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Center Stage Faculty Miss Michele
Michele Lee, Studio owner and Performing Company Director, is a native of Fairfield, CT. She received her early training with Russell Fratto of Ballet Etude and Jean Sturrock-Mead where she studied the Checetti method. As a teenager, she was one of the first out-of-state recipients of a scholarship to North Carolina School of the Arts. Michele moved to Asheville to attend Warren Wilson College where she received a B.A. in Early Childhood Education and fell in love with the mountains and people of Western North Carolina. She began teaching children’s dance classes as part of a community arts program after receiving a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Michele continued to teach at the college and community level at Warren Wilson from 1979 to 1990.
She also danced professionally for 10 years with the Land of the Sky Civic Ballet under the direction of the Fletcher family. Michele moved her program to South Asheville area in 1996. She is certified to teach by test through Dance Masters of America, Inc. an organization comprised of professional dance teachers across the United States and Canada. Michele currently serves on the Board of Directors of Carolina Dance Masters Chapter 15. Michele and her staff travel throughout the country to attend workshops and conventions several times a year. Michele is well-known for her unique, inspiring choreography and teaching style. Michele’s theatrical experience includes extensive choreography in Charlotte for Matthews Playhouse, Charlotte Children’s Theater and Creative Kids, as well as locally for Warren Wilson College. Her group and solo dances have received acclaim at local, state, and national competitions. Her students have been crowned Miss Asheville, Carolina Princesses and Junior Mister Dance of North Carolina. A caring and positive role model, Michele instills a love of dance in her students that lasts a lifetime.
 Miss Sandi
Sandra S. Miller was the owner of Balance Pointe, the Dance & Holistic Fitness Studio, for eight years and Director of Ballet at the Asheville Arts Center before joining Center Stage. With nearly 20 years of teaching experience, Ms. Sandi has placed students in prestigious programs such as Juilliard, the Joffrey School, American Ballet Theatre School, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Washington Ballet School, Pennsylvania Ballet School, Ballet Austin, Contemporary Dance Theatre of New York, Sensedance, Smithdance and Kansas City Ballet.
Miss Sandi is a former principal dancer with the Ft. Worth Ballet and, during her professional career, worked with world renowned choreographers/dancers such as James Clouser, Eric Bruhn and Fernando Bujones.
She also had several roles created for her, including the Firebird, Clara in Nutcracker and Interlude. Her training includes long term study at the Joffrey Ballet School, David Howard's School and the Alvin Ailey School in New York City, the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, the Academy for the Maryland Youth Ballet and the Washington School of the Ballet. She also holds a BFA in Ballet and an MBA from Texas Christian University and was a member of the faculty of the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities. Sandra is a certified Pilates instructor and specializes in movement re-education, flexibility training and injury prevention and rehabilitation.
Ms. Sandi believes that no matter what a student's goal, that everyone should receive the highest caliber professional training. Her missions is to provide anatomically supported training in a supportive environment to enable students to achieve proficiency in technique and artistry. This is done within parameters that nurture the child as a whole and encourages overall healthy development. She also holds a BFA in Ballet and an MBA from Texas Christian University and was a member of the faculty of the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.
 Miss Heather
Heather Maloy teaches ballet for Center Stage. She began her career as a choreographer shortly after joining the North Carolina Dance Theatre as a dancer in 1989. Sensing her potential, Salvatore Aiello gave her the amazing opportunity to create an original work for the company when she was only nineteen, propelling her as a talented up and coming choreographer. Since then she has been given the opportunity to create ballets for many incredible dancers, including artists of such stature as Mel Tomlinson who commissioned her to create a solo for himself. She was awarded the 1998 NCASC Regional Artist Project Grant and has created five more pieces for NCDT which have been received with great enthusiasm by the community and critics alike. NCDT brought her work, Couch Potatoes, to the Joyce Theatre in New York City this April, where it was received with great success. Along with her success at NCDT, Ms. Maloy created two premieres for the Chautauqua Ballet and two ballets for the Nashville Ballet, including Harvest Home which was performed with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Maloy received the bulk of her training at the North Carolina School of the Arts under the tutelage of such well repsected teachers as Melissa Hayden, Duncan Nobel, Gyula Pandi and Fanchon Cordell among others. She was also greatly inspired by such members of the modern dance faculty as Mabel Robinson and Dianne Markham. While there she was awarded the Reader's Digest Scholarship as an outstanding student who showed promise. Ms. Maloy has been a guest artist with Ballet Metropolitan, Tampa Ballet and the Chautauqua Ballet. The majority of her career, however, has been spent with the North Carolina Dance Theatre where she was an audience favorite, known for her dynamic stage presence and uncanny ability to capture the essence of the role, whether it be comical, dramatic, playful or abstract. Ms. Maloy excelled in works by such renowned choreographers as Salvatore Aiello, Oscar Ariaz, Paul Taylor, David Parsons, Alvin Ailey, Alonzo King and George Balanchine among many others. As an accomplished teacher, Ms. Maloy has taught for Dance Place of the NC Dance Theatre, Bellevue Ballet in Seattle, the Chautauqua Ballet and the Nashville Ballet, as well as creating ballets for students of Dance Place and the Carolina Ballet Theatre in Greenville, SC.
Ms. Maloy is proud to be the artistic director of the proffesional dance company Terpsicorps, located right here in Asheville. Visit the website ate www.terpsicorp.org
 Miss Jen
Jennifer Quinlan Applegate was originally trained in South Bend, Indiana at Flint's Dance Studio and at the Ballet Academy with Carolyn Hine-Johnson. Jen graduated from Butler University with a BA degree in Dance Pedagogy. She has been teaching and performing for over 19 years in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and North Carolina. She currently teaches Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical and Hip Hop and is co-director of the Center Stage Performing Company.
 Miss Krista
Krysta Scott has recently relocated from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, an hour north of Philadelphia. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2004 for Jazz Dance Performance at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where she has received training from many incredible artists. She has been teaching all styles of dance for 9 years but enjoys teaching Jazz and Tap the most. She went traveling for a year after college and then she was co-director of her mom's dance studio. Miss Krysta has performed in many theaters throughout Philadelphia and looks forward to performing in Asheville in the future.  Miss Amy
Amy Maze is a graduate with honors from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a BFA in Dance Choreography & Performance. While in school she spent three summers performing in Boone NC at Horn In The West. Other roles at "Horn" included dance captain/assistant choreographer and children's theatre choreographer.
After graduation Amy packed up and headed to sunny Orlando FL. In Florida she made several guest appearances at local dance studios. She also worked for Walt Disney World's Entertainment as a character performer where she performed in shows and parades such as Festival of Lion King, Spectromagic, and Mickey's Jammin Jungle. Amy also joined the modern dance company Soul Play as a principal dancer and guest choreographer for the '05-'06 season. Now back to her home state, Amy is very excited to call the mountains home.She is also looking forward to continuing her teaching and performing career in beautiful WNC.
 Miss Larisa
Larisa O'Hannon is one of our Hip Hop instructors and comes to Center Stage with training from Owen High School's dance program, as well as African Dance, YMI. She enjoys teaching, especially seeing the positive outcome. She was the founder, performer and captain of Owen High Steppas, and as a teacher with the Steppas she taught dance and step routines and held team tryouts.
Larisa has performed in Mulit-cultural Time, Winter and Spring concerts, and the Asheville Christmas parade.
Mr. Tim
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Tim Hubert instructs our acrobatics at Center Stage. He was with Asheville Gymnastics for 5 years, during which time he coached boys, facilitated "open gyms", and personally trained his talented daughter, Whitney. Tim brings the combined love of acrobatics and the appreciation of athleticism of dance to his instruction.
 Miss Gregor
Gregor Lee, a native of Asheville, NC graduated Magna Cum Laude from Sweet Briar College in Virginia where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in History, a minor in Dance Performance and an Arts Management Certificate. She was awarded the Anne Gary Pannell Taylor Prize in History and was named an Alpha Lambda Delta Scholar. Lee studied at Oxford University in England during the summer of 1998. In her early years, Gregor attended Asheville Catholic School and graduated with honors as a North Carolina Scholar from T.C. Roberson High School.
Gregor teaches and choreographs for Center Stage Dance Studio, operated by her mother Michele Lee. She encourages the studio's youngest stars as director of the Petite and Mini Performing Companies.
Her students have won awards at the local, state and national level. Gregor's own dance studies have allowed her to attend the North Carolina Governor's School for Dance. She has performed at the American College Dance Festival and the North Carolina Dance Festival, as well as the JD Project, The Movin' Company, the Asheville Ballet, and of course the Center Stage Performing Company.
Gregor served as Miss Asheville 2001 and went on to compete in the Miss North Carolina Pageant in Raleigh, where she was named a Miss North Carolina Scholar Finalist. Gregor continues her involvement with the Miss America program and is now Co-Executive Director of the Miss Asheville Scholarship Pageant.
In addition, Gregor is currently Director of the National League of Junior Cotillions Asheville Chapter, which she founded in August 2001. The program offers instruction in manners, etiquette and ballroom dancing to students throughout Buncombe County. Over 800 students in kindergarten through high school have participated in the program. Gregor was honored to be named New Director of the Year and Highest Enrollment for the First Year in 2002 by the National League of Junior Cotillions, where she also earned a Presidential Award. Recently, the NLJC Asheville Chapter was named one of the Top Twenty cotillions in the country by the National League.
Active in the community, Gregor serves as President of the Sweet Briar College Alumnae Club of Asheville and a member of the Junior League of Asheville.
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