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Tenisha Hamelin

Tenisha Schild Hamelin is the owner of Ember Dance Academy. She found her passion for dance at a very young age while trying to imitate dancers training at her mother’s dance studio. She competed with her first solo around the age of two, receiving the first of many “queen” awards. Around age 12, she began choreographing her own lyrical and jazz solos. Throughout her competitive years, Tenisha received many high point soloist awards, including the Joel Ferrell award at the AAU Junior Olympics. She has choreographed many solo, duet, trio, and team dances, and won “Best in Choreography” at multiple competitions over the years. 

 

Tenisha has been teaching since 2008 (beginning as an assistant previous to that year), and has taught a variety of styles. Jazz, Lyrical/Contemporary, Tumbling, Acro, and Ballet are her areas of highest expertise. In college, she was a University of Idaho Cheerleader and later was a part of Dance Alliance touring performance company at BYU-Idaho. 

 

Tenisha graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a Bachelor of the Arts in Dance Pedagogy, emphasizing in Ballet. Dance Pedagogy focuses on the techniques of teaching dance as well as the skills needed to run a dance studio, and this training provided her with greater knowledge of how to teach more effectively. While at BYU-Idaho, Tenisha received the opportunity to travel across the United States and Canada as she performed with Dance Alliance. She loved experiencing new styles while studying for her degree, but especially loved learning the information taught in Dance Kinesiology classes. This information combined with Tenisha's training and experience have given her a strong knowledge of why techniques were developed and what each dancer must do to perform each movement with efficiency, as well as injury prevention tactics. 

Bree Rigby

Bree Rigby was first introduced to dance through beginning gymnastics when she was eight years old. Around the age of fourteen, she decided that she wanted to dedicate all of her efforts to dancing solely, while still utilizing her tumbling skills. She has been hooked ever since! Throughout Bree’s dance experiences, she has been trained in Ballet, Ballroom, Jazz, Contemporary, and Hip Hop. Bree has had the opportunity to take master classes from Shane Sparks, and most recently (despite her being the oldest participant), she was able to participate in the Titans Dance Convention in 2022 with Mark Villaver, Autumn Miller, Lane Napper, Mollee Gray, and Alexis Warr. Bree has such a passion for dance and choreography that she continues to grab onto opportunities that will provide her with more knowledge and skills in order to provide the best and most updated training and choreography. Although Bree’s undergrad is in Family Studies and her day job does not deal with dance, she is dedicated and motivated to increase the skills of those she teaches and provide a welcoming, organized, and encouraging learning environment.

Emmalee Morrow

Emmalee Morrow has been passionate about the art of dance since she was little. She began with a love for self-expression, which led to four years on the Juab High School Drill Team, where she eventually became Dance Captain. After graduation, Emmalee continued her pursuit of dance, expanding her experience by judging at drill competitions, choreographing award-winning routines, and continued teaching students of many ages and skill levels.
Emmalee's love for dance is matched by her passion for serving others. She has volunteered as a dance teacher for students with special abilities at Juab Junior High and Juab High School, helping them discover the joy of dance. Her favorite thing about dance is getting to share it with others, and she hopes to continue to do that as she teaches others to do the same.

Alyssa Collier

​Alyssa began dancing when she was 4 years old in her home state of Texas. She has trained in ballet, jazz, tap, musical theater, lyrical, pointe, acro, and contemporary dance. Alyssa danced competitively from the ages of 6 to 18 years old and gained a passion for performing from doing so. In 2020, she graduated from North East School of the Arts (NESA), a performing arts high school in San Antonio, Texas. While there, she danced every day and learned from professional choreographers who came from all over the country to teach there. In December of 2025, Alyssa will graduate with her BA in Dance and a minor in Family Studies from Brigham Young University. Alyssa has been teaching dance to students ages 18 months-60+ years old for over 4 years now and absolutely loves connecting with her students. In her spare time Alyssa loves to bake, read, and spend time with her husband, Lucas. 

Elle Bullock

Elle's passion for dance began at the age of 2, and she has been dedicated to the craft ever since. With a strong foundation in jazz, ballet, hip hop, tap, and contemporary, Elle has spent over a decade competing in these styles. She has also had the opportunity to travel to many competitions and conventions, where she has learned from the top professionals in the industry.
In high school, Elle served as president of her dance team, and won several choreography awards at UDEO, and also took part in her cheer squad’s Pom team, where they took state.
She is now pursuing a degree in Dance Education at BYU.
She has a love for performing, and is enthusiastic about sharing her knowledge and passion with her students, inspiring them to achieve their fullest potential.

Abby Haws

Abagail Haws has danced competitively for eight years. She is beyond excited to be working with Ember Dance Academy. Throughout her training, she has competed in a wide range of styles including jazz, hip hop, contemporary, ballet, acro, and tumbling. Abby believes in strength within every movement and control in every pause, with a focus on building confident, strong, passion-driven athletes who continuously push for growth and improvement in every aspect of their dancing.

Maren Wood

Maren Wood was born and raised in St. George Utah. She began dancing at age 14 and trained under Academy of Ballet until she entered Utah Valley University’s Ballet program. Maren danced on UVU’s pre-professional dance company Repertory Ballet Ensemble and graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts Emphasizing Ballet after four years. Maren then interned and worked with Joffrey Ballet School and had various teaching and dancing opportunities with Joffrey Ballet School, and Boulder Ballet. Maren has since been dancing professionally with Aspen Ballet while simultaneously working to receive her license as a Physical Therapist Assistant.

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