Lisa Tran - Studio Owner

Miss Lisa has been teaching dance to children since 2006, beginning in Boston, MA at the Dance Inn and Legacy Dance Company, and later relocating to Los Angeles in 2012. In the early days she balanced teaching dance with a civil engineering career, but after just a few short years it was undeniable that dance education was her true calling and she left the corporate life behind.

As a dance educator she has spent years developing and refining youth curriculums and training methods which have been demonstrated to develop young dancers’ artistry, strength, technique, and confidence. The best part about teaching dance is watching her students grow, both as dancers and as wonderful, kind, confident people over the years. Sharing, and instilling in her students, a love for dance is her everyday mission and it is truly the best job in the world <3

Shanelle Brooks - Dance Instructor

Shanelle began dancing at the age of 4 years old and is trained in Tap, Contemporary, Jazz, Hip Hop, Ballet, and Musical Theatre. At the age of 13 she started competitive dancing and continued until her senior year of high school, winning several awards along the way. She has performed in several theatre productions and has choreographed for a kids musical theatre company since 2021. Shanelle started out as an assistant teacher at her dance studio and later became a substitute teacher for a variety of genres. She is currently enrolled at College of the Canyons as a Performing Arts major. Her passion is to see her students excel in the art of dance and performance and to have fun while doing it.  

Laura Grissom - Dance Core Team Director & Coach

Ms. Grissom studied Musical Theatre, Children's Theatre, Theatre Production, and Dance at the University of Nevada, Reno. She toured with the Nevada Repertory Company in Guys and Dolls, and also performed in many theatrical productions throughout Reno including Oklahoma!, Gypsy, Cabaret, Chicago, Sweeney Todd, Oliver!, Hansel and Gretel, and Stop the World. Since establishing Kismet Kids Musical Theatre in 2011, Laura has directed and produced numerous children's musicals each year at elementary schools throughout the San Fernando Valley. For the past thirteen years, she has been a dance team director, coach, and choreographer, specializing in musical theatre, character, and production numbers and she is thrilled to join the WVDA family! Her greatest accomplishment remains her three wonderful children.

Mariah Grissom - Dance Instructor/Dance Core Coach

Mariah began her dance journey at a young age and is trained in jazz, lyrical, contemporary, ballet, jazz funk, and musical theatre. Discovering an early passion for instructing, Mariah began her teaching career at age 15, focused in educating young artists on the importance of technique and self-expression. In addition to teaching, Mariah has also been coaching competitive dance teams for the past 10 years. Her choreography has been awarded numerous Judge's Choice, High Point Placements, and Choreography Awards throughout Southern California. Additionally, Mariah has been choreographing for children's musical theatre programs at local schools since 2014. Having this experience as a coach and mentor, Mariah takes pride in connecting with each student as she helps them evolve as dancers and people, in and out of the classroom. Mariah's goal is to encourage students of all ages and levels to express their passion for dance and movement, while using the art as a creative and progressive outlet. She is excited to be back with the WVDA fam! 

Giselle Gutierrez - Dance Instructor

Giselle Gutierrez is from San Antonio, TX and has grown up in the dance world since she was five years old. She mainly fell in love with Broadway, however, as the years went by she discovered a TV show called ABDC and fell in love with urban dance. Giselle has danced contemporary, ballet, jazz, broadway , hip hop, modern, and many other styles. In February of 2022, She completed her Degree in Dance Theatre at AMDA College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts and began to enjoy her career as an industry professional. Not long after, she found a new passion that she never thought she would love, teaching! Teaching ages 2-18, Giselle enjoys being able to connect with her students and is so proud of all of their accomplishments as they go through the world of performing arts like she did. In her time away from dancing, Giselle loves to play with her dog, Rakim, and play video games with her Fiance, Noah! Giselle is very happy to be apart of the WVDA Family!

Rony Jacques - Dance Instructor

Rony Jacques is a Hip Hop dancer, choreographer, instructor, and freestyler. He currently teaches regularly and instructs master classes all over the New England area as well as California. He first started dancing while studying at Tufts University. He was a choreographer for their dance troupe, Spirit of Color, and captain of their all male step team, Blackout. Once he graduated, he became a member/choreographer of three professional dance teams; Iconic Movement, an all male step team, Static Noyze Dance Company, who were featured on season 5 of America's Best Dance Crew, and Concept Artists, one of Boston’s premier hip hop teams. He has trained and learned from dedicated and renowned instructors/choreographers such as Dave Scott, Cris Judd, Luam, Kelly Peters, Laurieann Gibson, Hamilton Evans, Havic, and Gil Duldulao. He has worked with various R&B/Pop artists such as Makio, Kenzie, and Erene and his dancing and work has been seen/featured on SYTYCD, Boston Kiss Concert 2013, Billboard.com, and Ghostbusters 2016.

Maya McClain - Dance Instructor

Maya Elaine McClain was born in Atlanta and raised 20 minutes north of the city. At age six, she took her first tap class and fell in love with dancing and performing. Maya spent over 10 years training at Renaissance International School of Performing Arts in Milton, GA. There she was an award-winning company member and studied Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Contemporary, Modern, Hip-Hop and Musical Theatre, Acting and Voice. While at RISPA, Maya was a mentor and a student-teacher where she taught Hip-Hop, Tap, Jazz, and Musical Theatre to the mini-companies. Maya earned a BFA in Theatre and Performance with a double Minor in Dance and Public Relations from Emerson College in Boston. While at Emerson, Maya was the Artistic Director of Emerson Urban Dance Theatre (EUDT), a student lead dance company.

Maya has performed in professional shows in Boston and the Metro Atlanta Area. She has trained with Debbie Allen, Savion Glover, Nan Giordano, and several Broadway veterans.

Kate Newham - Dance Instructor (on hiatus)

Kate Newham was born and raised on the beautiful Gold Coast, Australia, where she trained in every style of dance as well as Music, Drama and Singing. After completing Diplomas in Musical Theatre, Commercial Dance and Dance Teaching, she then went onto complete many professional Dance Contracts around the word for companies such as ‘Norwegian Cruise Line’ and ‘Warner Brother’s’. Over the past 8 years Kate has travelled around the world as a Professional Dancer and Choreographer and has performed in countries such as India, China, USA, The Bahamas and Australia and has danced on TV shows such as ‘So You Think You Can Dance’, and ‘Australia’s Got Talent’. In between performing and traveling the world Kate has found a passion for Dance Teaching and has taught all over Australia as well at the US winning numerous choreography awards! This soon led to many Dance Judging opportunities for Local and National Dance Competitions for elite and pre-professional dancers all over Australia and now the US.

Kate moved over from Australia and has been living in Los Angeles for the past 2 years to continue to peruse her professional Dance, Choreography and Teaching career and currently performs and works alongside some of LA’s top Entertainment Companies.

Nicole Turner - Dance Instructor/Dance Core Coach

After growing up training in ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical and hip hop at some of the top studios and conventions in Los Angeles, Nicole began her professional career as a dancer and choreographer at the age of 17. She has appeared dancing in various commercials, TV shows, and on Disney Channel. 

Although she continues to expand her professional career, she found her true passion lies with teaching and choreography. For over a decade Nicole has coached competitive dance teams and is highly recognized for her creative, award-winning contemporary style. She’s had the pleasure of working with local high school dance teams on group and soloist pieces. Her main goal is to give her students a positive outlet to express themselves through movement, while building them into strong and versatile dancers. She truly loves her profession and is excited to continue sharing her love of dance and supporting students to go on to become professional dancers.

Megan Vargas - Dance Instructor

Megan Vargas began her performing arts journey at age 5 as a hip-hop dancer. Her passion for performing immediately took off, leading her to join show choir, musical theater, and competitive dance. While her favorite style is hip-hop, she also trained in ballet, jazz, and contemporary. Three weeks after graduating high school, Megan jumped into college at AMDA Los Angeles, where she experienced hands-on training with working professionals in the film, dance, and theater industry. Since training at AMDA, Megan has gotten many teaching opportunities working with kids of all ages in hip hop, jazz, and musical theater. She also works as a performing artist in LA doing commercial work, theater, and more. Megan is so grateful for the opportunities she’s been given and will continue to share her creativity with others, as it’s what she loves most!