Providing Excellent Training for Over 30 Years

B.S. in Education, Georgia State University

Dance Major, Virginia Intermont College

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Cathleen has been a dance educator since 1981. She is a native of Georgia and began her dance training at the Decatur School of Ballet under the direction of Marie Ellen Roberts. She later trained at the Atlanta Ballet under Merilee Smith and Robert Barnett. Cathy received her jazz training at Dan & Company Studios under the direction of Dan and Rhonda Yumans. She continued her studies training with David Howard, Robert Joffrey, Ruth Mitchell, Stanley Zompokas, Terrell Paulk and Melissa Hayden to name a few.

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Prior to opening her own studio, Cathleen taught on faculty at Decatur School of Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Gwinnett School of Ballet, American Academy of Ballet (New York) and within the Tri-Cities area of Virginia and Tennessee. 

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Cathleen's great love for dance and interest in passing her knowledge onto students prompted her to open the Academy of Ballet in 1994 and became known as "Miss Cathy" to her students. In 1997, Miss Cathy developed the Academy Performing Ensemble, offering advanced students an even higher level of training. Throughout the years she has set many productions for the Academy of Ballet, including Cinderella, Coppelia, Swan Lake, Wizard of Oz, Beauty Meets Beast and The Children's Nutcracker. 

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As director and owner of Academy of Ballet, Miss Cathy has successfully organized an excellent staff, loving learning environment and exceptional dance training for all levels. 

Artistically, Angela is a Choreographer, Dancer and Creative Director. Angela is originally from Baltimore, MD and a graduate of The Baltimore School for the Arts. She trained at Dance Theater of Harlem, School of the Hartford Ballet & Eglevsky Ballet. She attended Mercyhurst College and City College of New York, earning a B.A. in Journalism, while dancing on a full ballet scholarship at Steps on Broadway in NYC. Angela performed soloist and principal roles with The Georgia Ballet (GA), Columbia City Ballet (SC) and Urban Ballet Theater (NYC). Her professional theater performance credits include 'Chicago' (Lipchitz), 'A Chorus Line' (Kristine DeLuca), 'Hunchback of Notre Dame', 'Annie Get Your Gun' and 'Camelot' at the Aurora Theatre and 'Sophisticated Ladies' and 'Degas Little Dancer' at the Tony Award-winning Alliance Theatre. Additionally, she was a soloist dancer for Jasmine Guy's production of 'Daughters of Alpha' in New Orleans, LA and a principal dancer in Dimension Films, 'Scary Movie V'. As a choreographer, Angela has created work for companies and academies, including The Georgia Ballet, Steps on Broadway, Spelman College, Ballet Lubbock and Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute. Her theater choreographic credits include the Southeastern premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Song & Dance' (Aurora Theatre); 110 in the Shade (Theatrical Outfit); Frankenstein's Funeral (Found Stage); The First Noel (True Colors Theater Company); Bridges of Madison County (Aurora Theatre), as well as several productions at Kennesaw State University and Georgia Tech. Angela was one of five Inaugural National Visiting Fellows at the School of American Ballet. In 2016, she received a SDCF Observership and worked with Tony Award winning director/choreographer, Susan Stroman, on the new musical, Little Dancer, during its Broadway Lab. Angela was recognized with the 2022 Suzi Bass Award for Outstanding Choreography for her work on 'Song & Dance' at the Aurora Theatre. Most recently, Angela was recognized by Atlanta Magazine as one of 2025’s 500 Most Powerful Leaders in Atlanta, and received the Women Making a Mark Award.

 

Angela is currently on faculty at Emory University, Spelman College, Brenau University and is a ballet instructor at Dekalb School for the Arts & Academy of Ballet in addition to serving as the Executive Artistic Officer for Dance Canvas, Inc. She received the National Emerging Leader Award from Americans for the Arts and American Express and was a 2021 Women in the Arts and Business Honoree through Synchronicity Theater. Additionally, Angela serves on the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Arts Advisory Task Force and on the Board of Women in Dance Leadership.

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Nicole Campbell is a sought after choreographer and ajudicator based in Atlanta. She is on faculty as a judge and master teacher with Motiv8 Dance Convention, OneBeat Dance Brands and 8 National Talent Competition.

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Nicole holds a B.S. in Dance from Wayne State University, which she received following her childhood training at Robert Lee School of Dance and Churchill High School's Creative and Performing Arts ("CAPA") program. She has spent summers training with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, University of Michigan MPulse, Artistic Adventures NYC and under the mentorship of David Norwood. She has continued her professional development with Mather Dance Company's Teacher Intensive in Orange County, California and Dance Teacher Summit in NYC.

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Nicole was a featured choreographer and performer in Collabaret's Hysteria residency at Memento Atlanta in early 2024. Nicole's previous performance credits include Hannibal Buress, WLDATL, Madhouse, Beacon Dance, Flash Mob America, Gotta Dance Contemporary, Melodic Nocturne Dance Tribe, JTDance and Riley Cooper. As part of the United Way/Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Halftime Show, Nicole has danced for recording artists including Kid Rock, Nickelback, Shontelle and Forever the Sickest Kids.

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Nicole's choreography has been presented in concerts for DanceATHENS, Oakland Dance Festival, artLabJ and MoreDances Contemporary Dance Company. In 2019 Nicole's Academy of Ballet students and choreography were featured in the NBC special Holidays with the Houghs.

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Nicole has been named "Top Teacher" 6 times by Star Systems National Talent Competition. Her dynamic and unique style has been recognized with over 10 Outstanding Choreography awards and an Industry Dance Awards nomination. Nicole has led her dancers to multiple National Champion and National Title finishes, along with multiple scholarship awards from the World Dance Championships. 

Kim received her early training at the Joni Messler Studio of Dance and Dance Theatre of Santa Fe in Gainesville, Florida. She later studied at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School with David Holladay and the Joffrey Ballet School with Francesca Corkel and Dorothy Lister. After graduating from Santa Fe Community College, Kim danced with the Georgia Ballet for seven years where she was featured in Balanchine's Allegro Brilliante, Serenade, and Iris Henley's Nutcracker where she danced many lead roles including Spanish and Dewdrop.

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Since her arrival at the Academy of Ballet in August 2000, Kim has choreographed several works that have been performed at the Festival of Trees and Balletfest. In addition to teaching our Adult Ballet classes, Kim is the director of The Children's Nutcracker. 

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Kim has had the honor of performing in pieces by Lonnie Davis, Sarah Boies, David Norwood, Emily Vanderkley and Tianna Skyes. She continues to dance professionally, performing samba and hula with Dance Brazil. She is grateful to work alongside Miss Cathy and pass on her love of dance to the students at Academy of Ballet. 

Julia Johnson is originally from Wichita, KS, and grew up training and performing with Ballet Wichita. She has studied with world-class teachers at Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Kansas City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Julia holds a BFA in Ballet from Texas Christian University, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a Minor in Movement Science.

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Julia has enjoyed teaching young dancers across the DFW and Atlanta metroplexes while pursuing her own professional dance career. She has performed in ballets by renowned choreographers such as Paul Mejia and George Balanchine, and is currently a member of Gwinnett Ballet Threatre.

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Julia Johnson is an ABT certified teacher, having successfully completed the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT National Training Curriculum. 

Marygrace Campbell was born in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Prior to joining the Ballet Conservatory of North Georgia directed by Andrea Pell, Marygrace was a member of Buford School of Ballet's preprofessional ballet company, Georgia Christian Dance Theatre.

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Marygrace has been accepted into many summer intensives such as American Academy of Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Houston Ballet, International Ballet Intensive, Nashville Ballet and the Sarasota Ballet. She has received scholarships to the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Cincinatti Ballet and Sacramento Ballet. After high school she joined the Sarasota Ballet as a trainee with a scholarship for their year round program. Marygrace is now in her third season with the Georgia Ballet as member of the corps de ballet. 

Erin is a native of Durham, North Carolina and has been dancing professionally since 2013. As a dancer, she has trained in Atlanta, Rochester and Denver under the tutelage of Southern Ballet Theatre, Cleo Robinson Dance, Anthony Burrell Center for Dance and Garth Fagan Dance. Erin has had the pleasure of performing in companies including Advocate Arts Contemporary, City Gate Dance Theatre, Komanse Dance Theater, Notnebia and Fuego Y Hielo Dance. 

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Erin has also performed commercially, appearing in the Netflix original "Raising Dion" as well as music videos for artists including Vivian Green, Angelo Diaz, Tina P, Kamillion and Prisca. Dancing in both lead and supporting roles, Erin has appeared in Atlanta Opera's Julius Caesar, Tiffany Roberts' Angels in Training and Bridge Playhouse's Hairspray and High School Musical. Erin is also a competition judge for OneBeat Dance Brands. 

Native to Savannah, Georgia, Hailee began her training at Maxine Patterson School of Dance, studying ballet, jazz, tap and lyrical. Hailee was a dance major at Savannah Arts Academy and a member of the Savannah Arts Academy dance company. While at Savannah Arts, Hailee served as vice president of their Nu Delta Alpha (formerly National Dance Association, now Shape America) chapter. 

 

Hailee has continued to further her training studying at Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center in New York City. She holds a Bachelor's in Health Science from Armstrong State University and a Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology from the University of Alabama Birmingham. 

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Emily received her training at Academy of Ballet. As a member of the Ballet Ensemble, she danced many lead roles including Dewdrop in The Children's Nutcracker and the Queen of Hearts in Alice In Wonderland. She has performed annually at Balletfest in works by Angela Harris, Dana Woodruff, Kim Linenkohl, Noel Dupuis and Cecily Davis.

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Emily also danced competitively for 6 years, training in jazz, contemporary, lyrical and musical theatre. Her team received top scores at events around the Southeast and in 2019 was featured in the NBC special Holidays with the Houghs. In 2022 Emily was selected as an All-Star for Hall of Fame Dance Challenge, performing in their Orlando Finals World Series Opening Number choreographed by Cooper Zamorano. In 2023 Emily was selected as the only scholarship recipient to Wild Dance Intensive of over 250 dancers. 

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Emily is now entering her fourth teaching season, currently pursuing her Minor in Dance with a history major at Kennesaw State University. 

Rhys Johnson trained at International Ballet in Greenville, South Carolina for thirteen years under Vlada Kysselova. She joined IB'd pre-professional company in 2020 where she performed five full length ballets including Don Quixote, Swan Lake, La Sylphide, Giselle and The Nutcracker for 11 years.

 

She has furthered her training at 10 summer intensives around the country including Ballet West, Oklahoma City Ballet, Orlando Ballet and the Chautauqua Institute. Rhys joined Gwinnett Ballet Theatre as a trainee in 2025-2026 and will be returning in 2026-2027 as an apprentice. 

Livi received her training at Academy of Ballet. As a member of the Ballet Ensemble, she danced many lead roles including Snow Queen, Dewdrop and Sugarplum Fairy in The Children's Nutcracker. She has performed annually at Balletfest in works by Dana Woodruff, Kim Linenkohl and Cecily Davis. 

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Livi danced competitively for 7 years, training in jazz, lyrical and contemporary. Her team received top scores at events around the Southeast and was featured in NBC's special Holidays with the Houghs in 2019. Livi was a member of our inaugural Nationals team placing 3rd in the nation for jazz in 2021. Livi also served as the studio's competition team captain during the 2021-2022 season. 

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While in college, Livi spent a season touring as crew with Inspire National Dance Competition. She received her Bachelor's in Elementary Education with a certificate in Special Education from Georgia Southern and we are excited to have her back at AOB!