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Meet our Instructors

Mrs. Tiffany Dick
Director & Instructor

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Tiffany was born and raised in Seattle, Washington.  She began her long life journey of dance at the age of 3 at Burien Dance Theatre.  She began assisting dance classes at BDT at age 12 and began teaching at the age of 15 years old.  Tiffany has studied dance in Seattle at Burien Dance Theatre & Westlake Dance Centre!  She has also studied in Las Angeles at Tremaine and in New York at Broadway Dance Center.  From age 10 - 18 she attended national dance conventions each summer with her Dance Company at Burien Dance Theatre.

 

Tiffany has also taught ballet technique for Gymnastics Unlimited in Federal Way, Washington and choreographed beam and floor routines for their top competitive teams, with a few of them taking 1st place at state levels.  She has also volunteered her services over the years choreographing community plays, high school court dances, and pageants!  She has also volunteered to be judges at special events.


Through-out high school, Tiffany was a part of the Mt. Rainier precision drill team that took 1st place in State competition all 3 years on the team.  Our drill team performed for Seattle Super Sonics Basketball 1/2 time shows.  She also had the pleasure to experience modeling and dancing for special events.  She modeled and danced for KMS, Trevor Sorbie, & Biolage. She has done various fashion shows and print work.  Tiffany was also a spokeswoman for a large convention "Eye On Women" which educated women on various opportunities in the workforce.


Tiffany moved to Kauai in January of 2002 and opened Aloha Dance Studio shortly after. She has over 40 years of dance experience, instructing 28 years of her life, and is dedicated to teaching all levels and loves working with all children.  Her life passion has been to give the gift of dance back to the community and provide a professional atmosphere for an enjoyable & technical learning experience!

 

Tiffany continues to support the Arts and Dance Community with events at The Memorial Convention Hall, Kukui Grove Shopping Center, Freaky Fridays, Relay for Life Hanapepe, and many performances for the community of Kauai.  Tiffany and her students have traveled to Oahu and won many awards and scholarships while participating with world class events such as "Jump" and other workshops with instructors from So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Best Dance Crew.  

Mrs. Kara Shannon
Ballet &  Pointe

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Kara Fioretti Shannon has been teaching the Russian Vaganova method for over 12 years. She loves sharing the joy of ballet with students of all ages.
Kara Shannon holds three teaching certifications from the Bolshoi Ballet, a BA from UCLA World Arts and Cultures Dance Program and has over 15,000 hours of teaching experience. After dancing professionally in Los Angeles she directed the ballet program at School of Dance and Music in Hermosa Beach, CA for 11 years. She trained under Kirov Ballet master Ninel Kurgapkina, Nadia Kulmanovskaya and Paul Moore. She has performed with Blankenship Ballet, Media City Ballet, Francisco Martinez Dance theater, Masterpiece Ballet Theater, Kenneth Walker Ballet Company, and Ballet West. Some of her roles include Sugar Plum Fairy, Lilac Fairy, Medora, Four Swans, Merliton, Giselle Peasant Pas De Deux.

Miss Ashley Korth
Jazz Funk & JR, SR & Elite Competition Instructor

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Ashley Korth is originally from Torrance,  California. She started dancing at the age of three and started competing at the age of six at The Dance Factory. When her parents realized her love of dance and her wanting to get better and better, they took her to compete with one of the top dance studios in the West Coast at that time, Dance Precisions. Ashley grew up taking it all: Jazz, tap, ballet, hip hop, even took some fun master classes for different styles such as jive, African, ballroom and so much more! She was trained by some of the best such as ballet instructor Francisco Gella, and the one and only Shannon Mather. She had so many amazing dancers to look up to and dance with at this studio such as Molly Long, Ashley Gonzales, Paula Van Open and Jordan Casanova to name a few, and they all inspire her to this day! Ashley spent a minimum of four hours a day training at the studio and getting ready for competition season, which in a good year would be from February to July and about twelve competitions per season. Every summer, the studio would go to Las Vegas for Nationals and she would spend 2-3 weeks living the ultimate dance life. They would take master classes from Twitch, Nappytabs, Mia Michaels, Blake McGrath and many more throughout the day, and then go compete at night. Dance was literally life! She was lucky enough to choreograph her first piece for her high school dance team her senior year, and it was then that she knew she loved choreographing even more! Ashley moved to Kaua’i straight out of high school and thought her life of dance would be over, until thankfully she joined the Aloha Dance Studio ohana.  Ashley says, "Being able to teach and share my love of dance with others and hope they learn to love it just as much is more than I can ever ask for."

Mr. William Balbin
Urban Hip Hop & Breakdance

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William Joseph Balbin started at the age of 11 where he first learned Breaking “Breakdance”.  Since then, he has had many dance battles as an individual and with a dance crew named Custom Style Breakers (CSB) and later changed its name to Our Breakers Can Dance (OBCD), which occurred throughout middle and high school years.  Breaking is one of the elements of Hip-Hop.  The other four are MCing, Graffitti, DJing, and Beatboxing.  Later in college life, he joined Kaua’i Community Dance Club where he started to learn more choreographed routines that led him to learn Urban Dance Styles.

William is currently working as a Medical Assistant at Kaua’i Medical Clinic at Wilcox.  He is also licensed as a Certified Nurse Aide currently employed with BAYADA Home Healthcare. He also has his Associates Degree in Electronics Technology and actively volunteering for the Boys and Girls Club of Hawai’i.  As a hobby, he play's the drums at the Aloha Church Assemblies of God and currently active in volunteer work for the youth group.  He loves to travel, learn new things and enjoys quality time with loved ones.

Currently, he is working on my Associates Degree in Liberal Arts.  He plans to continue dancing for as long as he lives.  "If there is one thing that I’ve learned in life, it’s giving back to the community what I’ve learned as a dancer and person to help others become better people."

Mr. John Balbin
Performance Crew
Hip Hop 

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Mr John has been dancing for over 15 years in Breakdance and Hip Hop Styles. He started teaching dance at the Boys & Girls Club as a volunteer and then turned that into working at the Lihue Clubhouse for over 9 years as a staff member. He was also the president of Kauai Community College Dance Club for over 2 years.

John competed in the World of Dance in both 2011 and 2013 . He has performed and competed in island wide events throughout the years and continues to stay involved within our Kauai Community. John has taught dance and master classes at church youth camps, KUGA dance studio, Aloha Dance Studio, school clubs, CKMS lunch program and outreaches, Kauai Hip Hop programs and many more. He loves the Lord, giving all honor and glory & credit to God for his gift of dance and the opportunities throughout.

Miss Lea Nuesca
Office Manager

 Intro to Hip Hop 

 

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Lea first started dancing at Aloha Dance Studio in high school and continued dancing recreationally, throughout college with several dance groups. She was the Vice President of the Kauai Community College Dance Club and a member of a crew called Project A.R.T. Throughout the years she’s performed in dance competitions and community events. She has also been working with the island’s youth for 8 years through the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii and taught dance as apart of their daily programs. She advocates for positive character development, creative expression, academic success, healthy lifestyles, and fun! She believes that dance can promote those aspects in an individual’s life. Her favorite parts of teaching are seeing the students learn, grow, and of course, playing a good game of Freeze Dance at the end of each class!

Miss Shalyn Vegas
Hip Hop & Jazz Funk   

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Shalyn is currently teaching our Beginning Hip Hop Classes!

She has been dancing with Aloha Dance Studio for 6 years. She joined our company 4 years ago and is now on the Competition team. She loves teaching because she enjoys seeing how excited the students get when they learn something new and she also gets to share her passion for dance with them. Two of her favorite styles of dance are Jazz Funk and Hip hop. With these two styles she can really have fun, get sassy, and just be herself. When she graduates in 2021, she would like to take up Cosmetology somewhere in Las Vegas, Nevada. She will always continue making dance a part of her life in some way!

Miss Keisha Suga
Tap, Beg. Acro & Lyrical

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Ms. Keisha is currently teaching our Beginning Hip Hop class!

She has been a dancer at Aloha Dance Studio since the age of 4, taking ballet, tap, and jazz. When she was 8, she decided to audition for mini company where she truly realized her passion for dance. It wasn’t long until she started competing once a year at the JUMP competition held on Oahu. Keisha has taken all types of dance including hip-hop, pointe, tap, and lyrical. At 15 years old today, she is a member of the elite/competition team and teaches a beginning hip-hop class where she can share her love of teaching and dance. After high school, she hopes to go to college and continue dancing. She is forever grateful for this studio that has not only given her a second home, but also the most loving and supportive second family a girl could ask for.

Miss  Jacqueline "Jackie" Stanley
Adult Hip Hop, Tap
and Musical Theater

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Jacqueline Stanley is a dance enthusiast with over 10 years of experience in instruction, studio administration, and production management, specializing in competitive level tap.  She trained and competed in all styles and traveled the US and Canada as a member of the Orange County Song and Dance Company in Southern California.  She hopes to use her passion and joy for dance to inspire her students to reach their personal goals in the classroom and beyond.

Miss Leigh Idica
Ballet/Tap Combo

Ballet/Tap/Jazz Combo

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Bio coming soon

Mrs. Johanna Bisarra-Kaleiohi
Office Staff
Me & My Shadow
Fine Arts Club - Certified Instructor

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Bio coming soon

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