spring + summer events

 Amy Leonards is Director of TADA's Ballet Program and holds a BA in the Performing Arts.   Originally from Louisiana, Amy is classically trained in ballet, tap, and jazz, with a specialization in teaching Vaganova, Cecchetti, and RAD ballet methods.   Miss Amy developed and implemented ballet curriculum as ballet director over several years for two performing arts schools in Los Angeles and San Franciso before joining us at TADA, while also pursuing a professional career in theater. She is a proud member of the Actors' Equity Association, and some of her favorite roles include Hope in Anything Goes, Rose in Enchanted April (World Premiere), Marian in The Music Man, Maggie in A Chorus Line, and Jellylorum in Cats, to name a few. Amy also has international, national, and regional commercial and print credits, including Ford, Legal Zoom, LeapFrog, and Salesforce.  We are honored and proud to acquire her as Ballet Director in 2021!   

View more about Miss Amy on her website at https://www.amyfranklinleonards.com/

You may email her at ballet@dancetada.com 

 Originally from Sacramento, California, Elise Elliott danced with the Houston Ballet for ten seasons, retiring as a Soloist in 2017. She enjoyed being featured in works by many choreographers, including Stanton Welch, Antony Tudor, Ben Stevenson, Jiri Kylian, George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Christopher Bruce, Sir Kenneth Macmillan, Jorma Elo, Wayne MacGregor, and John Cranko. She was also fortunate enough to tour with the company to many countries, including Australia, China, Canada, Germany, and Spain. In 2017, Elise became Texas Academy of Dance Arts’ Ballet Director in The Woodlands, TX, as well as the Founding Artistic Director of TADA’s Youth Ballet Company. In 2021, Elise joined Texas Ballet Theater as the School Business Manager, as well as a Professional Training Division (PTD) and Advanced Instructor and choreographer in the esteemed school. In November 2022, Elise became one of the Rehearsal Directors for The Sacramento Ballet. . She is also a certified Pure Barre Instructor, as well as mother of 3! 

 Rhodes Elliott is originally from Florence, South Carolina. Rhodes retired in 2018 as a Demi-Soloist with the Houston Ballet, after having been with the company for 11 years. He received his early dance training and pre-professional experience with UNCSA, as well as The School of Dance Arts and South Carolina Dance Theater under the tutelage of the esteemed Susan Rowe. He attended several summer programs throughout his training, including North Carolina Dance Theater, Houston Ballet, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. While dancing with the Houston Ballet, Rhodes enjoyed performing many works, including those by Stanton Welch, Jiri Kylian, Christopher Bruce, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Sir Frederick Ashton, Ben Stevenson, Twyla Tharp, George Balanchine, and Christopher Wheeldon. After retiring from The Houston Ballet, Rhodes was the Assistant Ballet Director at Texas Academy of Dance Arts in The Woodlands, Texas. In 2021, Rhodes joined Texas Ballet Theater School (TBTS) as a Studio Training Company Instructor, as well as the Professional Training Division Instructor at TBTS Dallas. In November of 2022, Rhodes became an instructor with the Sacramento Ballet. 

Jess Hendricks graduated from the University of Colorado with a BFA in Dance. Her training includes Perry Mansfield School of the Performing Arts, American Dance Festival, Harvard Dance Festival, EDGE Scholarship, Gus Giordano and Hubbard Dance Street. 

Her credits include commercials and industrials for Godiva, L’Oreal, Reebok, Toys R Us, Universal Studios, Volkswagen and Warner Brothers. Jess worked on the tour of HAIR as Dance Captain for years, performed for the opening premiers of Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby and can be seen in such movies as Living Out Loud and Between The Sheets. She has danced in or been the assistant choreographer to the Elan Awards, Bob Fosse Awards, Ms. America Pageant, Carnival, Dance Break and Broadway Bares. Jess has choreographed the New York musicals The Shaggs, The Book Of The Dun Cow and Dead City as well as the movie musical Free Fall. 

She has choreographed the music video Just A Dress for the Berlin Film Festival, Mia Agapi Fotia for European artist Sofia Strati’s Eurovision and has been a finalist for the ACE Awards. Jess has taught at Universities and Festivals throughout Canada, Costa Rica, Cyprus, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway and the United States. Jess has danced with “The Wes Veldink Movement” and co-created her own company “Two Peas & A Pod”. 

She recently created live work for the band “A Great Big World” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, set work to be performed at Carnegie Hall and assisted with choreography for the Alicia Keys tour. Jess recently debuted a 30-minute work on Houston Met Dance that debuted this Spring. She is currently an adjunct professor at Pace University, on faculty with 24 Seven Dance Convention and a Co-Founder of Dancers Give Back Dallas.

  Nao Kusuzaki is born in Ehime prefecture, Japan, and began her ballet lessons at 3 years old at
Yatsuzuka Ballet school. After moving to the U.S. at age 10, she continued her training with The
Washington School of Ballet and Boston Ballet School. Nao became a member of Corps de
Ballet with Boston Ballet in 2001. In 2004 she joined Houston Ballet, and was promoted to
Soloist in 2009. She has danced numerous leading roles in both classical and contemporary
repertoire.

Some of her featured roles include: The Sugarplum Fairy and The Snow Queen in
The Nutcracker, Nikiya in La Bayadere, Madame Butterfly in Madame Butterfly, Lilac Fairy in
Sleeping Beauty, Odette and Odile in Swan Lake, Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort, Sinfonietta, and
Falling Angels, William Forsythe’s In the Middle Somewhat Elevated, Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper
Room, Christopher Wheeldon’s Rush, and Mark Morris’s Pacific. Most recently, she was invited
to stage Swan Lake and and perform Odette/Odile with Victoria Ballet Theater in March, 2019.

Nao is also active in the Houston community through producing Dance for Hope, a benefit
Concert in response to Japan Earthquake of 2011, co-creating TSURU with Asia Society Texas
Center in 2015, and directing and dancing The 45th Anniversary Ballet Performance celebrating
Houston and Chiba Sister City Relations, which premiered in July 22, 2017. In November, 2017,
she directed and danced in the revival of TSURU at the Miller Outdoor Theater, Houston, TX,
where Nao was commended by the Consulate General, Japan. Nao is Founder of Creative Minds
Collaborative Inc., a nonprofit organization which seeks to create meaning across artists,
educators, and supporters of the arts utilizing dance as the main medium

Rylan Doty began his training in 2013 at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. In 2020 he moved to Houston and started training on full scholarship with the Houston Ballet Academy. After a year in the academy he then received a contract for Houston Ballet’s second company. Within his two years in Houston Ballet II, he danced leading roles in Coppélia, Don Quixote, Time to Dance, and more. In 2023, he received an apprentice contract with Houston Ballet and has danced in various Houston Ballet productions including John Neumeier’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes, Stanton Welch’s Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Cinderella. 

Deontay Gray is a native of Baltimore, Maryland where he began his journey in the arts as a musician. As a vocalist he has performed at Carnegie Hall, The Meyerhof, and Strathmore with musicians Linda R. Hall, Dr. Craig Jessop and Marin Alsop. 

At the age of 19 he began his dance career and later received his B.F.A in dance from the Conservatory at Shenandoah University.  In 2015 he was featured as a choreographer and dancer presenting his work in The Royal Theatre in Winchester, England. He was invited to teach master classes in Sydney, Australia in 2016 at the Sydney Dance Company Studios as well as University of Winchester in Winchester, England. 

He was featured in works at the 2015, 2017 & 2018 New York Jazz Choreography Dance Project at the Ailey Citigroup theatre and the Salvatore Capezio Theater in NYC, the 2016 VelocityDC Dance Festival at Sidney Harman Hall in Washington, DC, and the 34th Annual Choreographers’ Showcase at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in Maryland. While in Maryland he has been a guest artist with Dance n Bmore, CCBC dance company , Deep Vision, Opera in Baltimore, Ballet Embody Dance Company, CityDance, Anne Aroundel County Orchestra,and more. He has been a dancer with Christopher K. Morgan and Artists since 2016. He joined the Project C Studios dance family in 2020 where he was teacher, and choreographer. In 2022 he held the title of Artistic Director for the studio. 

Deontay joins the Houston community and Uptown Dance Company in 2023.

Elissa Fonseca is originally from Pleasant Grove, Utah. She has danced since she was 6 years old, focusing on ballet, but also training in contemporary, jazz, tap, and Irish dancing. In high school, she trained with Utah Regional Ballet (now Utah Metropolitan Ballet) and danced with the second company for 3 years. Elissa spent two very formative summers in college dancing at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under the direction of Summer Lee Rhatigan.

Elissa graduated with her BFA in Ballet Performance from the University of Utah in 2014, and then joined Salt Lake City based company SALT Contemporary Dance for 4 seasons. In 2018 Elissa moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota where she was a company member with Minnesota Dance Theatre for 4 seasons.

In college and throughout her professional career, Elissa has worked with renowned artists such as Summer Lee Rhatigan, Peter Chu, Val Caniparoli, Lise Houlton, Gustavo Rameriez Sansano, Bobbi Jene Smith, Banning Bouldin, Alex Ketley, Tina K. Bohnstedt, Garrett Smith, Gabrielle Lamb, Brendan Duggan, Elayna Waxse, and many more.

Elissa joined Vitacca Ballet in 2022.

 Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Mr. Arnold moved to Houston, Texas and studied all dance disciplines at Masters, The Upper Level in Stafford, TX. His unique lyrical style of movement garnered attention from both drill teams and dance studios throughout Houston and he has become an extremely sought after teacher and choreographer in Texas and Louisiana. In addition, he judges promising young talent with Move Dance Productions. Lenorris’ choreography has won numerous top awards at competitions such as Adrenaline Dance Convention, Legacy Dance Competition, Primetime Dance Productions, Hall of Fame Dance Competition, Artists Simply Human Dance Workshop, Move Dance Productions, New York City Dance Alliance, StarSystems Talent Competition, and Showstopper Competitions. Lenorris teaches at several local studios and constantly continues his dance education through seminars, conventions and travel to NYC and LA. His greatest inspiration is the progress of the dancers themselves 

Morgan Joines began her professional dance career in Georgia when she obtained a contract with the Augusta Ballet at the young age of 17.  She then transferred to the Atlanta ballet at 18 when she attended college at Georgia Tech. In her junior year, she decided dance was her first love. She transferred to Brenau University in Gainesville where she obtained her BFA in Dance performance and education with an emphasis in pedagogy.  After graduation, Morgan continued to dance with the Atlanta Ballet until 2011, with other appointments with the Columbia City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and Georgia Ballet Company.  

She then went to graduate school to obtain an MBA and an MFA in ballet,  performance and pedagogy while also serving as a company member with the Texas Ballet Theatre and North Texas Ballet Company.  Following graduate school Morgan opened up her first dance studio in Denton Texas which quickly grew into two locations after its first year. Morgan has also served as an adjunct professor in the department of dance at Texas Christian University, and received multiple choreographic awards among many dance festivals, including Dallas Dance Festival and Fringe Festival. Morgan was also the founder and Artistic Director for the North Texas dance Festival and Barton Hollow Dance Theater. She has served as a soloist, Demi, soloist, and corps de ballet in multiple performances, including the Nutcracker, Alice in Wonderland, Dracula, Giselle, Swan Lake, and Firebird. Morgan has retired from performing professionally, but still lives her life through dance through her teachings and choreography.

 Deanna Ott is an actor and arts educator, originally hailing from California. With decades of experience as a dancer and performer, she’s been seen onstage in Broadway National Tours (A Christmas Story), in film and television (A Conflict of Love Interest, The Break-Up, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, The Big C, various CBS shows), and at Tony-Award winning regional theatre companies nationwide. As an educator, Deanna has taught dance, acting, voice and speech, movement, yoga, executive presence, and improvisation to students, professionals, and C-suite executives world-wide since 2006.  She holds an MFA in Acting from SMU, is an RYT certified yoga instructor, and a NASM certified personal trainer. She is delighted to return to Texas to work with the dedicated dancers at TADA! For more info, take a look at her website: http://deannaott.com/ 

 Marrisha Babineaux has been studying and competing in all styles of dance since the age of five.  Marrisha performed as a principle dancer for Lamar University under the direction of Brixey Blankenship.  Prior to and during this time, Marrisha performed in shows produced by Beaumont City Performing Arts, danced at the Alvin Ailey School of Dance in New York City at their summer intensive program, and also participated as a contestant on the national hit show Showtime at the Apollo as a representative from Houston after winning the spot from numerous contestants across the city.   As a result of this notoriety,  she landed a position for McDonalds as a company representative at conventions across the nation.  Marrisha’s dance accolades are numerous. Most memorably, she won the Scene Interactive Award where her video and headshot were posted for a year for choreographers in search for dancers, and also the DDO Artist Agency Award which allowed her to be represented and contracted by DDO as a dance professional at the age of 18.  Upon graduating from Lamar she began her career at Masters, the Upper Level(MUL) as a teacher/choreographer under Artistic Director Melissa Robinson.  During her time there, her students won numerous first place regional and national championships; her most recent was the Mini Large Intermediate Group Ultimate Challenge and Choreography Award of 2019 at the Hall of Fame Nationals.  While Miss Marrisha teaches a variety of ages and levels, she is also contracted with the Universal Dance Association for Collegiate, Secondary and Primary Students, teaching and choreographing for local high schools.  In 2019 her students won numerous top awards for regional school competitions.  Marrisha is currently a teacher and choreographer at The Dance Kollective!