Sherrie Sellers – Director

Sherrie Sellers

Sherrie Sellers

Sherrie Sellers is the owner and artistic director of Synergy Dance Studio. She began her own dance training at the age of four at the Academy of Dance Arts in Greenville, Texas and subsequently became a member of the prestigious and nationally ranked Northeast Texas Dance Company. She has been teaching dancers since 1988 and has an extensive knowledge of ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, hip hop, drill team, and cheer. In February 2013, she attended American Ballet Theatre’s 10 day National Ballet Training Curriculum in New York at the ABT studios and passed the exam making her an ABT certified teacher for levels pre-primary through 4.  In addition, she holds a degree in Mathematics and taught at Arlington and Eanes ISD for 9 years. In addition, she is a certified NCA Cheer Instructor and coached a varsity level team for three years. Her past experiences as a teacher both inside the schoolroom and the dance studio drive her to be a leading dance educator.

As a dance instructor, she strives to motivate young dancers to reach their full potential both inside and outside the studio. Some of Ms. Sherrie’s past dancers have gone on to be Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Rangerettes, and collegiate cheerleaders, and many others can be seen in college dance programs across the country.

As a choreographer, her pieces have had the honor of winning many awards at various competitions and conventions.  Additionally, she believes in continuing her own dance education by attending conventions, master classes and at least yearly training trip to NYC.

Sarah Chappell

Sarah Skelton

Ms. Sarah began her formal training in high school where she studied at Contemporary Dance Techniques in Tyler, Tx. After graduating she moved to Austin where she received her BA in Fine Arts from the University of Texas. During her time at UT she traveled to Austria with the Young Tanzsommer Dance Tour and participated in master classes by Nashville Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Ralph Lemon, Michael Foley and Guillaume Graffin from American Ballet Theatre as well as residencies from Delfos Dance Company from Mexico and Martha Graham Dance Company. She continues her education by taking workshops all over the US from San Francisco Dance Center in CA to Steps in New York City.

Nancy Crandall

Nancy Crandall

Ms. Nancy brings with her experience, diversity and knowledge having owned her own studio, Backstage Dance, for 26 years! Nancy is a currently a Pilates instructor at Live Oak Pilates and Wellness with more than 10 years experience teaching Pilates. As a lifelong teacher of movement, she encourages her students to find joy in challenging their bodies to increase strength, flexibility, range of motion and coordination. Her students appreciate her love of music and creative choreography. Ms. Nancy is our adult tap and jazz teacher and is the founder of STILL DANCING, a dance company of adults 40 and older. When she’s not teaching you can find her visiting New York and when she can’t get to NYC she enjoys virtual classes hosted by numerous friends she’s made along the way!

Mara Demel

Mara Demel

Mara Demel

Ms. Mara is an amazing teacher and is known as our resident Disney princess.  Her enthusiasm and personality make her an exceptional teacher for our youngest dancers to our advanced team students.  As a student she trained with Body Talk Dance Company at Joyce Willet School of Dance. As a member of their team she attended numerous workshops in L.A at “The Edge”, and “STEPS” dance studio in New York. Ms. Mara is well rounded and can teach all styles of dance. She loves children and her love and patience shine through in her classes and interaction with her students. Ms. Mara is a valuable and loved member of our team!

Rebeca Gamborino-Guest Artist

Rebecca Gamborino

Rebecca Gamborino

Rebeca has 35 years of dance training and is a recent graduate of Texas Women’s University with her MFA in Dance.  She is excited to start her academia career and will be on faculty at University of Texas RGV this coming year.  She has worked and choreographed for award winning companies and studios. She was the Competitive Dance Director for Frisco Dance Force and assistant Company Director for the Dance Zone and Synergy Dance Studio. She is a well rounded dancer and teacher and has experience teaching ages 2yrs and up. She has won multiple choreography awards as well as entertainment awards and special judges awards.

As a performer, Rebeca has had the opportunity to be a part of several Faculty and New Choreographers Concerts at the University of North Texas as well as Austin Community College. While at the University of North Texas she was a part of the choreographer/ composer collaboration class and helped produce/choreograph and performed in their concert, “Trial and Air.” She’s also had the privilege of choreographing and performing in her own work at various Texas Dance Festivals including 10 Min Max in Austin as well as choreographing for The Dance Project, an Austin based professional dance company.  Rebeca will always have a home at Synergy as a guest artist and choreographer.

Leslie Garcia

Leslie Garcia
Leslie Garcia

With over 35 years of experience, Leslie has studied under many master instructors and choreographers in Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop/Funk, Ballet, Tap, Breakdancing, Whaacking, House, and Cardio-Fitness.

Working with children as young as 2 ½ years old to senior adults, Leslie is widely known for her unique cutting-edge dance style, award-winning choreography and unique music mixes with amateur and professional dance/drill team across the U.S. and dance competitions nationwide. She has made a huge name for herself as an instructor and choreographer in Texas for her incredible musicality and creativity in all aspects of Urban dance and traditional styles.

Leslie was the first ever UT Dance Team Coach and now is the Artist Director for the Concordia High School Flight Crew. She owns Cutting Edge Dance and Music as well as her studio company Urban Dance Empire. She is also the creator, director and owner of the 3 time Grand National Award Winning and 5 time National Winning team, 2 Hype Hip Hop Company. Leslie also created past performance teams called Contagious Dance Force and 210 Hype, as well as a choreographer and dancer for Planet Funk Entertainment, Atomic Productions, Urban Dance Movement, Austin Dance Works and 24 Hour Fitness. She was also master instructor for American Ballet Theatre Intensive Program for many years and for the past 15 years has been working independently with school districts in the state of Texas. Leslie works at studios all over the U.S. teaching dance classes, camps, specialized choreography, and judging competitions and try-outs. On top of her dance talents, Leslie also creates specialized music for individual studios, camps, and performance groups for competitions, recitals, and industry shows and has been a local DJ in Austin for many years.

Eva Gonzalez Gray

Eva Gonzalez Gray

Ms. Eva is originally from Monterrey, Mexico. With many years of training in numerous dance styles, she pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance at Sam Houston State University (SHSU). She has also completed her Mat and Reformer Pilates training through Balanced Body, and is currently earning her Apparatus training hoping to become a comprehensive Instructor within the next year. While working on getting her certification in Pilates, she has found ways to enhance her way of teaching dance technique. Her ambitions to help the community led her to become Vice President (2017-18) and Social Chair (2018-19) of Chi Tau Epsilon, the dance honor society at SHSU. Gonzalez has performed in Mind the Gap and Barnstorm at The MATCH Theatre in Houston, the American College Dance Association (ACDA) Southern Conference, Dana Nicolay’s A Wynne Home Nutcracker and multiple times in Danscape at the Hobby Center in Houston. She has been a dance teacher for seven years and a choreographer for five years, having her choreography win judges awards, teacher awards, and high point awards in regionals and nationals at Dance Showcase USA, Star Systems, Stage One, Starbound, Legacy, VIP, Kids Artistic Revenue (KAR) and 8 Talent dance competitions. She enjoys sharing her love of dance and hopes to inspire and challenge her students while helping them reach their goals! Gonzalez is extremely excited to be a part of the Synergy Dance Family!

Maddie Hall

Maddie Hall

Maddie Hall is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and has studied dance for over 20 years.  She competed at a local studio as well as performed on her school dance teams throughout grade school.  She then was a member of the LSU Golden Girl dance line for all 4 years of college and had the honor of serving as a captain for her last 2 years.  Maddie discovered and pursued her passion for teaching dance through her time choreographing and coaching for her captain role; teaching classes at her home studio throughout college; choreographing for school dance teams throughout Louisiana and Texas; assisting with various students’ high school and college audition preparation via private lessons and clinics; and working as a Universal Dance Association staff member for 2 years.  She now continues to teach dance part-time here in Austin – specializing in dance team preparation and jazz choreography and technique.

Courtney Holland

Courtney Holland

Ms. Courtney was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and at the age of 11 began her professional training at Canada’s National Ballet School. After graduating from NBS in 2010, Courtney moved to New York City to continue her training at the Dance Theatre of Harlem on a full scholarship. In June 2012, she was a finalist at the Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition. She was awarded a full scholarship to the Banff Centre’s Professional Dance Program where she appeared as a guest artist in the Arts Summer Festival, performing George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco and Christopher Wheeldon’s Souvenirs. In 2013, Courtney joined Charlotte Ballet II where she performed works by George Balanchine, Dwight Rhoden, Sasha Janes, Mark Diamond and Jean- Pierre Bonnefoux. There she had the privilege to perform featured roles in The Nutcracker and the role of the Autumn Fairy in Cinderella, under the direction of Kennedy Center Honoree Patricia McBride. Since joining Ballet Austin in 2016, Courtney has had the pleasure of dancing several of Stephen Mills’ ballets as well as works by Septime Webre and Pam Tanowitz. She enjoyed performing Justin Peck’s In Creases and was featured in Paul Vasterling’s Peter Pan as Tinker Bell. Courtney feels very blessed to have the love and support of her family and is excited for her third season with Ballet Austin.

Melanie Malinowski

Melanie Malinowski

Melanie began her dance training at the age of four in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada at one of the top ballet studios in the area, Flora Pigeau Dance Academy. She excelled in many dance genres specfically ballet, jazz and musical theatre. She trained with renowned international teachers and choreographers such at Arnold Sphor, Norbert Vesak, Kent Stowell and Francia Russell. Throughout her dance career she received several awards and was chosen as the British Columbia Provincial representaive for ballet. Melanie has performed lead roles in The King and I at Vancouver’s Theatre Under the Stars, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Nutcracker at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre and performed with Harbor Dance Center. She was a member of Vancouver’s CFL B.C. Lions Pride Dance Team, and was a lead performer with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Melanie was with Rob Haynes, one the top Talent Agencies in Vancouver where she was a runway and print model. Melanie began her teaching career at the age of 15, in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada and went on to obtain the Royal Academy of Dance ballet teaching certificate from London in 1995. Melanie has taught in Vancouver, B.C. , Ottawa, ON , San Diego, CA and Austin, TX. Melanie was the Director for the Academy of Dance in San Diego as well as the Ballet Director and Nutcracker Spectacular Artistic Director for Alisa’s Dance Academy. Melanie has now been teaching for 35 years and loves to share her knowledge of dance and teach the art of ballet.

Maureen Slabaugh

Maureen Slabaugh

Maureen Slabaugh

Maureen began her classical ballet training at age eight with the Santa Rosa Ballet Company in Santa Rosa California. She studied with Julien Herrin, Russian trained and a former soloist with the Imperial Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, and Emily Stubbs, an accredited R.A.D. instructor. Maureen passed all her children’s level exams up to Professional Intermediate and this blend of Russian and R.A.D. training is the foundation of her instruction. During her teenage and young adult years, she was a member of The Santa Rosa Ballet Co., Ballet en Ronde and Redwood Empire Regional Ballet. Maureen also has a strong Jazz dance and Musical Theatre background having studied in Los Angeles with Joe Tremaine, Bob Banas and D.J. Daniels. Maureen has been a dance instructor for over 25 years and is also an accomplished actress often involved in theatrical productions in the Austin area.

Sarah Vasilas

Sarah Vasilas

Sarah Vasilas

Sarah Vasilas danced professionally in New York City for 10 years before moving to Austin. She has performed and taught dance throughout the U.S., Europe, The U.A.E. and Africa, and has debuted her own work Off-Broadway. Some of Vasilas’ dance credits include: Cirque Du Soleil, West Side Story, Beyonce, Broadway Cares, Princess Cruise Productions, The Middle Eastern International Film Festival, Ne-Yo, Hip Hop Film Festival, and NYC Fashion Week; Print/Commercial credits include: Dance Spirit Magazine, Time Life Music, Dodge Ram, Pepsi, Dell, and H-E-B Super Bowl/World Cup commercials.

In Austin, Vasilas has performed with ZACH Theater in productions of Les Miserables as Assistant Choreographer/Ensemble and in Cat In The Hat, as Thing 1; has played the role of Zeta in The Adventures of Zoeby children’s show; and has performed in Dancing With The Stars Austin for 3 seasons. Vasilas is also Co-Owner of Dapper Sounds Entertainment, booking dancers and entertainers in NYC, Las Vegas, and Austin.

Sarah’s passion for dance led her to teach children with programs such as The National Dance Institute, Wingspan Arts, Creative Outlet Dance Theater and The Downtown Community Center youth dance program. She has also run hundreds of dance parties for children ranging from ages 2-15. Her mission is to share the magic and joy of dance with her students.

Camille Wiltz

Camille Wiltz

Camille Wiltz is an emerging artist and performer who recently graduated from UT Austin with her B.F.A. in Dance with a Minor in Arts Administration and Management. She grew up attended Dance Industry Performing Arts Center in Plano, Texas training with Mark Caserta and Mikey Morado’s Thriving Artist Project. In Austin, as a member of UT Austin’s Dance Repertory Theatre (DRT), Camille performed works by Erica Gionfriddo, Gesel Mason, and Stephanie Martinez. Camille served as a production coordinator on the board of Dance Action; a student organization dedicated to supporting choreographic risk on campus. She also served as Jesse Zaritt’s rehearsal assistant for his work, Contronymic Living, at DRT’s Fall For Dance.

Recent credits include SoulEscape’s Ph1losophize Your F1gure, Jen Pendleton’s Soliloquy, A Recipe For Action, ARCOS Dance, Dance Action’s SEED, The Cohen New Works Festival, and Score for 7 Solos at the Visual Arts Center by Madeline Hollander. This past summer Camille danced and toured with Justin Giles’ company Soul Escape and is a member of Valleto Professional Contemporary Dance Company in Austin. In the future, Camille hopes to continue her artistry in Austin, TX as an activist for the arts and educator for the next generation of movers.