Director/Owner: Lisa O'Sullivan

Lisa started her dance training at the age of 3. She has been trained in Classical Ballet, Pointe, Tap and Jazz. During high school she was also a State Level Competitive Gymnast. She was a Junior and Senior Company dancer at the Ruth Mitchell Dance Company until leaving for college.During her training as a Company dancer she performed in numerous productions at the Alliance Theatre in the Woodruff Arts Center. She trained with Ron Colton from the Augusta Ballet and Carol Paulk as well as many years of training with Ruth Mitchell herself. Lisa earned a degree in Economics from The University of Georgia. She is married with 3 boys, ages 23, 21 and 13. Lisa started teaching dance to pre-schoolers 15 years ago with Teaching Little Children in Marietta pre-schools and day care centers.  She started The Spirit of Dance in 2004 at McEachern United Methodist Church and added First United Methodist of Marietta in 2005.  Lisa has a true gift of teaching little ones the art of dance in a way that is motivating and fun.  She strives to make herself and her staff the best possible teachers they can be, by attending Dance Teacher Conferences throughout the year. These include the “Leap n Learn” early childhood dance workshop in Louisiana in July 2007 and the RheeGold Dancelife Teacher Conference in Phoenix, AZ, with her staff in 2008 and the Dance'em Teacher conference in 2010. Lisa’s love and enthusiasm for dance is apparent in her classroom.

Teacher: Dona Cangleosi

As a young girl, Dona began training with the early founders of The Atlanta Ballet, Merilee Smith and Robert Barnett. At seventeen, she traveled to New York to study dance, and received a degree from Dance Educators of America. Throughout college and pharmacy school, she continued training with the director of the Charleston Ballet, studied with Fiona Fairrie, a soloist with The Royal Ballet of London, and Gus Giordiano in Chicago. She has been an assistant dance teacher at UGA in the P.E. department, a substitute teacher for The Atlanta Ballet and Georgia Conservatory, worked with local Atlanta children’s theatre as a director and choreographer, and she developed a new performing arts program in a local private school in 2008. Although ballet is her strength, she has taught tap, jazz, and liturgical dance all over the metro area for over thirty eight years, and continues training as a classical singer. Dona works locally as a part time pharmacist, but her heart is in teaching dance, theatre and voice. She continues to teach and perform and believes we are never to old to start dancing. “Live with purpose... dance with passion, because life is not a dress rehearsal”.

Teacher: Ashley Wilson

Ashley has been dancing for 19 years and is going into her sixth year teaching.  She has trained in various styles of dance including Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, and Hip-Hop.  Ashley began her training at Becky Jones School of Dance in Smyrna, Georgia, and continued her training there for 5 years.  She continued on to The Georgia Ballet, and participated in various classical ballets, such as The Nutcracker, Snow White, and Coppelia.  In middle school, she was with Bravo Dance Center and danced competitively for 2 years.  In high school, she was a dance major in NASOTA (North Atlanta School of the Arts), and trained and travelled with them.  While in high school, she was also a company member at Praise Him With Dance (now Impact Dance of Atlanta).  She trained with them for a total of 7 years as she continued with them into their Post-Graduate Program.  Ashley is going into her third year teaching with The Spirit of Dance, and loves sharing her passion for dancing with the kids. Her goal is to continuing her training and striving to bring new and innovative styles into the classroom.

Teacher: Bethany Yanez

Bethany Yanez has been dancing for 12 years. She started her training at Dance Expressions Studio in Douglasville, Ga. and from there moved on to Praise Him With Dance (now Impact Dance Of Atlanta) where she become a company member in the Celebration Dance Company, and also a part of the Post-Graduate program. She has trained in various styles of dance including Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Modern, Hip-Hop, Lyrical & Tumbling. Bethany loves working with children, and her passion is teaching them how to worship and show God's love through dance.

Teacher: Bethany Miller

Ms. Bethany has a Minor of Fine Arts in Dance from Eastern Connecticut State University in addition to earning a Masters Degree in Social Work and being employed as an LCSW within Cobb County School District; where she founded a middle school dance team, an elementary after school dance program and a community benefit talent show. Ms. Beth has taught a variety of forms of jazz, tap, ballet and hip hop for more than 20 years contributing award winning choreography for private studios in New England and Georgia as well as collegiate non-profit schools of dance, public schools, summer enrichment programs and Christian music theater camps for all levels of students aged 2 through senior adult. Ms. Beth is now a licensed member of the ZUMBA Instructor Network and is excited to bring ZUMBA Fitness Classes to the Spirit of Dance community! Ms. Beth is proud to bring creativity for the individual and group to the class in addition to technique in a developmentally appropriate manner for a fun environment that promotes safety and the self-esteem of all dancers! Ms. Bethany and her husband have been members of FUMC since 2008 where her teenaged daughters are involved as well as her toddler aged son.

Teacher: Lauryn Holtzman

Lauryn has been dancing for 18 years and in her early years she studied ballet and tumbling. She began competitive Irish Step Dancing with the Mulligan School of Irish Dance under the instruction of Eileen Mulligan Evans and was a company dancer in the Tara Dance Company. Lauryn has studied IrishStep Dance for 12 years and is a Champion Irish Step Dancer and has competed and placed in several state, regional, and national competitions. Along with her training at the Mulligan School, she also studied under Michael Smith who is a former world champion. She also trained under Maggie Revis who is a multiple time world champion in Irish Dance and is the lead dancer for Michael Flateley’s “Lord of the Dance”. Lauryn has several years experience as a dance instructor and continues to be passionate about teaching Irish Dance to kids. She loves working with children and showing them that “to not dance is to sacrifice the gift God has given us”.

Teacher: Kasey Ashworth

Kasey Ashworth has developed her passion for dance over the past 17 years, 3 of which she has been teaching. She began following her heart at the age of three when she started dancing at DanceScape studios in Acworth, Georgia. Seven years into dancing, Kasey furthered her dancing education at Great Gig Dance Co in Kennesaw, Ga. She has studied with international known choreographers such as Mia Michaels and Laurie Ann Gibson. As a member of the company at DanceScape and the ensemble at Great Gig Kasey performed on a total of three cruise ships and competed all across the nation. As a choreographer and instructor for the past three years, she continues to grow and develop as a dancer and choreographer, Kasey believes there is always room to grow no matter how long or how experience you may be. Her experience choreography and instructing have consisted of TLC Dance Co in Marietta, Ga, Day Star Dance Studio in Kennesaw, Ga and Spirit of Dance also located in Kennesaw, Ga. Teaching all genres of dance and ages has lead Kasey to where she is now. She holds a special place in her heart for teaching genres such as contemporary Jazz, Hip-Hop, Character, and lyrical. Currently, she is enrolled at Kennesaw State University as a Junior where she is earning a degree in Political Science and Minoring in the art form of Dance.

Teacher: Katie Pilson

Katie has been dancing since she was 3 years old. She began dancing with Pat's School of Dance in Hendersonville, North Carolina and competed in their company. She moved to Georgia in 1992 and began dancing and competing at Center Stage School of Dance in Georgia. She assisted a dance program with her sister Laurel Austin for 6 years. She has been teaching dance on and off for the past 11 years. She has been very involved with Jubilation at FUMC of Marietta since she was 12 years old performing in musicals. She performed in 42nd Street at Marietta High School her senior year. She assisted choreographing in a few of the musicals as well. Dance and children are her passion and she hopes to share her gift for as long as God will allow her.

Teacher: Gina Lakatos

Gina has had a love of dance her whole life. She started taking lesson at the age of three and continued through the age of seventeen. At a young age she trained at Fern Adair Conservatory of the Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was there she performed with a competion Jazz team, Vegas Lights, also training in ballet, tap and tumbling. She took a break from dancing to engage in high school sports and activities. Gina then studied Early Education at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. It was there she met her husband of ten years. Life took them to Spartanburg, South Carolina and after having her first child, Brooke, now six, she decided to follow her heart and passion for dance. Gina trained at Star Maker's Dance Company in Lyrical, Hip Hop and Clogging Tap. Life then took them with the addition of her second child, Rush who is now three to Atlanta. She has studied Modern dance at the Atlanta Ballet. Since moving to Marietta, she has found a church home at FUMC and has been a part of their Jubilation Theatre for two years now. Gina enjoys working with children and sharing her enthusiasm for dance with them. She believes life is a song and it is our job as dancer, mothers and teachers to help others dance through it.