Katie Smith

Katie Smith has had the love for dance began dancing at the age of 5. Her training was with Ann Brodie in Columbia, SC as a scholarship student. She later joined Columbia City Ballet as its youngest member, performing in Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Nutcracker as Clara, and in a special presentation of Madonna and Angels for the State Museum.
Katie continued her ballet training at the Boston Ballet School as a scholarship student and the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet. She has also taken classes and danced for David Howard, Maya Plisetskaya, Edward Villella, Suki Schorer, and Antonia Tumkovsky and has most recently performed as a soloist for International Ballet as Manu in Le Bayadere, the Hungarian in Swan Lake, and in Francesca de Rimini.

While earning her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Early Childhood Education, Clemson University she also taught, choreographed and danced with the Clemson Dancers Organization.

Katie’s has also focused her teaching abilities in early childhood development and was a kindergarten teacher at Bethel Elementary School where she awarded and served as the Teacher of the Year for Bethel as well as Greenville County Reading Teacher of the Year, traveling throughout the state presenting her teaching methods.

Katie’s loving husband Drew and their new baby boy Mac provide the loving support to allow her to pursue her career and desire to teach dance.

Austin Gaske

Austin is a recent graduate of the world renown Drummers Collective in New York.  There he studied a wide range of musical genres ranging from rock, jazz, funk, afro-cuban, and hip-hop with some of the countries top musicians and instructors.  Austin has been playing drums for over 11 years and has a love for both playing and teaching.  When not teaching at Impact, Austin is improving his own skills and playing around town  with his rock/funk group Snaggletooth.

Staff

Austin is a recent graduate of the world renown Drummers Collective in New York.  There he studied a wide range of musical genres ranging from rock, jazz, funk, afro-cuban, and hip-hop with some of the countries top musicians and instructors.  Austin has been playing drums for over 11 years and has a love for both playing and teaching.  When not teaching at Impact, Austin is improving his own skills and playing around town  with his rock/funk group Snaggletooth.

Roxana Dorsch

ROXANA is a native of Bucharest, Romania, now living in the Gaithersburg, MD area. She has a Masters Degree in Accounting and Finance but her true love is ballet. Roxana studied classical ballet since the age of 3 and was accepted at the only classical ballet school in Bucharest where only 25 students were accepted each year. Later she danced as a professional for the Constantin Tanase Theater Company. Roxana started teaching in her twenties, and enjoys working with students of all ages. Besides teaching the basics of the art, Roxana also teaches pointe classes and expression.

Gaye Meyer

Gaye is a dance educator with over thirty years of experience performing, teaching, choreographing and collaborating with students of all ages in university, community and private dance school settings. In addition to teaching ballet, modern and many other dance styles, she has worked with children in musical theatre programs, co-directing Home School Talents, Inc., a musical theatre troupe for home schooled students, and choreographing for Black Rock Center for the Arts summer Creative Arts camps. Gaye also teaches dance at Montgomery College, a position held since 1999, and choreographs for the MC dance company. She has an M.F.A. in Ballet from The University of Utah and B.A. in dance from Butler University.

Shana Powell

SHANA POWELL is a recent Summa Cum Laude graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Vocal Performance from Morgan State University with the sincere desire to lead, educate, and inspire students with a personal passion for music. Shana interned for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra before joining the Miss America Organization where she competed and holds the tilte of Miss Maryland 2007 – 2008. Shana is the founder of MUSE, Music Undergraduates Serving Education and is currently teaching piano and vocal studies to students through out Montgomery County.

Tarek Mohamed

TAREK Recently graduated from college with a degree in Music Business and Business from Albright College, Tarek has been playing drums for over 12 years. He has experience playing in numerous bands ranging in styles of rock, jazz, hip-hop, and gospel. He’s also had internship work in New York City with TVT Records and WWEG Management. Currently he’s managing hip hop/rock group SELA from Philadelphia and will be working with acclaimed Interscope Artist Charles Hamilton in the near future. When not teaching at Impact Tarek is the drummer for the Kidville house band “Little Maestros”.

Dominic Elliot

As a music enthusiast, not a day goes by without Dominic picking up his guitar. With 14 years of playing experience and over five years teaching, Dominic is also pursuing a degree in music education. Dominic has performed in over 100 venues throughout the U.S. and continues to perform locally as a singer / songwriter. Since every student learns differently, Dominic customizes his teaching method based on age, experience, and desire.

Kierra McKenzie

A student Bowie State University, Kierra has been dancing since age 5. With experience in ballet, hip hop, street jazz, poms, and creative movement, Kierra creates a warm, fun, and educational balance in her classes. When not dancing or teaching dance, Kierra models and can be seen in musical theater productions througout the greater D.C. area.

Lyden Nee

LYDEN’S musical background spans jazz, blues rock and metal. Having been the youngest student to graduate from Omega Studios’ School of the Applied Recording Arts and Sciences, Lyden delved into the technical and commercial aspects of music at an early age. Since then he has performed in a regionally touring band, worked as a full-time audio engineer for Patuxent Records, and has cut two full-length albums. In 2008 Lyden graduated from Elon University with a B.S. in Computer Science.

Tiffany Workman

TIFFANY is a recent graduate of James Madison University where she received a B.A. in Dance. Tiffany has performed with the Montgomery College Dance Co., D.C. Dance Collective and The Virginia Repertory Dance Co. Tiffany works during the day with Pre – K students and is currently the Poms Coach at Quince Orchard High School.

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Mehdi Aniba

A graduate of the University of Miami with degrees in Communications and Music and Arts, Mehdi also studied music composition, production, and recording at Fullsail University. Mehdi has 15 years of teaching experience and has been studying and playing various instruments for over 27 years. His musical styles include everything from Blues to Classical to Heavy Metal. When not teaching at Impact, Mehdi produces local area bands and is the light and sound engineer for local concert venues in the D.C. area.

Lea Archer

LEA was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. She began her dancing career at the age of seventeen when she was hired as one of twelve dancer/singers to open the new MGM Grand Hotel and Resort. Working at the MGM gave her opportunities to perform with such artists as The Pointer Sisters, Wayne Brady, Destiny’s child, Michael Crawford, and David Cassidy. Lea’s ballet background includes the San Francisco Ballet and principal dancer in the Las Vegas Civic Ballet. She continued to branch out into the Hip Hop world and was part of Culture Shock in both San Francisco and Las Vegas. Her choreographic credits include MGM Productions, national Coca Cola commercials, NBA Houston Rockets, Dick Foster Productions and national spots with NBC and WB. A resident of Rockville Lea continues her passion for the arts by dedicating her time to influence and instruct children in dance.