Angela Apel
Owner / Instructor
Angela has 15 years of dance experience in jazz, tap, ballet, lyrical and acrobatics. She was a company dancer at a nationally awarded dance studio, Suzette's Masters of Dance. There, she was part of an elite group that won several 1st overall National Championships.
Throughout high school, Angela was also on the varsity dance team. During that time, she was honored to be chosen as a member of the Shock Wave NBA dance team and was also asked to join the dance team for the NBA Detroit Pistons.
Angela attended Michigan State University where she was selected to be on the MSU Cheer Leading Team. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and later received a Masters in Education from DePaul University.
Tara Tassio
Owner / Instructor
Tara began dancing at the young age of 3 and soon developed a strong love for dancing, performing, and competing. Her years of competitive training took place at Suzette's Masters of Dance, one of the top rated dance studios in the nation. She trained extensively in Jazz, Lyrical, Ballet, Tap, and Acrobatics. She has traveled around the country performing and competing and has won several National Dance Championship awards. Tara has had the privilege of performing at NBA halftime shows and also received a dance scholarship to University of Northern Colorado.
Dance has been such a positive part of Tara's life, providing numerous lifelong skills as well as wonderful memories. Tara has always had a passion for teaching and choreographing. She was the captain of her varsity high school dance team where she was a first place National Dance Team Champion and appeared on ESPN. She also coached an All-Star Dance Team who took a national championship award in Orlando, Florida. Later, Tara attended Michigan State University where she received a degree in Elementary Education.
Throughout her years of teaching dance to children of all ages, Tara has received numerous Choreography Awards and National Championship Titles. Tara is excited to share her love for dance and everything it has to offer with the students of District Dance Company.
Alyssa Slack
Owner / Instructor
Alyssa grew up dancing competitively in Michigan where she trained intensively at Suzette’s Masters of Dance, a renowned dance studio, for 14 years. She is trained in Jazz, Lyrical, Tap, Acrobatics and Ballet. During her years of studio training, Alyssa was also a high school Varsity Dance Team member for four years. She was the first freshman in the history of UCS to make the Varsity team.
Some exciting opportunities Alyssa had during her dancing career include being a back-up dancer for Enrique Iglesias during the Detroit Half Time Show and dancing multiple half time shows for the Detroit Pistons. She was also asked to model in the Leo’s Dancewear National catalog, which was an experience of a lifetime.
After graduating, Alyssa attended Oakland University where she received a Bachelor's in Elementary Education. During that time, she was a studio director and studio choreographer for a local dance studio. There, she won over 300 Platinum medals, multiple National Titles and was awarded numerous Choreography Awards. Alyssa is excited to share her wealth of knowledge and love of dance with the District Dance Company.
Tracy Schneider
Instructor
Mrs. Tracy has 23 years of extensive dance experience combined with 10 years of teaching and choreography to a wide range of levels and age groups in ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, and hip hop. She developed a strong love for dance while training under Keely Jardell and began dancing competitively at the age of 10. Under the direction of Keely Jardell, her team won multiple national championship titles, Grand Champions at the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Dance competition, and Mrs. Tracy was awarded first runner up soloist as Teen Miss Headliner during National competition.
Mrs. Tracy has had the honor of performing in New York City and Washington D.C. as well as being a part of the showcased act in the pre-game performance for the Dallas Cowboys and multiple half time performances. Tracy also performed with the Mid County Performing Arts Company as one of the original cast members holding several lead roles. After high school graduation, she served as an Assistant Director for the company for 5 years until moving to Houston.
Imelda Butcher
Instructor
Mrs. Imelda has had the amazing privilege of teaching dance to young children for over 20 years. Her dance teaching journey started in Queens, NY at Dance Dynamics Inc. where she began teaching while in high school and until she moved to Katy, TX in 2017. She attended Queens College, CUNY earning her BA in Family Consumer Science- Nutrition during which time she also trained in dance.
Her dance experience is in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, and Contemporary. Mrs. Imelda has instructed contemporary dance classes at Dance Space Inc., performing works from emerging NYC and international choreographers including Jana Hicks, Max Stone, Marijke Eliasberg, Diane McCarthy, Guido Tuveri, Apollonia Holzer, and Victor Butcher. She credits this time in her dance journey for realizing her movement vocabulary , potential and artistry as a dancer.
Imelda feels blessed that she has been given the opportunity to enrich children's lives through teaching them dance. She is excited about sharing her love for dance with her students and helping them discover the joy of movement.
Austin Harris
Instructor
Mr. Austin began competitive cheer when he was 9 years old and has over 13 years of cheerleading and tumbling experience. Austin was a Varsity cheerleader at Seven Lakes Highschool where he became a UCA ALL American his senior year.
While a competitive cheerleader, Austin was a two-time national champion at NCA Nationals and won several 1st place awards at many other National Cheer Competitions, including the Cheer Sport National Competition.
Mr. Austin graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in Kinesiology and hopes to attend nursing school in the spring.
Corinne Wangbichler
Instructor
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Ms. Corinne is an aspiring dancer, choreographer and instructor from the Metropolitan Detroit area. She began dancing at the age of 2, training at renowned dance studios in the area. She was a competitive dancer winning numerous Regional and National Titles. She attended Arts Academy in the Woods, a performing arts high school. Corinne was also recognized as “Dancer of the Year” and “Choreographer of the Year" where her Senior Project was chosen to perform at her Commencement Ceremony.
Corinne has trained vigorously in ballet, modern, contemporary and jazz. She completed her BFA in Dance Performance at Marygrove College under the direction of Jordeen Ivanov-Ericson, Susan Panek and Steven Hadala. She was also a part of the elite National Honor Society, Nu Delta Alpha. Corinne is a recipient of the Oldani Performing Arts Scholarship and Outstanding Dance Student Award. She is also the first ever recipient of the Jordeen Ivanov-Ericson Choreography Award. Corinne’s original choreography, Redefining Tranquility, was selected to perform at the American College Dance Association, where it was also selected to perform in their Gala Concert as one of the only 2 Marygrove College pieces to have ever been selected.
Corinne was also a founding member of ConteXture dance Detroit, a contemporary-based professional dance company under the direction of Tracy Halloran. She has performed in numerous professional dance festivals such as ConteXture’s own concerts, Detroit Dance City Festival, Brighton Dance Festival, MC3 and many more. In 2018, Corinne was a backup dancer for the band WILSON in their music video “Rockstar.”
Starting at the age of 17, Corinne has had the pleasure of teaching all ages at multiple dance studios. Corinne has won many Choreography awards, Choreographer of The Year award, and has produced many award-winning routines throughout her career as a teacher. She is extremely enthusiastic about the art of dance and competition dance. She feels blessed to share her knowledge and passion with District Dance Company.
Ruthie Phillips
Instructor
Ms. Ruthie grew up dancing in the Houston area, training primarily in ballet with the late Mrs. Catriona Steel at Allegro West Academy of Dance and the Houston Ballet Academy. She attended Belhaven University in Jackson, MS on a dance scholarship, where she earned a BFA in Dance, Ballet Emphasis.
Upon graduation, Ruthie returned to Texas and earned her educational teaching certificate. She taught kindergarten in Cypress Fairbanks ISD, while simultaneously teaching ballet at Allegro West for nine years.
Ruthie currently lives in Katy with her husband, Jacob, and three children. Sharing the love of dance and pursuit of growth is one of her greatest joys, because the enriching impact it can have on students is lifelong.
Mallory Walker
Instructor
Mrs. Mallory is a life long dancer, who dreamed of one day becoming a dance teacher herself. She began dancing at the age of 3 in Clear Lake, TX and hasn't stopped! After dancing in her studio, she auditioned and was asked to join a competitive dance team, the Clear Lake Rockette's, at 11 years old. Her passion only grew from there and in High School, Mrs. Mallory had the very busy honor to be apart of two dance teams- the Rockette's and her high school drill team, the Clear Lake Flairs. Mrs. Mallory learned hard-work, dedication and resilience and it sure paid off! She was blessed to experience National Champion titles in both programs, almost every year. After high school, Mrs. Mallory was asked to dance on the Baylor Spirit Squads as Songleader. After she had the best time on the. spirit squads, she joined Baylor Marketing to learn the ins and outs of sports management and representation (including dance) she could be as well rounded as she could if God were to ever answer her prayer of entering back into the dance world, but this time as an instructor.
After graduating college and getting married, Mrs. Mallory became an elementary school teacher. But dance didn't stop. She became head coach of a high school dance team in Monument, Colorado and had an incredible journey. Once her family moved back to Texas a few years later, she had the privilege to teach once at a high school level, while also serving as the assistant director to the dance/drill team. While the majority of Mrs. Mallorys professional years are teaching at the elementary level, those years of experience have been instrumental in her strategies and ways of teaching and supporting dancers today.
Mrs. Mallory is so excited to continue her dance career at District Dance and cannot wait to grow alongside her dancers and watch them flourish and grow each week. Dance has always been a passion of hers and she is ecstatic to share it with her daughter, and with all of the precious dancers that are in her classes!
Kelli Melancon
Instructor and Costume Designer
