INSTRUCTORS

Taylor Raley Wilson is a native of Wilmington, NC and Co-Director of South East Dance Academy. Taylor attended Virginia Commonwealth University where she
graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography. While attending VCU she had the privilege of performing choreography by accredited staff and colleagues whilst also participating in a Pedagogy Internship under the guidance of Courtney Harris and Village Dance Companies director Melissa Gravely. Taylor traveled abroad to Doha, Qatar and participated in the VCU- Qatar Taseem conference; an international arts event. Taylor has also had the opportunity to showcase her own choreography on many stages including The Grace Street Theater, The Druker Center, and at Carolina Dance Masters solo-title weekend at the Khoury Convention Center. Since graduation, Taylor relocated to Chicago and has interned with Thodos Dance Chicago, performed as a company member with Cocodaco Dance Company, J. Lindsay Brown Dance, and as a founding member of Peckish Rhodes Performing Arts Society. As a free lance performer she has also been featured in several pop up performances for dance festivals, and performance showcases including THAW, Dance Chance at Lou Conte, Going Dutch, Delve, and many others. Taylor most recently took over as South East Dance Academys Performing Team Director, has became Level 1-3 Acrobatic Arts Certified, and travels setting choreography and teaching master classes for studios across Chicago and Eastern North Carolina.

James DeVita is originally from Owego, NY where he began his training in ballet, tap, and jazz at age 3 at Kathy Hansen’s School of Dance. At age 12, he continued his technical training at Ballet Arts Theatre in Endicott, NY under the direction of Tina Christina-Price. Throughout his time at both studios,James competed at numerous regional and national competitions, and performed in several regional performances of The Nutcracker and other originally choreographed works. He also attended Joffrey Ballet’s summer sessions in New York City. James continued his training while attending Colgate University where he also taught ballet, jazz, and technique classes at the United Academy of Dance in Oneida, NY. Since completing his undergraduate degree, he has performed with and taught for several regional companies in the Northeast, including New England Ballet Company, Ithaca Ballet, and Hangar Theater Company. While working on his graduate degrees at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, James performed with, and taught and choreographed for the UT Dance Company. In 2010-2011 he was the primary ballet instructor with Charlee’s Elite School of Dance in Waukee, IA. James also works as an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington.

Kristi Stevens took her first dance steps at age 8 and found her way to Dance Dimensions (Brookfield, CT) under founder Beverly Legge, and current director Dody Flynn. Realizing her passion for dance, she began her journey with Dance Masters of America starting Teacher Training School as a high school senior, studying with renowned educators Tom Ralabate, Larraine Susa, Bill Thomas, PJ Catalano, Judy Rice, Jill Chase and Lynne Kurdziel Formato to name a few. Kristi continued the TTS program in the summers earning the post-graduate level and successfully passing certification exams in ballet, jazz, modern and tap. She is a 2004 graduate of East Carolina University (BFA in Dance Education) as well as a licensed massage therapist from the Connecticut Center of Massage Therapy (Clinical Massage Program 2006), a licensed Pilates Mat instructor and a Module One Certified Teacher with Acrobatic Arts. As a dance instructor, Kristi shares her love for anatomy and how to safely use their bodies to be the best dancer possible. Kristi has been a member of Carolina Dance Masters since 2006 and currently serves on their Board of Directors. She has been teaching at South East Dance Academy since 2007 and lives in Wilmington with her husband Seth and two incredible children, Russell and Coraleigh.

LaVonda Howard is a graduate of East Carolina University where she received a BFA in dance and was the recipient of the Marie Wallace Dance Scholarship. While at ECU, she was a member of the “5678” Musical Theater performances. She also appeared in the musical “Gypsy” with Barbara Bosson of Hill Street Blues. LaVonda danced professionally and traveled throughout North and South America on various cruise lines such of Royal Caribbean, Costa, Holland America and Celebrity. Being a veteran of the stage, she also performed on stages in San Diego, CA at the Coronado Resort, Showboat and Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, and the Newport Hotel and Resort in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

LaVonda has appeared in local theater productions in the Wilmington area including “42nd Street”, “Guys and Dolls” and “A Chorus Line”. Film credits include “Track 29”, “Cats Eye”, “Firestarter” and most recently onset of the film “Adrenaline”. Industrial credits include Daisytek, Ross Stores and IBM.

For the past 17 years, she has taught dance to recreational and competitive students. LaVonda is a 6-year Breast Cancer Survivor. In her spare time she is very dedicated to volunteering for charity organizations such as Women of Hope, Susan G. Komen and Pretty in Pink Foundation. LaVonda is a single mom of two beautiful children Brooke (15) and Trevor (11) of whom she shares life’s treasurable moments! She is excited for the “new” chapter in her life and delighted to share her passion and love of dance to children of all ages!

Anthony is a native to Wilmington and grew up training with Mira Fox-Lamendola. At 18 he moved to Los Angeles where he danced professionally with Bloc Talent Agency. He has taught and performed all over the country in genres such as tap, hip hop, contemporary, and jazz. Currently, he is working for Revive Dance Convention and is a Remix teacher for Adrenaline Dance Convention. He is very excited to be in Wilmington this summer to teach and share with everyone!

Sean Tinkler was born in St Petersburg Florida and moved to Wilmington at the age of 3. He started teaching himself gymnastics at the age of 8 and specialized in trampoline and floor tumbling. Sean started teaching at Gymnastics Unlimited in 2002 and has continued to teach privately till the present. He has 15 years teaching experience. When he is not teaching, he also owns and operates an automotive paint and body refinishing business. Sean is very excited to be working with South East Dance Academy.

Audrey Buck relocated to Wilmington, NC when she was ten years old and quickly found a home inside the walls of South East Dance Academy. She was a member of our SEDA Performing Team for five years. In that time, she studied Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary, Lyrical and Hip Hop. Audrey has an Associates in Fine Arts as well as an Associates in American Sign Language Interpreting. She is currently working on her Bachelor’s Degree in American Sign Language Interpreting at Gallaudet University. Audrey just gave birth to her first baby, Adaline, who will be joining the SEDA family before too long.

Sage started her dance journey at 3 years old at a small school in Maryland. When she was 13 her family moved to Wilmington, where her passion for the arts grew. Sage started training in classical ballet 6 days a week for the next 5 years. Over these years she incorporated many different dance styles into her training including modern, tap, jazz & theater dance. She was given the opportunity through her ballet training to attend many ballet programs with scholarships; some of her favorites were American Ballet Theater & UNCSA. After training under Diane Orio Gerberg (former principal/assistant director at Joffrey) she learned her calling was not to join a company but to share her experience with the younger students. Sage began teaching and fell in love with it after helping put on her first behind the scenes Nutcracker. Sage attended Cape Fear Community College and now gets to be a stay at home mom to her son, Laith.

Originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, Danie Johnson Turpin received her BFA in Dance performance from East Carolina University. While in college, Danie had the opportunity to work with guest artists such as Koresh Dance, Zalman Raffael, and Richard Smith. She spent her college years training from the Faculty of the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City while serving on their staff. Danie has danced professionally with Inaside Dance Chicago, Stewart Owen Dance, Cocodaco Dance Project, Moonwater Dance Project, Forward the Movement, and the Asheville Ballet. Through her professional career, she has performed at the National College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center, the New York City Dance Gallery Festival, the Cleveland Dance Festival, the North Carolina Dance Festival, the Asheville Fringe Festival, and as a main stage company dancer at the Diana Wortham Theatre. In addition to her performance career, Danie has taught, choreographed, and coached for ages 3-23. She has served as the Head Cheer and Dance Coach for both Montreat College and UNC Asheville. Accompanying her experience teaching dance, Danie has taught Pure Barre for over half a decade, informing the way she instructs her students in the dance studio. Danie is also a dance competition judge and has worked for several competitions since 2017.She is beyond excited to return to her Wilmington roots and bring her knowledge and energy to the dancers at SEDA.

Katherine Moffa is a native of Wilmington, North Carolina. She began dancing at the age of three, and considers herself extremely lucky to have discovered her passion at such a young age. Katherine grew up competing regionally and nationally and continued competing in college as a member and choreographer of UNC Wilmington’s competitive hip hop team, Physical Grafeeti. Katherine is certified through Dance Masters of America and Carolina Dance Masters. She has trained in all forms of dance including, ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, contemporary, pointe, musical theatre, pom and acrobatics. She has had the privilege to have taught dance in North Carolina and most recently in New York. Since Katherine began teaching, her choreography has won numerous high honors, overalls, judges awards and choreography awards at various competitions throughout the Tri-State region, as well as in North Carolina and South Carolina. Her choreography has been showcased twice at the New York Knicks game at Madison Squared Gardens in Manhattan. Her students have been selected and performed at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as well. Katherine’s students have won various titles and scholarships through competitions as well. While in Wilmington, Katherine has had the pleasure to work on film with CW Networks, “Hart Of Dixie” and has worked and performed for Opera House Theater Company in several of their live theater productions such as, “The Will Rogers Follies”, “The Producers”, “Hairspray”, “The King and I”, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”, “My Fair Lady”, and “A Chorus Line”, just to name a few. She has also enjoyed performing in Wilmington’s Dance-a-lorus, Cucalorus Film Festival. Over the years Miss Katherine has found that there’s nothing more rewarding than teaching and mentoring children that are eager to learn how to dance. She strives to instruct all of her students to understand the importance of dance vocabulary (and has been known to give an occasional vocab test in ballet class). She enjoys breaking down the physics of dance, and loves it when she sees a student’s “light bulb” come on! Miss Katherine feels it’s her duty in life to create and instill the love of dance in any child that walks through SEDA’s door. She is happy to be going into her 13th year of teaching and is excited to be back home with her husband Travis and their two beautiful boys! Furthermore, she is so very excited to be back teaching in her home studio with her SEDA family!

Sophie Johnson began dancing at the age of 2 with South East Dance Academy where she completed 16 years of dance.  She competed with the SEDA Performing Teams for 12 years in the genres of ballet, tap, jazz, acro, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop and modern where she placed in many overalls.  Sophie has been recognized for her technique and performance abilities over the years as a soloist and duet/trio partner.  She was a Junior Member with Carolina Dance Masters where she learned curriculum as well as volunteered for the organization at conventions.  Sophie has been assisting SEDA classes and our Princess Camps since she was tall enough.  She has attended conventions with Carolina Dance Masters, Artists Simply Human and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.  She was awarded Regional Miss Dance Machine Title Holder for her Senior Solo in 2023.  Sophie has also most recently become a Certified Nurse Assistant which is her first step of her goal to a degree in Nursing.  When Sophie’s not dancing, she loves to go to the beach and go shopping.  She can’t wait to share her passion for dance with the dancers of SEDA.

Rebecca Johnson (Burlington) is a North Carolina native and alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she received a BFA in dance. She has returned to North Carolina after moving to Los Angeles in 2017 where she was teaching and dancing professionally. Rebecca has danced since she was 3 years old and taught students of all ages since 2009. She was also the head coach for the competition team at Santa Monica School of Dance and Music for three years. Growing up, she was actively involved at her studio; taking ballet, jazz, modern, hip hop, dance team and African dance classes while performing with the studio dance company and teaching the younger students. At UNC Greensboro she furthered her dance education learning techniques such as safety release, Graham, Cunningham, and contact improvisation, which influence her style greatly today. During her time at UNCG, she performed at the NC Dance Festival, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. through the American Collegiate Dance Association, and the Joyce Theater in New York with the Martha Graham Dance Company in “Prelude to Action.” In Los Angeles, she trained with renowned choreographers such as Brian Friedman, Tyce Diorio, Talia Favia, Tessandra Chavez, Chaz Buzan and Tricia Miranda. She danced with Ornelas Hernandez Dance Company and performed as a backup dancer for Royal & the Serpent and drag queen, GLAMAZONPRIME, for Santa Monica Pride at the Promenade. Rebecca is so excited to join our teaching staff here at the South East Dance Academy and share her love for dance with her students.