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Our Instructors Teresa

Teresa Paleveda-Oscher

Teresa is the Owner/Director of the Brandon School of Dance Arts, which has been in operation for over 28 years. In 1983, she graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance Performance. Shortly after graduation, Teresa served as an adjunct professor of dance at USF. She is a former Miss Tampa and the recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award from the College of Fine Arts. Teresa has served as a board member for the USF Alumni Association, the Tampa Ballet Society and is currently a member of the Athena Society. Teresa has been directing Encore!, BSDA's competitive and performing dance team, for over 26 years. She has won numerous high score, special, and choreography awards. She has choreographed for many local events as well as judged for several pageants, National Dance Competitions, and professional auditions. Many of her students have become professional dancers, actors, and T.V. personalities.

Jennifer Berrojo

Jennifer began her love for dance at an early age dancing with a Mexican folkloric group. She later started with Classical Ballet and Russian Character under Suzanne Pomerantzeff and Lester Jacobson; studied at the Chicago City Ballet under Melissa Hayden and America’s Prima Ballerina, Maria Tallchief & was awarded a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey Dance Center in New York. She danced in the “Nutcraker” and “Giselle” with the Tampa Ballet. Also performed and choreographed at Bush Gardens and with the Ballet Folklorico of Ybor. She also taught at the Florida Dance Festival. Jennifer has performed throughout the US, Canada, Germany and Hawaii. She began her studies in classical Spanish dance and Flamenco with Cura Alba and has taken workshops with a variety of teachers including Rosa Mercedes, Marino Para, Omayra Amaya and Ciro. She has been performing at the Columbia Restaurant for the past 20 years with directors; Gisela Sotomayor, Oscar Trevino, Faustino Rios and currently Maria Sevilla. She has been teaching dance for over 10 years. She looks forward in passing her love for dance to her students.
Abby B

Abby Borzewski

Abby is a graduate of the University of the Arts with a BFA in Dance. She is proficient in all areas of dance including ballet, tap, jazz, modern, African, partnering, pointe, hip-hop, contemporary and lyrical. Her professional experience includes, dancing for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Universal Studios, and Busch Gardens Tampa. We welcome Ms. Abby to the faculty at BSDA.
Laura Brick

Laura Brick

Laura began her training at the age of three in Miami, FL. She joined the BSDA family at the age of eight where she continued her training with a main focus in ballet, modern, and contemporary. As a member of Encore! she recieved numerous high score soloist awards. Laura currently resides in Salt Lake City, Utah where continues her training as a Modern dance major, and a minor in psychology at the University of Utah. She currently performed in a Gala at Ballet West, where she has been invited to train at The Berlin State Ballet School in Germany. As a first year faculty member she brings unique and fresh choreography to our students. Laura is currrently a guest choreographer for Encore!
Olga Garti

Olga Garti

Olga began dancing at the age of 5 at the Elsa Pardo Dance Center in Tampa, FL. She has performed all over the Tampa Bay Area and has participated in many local and regional competitions and has choreographed pieces for dancers of all age groups. Olga also choreographs for the annual ball for the Krewe of Sant' Yago. She has taught dance in South Tampa for several years. She owns her own events management service business called You by O.G. which began in 2008. In the fall of 2011 Olga will join the team at BSDA. She is excited to share this ever growing passion for the art of dance with a new dance family and encourage more young students to dance their way through life.
Jerry Haughton

Jerry Haughton

Jerry began his dance training at the age of 10 and at 16 was a winner on the popular television show "Star Search". After graduating from the Pinellas County Center for the Arts Jerry went straight to performing professionaly as a featured vocalist at Busch Gardens. Following his time at Busch Gardens he worked aboard the Norwegian Cruise Lines and the went on to play Aladdin in Tokyo's Disney Land production of "Aladdin's Great Adventures". Upon returning to America Jerry took featured performance roles in Opryland and well as Sea World. It was around this time that he started his longest running gig at the Walt Disney World Company in Orlando, FL. He became a Pleasure Island Explosion Dancer which is where Jerry fell in love with the ever-growing form of hip-hop and had the opportunity to cut his teeth in choreography. He then moved on to the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" at MGM Studios for several years. Jerry has also performed for the Disney Cruise Lines as a lead performer in all of it's major productions. He has appeared in Disneyland's version of "Aladdin" and soon after returned to Orlando to be featured as the male adagio dancer at Animal Kingdom's Festival of the Lion King. Jerry has been teaching for several different studios in the Central Florida area and hopes to inspire dancers to find the same love for dance and performing that has kept him going for the past 26 years.
Jesse Houston

Jesse Houston

Jesse will begin his first year teaching at BSDA. He is a former BSDA student and Encore! Member and a graduate of Howard W. Blake High School of the Performing Arts. While a student at Blake, Jesse performed the lead roles in Don Quixote and Nutcracker Delights. Jesse also competed in the Youth America Grand Prix where he placed 3rd in Contemporary and went on to compete in the New York City Finals. For the 2009-2010 Season Jesse was a member of the Nashville Ballet II. While in Nashville he performed in community outreach programs thoughout Tennessee as well as performing along side the Company roles in Giselle and Paul Vasterling's Nutcracker. Recently Jesse was a featured performer at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL.
Tara Lacatena

Tara Lacatena

Tara has been part of the BSDA family for 6 years. She has over 20 years teaching experience as both an instructor and a competition choreographer. She has studied under Ann Reinking, Charles Kelly, Madame Elvira Frank, Gisele Renee Ginefra, and several other well renowned choreographers and teachers. Tara has participated in the Jr. Olympics and was a member of Mickey Rooney's Talent Towners. As a choreographer her work has won the highest honors for both technical skills as well as artistic interpretation. Her range of skills include ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, acrobatics, and musical theatre. Tara has judged for several competitions as well as choreographed for national opening numbers, and "Team Rave" for Dance Rave. Currently, Tara is director of both of our junior competitive teams Starlets and Sparklerets, as well as a choreographer for Encore!.
Lisa Leonard

Lisa Leonard

Performing is in Lisa's blood and the tranfusion began at age 10 here in Tampa. Her boundless energy was obvious early on during Bay Area performances with the Tampa Jazz Company and then on tour as a principal dancer and singer in "Up With People". Her career in song and dance then skyrocketed at the Walt Disney Resort. While at Disney, Lisa performed on tour and in TV specials with such stars as Ben Vereen, Carol Lawrence, and the Pointer Sisters. She was a member of Kids of the Kingdom, Diamond Horseshoe Revue, Mickeys' Starland, and EPCOT World Dancers, Swing and Sing, and the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. Disney sent her to New York City for 10 years to stage special events, including Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and world premieres of the motion pictures Pocahontas and Hercules. Recently, Lisa served as show director for Busch Gardens Summer Nights and emceed for the national dance competition On Tour Dance Challenge. She has also been Stage Manager at EPCOT. Lisa and her husband Scott met at Walt Disney World and they have two wonderful children. Lisa is honored to join the staff at BSDA and hopes to instill a love for children for the challenge of Broadway Jazz.
Rachel Lindstrom

Rachel Lindstrom

Most of us learn to crawl first, then walk, then run. Not Rachel. For her, it was crawl, walk, then dance. A dancer since she was three, she trained in all aspects of dance. She was a member of a competitive dance team in which she was awarded many top scores. Rachel began her teaching career at the age of fifteen. She continued her training in New York City at Steps on Broadway, American Ballet Theater, Broadway Dance Center, and Luigi's Jazz Centre. She earned scholarships to Steps and the Joffery Ballet School during her training. In 2006, Rachel took to the stage at Busch Gardens for their show Summer Nights. Rachel has danced in shows with the Spanish Lyric Theater, and also helped choreograph for their production My Fair Ladies of Broadway.
CJ Murkami-Houck-Cox

Cory-Jeanne Murakami Houck-Cox

Cory-Jeanne Murakami Houck-Cox is a choreographer, teacher, and recently retired prima ballerina. She began her ballet training in New Mexico with Mariko, continuing her studies with Suzanne Johnston, then with Soili Arvola and Leo Ahonen of Houston. She began dancing professionally at fifteen receiving scholarships to Ballet West, San Francisco Ballet, and Nagoya, Japan. At sixteen, CJ was one of four chosen to dance corps de ballet in a tour series of "The Nutcracker" with Ballet West. She danced in Houston with the Texas Ballet and later became Principal Dancer of Pajarito Ballet Theatre in Santa Fe, New Mexico.By special invitation, Robert Redford invited her to attend the Sundance Institutes Choreographers &Video Lab, as well as the Sundance Institute's Producers Lab. She has co- authored two screenplays, both of which made the Sundance Screenwriter Lab finals. Cory-Jeanne has been a Guest Artist/Faculty for USF, LaRoche College, Armand Hammer United World College, Cal State Los Angeles, and Lichine's of Beverly Hills. She has staged ballets for Pacific American Ballet Theatre, Phoenix Ballet, Ballet Arts of Tucson, Colorado Ballet, and Ballet Theatre International.Cory-Jeanne has danced and performed internationally in Mexico and London, was the first American ballerina to be chosen to dance with ballet superstar Irek Mukhamedov, formerly of the Royal Ballet, for his premiere USA tour as a Guest Artist. They received rave reviews for their roles in "La Bayadere" and "Tarantella". In 1996 and 1998, Cory-Jeanne was awarded the prestigious Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of America, and honored by the Governor and First Lady of New Mexico. In 1997 CJ was invited to perform at the Presidential Inauguration Gala Balls.In 1998, CJ performed at the Kennedy Center for the Historic First Annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and Cinco De Mayo Celebrations. The critically acclaimed ballets that she helped create with Mariko, Winter War and Proud Heritage, received rave reviews both from critics and the minority communities. Both ballets were recipients of The Irvine Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts awards.Cory-Jeanne was named as 2000 Scholar Fellow for the renowned Aspen Institute. In December 2002, Cory-Jeanne graduated with Honors at University of Nevada Las Vegas with a BA in Political Science, emphasis in Policy & American Law. She was a recipient of the Deserving Academic Merit Scholarship, was on the Deans List her Junior and Senior years, and was a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, and Omicron Psi Honor Societies.Her students are currently at: School of the Royal Ballet of London; Alonzo King-Lines; Melissa Thodos; Edinburgh; Roxie Ballet. Her students have been with Ballet Hispanico; Alvin Ailey II; Joffrey Ballet II; Royal Winnepeg; Portland Ballet; Dallas Metropolitan; Maria Benitez & Company, and attended and apprenticed at Kirov Ballet Academy; Boston Ballet; Atlanta Ballet; Nutmeg Ballet; CPYB; Austin Ballet; Washington Ballet; Princeton; Houston Ballet. Many of her students have gone on to attend university dance programs.
Paula Oliveira

Paula Oliveira

Paula has been part of the BSDA family for the past 10 years. Paula was born in Brazil, and moved to Ft. Lauderdale at age 8 where she began her dance training. She has performed around the state and at Walt Disney World. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Dance Education from the University of South Florida. She is currently the Director of the Dance Department at Progress Village Magnet School in Tampa. As director, she choreographs and produces several shows annually. Paula also choreographs for Encore!.
Tiffany Oscher

Tiffany Oscher

Tiffany completed 15 years as a student at BSDA. She joined our faculty in 2008 and is currently attending the University of Florida majoring in Business with a minor in Dance. For the past 2 years, Tiffany has choreographed several dances for Encore! winning several "High Score" and "Overall Excellence" awards, as well as "Best Choreography", for her pieces. As a competitor Tiffany won numerous titles, high score awards, as well as being "Top Soloist" 3 years in a row for the Florida State Dance Championships. During her breaks from UF, Tiffany is a featured dancer at Busch Gardens.
Jenny Paleveda-Pena

Jennifer Paleveda-Pena

Jenny has over 15 years of dance experience in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, lyrical, and acrobatics. She began dancing at the age of 3 at BSDA where she was a member of Encore! and has been an instructor for the past 8 years. She has performed with the Hillsborough Community College as a student in the dance program as well as a dance minor at the University of South Florida. Jenny has coached and choreographed for several high school and junior high school cheerleading squads. She choreographs for Starlets and Encore!. In addition to being a dance instructor at BSDA, Jenny works at Moffitt Cancer Center doing cancer research.
Amanda Richards

Amanda Richards

Mandy Rae began her career in the Tampa Bay Area at various local studios. She continued her training at Howard W. Blake School of the Performing Arts where she received her master certification in the field of Dance Studies. Mandy Rae continued on to train at the University of South Florida where she obtained her degree in Secondary Education. Mandy Rae has worked/studied with world renowned teachers such as Mia Micheals, Dana Michaels, Gil Duldulao, Chris Judd, Laurie Ann Gibson, Brian Friedman, Wade Robson, Mandy Moore, Travis Wall, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Parsons Modern Dance Company, Moving Current Modern Dance Company, Manhattan Dance Project, Ray Leeper, Rhee Gold, John Parks, and Leslie Brown. She has been in the off-touring casts of Rent, Showboat, Chicago, and Riverdance, along with so many other professionals in her field. You can also catch Mandy teaching classes on the Miami dance convention circuit American Dance Alliance as a faculty contemporary instructor and competition judge. Just recently Mandy has set choreography for her alma mater Blake High School and received Outstanding Choreographer from the highly recognizable Youth American Grand Prix organization with her piece “Broken Sorrows”. Mandy is also thrilled to join the Plant High School family as the new Head Coach for the Danceros dance team! We are excited to have Ms. Mandy join our BSDA family as a summer and guest faculty member.
Torrey Taylor

Torrey Taylor

Torrey will be starting her second year on the BSDA faculty, but she is no stranger to BSDA. She danced for BSDA for 15 years, dancing competitively for 10 of those years. She was selected to dance at the Gus Giordano Jazz Company in Chicago. She was a member of StarPower's Power Pak for over 8 years. She has worked with numerous celebrated choreographers from across the country. Her recent Encore! choreography has won high score and special awards at numerous competitions this year. Torrey is currently attending the University of South Florida where she is pursuing a degree in business and dance.
Eric Thomas

Eric Thomas

Eric Thomas is a dancer, singer, print model, and writer. He originally began his training at Southern Ballet Theatre (now the Orlando Ballet), then later moved on to Broadway Dance Center (NYC), STEPS on Broadway (NYC), Gus Giordano (Chicago), Lou Conte (Chicago), and Joel Hall (Chicago) dance schools. A member of Actor's Equity from 1992 - 2001, Eric's performance credits include stints at Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Florida, and Sesame Street Live, as well as shows in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno, Japan, Spain, Italy, Norway, and Germany. Eric has performed under the tutelage the likes of Jerry Mitchell (Broadway Bares, That's Christmas) David Parsons (Time Square Millenium Extravaganza), Derrick Mitchell (Thin Line), John Addis (Disneyland Productions), and Andre Allen (The Wiz - 25th Anniversary Special). In 2003, Eric began directing and choreographing his own projects including a re-choreographed version of The Contemporary Nutcracker, as well as projects for Radio Disney, The Amazing Kids Christmas Parade (hosted by Willard Scott), the musicals "Working" and "Moby Dick: The Musical", and the FOX Sports Network. Eric also had the pleasure of choreographing and dancing for Miss Teen Universe 2004. He was also the host of his own original public access network television series, "Erix Cover to Cover" and a producer of his own "Flexx & Stretch" video compilation. BSDA is very excited to have Eric join our staff.
Karen Siebert

Karen Siebert

Karen's lifelong love of dance began in Miami, Florida at the age of 6. There, under the instruction of Award Winning teacher, Virginia Farris, she learned the fundamentals of ballet, jazz, tap and acrobatics. In Miami, she performed in the nationally televised Jr. Orange Bowl Parade as well as many other community venues.After moving to Ocala, Florida at age 13, she fell in love with performing. As a member of The Ocala Dance Theater for several years, she performed throughout Marion County including several years during Oktoberfest at the Silver Springs attraction. In addition, she began teaching acrobatics, giving her an early taste of the satisfaction that comes from teaching and sharing oneʼs passion, skill and talents with children.Later, while attending the University of South Florida she began an intensified study of Ballet, Modern Dance and Jazz under the instruction of the inspirational Sandra Robinson, Gretchen Ward Warren, the late Henry Parrish, Lynne Wimmer and many nationally and internationally acclaimed guest instructors. With her emphasis on ballet, she gained greater knowledge of the techniques and vocabulary of the Cecchetti school. She consistently performed in various faculty and student produced dance concerts as well as community performances in the Tampa Bay area.While homeschooling her 3 children, she began choreographing for childrenʼs musicals at her church, then Davis Islands Baptist Church, now South Tampa Fellowship. For the past 8 years she has choreographed, lead music and been on the production teams there. She was also invited to choreograph the middle and high school student WORD Choir for several years. With this group she was able to travel to cities in the Southeast to present their musicals to those in shelters, prisons, womenʼs homes as well as other venues. In 2010, she established inAWE, a Dance Team devoted to worship expression through dance.For the past 2 years, she assisted and taught ballet, jazz, creative dance, tap and hip- hop at a local South Tampa Studio. She is a continuous student of dance, taking ballet and jazz classes often. She is honored and excited to be part of the BSDA teaching family and to share her passion for dance with all of her future BSDA students!
Tammy White

Tammy White

Tammy began studying dance at age 3 with Jackie Loto, and began teaching young children at the age of eighteen. Tammy is a graduate of the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. She has had the privilege of performing in several dance groups around the Tampa Bay Area. She has performed with the Entertainment Edition and the Jackie Loto Dancers. She was also honored to be selected by the Super Bowl XVII and XXV as a halftime show dancer, and has also danced in several Walt Disney World 4th of July Main Street Celebrations. She is proud to say that dance has had an impact on her entire life, and she enjoys sharing her passion with her students.
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Chris Cupp

Chris Cupp joins our staff this year as an acrobatics instructor after years of training in both gymnastics and acrobatics. Chris is a former cheerleader from the University of Texas of Arlington. He has been training children of all ages in both gymnastics, cheerleading and acrobatics skills for the last several years at the ASI Gymnastics in Texas and for the Rebel Yell All Star Cheerleading team in Texas. His exciting and creative classes are sure to please beginners through the most experienced students.
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April Curcio

Ms. April Joy Curcio began her dance training at Brandon School of Dance Arts at age 5 and was a member of the performance team "Encore!". April has trained in many disciplines of dance including ballet, tap, jazz, acrobatics, modern, and lyrical for over 25 years. She has been teaching dance for the last six years as an instuctior for the Hillsborough Counts Schools, Judy Kay's Dance School, Home School Resource Center and at BSDA. April and her husband Ken have three children. Currently April is attending the University of South Florida majoring in Education.
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