Staff
We have an incredible staff that allows us to offer the best and most diversified options available to our students in dance.
Nicole Van Sickler
Owner/Director
Originally from Tampa, FL, Nicole trained under the direction of Yvette Breheny at Centerstage Dance Academy for 15 years. She danced competitively for eight years and was a Centerstage faculty member for four years. Nicole graduated from Florida State University. While at FSU, she was also a member of their dance team, Seminole Dance Force. While on the team, they were ranked third in the nation and she helped to choreograph routines competed at the NCA & NDA Collegiate National Championship. During her time in Tallahassee, Nicole worked as the Dance Director for Arts and Recreation for Tallahassee Students.
Today, Nicole is the proud owner and director of Memorial Dance Center and Memorial Dancewear. She finds value in creating a safe space to foster a love for dance, and is grateful to be able to watch so many of her dancers grow up within her studio walls. Many of her students can currently be found dancing in top programs and on collegiate teams around the nation. She continues to choreograph for dance teams and studios around the country, as well as judge for dance competitions nationwide. In addition to her studio and competitive work, Nicole is also a member of the AAS in Dance Instruction Advisory Board for San Jacinto College.
Callie diFrancesco
Director of Studio Operations
Raised in Houston, Callie has been dancing since the age of four, including training under Jaci Smith for seven years. She has been teaching ballet, tap, jazz and hip-hop since 2001 to students of all ages. Callie grew up competing throughout Houston. In 2005, Callie graduated from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts with a concentration in instrumental music and went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude from the University of Houston, earning a Bachelor of Music in oboe performance and a Bachelor of Arts in print journalism. She completed her Certification in Ballet Teaching Studies with the Royal Academy of Dance in the fall of 2016. Callie has performed across the Houston area with organizations such as Project Dance and is the current director and choreographer of Celebration at Houston’s First Baptist Church. She also sits as a judge for Thunderstruck Dance Competition and enjoys bringing her love and knowledge of tap to students across the country. Callie is excited for year 16 at MDC!
Amber Taylor
Manager of Retail & Design
Katie Thompson
Children’s Summer Program Director
Katie began her formal dance training at the age of four in Houston, TX and trained under Jaci Smith for nine years. She competed throughout the Greater Houston area from 2000 – 2008 and during that time, was awarded two Dupree Dance Tap Scholarships. Katie began teaching ballet, tap, jazz & hip hop to all ages of students while attending the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts where she graduated in 2008 with a concentration in instrumental music. She then went on to study music and business at the University of North Texas. During her time in Denton, Katie was a private bassoon lesson instructor as well as an assistant manager for Texas Roadhouse. Katie returned home to the Houston area in May 2017 and is excited to again share her love of dance with her 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, and 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. This is Carla’s 14th year at MDC.
Melissa Hagans
For over 20 years Melissa has shared her love of dance and her knowledge of technique and performance standards with hundreds of students of varying ages and ability levels. She has prepared many teams for competition with her choreography, strong technique, and performance ethic and style. As a member of the faculty and company Director of several prestigious area dance schools, Melissa’s choreography has consistently scored “high point” rankings and her dances have been recognized and awarded for originality and stage presence. She has been the personal performance coach for the last 12 years for a professional young actress that tours and performs nationwide with Broadway Across America. Melissa was the former dance director for a local company specializing in servicing day care centers and private school after school programs in Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Phoenix with dance, music and movement, fun fitness and cheer instruction and did so for 11 years. In 2010 Melissa was named and awarded Dance Teacher of the Year. As a teacher at Memorial Dance Center, Melissa is sharing her love of dance, knowledge of technique, and high-performance standards, and her personal philosophy of a disciplined, dedicated dance performer with our students and looks forward to continuing to do so for many years to come.
Laura Hilley
Laura Catherine Hilley began training at Mobile Ballet at age three. As her passion for the art grew and her performance opportunities increased—under the artistic direction of Winthrop Corey—she became singularly focused on dance.
After multiple summer intensives in New York City, first with American Ballet Theatre and then with The School of American Ballet, Ms. Hilley relocated to Houston to train full-time with Houston Ballet Academy on merit scholarship. While there, she had numerous opportunities to perform works by Stanton Welch and Ben Stevenson O.B.E. with Houston Ballet.
Ms. Hilley then became a member of Cincinnati Ballet, where she worked with choreographer Adam Hougland and toured with the company to The Kennedy Center. Some of her favorite reps include Val Caniparoli’s Lady of the Camellias, Victoria Morgan’s Cinderella, and Septime Webre’s Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.
With her love of teaching and performing, she is sought as a guest performer and master instructor throughout the Houston community and region.
Alexys Herrera
Throughout her training in Kansas and Houston, Lexy has worked with choreographers like Matt Dormae, Shauna Zambelli-Oliverio, Christian Vincent, and Lenorris Arnold. She loves combining her degree in Exercise Science Kinesiology and her NASM education in her teaching
Before she started dancing at 15, she was a gold medalist and nationally ranked gymnast before an injury ended her career. She used that as her base and has added the ADTA training and syllabus to create her dance-based strength training program. Her favorite genres of dance to choreograph are lyrical, musical theatre jazz and acro/open. Her choreography can be seen on the competition, convention, and drill team circuits.
Alissa Martin
Alissa LaVergne Martin grew up dancing in southeast Texas. After graduation, she went to Sam Houston State University and received a BFA in Musical Theatre and Dance. While in college, she started her professional career dancing with the Houston Symphony’s A Very Merry Pops, Royal Caribbean Cruiselines, and Hello, Dolly! at Theatre Under The Stars. Alissa became a Radio City Rockette in 2009 and recently finished her 10th season with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. With the Rockettes, she has performed on the “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade”, “Celebrity Apprentice”, “America’s Got Talent”, “The 2017 Tony Awards”, “Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting”, and numerous other television appearances. Her other professional credits include the New York Spectacular (Radio City Music Hall), A Chorus Line (Sheila Bryant), West Side Story (Estella/shark), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Beatrice), Spamalot, White Christmas, Guys and Dolls, Mary Poppins, and Oliver!
Carolina Salomon Simon
Carolina began her dance training at age four at the Houston ballet under the guidance of Pricilla Nathan Murphy and Cheryne Busch. There, she fell in love with the movement and poise of classical ballet and decided to pursue a career in dance. She performed in various works choreographed or re-choreographed by Stanton Welch including Nutcracker and Spring Show. Upon graduation, Carolina continued expanding her movement language by training in a Bachelor’s degree program at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. In her time at the Conservatory, she has trained with teachers such as Adriana Suarez, Joy Davis, Brian McGinnis, Kurt Douglas, and Tai Jimenez. In addition, she has worked with contemporary dance choreographers such as Stephanie Martinez, Jon Olstad, Gregory Dawson, Robin Aren, and Adam Houghland. Carolina has also performed in student works choreographed by Natalie Cecchini, Brittany Brown, and Laila Franklin. Finally, she has gained teaching experience by working with kids with special needs, kids in middle school, and professional dancers with her Royal Academy of Dance teaching certificate, and under the guidance of Maggy Gorrill, Jim Viera, Gemma Williams, and Kurt Douglas. Carolina graduated from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee May 2019 with a Bachelors in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Performance and Pedagogy.
Carolina aspires to continue to grow as an educator, artist and choreographer and is excited to me a part of The Memorial Dance Center Family!
Elena Smith
Morgan Velez
Morgan Velez is a Kansas native who started pursuing dance at age six. She graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design, and a minor in Dance. While at KSU, Morgan studied Jazz, Modern, Tap, and Ballet under the instruction of Julie Pentz, Neil Dunn, Laura Donnelly, and David Ollington. She was cast in several of the KSU Dance Productions, and was a dancer on the Poize Hip Hop Dance Team.
Morgan has also choreographed many competition hip hop routines receiving, Best Overall Choreography at the Kansas Spectacular Dance Competition in 2010. In 2012, Morgan was an intern for the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC.
Since moving to Houston, Morgan has joined the competing team at SoReal Dance Studio under the training of Andrew Baterina and Jackie Lautchang taking 1st place at World of Dance Houston, 1st place at World of Dance Florida, and performing for the Falcon’s Superbowl LI pregame event. Morgan hopes to utilize her knowledge and experience to foster a bigger hip hop community at MDC.
Teacher Training Program
We are proud to offer an extensive Teacher Training Program for our older dancers that we believe have the potential to become the next generation of dance instructors. Trainees are invited to begin as Assistant Teachers, promoting to Teacher Apprentice after multiple years of training and proper advancement.
Elizabeth Morse
Teacher Apprentice
Alexia Papakyriacou
Teacher Apprentice
Eugenia Rincon
Apprentice Teacher
Ellery Bilski
Assistant Teacher
Adalaide Eagle
Assistant Teacher
