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| Center Stage Faculty 
Michele Lee
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.
 Heather Maloy
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 at www.terpsicorp.org
Jen Applegate
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, choreographing, and performing for over 19 years in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and North Carolina. She currently teaches Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, and Hip Hop.Miss Jen is also the co-director of the Center Stage Performing Company.
 Amy Maze
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.
 Gregor Lee 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 attended Asheville Catholic School and graduated with honors as a North Carolina Scholar from T.C. Roberson High School.
Gregor attended the North Carolina Governopr's School for Dance and 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 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 founded the National League of Junior Cotillions Asheville Chapter, and served as the director from August 2001 to May 2008. During that time she taught manners, etiquette and ballroom dancing and was named New Director of the Year and Highest Enrollment for the First Year in 2002.
Gregor is founder and President of the Sweet Briar College Alumnae Club of Asheville. She currently works in Group Sales for the Biltmore Company, coaches and choreographs selectively and studies yoga and African drumming.
 Becky Ewing
BECKY EWING started her training in dance and gymnastics and in 1976 was the class 1 USGF Montana State Gymnastics Champion. Becky has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Marketing from Dominguez Hills State University in California. Soon after the birth of her first child she rediscovered and fell in love with dance. For twelve years she owned and operated Fusion Dance Studio in California with her sister. During that time she taught, choreographed and managed competitive dance teams. Becky has earned Choreography awards for Lyrical solo, duet, group for Juniors and Seniors include: Rainbow 2004, Bravo 2008, 2009 & 2010, Showstoppers National High Score 2009, “Under The Stars” Choreography Festival 2009, Choreography Excellence LADF 2010, 2 Choreography Achievement awards for Hall of Fame 2010 and also in 2010 had choreography that was selected for a private audition for America’s Got Talent. Becky produced Fusion Dance Studio’s own Choreographers Showcase for 10 years. Outside choreography projects include: Imaginations Entertainment industrial for Tarbell Realty 2005, Peninsula High School 2004 and 2006, Assistant Choreographer for the Music Video “If I Know You” in 2009 for Daft Arts, director Eva Husson, Peninsula Performing Arts Electric Youth 2007 – 2010, Redondo Beach Festival of Arts 2008 and 2009. She also designed and produced costumes for choreographers such as: Terri Best, Corey Burrell, Liz Imperio, Adam Parson, Malaya, Johanna Sapakie, Denise Leitner, Nichelle Bane, the Edge Performing Arts Center, and Imaginations Entertainment. In July of 2010 Becky and her family moved to Asheville, North Carolina and is very excited to work with the talented students at Center Stage Dance Studio!  Emily Kuhns
At the age of 2, Emily began her dance training at Center Stage and continued to study with Miss Michele for 15 years. Emily spent summers training at dance intensives with the Atlanta Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, and NYC Dance Alliance. She went on to pursue a Degree in Dance Performance from Oklahoma City University, under the direction of Jo Rowan. Upon graduating, Emily got her first professional performing job in the "Shoji Tabuchi Show" in Branson, MO. She then moved to Nevada to perform as a showgirl in the classic Las Vegas production "Donn Arden's Jubilee!" at Bally's casino. Most recently, Emily spent 6 months aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines' Norwegian Pearl performing with the Jean Ann Ryan Production Company. Between performing jobs Emily has always been drawn back to her hometown of Asheville, and has always enjoyed returning to Center Stage to teach and choreograph in between performance gigs. She is thrilled to be back and teaching on a regular basis!  Dathan Brannon
A college graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, Dathan has trained at
American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Ballet Met and the Hungarian Dance Academy in Budapest. He has been a guest artist for dance companies as far north as Cape Cod Ballet and as far south as Savannah Dance Theatre. During his time in New York he was a member of Infinity Dance Theatre and performed for 3 consecutive seasons at the Metropolitan Opera House with American Ballet Theatre, The Kirov Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera. He has taught classes for the Schrader youth ballet and helped establish the Cedar Lakes Fine Arts Dance Camp in Ripley, West Virginia where he was directors asisstant.
 Fleming Lomax began dancing as a child in her hometown of Goldsboro, NC. She began her studies with Goldsboro Ballet and then continued her training in high school as a ballet major at North Carolina School of the Arts. She was awarded the Katharine Smith Reynolds Scholarship to UNC-Greensboro, where she received the Virginia Moomaw Award for Dance Theory and Performance and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Dance Education. Her teaching endeavors span two decades and include faculty positions at Dreyfoos School of the Arts (West Palm Beach, FL), Denver School of the Arts, the company school of Ballet Nouveau Colorado, Ballet Director at the former Asheville Center of Performing Arts, guest lecturer at NC Community Colleges, and now proudly at Center Stage Dance Studio. Highlights of Fleming's performing career include touring for two seasons with Kim Robards Modern Dance Company, whose repertoire "spans the athletic and artistic spectrum with a driving physicality." She danced four seasons with Ballet Nouveau Colorado, where she enjoyed performing both classical and contemporary roles and had the opportunity to work with a diverse group of choreographers including Chung-Fu Chang, Hannah Kahn, Robert Sher-Machherndl, Randall Newsom, Kim Olson, Vicki Psihoyos, and Mary-Margaret Holt. Fleming retired from full-time professional dancing in 2005 but returns to the stage on occasion, such as in 2008 when she was invited as a guest artist to perform Philip Jerry's ballet adaptation of the Thornton Wilder classic "Our Town." Patrick Corbin, a veteran of the Paul Taylor Company and founder of Corbin Dances, directed the production for Goldsboro Ballet. Fleming portrayed the role of Emily and was partnered by Marcelo Martinez, principal dancer with Carolina Ballet, who played the role of George. The poignant message of the ballet, working with such gracious and talented artists, and performing "Our Town" in her hometown made this performance a particularly meaningful milestone of Fleming's career. Ballet Nouveau was the venue of Ms. Lomax's professional choreographic debut. She set her work "Psalm Emerging" on the company in 2005 and received praise from Denver and Boulder dance critics. She has created works for performing arts schools in Florida, Colorado, and North Carolina, and her choreography has been selected for presentation in the showcase of UNCSA's Festival of NC Dance annually since 2005. Fleming has created several full-length ballets such as "The Nature of a Note" (2006), "Images of the Blue Ridge" (2007), and most recently a narrative ballet based of the children's book My Mama Had a Dancing Heart by Libba Moore Gray (2009). Her experiences with injury as a young dancer have infused Fleming's teaching style with a strong emphasis in anatomy and kinesiology. She completed a year-long internship at the renowned Pilates Center of Boulder, earned certification in classical Pilates, and is currently completing pre-requisites to pursue a doctorate in physical therapy. Fleming believes that a working knowledge of the structure and function of the body empowers students in their journey to become dancers. 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.
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