Our Teachers

  Auxier began her training at the age of three in the Hartford Ballet dance studio in CT that housed the professional Hartford Ballet dance company.  From an early age she had the opportunity to train and perform with them in many works including the Kirk Peterson’s American Nutcracker Ballet at the prestigious Bushnell theatre. Growing up going to her neighboring state of New York to see all of the classical ballets performed by ABT, Harlem Ballet Theatre, and Broadway was the greatest gift. Her training is based in ballet, character, contemporary and jazz. She later moved to Utah and attended BYU where she received her Bachelors in dance teaching with a ballet emphasis. She has been teaching at classical and competitive dance studios ever since. She is thrilled to meet the students and advance their technique and passion for dance.  

Ashley started her Dance experience later than most, but each of her previous experiences made her the dancer she is 14 years later. She danced Hip hop, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Modern, and Ballet and participated in pre-professional programs for Modern with the Ririe-Woodbury teen performance company, and for Ballet with a company run by Melissa Brewerton of Calgary Regional Ballet. 

Ashley attended the School of Dance at University of Utah  in their Modern Dance program. While there, she decided to serve a mission for her Church in Vladivostok, Russia. She learned many things while on that year and a half adventure. The biggest takeaway was a new love of teaching. Because of that love she transferred to BYU so she could pursue a larger variety of styles in her dance degree. At BYU Ashley participated in lighting design and stage production, dance and film, and performed with dancEnsemble performance company. 

To further her 5 years of teaching and assisting she attained certifications in Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT), and life coaching through Promethean Spark International (PSI). She has been teaching a variety of subjects for over 10 years specializing in teaching students of diverse educational, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds.

Ashley believes that each student’s journey should be fostered, and that each journey helped inspires the artistry of each dancer. Teachers foster the technique of their dancers, and allow the dancers to practice professionalism and individual artistry in their classes. 

Brindisi still remembers her first dance concert at three years old. She wore pink tights, a pink leotard, and Mickey Mouse ears. Since then she's danced her way through the years in studios, on teams, in show choirs, and as a dance teacher. Some memorable moments have included coaching a middle school dance team, performing in college and dancing on stage with her daughter. Brindisi has also trained in yoga instruction and is a certified trauma-informed yoga instructor.

Kristi grew up dancing in Salt Lake City, UT. She holds three degrees in dance. A BA from BYU, an MA from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures, and an MFA from the University of Utah. She has danced, choreographed, and taught most age levels around the world. Some of her best work has been seen at the Dance and Child International Festival in Brazil, the University of Hawaii, Eastern Connecticut State University, and the American College Dance Festival. She returned to Utah to serve as the Assistant Dean in the Colleges of Fine Arts and Education at the University of Utah. Her areas of specialty include teaching and working with underrepresented populations.  Outside of dance, she loves to travel, read, and play board games with her 2 sons and her husband. She is honored to choreograph and teach for Daje for the second year as a guest choreographer. 

Sarenity is a recent graduate of Utah Valley University, where she received her Dance Associate Degree. She began dancing at the age of six, and has been dancing ever since. Growing up, she took classes in Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, and Ballet. Her attention was mostly given to Ballet, however as she got older she explored and fell in love with Modern and Contemporary dance as well. Her recent endeavors include a Dance Intensive hosted by Utah Valley University offering training in Gaga and Countertechnique, an Intensive with Wasatch Contemporary Dance Ensemble where she learned some of their Repertoire, and being a member of one of UVU’s dance companies, “Synergy.” She is very excited to be teaching with Daje Dance Academy, and cannot wait to meet you! 

Callie started dance and gymnastics at the age of three. She continued to compete in gymnastics until she switched to cheerleading in her pre-teens. She cheered on both competitive (all-star) teams and school teams. She earned numerous awards including team and individual state titles in high school. Callie then went on to be a member of the Cheer Team at Brigham Young University. While at BYU she and her team won at USA Nationals. She taught various cheer camps and clinics during her time at BYU. Callie has continued to coach cheerleading and tumbling in the years after graduating from BYU. She loves watching her participants grow and progress, both in the gym and in their everyday lives.

Callie and her husband Austin have two girls, ages four and one. In her spare time she loves to go boating, teach High Fitness, and spend time outdoors with her family. 

Jenn was born in Utah and started dance at the age of 7 with the Children’s Ballet Conservatory. She continued her training at New Jersey Ballet under directors Carolyn Clark and Edward Villella for 12

years. 

She had the privilege of performing in the Nutcracker at the Papermill Playhouse in Short Hills, and even had the honor of dancing on the stage of Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. 

She first started teaching dance in high school and has continued to teach throughout her life. Most recently, she taught adult ballet classes in the community. While ballet is her first love, she expanded her training to include

classic Bob Fossé jazz, and even tap after being cast as the lead in the musical 42 nd Street. She has starred in several musicals including Footloose, Saturday’s Warrior, and Rilla of Green Gables and loves being on the stage

 Dani Fontano loves Dance. In fact there are never to many times you caught her not dancing. Her passion began at a young age when she performed with Sunshine Generation as a child. Were she learned vocals and dance. She then started competitive dancing with Dance Magic in Ballet, Lyrical & Jazz. Disneyland was one of her favorite places to perform. As a teen she became the President of the Drill Team Mohey Tawa. There she danced competitively in Jazz, Lyrical, Hip-Hop, Military, Contemporary, Character. Her drive for dance took her to various productions, Santa Barbara Dance Arts, Festival Hall, Heritage Theater, Beverly Sorenson Center for Arts, Eccles Coliseum. She is forever devoted to furthering her education and has been teaching multiple genre’s of dance African, Brazilian, Caribbean, Latin-Salsa, Acro& Tumbling. Dani Fontano says, “There is nothing more rewarding than sharing the love of dance with my students and watching them reach their goals.”

Kaitlyn Handley is a dance artist and performer currently residing in Saratoga Springs, Utah.  Raised in Utah and New Jersey she trained at Canyon View Arts Center School of Performing Arts, and Brigham Young University’s ballet programs.  Kaitlyn performed professionally with Kinuko Modern Dance Company, Gileadi Dance Company, and Atlas Dance Collective.  During this time Kaitlyn went on to study at Utah Valley University earning her Bachelor of Science in Dance Education in December 2017.  During her time at UVU, she performed on MosA.I.C, UVU’s hip hop dance company, and Synergy, UVU’s modern dance company. On top of this Kaitlyn has had many opportunities to perform all around different states.  Kaitlyn has had the opportunity to teach, direct, and choreograph at various studios all over, was dance company assistant for Park City High School from 2017-2018, created and directed a dance program at Ignite Entrepreneurship Academy 2018-2019, and was Wellness and Dance Director at Franklin Discovery Academy 2019-2022.  She now owns her own company Empirical Fitness and works with clients as a personal trainer and nutrition coach.  Kaitlyn is also artistic director of Allure Creative, a professional dance company based out of Saratoga Springs, UT. 

Emily grew up in Mesa, Arizona. She began dancing at 3 years old. She trained in jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, contemporary, ballet, drill, tumbling, and also competed in All-Star cheer. She won various team and solo awards in both Regional and National competitions. Emily attended Mountain View High School in Mesa and was on the Varsity Pom team. During her Junior and Senior year, their team was the only High School invited to attend a Pro Dance camp for professional and Collegiate dance teams. She earned a spot on the competition team and they won back to back State Championships and a National Title at the United Spirit Association Nationals. She served as Captain her Senior year.

During college, Emily was an instructor for the Universal Dance Association and taught Junior High and High School dance camps across the country. She attended BYU where she received a Bachelor's Degree in Sports Medicine and has been a board Certified Athletic Trainer for 8 years. She also coached tumbling, gymnastics, and cheer classes while interning with different sports teams for her program, including a year with the BYU Football team. Go Cougars! 

Emily has lived in Saratoga Springs for almost 5 years with her husband and 3 beautiful daughters. She is so excited to be part of the Daje team! 

Amanda started dancing at the age of three and has wanted to be a dance teacher her entire life. She has been trained at multiple dance studios in modern, contemporary, ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, lyrical, tumbling and world. 

She held leadership positions on Lone Peak Dance Company where she choreographed several dances and worked with various well known professional dancers and choreographers from across the country. During high school she also was part of the pre-professional program, Step-Up, where she exclusively trained with current Cirque De Solei performer and past Ririe-Woodbury dancer, Caine Keenan. 

Amanda has competed at multiple levels, including winning National level awards and being one of a select few to perform in gala performances. She has taken multiple dance and dance education courses at Utah Valley University and Brigham Young University and is now currently on a local dance company performing all over Utah. 

Amanda started teaching at age fourteen and now has over fourteen years of experience, including teaching children with disabilities. A great passion for Amanda is to bring the love of dance to others and hopes to inspire young dancers to use dance as a physical and emotional outlet throughout their lives. One of her favorite things to watch, is the excitement of dancers as they go on stage to show what they have worked so hard on. When Amanda is not dancing she enjoys time with her husband and three children. She also enjoys crafting, reading and sports.

Emma’s love for dance started at a young age. Over the years she has been a principal dancer for Canyon View Arts Center where she studied ballet, modern, hip hop, and the elements of choreography. She was a member of Snow College’s hip hop crew, and a member of Riverton High School’s Music Dance Theater program. She has competed in musical theater and has worked with several broadway choreographers as well as performed with the Broadway cast of Matilda. Her choreography has won awards from the Utah Reflections Counsel and has been featured in the Leonardo Museum of Creativity and Innovation in Salt Lake City. Emma is currently a student at Brigham Young University studying Experience Design. 

Alyssa is from Flagstaff, Arizona and has been dancing all her life. This is her second year at Daje, and she is thrilled to be here! She is a current student at Brigham Young University and a member of Contemporary Dance Theater. She is a dance education major. She is trained in contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, and ballet. Alyssa has a passion for helping students find their inner voice while forming a strong technical background. 

 Tori  is from Orange County, California. She started dancing when she was 4 years old and immediately loved dance, but especially ballet. She trained in the cecchetti style of ballet, while also studying contemporary, and jazz. She has competed and performed many times in ballets, concerts, and YAGP.  After her senior year in high school she moved to Utah to attend BYU and get a degree in dance. While at BYU she had opportunities to work on jazz, ballet, contemporary and hip hop technique. She has been on BYU’s contemporary team Kinnect for two years and has loved performing and creating dance films with them.  She has participated in many master classes including styles of Paul Taylor, Jose Limon, and GaGa, as well as taken classes learning Bartenieff fundamentals, Laban movement, and kinesiology. As part of Kinnect, She was able to be a dancer in an Alex Boyé music video, perform amazing choreography from professionals, and choreograph and perform in dance films. After graduation she plans to continue teaching and performing while also working towards a masters degree in dance.  

Sabrina Rodabough is a born and raised Utah dance artist. She was smitten by the artform at the start of her high school years, and during that time she soaked in all that she could dance, including training in modern, ballet, jazz, and hip hop. More recently, Sabrina has discovered a love for teaching dance to others. 

Sabrina holds her Bachelor of Fine Arts in

Modern/Contemporary Dance from Utah Valley University (UVU). As a student at UVU, she trained in Graham, Horton, Limon, and Humphrey techniques. She also had the privilege of performing as a member of Synergy Dance Company. During her time with Synergy, Sabrina

was chosen as an original cast member in a piece created by Francisco Gella. At UVU, she also had the opportunity to learn from several professional guest artists including Daniel Charon, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Bill Evans, Andre Megerdichian, and others. 

Sabrina aspires to continue teaching, performing, and furthering her education in Physical and Movement Therapy

Jaclyn is from the Chicagoland area. At an early age, Jaclyn found a true passion for dance, specifically ballet. She trained at the most prestigious ballet schools in the area: Von Heidecke’s, Faubourg, and Academy of Dance Arts with Sherry Moray. From there, she went on to dance pre professionally with The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. Throughout her training, she also developed a love for teaching. She loves investing in her students while providing them not only the best training, but in a loving and caring environment. Jaclyn has her Bachelors Degree in Mathematics for Secondary Education and now resides in Saratoga Springs with her husband and two sweet baby girls. 

Peyton has been dancing since the age of three. She grew up in Ephraim, Utah. Growing up she trained in musical theater, tumbling, jazz, and hip hop. She was on the Manti High Drill Team for four years and enjoyed her time as an officer. She was also chosen to be a member of the All Region Drill Team. Peyton attended Snow College where she trained in Ballet, Modern, Jazz, and studied Choreography. She has competed in the Miss Ephraim Scholarship Pageant and won Miss Congeniality twice! Peyton also received her nail technician license from Mountainland technical College. She enjoys teaching and sharing her love of dance. She hopes to pursue a career as a dance coach and instructor, she loves sharing her love of dance with others and watching her students learn and improve.

 Cheri teaches tumbling and she is certified as an ACE group fitness instructor! Cheri loves to be active and feels is it is very important to take time for your body and your mind to stay healthy! She loves teaching tumbling! Cheri is a lot of fun and brings her passion for life with her into every class (those Cheerleading years at Utah State University really payed off)!   Some of her accomplishments include, winning Dancing With the Stars Season 10 with her UVU college Ballroom Team, competing openly and team dancesport in Blackpool, England. During the team competitions she was able to represent the United States of America. She continued to teach teams that were featured on America's Got talents and World of dance. She now tours the world teaching others and inspiring them to move.