, and Choreographer for the OCU Dance Team. Following graduation, Miss Mickey moved to Santa Maria, California where she was Co-Owner and Director of Central Coast Rhythm School of Performing Arts. Many of her students competed and were winners of both state and national titles. In 1997, New York City Dance Alliance honored Miss Mickey with the Best Choreography award at their national convention and competition. After moving back to Ohio, Mickey became a certified K-12 Dance teacher and for 7 years served as Assistant Director of Dance and Assistant Director of Theatre in Firestone High School’s Visual & Performing Arts Magnet Program, as well as the resident choreographer for FHS’s annual spring musical. Miss Mickey was named to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, a coveted student-chosen award, for 6 consecutive years. Mickey is also a trained assessor of Gifted and Talented students in the areas of Dance and Theatre for Northeast Ohio. Miss Mickey’s musical choreography credits include Annie Get Your Gun (FHS), Babes in Arms (FHS), Grease (FHS; St. Thomas Aquinas), Guys and Dolls (Assistant; Oklahoma Musical Theatre and Light Opera Company), Into the Woods (FHS), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Weathervane Community Playhouse), Oliver! (Weathervane Community Playhouse), She Loves Me (FHS), and The Pajama Game (FHS). She has also directed and choreographed Evita (FHS), 42nd Street (San Luis Community Theatre), Schoolhouse Rock Live, Jr. (FHS), and The Night Before Christmas (Central Coast Rhythm). Mickey has trained and studied with many of dance’s most prominent master teachers, performers and choreographers. Among the noted Jazz instructors are Gus Giordano, Rhonda Miller, Mia Michaels, Joe Lanteri and Keith Clifton. Miss Mickey has had the privilege of studying under such mega Tap stars as Jimmy Tate (original cast member of Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk), old-time hoofers Honi Coles, Diane Walker and Maceo Anderson, plus Gregg Russell, Tre Dumas and Shea Sullivan.