2019 -2020 instructors

    Rhodes Elliott comes to us 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-pro 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. Rhodes has been on staff at TADA since they opened their doors in 2014. He is married to TADA's Ballet Director, Elise Elliott, and they have a daughter, Annie.  

  Amanda was born in The Woodlands, Texas and grew up dancing in competitions before becoming a member of METdance's pre-professional  company, Met Too. She then attended University of Arizona and graduated May of 2016 from UAdance with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance. After graduation, Amanda joined Odyssey Dance Theater for their 2016 and 2017 Thriller seasons on tour. In the winter of 2017, she had the opportunity to dance in the east coast tour of Christmas Wonderland with Spirit Productions. She is currently represented by Movement Talent Agency and has done several commercial projects and shows in Los Angeles, California, including The B Side with 42 Seven Productions. She is currently a Houston Texans Cheerleader for the 2018-2019 season and loves teaching and choreographing at TADA!   

 Mirannda achieved her Master's of Fine Arts in Dance from Sam Houston State University. She now dances professionally in the Houston area, performing with contemporary ballet company, Nicolay Dance Works, Haven Arts Theatre, and the Texas Renaissance Festival Daytime and After Dark productions. As a choreographer, Mirannda has had her work performed on stages in Italy and Corpus Cristi. She is currently working with Dana Nicolay on an immersive production of Alice's Adventure's In Wonderland which will premiere in May 2018. Mirannda has studied dance in many places including, the Boston Conservatory, the American Dance Festival, and Dance Italia with notable choreographers and teachers such as Andrew Noble, Elizabeth Corbet, Dana Nicolay, Teoma Nacarrato, Giovanni Del Saenz, Jennifer Mabus, Christiano Fabbri, and more. Mirannda has been teaching children dance since she was in her teens. She is also a Yoga Alliance Certified yoga instructor and believes that dance and movement connect the mind and body in ways that cannot be achieved by any other means.    

 Hannah Weaver believes the performing arts are some of our culture’s most powerful conduits for expression and empathy. She has been performing most of her life and teaching for the last ten years. Hannah has seen the lives of many young people transformed into lives of great courage and compassion through the vessel of Musical Theatre. Students in her care gain confidence and belonging while sharpening their skills on stage. Hannah is proud to be a part of the TADA family of faculty since the fall of 2014. Hannah has also been teaching, directing, and choreographing with CYT Houston since 2010. She was recently nominated for Best Choreographer in the 2019 Regional BroadwayWorld Awards due to her work on CCT’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in the summer of 2019. Hannah also performs as frequently as possible. Her most recent credits include Potiphar’s Wife in “Joseph,” with CCT Houston for which she was also nominated Best Supporting Actress in the 2019 Regional BroadwayWorld Awards, Disciple/Morgan in Godspell with The Players Theatre Company, and Medda Larkin in Newsies with CCT Houston.   

 ​Ana Acevedo comes to us from El Salvador, where she received her training at the National School of Dance, Morena Celarie.  She was a member of the prestigious Teatro de Danza Contemporanea  (contemporary ballet company based in El Salvador) for many years, dancing to sold-out performances throughout El Salvador and the United States.  She was honored to appear as a soloist in several performances including Paquita, Don Quixote, and Swan Lake among others.  In 2005 she received her certification at the Royal Ballet Academy in London to teach the most advanced levels of ballet and pointe, and to submit students for testers for the RAD Global Examination.  She has directed and choreographed numerous ballets, including The Nutcracker, Cats, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and was the Director of Ballet at HFAC in Houston.   

 RISA D’SOUZA is a Houston native, where she began her training in the MET too Youth Company performing works by Pattie Obey and Kiesha White. She attended the HSPVA and had the opportunity to dance in Tidal Intersections by Katarzyna Skarpetwoska with METdance during her senior year. She is a Point Park University graduate where she performed works by Randy Duncan, Alejandro Cerrudo, Ohad Naharin, Toru Shimazaki, Doug Bentz, and Garfield Lemonius. She was also awarded a scholarship to the 2013 Parsons Dance Summer Intensive. Upon graduation she danced with Reed Dance where she got to perform works by Terence Green and Christopher Huggins. She recently finished five seasons with METdance performing works by Kyle Abraham, Josh Manculich, Mario Zambrano, Rosie Herrera, Joshua Peugh, Camille A. Brown, Joe Celej, Larry Keigwin, Jess Hendricks, jhon stronks, Kiki Lucas and Katarzyna Skarpetowska. Risa is elated to be a founding company member of Houston Contemporary! She currently teaches, choreographs, and performs all over the Houston area and abroad, and is highly trained and gifted in jazz and contemporary.  TADA welcomes her to our staff, beginning in the summer of 2016.  

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 will be teaching at the Woodlands and West locations, and working closely with Team TADA.   

  Ms. Moy brings a depth of knowledge, insight, joy and inspiration to her teaching that is matched only by her unwavering quest to find the best for her students. An acclaimed dancer of extraordinary versatility, Ms. Moy’s career has taken her around the world. With the Boston Ballet Company, under the Direction of Founder E. Virginia Williams she has danced the works of: Petipa, Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, and others. She has also danced for Ohio Ballet, Spokane Ballet, Rhode Island Festival Ballet, Ballet Theater of Boston, and the Boston Dance Company. The New York Times wrote of her featured performance as Amour, in Rudolf Nureyev’s “Don Quixote”, “.. Stephanie Moy’s great success as the Cupid figure, A more darting, mischievous and totally alive in the classical spirit, was well deserved!”. These are qualities her students might well recognize in her classes. She has taught at the Boston School of Ballet, Boston Conservatory, Ballet Theater of Boston, Ohio Ballet & Festival Ballet of RI. In addition, she was the director of the American Academy of Dance in Mansfield MA from 2001 to 2014. Ms. Moy’s charisma is matched by her professionalism, making her classes inspiring for all who study with her. She is dedicated to sharing her passion for the art of dance with all. “ I have found that dance can make a positive impact on the lives of all. Dancing is for everyone, and it can contribute in so many ways to quality of life. Art is so important to our culture and for our children. We all want our children to be happy, healthy and well educated. It is so imperative that we dance. Dance is an expression of life.”  

 Lexi Lee grew up in Alabama and began dancing at age 3. After moving to Texas in 2005, she continued her competitive dance training at Prodigy Dance and Performing Art centre studying Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Lyrical, Contemporary and Hip Hop. In her youth, Lexi traveled all over the nation competing as a group member and soloist winning numerous overall and standout awards from various competitions and conventions including NUVO, Star Power, Jump, NYCDA, Hall of Fame, and Dance Awards Studio of the Year to name a few. Lexi received her BFA in Performance and Choreography from Texas State University. She had the honor of working with various choreographers from all over the world as a member of the Pre-Professional Dance Company, Merge Dance Co. Lexi was also a company member and the financial director of Orchesis Dance Company throughout her college career. During this time, she had the opportunity to train at multiple studios such as Broadway Dance center, Peridance Capezio Center and Gibney Dance in New York. Her Senior year of college Lexi was awarded the Karen Earl Scholarship for Choreography and Performance - one of the highest honors a dance major can receive at Texas State. Lexi's passion for performing is only matched by her passion for teaching dance. Lexi began assistant teaching at age 15 and has continued her teaching career ever since. Lexi has taught and choreographed all styles of dance and has received numerous winning choreography awards both regionally and nationally. Her versatility and energy in the classroom is unparalleled. Lexi is thrilled to share her love for dance with TADA students at both the West and Woodlands locations in the 2019-2020 season.  

 ​Davis Stumberg graduated from the University of North Texas with his BA in Dance in 2014. Aside from his dance training he was a collegiate and competitive cheerleader, and has taught gymnastics and cheerleading for many years.He is a professional dancer and lives in Houston. He has been a guest artist for Nobel Motion, and performed in the Houston Grand Opera’s productions Rusalka and Faust. He is currently in his second season with Open Dance Project, and a member of FRAME dance. We are thrilled to welcome Davis to the TADA family!​  

Cedric Hicks is an artist born and raised in Houston, Tx who's known for his street style of dance and ninja like flips. He's a full time dancer with over 13 years of performance experience and has toured extensively  throughout the U.S. and many other countries as a Diplomats of the United States. He and his company (Soul Street) have  some of the  number one outreach shows  in the country. 

As a Result of this notoriety, they receive a Proclamation Date in Houston Texas “SOUL STREET DAY” every July 3rd. Although self taught in dance he’s been trained in Gymnastic for 10 plus years under the guidance of  Coach Wilma Smith. He has performed at some of the most prestigious theaters and festivals worldwide with some of Hip-Hop’s biggest musical acts. From 2008- 2016 he was a  member of the HOUSTON ROCKETS  Launch Crew, the number 1 Entertainment crew in the NBA. He was also a member of “SONKISS’D Dance Theater” Lead instructor at the “ENSEMBLE THEATRE" and is now Director of Soul Street Dance Company.  He's recently joined up with one of the only Hip-Hip Schools in Texas “Break Free Hip-Hop School”, which teaches children all the elements of Hip-Hop (MC, DJ, Graffiti Artist and the Dancer ). As of 2018 he is now touring with “MONSTER ENERGY” entertainment. Dancing is his passion and with it he loves to create.