Alice White

Alice White has been involved with the dance industry for over a decade, including work with Expanding Harmony in Brookings, South Dakota and Pure Movement Dance Institute in Lincoln, Nebraska. She has also been involved in the music world for much of her life. She ran her own private piano studio for several years. Alice has a strong focus on education and earned a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Utah State University. She taught public school-aged students and tutored math and reading to youth and adult students. Her education and experience is an asset to the growing dance, music, and preschool programs at Wasatch Arts Center.

Alice's vision includes a dance studio that focuses on technique, artistic expression, and personal growth and development. Her vision, as a mother herself, is to provide parents and families with a safe and friendly atmosphere that is truly a "home" away from home. Under her direction Wasatch Arts Center promotes family values and a focus on modesty in costume, music, and choreography. Alice is married to Dr. Joseph White and they are blessed with 8 wonderful children, all of which are learning to expand and share their talents in music and dance.

Matt Gardner

Matt Gardner has been playing the violin since he was 6 years old. He was trained in the Suzuki method as a child and loved it! In orchestra Matt held many leadership positions throughout high school and participated in Idaho All-State Orchestra, as well as the All-Northwest Orchestra. Matt attended Brigham Young University-Idaho 2014-2017 and graduated with a degree in Violin Performance. He was a winner of a Concerto Competition and was Concertmaster of the BYU-I Symphony his final semester.
Matt has had several years of teaching experience. He has taught violin to young students since high school and all throughout his undergrad. He is pursuing a Master's Degree in Violin Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Utah.

Alyssa White

Alyssa grew up in the Twin Cities of Minnesota dancing with the Youth Dance Ensemble. She studied ballet, tap and jazz and performed with The Joffery Ballet Nutcracker and a variety of other performances. At age 18 she had already taught dance for two years, choreographed for the local opening premier of Moulin Rouge, taken classes in New York and captained the varsity dance team. She was one of two freshmen to make Arizona State’s Dance Team. After her freshman year she moved back to Minnesota and continued teaching dance and finished her Bachelor’s degree in the Education of Children in the Arts and a minor in Educational Psychology. Alyssa was a frequent guest choreographer for the professional NBA dance team MN Timberwolves and also had pieces featured with Christopher Watsons Dance Company. Besides teaching, she also choreographed for local college theatre productions and The Fringe Festival.
Alyssa have taught dance for over 14 years in a variety of studios and states. She moved to Utah three years ago with her husband. Teaching dance is her true passion but, when not in the studio you will usually find her at her day job as a consultant for an ophthalmology practice or outside enjoying the mountains.

Jessica Bilbo

Jessica Bilbo has been teaching for six years. She's had the pleasure and honor to teach all sorts of genres including: Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Tumbling, and Special Needs Ballet. Jessica has taken classes and workshops with world class choreographers including: Mandy Moore, tWitch, Legacy, Teddy Florence and Doug Caldwell. She has been the Co-Director for Chance Dance Troupe-a dance Company focused on improving the lives and community around it through charity work. Her number one passion in life is being able to express everything with movement and music combined and she feels extremely blessed to have been able to pass that passion on to children.

Isabella Arnett

Isabella has trained in dance at Expanding Harmony in SD, Pure Movement Dance Institute in NE and Wasatch Arts Center in UT. She is currently majoring in Modern Dance at Utah Valley University and has the privilege of training with Natalie Desch, John Allen, Jill Edwards, and Monica Campbell among many others. In addition to Modern, Isabella has experience teaching many other dance styles including Ballet, Jazz, Modern and Tap. Isabella is also trained as a classical pianist and is our studio piano teacher. She has studied with Tricia West and UVU faculty. She loves the dance and music world and the joy that comes from teaching and helping others achieve their goals.

Keith Embrey

My name is Keith Embrey HIP-HOP Cordinator /coach for Wasatch Arts Center. I'm born and grew up on the west side of Chicago. I been dancing about 15 years of my life far as I can remember. Dance save me from a lot of things such as Chicago Gangs, Streets, and other things that would put be in my grave. I grew up with 7 kids in the house being raised by my grandmother and granddad . All brothers, sisters and cousins. Stayed in school and graduated from high school. Got an fulltime job with teaching studios downtown and that's when my life began. I moved to Salt Lake City utah to better myself and heard this place was another world so I gave it a shot. And hear I am loving it. I'm currently on an all styles professional dance company called UNDERGROUND DANCE CREW.  Any style of dance you can think of someone on there have mastered it. Teaching here at Wasatch arts center have been an amazing experiments and looking forward to the years to come to grow and share the talent and fundamentals of all styles hip-hop thank you

Alexandria Sorenson

Alexandria is a lifelong dancer who is proficient in ballet, jazz, modern, and tap technique. She has much experience in being the performer, the instructor, and the choreographer. Currently, Alexandria is pursuing a BFA in Ballet at Utah Valley University. She has the priceless opportunity to perform with the Repertory Ballet Ensemble there. Her dance training spanned from beginnings in Nebraska and continued around many studios across Utah including Wasatch Arts Center and Jacqueline’s School of Ballet. As if dancing wasn’t enough, Alexandria is also classically trained on the cello. She has studied with various local teachers and most recently with the late Ryan Selberg, former principal cellist of the Utah Symphony. Since dance and music have filled her life, she is constantly creating and applies the elements of art to all aspects of life. She loves all aspects of the Performing Arts, specifically teaching. Alexandria hopes to instill passion and excellence in all her students and help them learn to love creating and expressing themselves.

Elle Walker

Elle was born and raised in Arizona. At the age of two she was put in her first dance class, there is literally never a time in her life where she doesn’t remember dancing. She continued to improve and flourish and discovered at a very young age that dance was her calling. At the age of seven she began dancing competitively with Jeanne’s School of Dance in Jazz, Contemporary, and Hip Hop. She was a member of Arizona Youth Ballet and danced on pointe for many years. In high school, she turned her focus to extra-curricular activities. She danced on her high school’s Dance Company for three years. She served as the company’s president her senior year and was awarded “Best Choreographer” her junior year. As well as dancing, she was a Varsity Cheerleader her sophomore through senior year. She was awarded All American two years in a row, served as cheer captain, and was awarded MVP her senior year. Elle graduated high school with honors in the National Honors Society for Dance. Elle is currently attending Utah Valley University to pursue a degree in Dance Education. She has received instruction from visionary performers and choreographers such as, Pat and Kathy Debenham, Natalie Desch, and Angela Banchero-Kelleher. She also danced on Synergy Dance Company and has participated in many Senior Capstone performances. Elle hopes to perform as much as she can, but ultimately wants to teach dance back in Arizona where her love of dance began.

Kristen Stringham

Kristen Stringham started dancing at the age of seven after begging her mother repeatedly to sign her up for dance classes. She danced with LaRae Thackeray at LaRae’s Dance Unlimited in Layton, Utah for eleven years where she studied ballet, jazz, tap and Irish step. She gained valuable teaching experience and insight as a student teacher and substitute teacher.
While attending Southern Utah University, she performed with the Cedar City Junior Ballet for five seasons, where some of her favorite roles included that of the Lilac Fairy in “The Sleeping Beauty” and the Winter Fairy in “Cinderella.” She was also a member of Orchesis, SUU’s modern dance club, and enjoyed numerous performing opportunities with them, as well as performing in the semi-annual dance department show cases. She graduated from SUU in 2016 with a B.S. in Biology and minors in Dance Performance and Chemistry.
In Cedar City, Kristen had the opportunity to teach ballet and Irish classes at The Point Dance Studio and was a guest instructor at the Southern Utah Day of Dance. Since moving to the Salt Lake area, she has been an active part of the dance community, taking classes at RDT’s Steps on Broadway and with Ballet West’s adult program, teaching and guesting at LaRae’s Dance Unlimited, C&C Ballet, Starz Unlimited and Municipal Ballet Company, as well as performing in Oquirrh Mountain Ballet’s 2017 production of “The Nutcracker.” Kristen loves teaching and sharing her passion for dance with others and is excited to be a part of the Wasatch Arts Center family.

Lynette Yorgason

Lynette has been dancing her whole life and teaching for 7 years now in various environments. She grew up dancing at a studio in Ogden, Utah, and then moved to Brigham Young University where she toured with the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble for 3 years in both national and international tours. As a member of the International Folk Dance Ensemble she specialized in percussive dance because of her background in tap dance and has performed tap, power tap, traditional clogging, Irish, and French Canadian in addition to many other non-percussive international dances. Before her time at BYU she competed both in the jazz/tap competition circuit as well as the power tap/clogging competition circuit. She has experience teaching all ages, from 3 to 90 and has taught most dance styles including ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, clogging, world dance, and tap.

Sarah White

Sarah has been playing the oboe for over 10 years. She has enjoyed many opportunities to teach and perform on different occasions. This includes several performing ensembles on the University level as well as within the community. Recently, Sarah graduated from the University of Utah with a Masters of Music in Instrumental Performance and previously she received a Bachelors of Arts from Brigham Young University-Idaho. Sarah has studied with several teachers from around the Salt Lake Valley, including Susan Swidnicki of the Ballet West Symphony and currently with Bob Stephenson, principal oboist of the Utah Symphony. In addition to playing the oboe, Sarah plays the piano, flute, clarinet, and saxophone. Aside from music, Sarah is has a love for ballet. She grew up dancing with local ballet studios and in the Midwest. She has an immense passion for the Arts and is eager to share it with her students.

Crystal Davis

Crystal started dancing at the age of 2. She is a graduate of San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, where she studied Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Modern, Singing and Acting.
Outside of the school she trained at National Ballet, Stage 7, West Coast Ballet Educational Cultural Complex and Mesa College. She has been a performer, choreographer and has been taught various dance styles and participated in countless shows, conventions and industrial productions for the past 30 years.
Crystal started singing and dancing in Musical Theatre shows at SDSCPA and branched out to Starlight and Moonlight Theatre. Her favorite shows include “Guys and Dolls (1988), “Dreamgirls (1989/2006), “42nd Street” (1990), “Singing in the Rain” (1991), and “Aida” (2007).
Crystal was also a dancer for the San Diego Gulls Pro Hockey Team, where she had the opportunity to have a role in the Universal Pictures movie “Bring It On” (2000), an MTV sitcom, “18 Wheels of Justice” and a spot in the” Playstation Game NBA Shoot Out” (2002).

Ariel Mizumoto

Ariel was born and raised in sunny southern California where she relished the musical arts playing the piano and cello throughout her childhood. However, not until an unexpected chance “run-into,” with the legendary pianist, Mr. Van Cliburn, did she become inspired to commit and dedicate her life to a career in classical piano and music education. In 2016, under the tutelage of Professor Norman Krieger, Ariel graduated from the University of Southern California, Thornton School of Music with a Master’s degree in piano performance. She was also given the honor of being inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda National Honor Society for music. During Ariel’s young musical career, she has had the opportunity to perform in many renown local venues, including the Hollywood Ford Amphitheater, the Orange County Performing Arts Center Segerstrom Hall, Irvine Barclay Theater, and in Pasadena playing two seasons with Pasadena Pops Orchestra. Being a dual talent in both the piano and cello, Ariel has enjoyed international travel in solo piano, and chamber music as a pianist and cellist. Some of these include piano performance in China, Poland, and in various venues in Japan. As a chamber musician, she has toured internationally performing both piano or cello in countries including Germany, Austria, Russia, Estonia, and Finland. Ariel’s magnetic personality attracting the admiration of many children has been a huge asset in her teaching experience. From organizing and conducting summer music camps, to individual private instruction, Ariel has an effective communication ability making learning music a positive experience for both the students and their parents. Ariel is skilled at coaching collaborative groups, teaching music theory, music history, ear training, and solfege.

Carly Schaub

Carly Schaub currently resides in Salt Lake City, UT and graduated with an M.F.A. in Modern Dance at University of Utah. After earning a B.F.A. in Theatre and Dance, from University of Wyoming, she was dancer, teacher, and choreographer for Northern Plains Dance and served as Education Coordinator, dealing with dance outreach programs, in Bismarck, ND, and the surrounding areas of Fort Yates, Beulah, Fargo/Moorhead, and Grand Forks. She also danced as a guest artist for several productions with North Dakota Ballet.  Carly has worked with choreographers, Patricia Tate, Peter Pucci, Thomas Shoemaker, Yoav Kaddar, and Marsha Knight, to name a few and has choreographed numerous musicals for Sleepy Hollow Summer Theatre, and Bismarck State College. She is currently working on various dance projects in SLC, as well as teaching with a Dance for Parkinson’s program with Grey Matters, and Repertory Dance Theatre.

Danielle Thompson

Danielle began her training of tap, jazz, lyrical and ballet at age 5 at a local dance school. She fell in love with ballet and at age 9 she auditioned for Ballet West’s Nutcracker. For 8 years she performed the direction of Bene Arnold. She also performed in the University of Utah’s and Ballet West’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She trained with Ballet West Academy under the direction of Bene Arnold. While at the academy she was invited to perform in Ballet West’s production of Sleeping Beauty. She attended many summer intensive programs such as American Ballet Theater, Walnut Hill, Long Beach Arts center, Boston Ballet, Nutmeg Conservatory, Austin Ballet, Ballet West and was offered scholarships to attend. She had the privilege of learning and performing Balanchine choreography such as Who Cares and Agon. As a high school student she was accepted into the Ballet Program at the University of Utah where she had the privilege of working with University faculty and guest teachers such as Aspen Ballet instructors, company dancers from Ballet West and many more. She was able to participate on scholarship in the character ensemble program with Rick Wacko. She had the privilege of working and performing with choreographers and teachers such as Otto Neubert, Conrad and Joyce Ludlow, Bene Arnold, Sharee Lane, Jane Wood-Smith and many others. She loves to be able to teach upper ballet classes and pointe with an emphasis on correct technique and core placement. She hopes that her students learn to fall in love with ballet and carry that passion into every aspect of their lives.