Carsen Giles, Artistic Director
Katie Larkey is from Johnson City, Tennessee. She grew up dancing at Studio Dance, beginning at the age of 3. During the 12 years of dancing for Studio Dance, she met several amazing people and made friendships that she still has to this day. During this time, she grew so much as a dancer and her love for the art of dance flourished. She danced competitively for Studio Dance. Katie grew up competing solos, duets, trios, and group dances for Fantastics. Katie has performed in Disney World and Universal Studios with Studio Dance. After her family moved to Bristol, Tennessee, she continued her dance experience at another studio. Katie continued to dance competitively throughout high school. She also danced at several conventions, like Hollywood Dance Jams where she received two scholarships. Katie is currently in grad school pursuing her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology at ETSU. She danced on the dance team at ETSU and competed at UDA College Nationals in Disney World for 4 years. Katie’s favorite styles of dance are jazz and lyrical. She is thrilled to say she is back where her love for dance began. She is so honored to give back to this special studio and excited to work with each dancer and watch them grow!
Mrs. Nadine began dancing at the age of 2 in her home on Long Island, New York. By age 7, she was competing in regional and national dance competitions, including performing at the prestigious Contest of Champions at Walt Disney World. She trained extensively in a wide variety of dance styles, including ballet, modern, tap, hip hop, jazz, lyrical, and contemporary.
After graduating high school, Mrs. Nadine joined the United States Marine Corps, where she proudly served for 20 years before retiring. Following her military career, she returned to her passion for dance and taught at several studios throughout North Carolina before joining the Studio Dance family.
Mrs. Nadine has experience teaching dancers of all ages and skill levels and has received multiple awards for her choreography. Throughout her dance career, she has trained with renowned instructors such as Cara Dixon and Jamie Goodwin, as well as completed dancer strength training with Katie Groven, owner of Dancer Fitness.
She holds certifications through CLI Studios, DancemED, The Dance Sciencest and is a certified Relative Motion instructor. In addition to her dance background, Mrs. Nadine is also a certified personal trainer, and strength and conditioning coach. Her passion is helping dancers bridge the gap between strength training and dance technique while understanding how each enhances the other.
Mrs. Nadine is married to her husband, Jason, and together they have two children, Riley and Jason.
Dance is one of Correna's lifelong passions! She has been dancing at Studio Dance since 11 years old and began assisting and teaching quickly after. She is well versed and experienced in all styles of dance. Correna was a member of our competition team, duets, and trios competing throughout the region. She was awarded multiple Ballet scholarships from numerous dance conventions; she has also performed in New York City and on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Correna would go onto dance locally for the ETSU Dance Team while studying special education. She moved to California, for five years, to be with family but did not stop with dance. While managing at luxury resorts she was the director of Ballet at a local YMCA. Now with two children, Correna is back in Tennessee, teaching Enrichment at Jeremiah School. In the evenings you will find her teaching dance and helping with the competition teams. She is so thankful for SDJC and the family that comes with it and cannot wait to see how the dancers continue to evolve, improve, and express themselves through dance.
Taylor has been part of the Studio Dance family since she was 11 years old, when she began her dance career. Since then, she has developed a passion for dance that pushed her to continuously study and train under not only the faculty at SDJC, but also under her mentor Anna Perry. Taylor graduated high school with the highest honors and attends ETSU where she is pursuing a double major in Musical Theater and Exercise Science and a minor in Dance. Taylor is a certified Dance Teacher by the UNLV School of Dance and a certified instructor of Progressive Ballet Technique. The accomplishment she’s most proud of, however, is earning a highly competitive and sought after internship with Breathe Dance Convention. Taylor is very excited to be on faculty at SDJC and commits herself to constant education and training so that she can be the best instructor she can be for the current and future dancers at the studio.
Emily Nelson began dancing at the age of 3, and joined the Studio Dance family in 2020. Since her very first rehearsal 15 years ago, Emily fell in love with the art of dance. Her favorite styles of dance are lyrical and hip hop. She competed solos and group dances in many different cities for Studio Dance throughout her time there. Emily has also performed in the Disney World Christmas parade twice, and has danced in the pregame performance at the Citrus Bowl. Emily is also a former captain of the Daniel Boone Dance Team. She is currently enrolled at East Tennessee State University studying Radiologic Science. Emily is so excited to be continuing her dance career as an instructor at Studio Dance, and is extremely grateful to be surrounded by so many incredible students and teachers alike!
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