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.
Mrs. Tracy
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.
Mrs. Imelda
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.
Mr. Austin
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.
Ms. Corinne
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.