We have an incredible staff that allows us to offer the best and most diversified options available to our students in dance.

Jaci Smith

Jaci grew up in Ft. Worth and studied under Jan Roeton for 17 years, where she became choreographer and instructor for their competition teams. Not only has she won awards for her choreography, she has also received awards from national dance competitions such as Dupree Enterprises and Tremaine Dance for her own dance performances. Aside from her training in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, she has studied under numerous instructors from Los Angeles to New York.

A graduate of Texas Christian University, Jaci brings over 15 years experience in dance studio management. Her experience includes owning and directing her own studio for five years, as well as teaching and choreographing for competition teams who went on the receive numerous awards and honors. Jaci served on faculty for Dupree Dance Enterprises for over 5 years teaching technique and choreography to both teachers and students nationwide. She also served on the judging panel for Dupree Dance Competitions and Scholarship awards. She has taught master classes for several studios across the country, including the Fairbanks Arts Festival in Alaska. Her dynamic personality and enthusiasm, combined with her energy and creativity, produce the perfect recipe for success both in the classroom and on stage.

Autumn Crowl

Autumn has trained extensively in tap, jazz, lyrical, ballet, and pointe for 21 years. She trained for 16 years under Jan Roeton where she was a faculty member for 4 years and on the competitive dance team for 15 years. She has won numerous awards at various national dance competitions and was titled Miss Starquest, Miss Odyssey, and the Stage One Star. Autumn was also selected to tour the east coast with the Starpower National Talent Competition. She has attended summer intensives with the Joffrey Ballet, the Radio City Rockettes, and Texas Christian University. Autumn has also trained at the Edge in Los Angeles and Broadway Dance Center in New York City. This past year she has served as the ballet mistress for two schools in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

Autumn graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in Biology. She has worked with Tarrant County CSCD as a felony probation officer since graduation. Autumn is a flight attendant with Continental Airlines and is based out of Houston’s Intercontinental Airport.

Callie Thompson

Raised in Houston, Callie has been dancing since the age of four, including training under Jaci Smith for seven years. She has been teaching tap, ballet, and jazz for the past eight years to students of all ages. She has performed and competed throughout the city and was awarded a Dupree Dance Convention Tap Scholarship. Aside from dancing, Callie is a full-time student at the University of Houston pursuing a degree in both music performance and broadcast journalism.

 

 

Demont Washington “Sweft”

Sweft has trained since 2003 in modern and jazz and also does reggae, salsa, meringue, and specializes in hip-hop. He has danced with the HCC repertory dance company and in 2006 started the school’s first performance team, the HCC Power Eagles. He has also danced with and choreographed for the Houston Comets during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Sweft choreographs for music videos and theatrical productions across the city and teaches at several studios in Houston. He also owns a dance entertainment company called Sweft Feet Dance. On an international level he has embarked on an opportunity to choreograph for one of the top Pop artist from Bollywood in India. The most important thing to Sweft is sharing his artistic energy with his students.

Carla Capetillo

Carla was born in Mexico City and was trained in ballet in the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) system. She studied under Jennifer Johnson, Andrea Andraca, Carlos Lopez, and Sergio Vicenzio, among others. Mrs. Capetillo presented RAD examinations to the Advanced level; she attended several summer programs in Toronto, Canada, and Mexico City. She danced semi-professionally with the Ballet San Angel Inn in Mexico City. She started as a teacher assistant to Mrs. Andraca who trained her as a teacher for many years, and was teaching her first RAD group for examinations at the age of 19. She is currently a Teacher with Registered Status for the RAD, as well as a Mentor and the Practical Training Supervisor for the Southwest for the Teaching Certification Program of the RAD. Mrs. Capetillo received her Bachelor’s Degree in Pedagogy from the Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City. She has teaching experience of over 25 years. She developed a Creative Movement program for a school in Mexico that she has been updating and implementing in several studios, which works as a basis for the RAD Pre-primary level. Mrs. Capetillo moved to Houston in 1995 with her husband and three sons and has been teaching in studios around Houston since 2000. We are very happy to have her on staff!

Melissa Ludwig

Melissa started dancing at the age of eight with the School of the Grand Rapids Ballet Company.  During her time with the school she had the opportunity to perform in productions with the Company, including soloist roles in the “Nutcracker”.  In 2001 she joined the Grand Rapids Ballet Company for a year as an apprentice.

In 2002 Melissa joined the Milwaukee Ballet II program and was promoted to the Milwaukee Ballet Company in 2003. She moved to Austin, TX, in 2004, to join Ballet Austin II and was promoted to the main company in 2006.  While dancing with Ballet Austin, Melissa enjoyed performing featured roles in Stephen Mills’ “Touch” and “Nutcracker”.  She also had the opportunity to have works by Thaddeus Davis, Sidra Bell, Reginald Harris, and Gina Patterson choreographed on her.

Melissa moved to Houston in August of 2010 to join Ad Deum Dance Company.  During her time as a dancer, Melissa has served on the faculty with Ballet Austin Academy, Metamorphosis Dance Academy, TexARTS Association for the Visual and Performing Arts, and Ad Deum Dance Company’s Summer Intensives.  She is excited to join Memorial Dance Center as a full-time teacher this year after teaching last year as an assistant.

Megan Shankwitz

A  native Californian, attended college at Shenandoah University where she obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance in 2008. With Shenandoah Dance Ensemble, Megan has toured overseas in Spain, and throughout the northeastern United States. Megan attended Moving People Dance Theatre’s 2007 Summer Program in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she worked with the Moving People faculty as well as Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet, Dancing Earth, and Lehrerdance Company. In May 2008, she made her professional debut as a company member of KimGibiliscoDances in New York City and Flying Lions Dance Company in Pennsylvania. From 2008-2010 she was a company member with Dissonance Dance Theatre and Cie:Eklibre. This is her second year as a member of Ad Deum 2.

Mollie Millier

Mollie Miller is a Houston native who received her Bachelor of Science in Dance from Texas State University, graduating magna cum laude.  After graduation she moved back to Houston to begin teaching, choreographing
and performing. She currently dances with FrenetiCore. In addition to teaching and performing, Mollie also works in arts administration as Programs Associate with Dance Source Houston and Marketing Associate with FrenetiCore.

 

 

Katie Heintz

Katie Heintz is originally from Rochester, NY and lived in Los Angeles, CA as a scholarship student at the Edge Performing Arts Center. She graduated summa cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a BFA in dance performance. She has been teaching for over 10 years and her students have competed on a regional and national level. They have won numerous high score and special awards including Overall Choreography, Petite Miss Dance of Western New York and NYCDA’s Critic’s Choice Award. Katie is currently a member of the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company where she has performed works by Peter Chu, Kiki Lucas, Caleb Mitchell, Kate Skarpetowska, Nina Buisson, Pattie Obey, and Eddie Ocampo. Her performance credits include Quirky Works, Texas Weekend of Contemporary Dance, Bayou City Arts Festival, Great Day Houston, 14th Dalai Lama Peace Convention, and Configuration Dance Theatre.

Michelle Seebachan

Michelle began her dance training at age four in Minneapolis, MN and continued training when her family relocated to Flower Mound, TX.  She has studied ballet, Pointe, tap, jazz, modern, character, and hip hop, with various dance companies in DFW, national dance conventions, the Joffrey Ballet School New York City, and TCU.  Since becoming a dance instructor seven years ago, she has taught in non-profit creative arts programs as well as for competitive groups in the DFW area.  She is most passionate about helping dancers become artists who can fully translate stories and ideas through technique intensive choreography.  Along with choreographing and instructing, her professional dance credits also include numerous industrials and live stage performances with organizations such as Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Make-A-Wish Foundation, W Hotel, and Hilton Anatole.  She continues to enjoy pursuing her commercial dance career as well as combining her interests of dance and healthcare.

Michelle graduated from Texas Christian University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, Political Science, and Women’s Studies.  She recently relocated to Houston to continue her education at The University of Texas Health Science Center for a Master of Public Health in Health Service Organization.  She hopes to make dance a part of alternative and preventative medicine for people of all ages, but most certainly for those over age fifty-five.

Lezlie Callaway 

Lezlie, a native Iowan, holds a BFA in Dance and a minor in Business Administration from The University of Iowa.  She began studying dance at the age of nine and began dancing competitively at the age of ten.  Lezlie moved to Houston in 2010 as a founding member of Ad Deum II Dance Company and is currently training and performing with the company throughout the Houston metropolitan area.  Previously, Ms. Callaway performed and toured with MOvMNT Dance Company, Dancers In Company, Iowa City Worship Dance, and the Iowa Dance Team.  Her choreography credits include: musical theater, show choir, dance team, cheerleading, and competition.  Lezlie has also worked as a Teaching Assistant for the Radio City Rockette Summer Intensive in New York City.  She is a Certified Yoga Teacher and currently teaches all styles of dance as well as yoga at a variety of schools and studios across Houston.  Ms. Callaway is excited to join the talented faculty at Memorial Dance Center.

Katherine Strange