Mr. Will is the head Ballet Instructor at Arabesque Dance Studio. He has been at teacher with Arabesque for over 5 years, specializing with pointe students. Will has danced in the Southern Illinois Music Festivals productions of The Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, Coppélia, Giselle, Firebird and Petrushka. He was a featured solo dancer in D4Gs productions of Aida, Chicago, and Legally Blonde. Will has also danced at the collegiate level, and helped originate the role of Thomas for the Alzheimers Associations production of Adam E. Stones A Life Happening.
Gracie Mitchell is a senior elite dancer who has been dancing at Arabesque for 8 years. She is also a member of the Carterville High School Poms team. She credits dance and Arabesque for allowing her to have some amazing experience such as auditioning for Dance Moms in LA, being featured with her teammates in in THE ONE family film, having her photos published in Vogue Italy and competing in NY at the World Dance Championships and winning a world title. She is excited to be coaching and hopes to help younger dancers have their own exciting adventures. Grace is trained on contemporary, acro, jazz, lyrical and ballet.
Kaelin Rowland has been dancing with Arabeque for 14 years. Kaelin is currently a junior at Carterville High School. She has been teaching and assisting dance classes since she was 11 years old and has been trained in a variety of dance styles, her favorites being Lyrical and Jazz. Kaelin is beyond excited to teach her very own classes to begin the dance season!
Miss Megan is from Jerseyville, IL and has studied Ballet, Jazz, Tap, and Hip-Hop for over 18 years. She attended her hometown studio from ages 3-18 and competed in her school's dance team from 8th-12th grade. She graduated from SIU in 2016 and was a member of the Southern Illinois Dance Company while in school. She loves to help dancers build a foundation while experiencing the joy that dancing brings.
Bella Pierce is trained in Lyrical, Contemporary, Ballet, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Musical Theatre/Character, Pom, some Tap, and Jazz (her favorite). Miss Bella grew up in a studio in Texas called Academy of Gymnastics and Dance. She was also a part of the drill team at Lufkin High School. Bella moved to Carbondale her sophomore year of high school and is currently a freshman at John A. Logan. She is extremely excited to work at Arabesque and build great bonds with hard working dancers in a positive environment.
Kamea Rhine started dance with Susan Barnes when she was 3 years old. Since then she has taken classes at Willow St. in many different styles of dancing including Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Hip-Hop and Tap, and furthered her dance education by participating in dance workshops both at the studio and in the St. Louis area. These include workshops led by Katherine Dunham, Robert Battle, Kris Cangelosi, Alicia Canterna (Whitehead), Pilobolus, The Moscow Ballet, and Anthony LoCascio. Kamea started assistant teaching at Willow St. when she was 10, had her own jazz class at 16, and quickly took on Ballet and Tap classes as well. She continues teaching at the studio for 9 years until moving out of state in 2013. However, she is ecstatic to be back and plans to continue teaching Tap at the studio for many years to come!
Miss Annie
Annalee "Annie" Roustio is a born and raised Midwesterner who danced at the Ballet Conservatory of Independence and the Kansas City Ballet School from ages four to eighteen. In addition to ballet, she's learned modern, jazz, and musical theater styles. She holds degrees in English and French from The University of Missouri, where she taught ballet classes--some of her students even included the entire MU diving team!
Miss Bella
A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Bella began dance at the age of four. She has studied many different dance styles over the past nineteen years, including ballet, lyrical, modern, jazz, hip-hop, and character. Her focus fell to ballet after attending her first summer intensive at the age of 13 at Kansas City Ballet. She has been exposed to many different styles of ballet, including Vaganova, Cecchetti, and Balanchine. In addition to her summer in Kansas City, she has also attended the Bolshoi Ballet Summer Intensive and Indiana University’s summer ballet intensive. Bella was a company member of Lincoln Midwest Ballet, where she danced several soloist roles in the Nutcracker, Snow White, and Cinderella. In 2017, Bella became a teacher at Piccoli Dance Theatre and is certified through the intermediate level of the Imperial Classical Ballet curriculum. Most recently she was a dancer in the 2019-2020 Omaha Dance Project, where she performed as a gypsy and flower soloist in La Esmerelda as well as a newly choreographed contemporary piece. Bella graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts in French horn performance. She is looking forward to her first year at Arabesque and sharing her passion for dance!
Miss Madeline
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Hi, my name is Madeline Liss and I will be a Senior in High School this year. I have been dancing at Arabesque for nine years, and have been a part of the CHS Dance Team for four. I am trained in a variety of styles, but my favorites are ballet/pointe, contemporary, and jazz. Arabesque has provided me with so many memories over the years, but one of my favorites has to be winning the World Dance Championship in NYC with my team in 2019. I am so excited to be teaching, and can't wait for the upcoming season!
Miss Taylor
My name is Taylor Hunsperger, I'm 16, and I currently attend Murphysboro High School! I've been dancing for 13 years and I started dancing competitively when I was 6! I am now a current member of the Murphysboro High School Devil Dazzlers and we are the 2020-2021 2A Jazz State Champions! My favorite styles of dance are jazz, hip hop, and pom! And I'm looking forward to teaching and sharing my love for dance to young dancers!
Miss Brandi
Miss Brandi teaches Adult Tap
Jayla Nakiya Ware has been dancing for 14 years. 12 years under the tutelage of Toni Intravaia, Founder and Director of the Creative Dance Workshop in Carbondale, Illinois. She has had the privilege of performing in several Ballets through the Southern Illinois Music Festival under the Artistic Director and Conductor, Maestro Edward Benyas: Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker (three times), Swan Lake, Mozart in Motion, Petrushka. Dance is a very important part of her life that she loves and enjoys. Jayla is currently enrolled at Carbondale Community High School as an honors student in her senior year. She is looking forward to attending college and plans to Major in Marine Biology and Minor in Dance.
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