Meet the team @
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Starting at the age of three, Nicole soon fell in love with dance and has never looked back! As she grew older, she always stood up for any challenge and took on dance competitions at the age of six. At the age of ten is when she truly discovered her main true love, TAP! Taking under the instruction of J. Hall (a protégée that studied under Luigi in New York City) since 2013, she now has taken on a new style of tap, Rhythm Tap! Teaching from Twinkle Toes (ages 3-5) all the way to advanced competition tap members, she works her very best to bring both worlds of American and Rhythm Tap to life in her classroom.
Not only does she provide instruction in different styles of tap, but she also puts her efforts toward instruction in contemporary, technique & proper stretching techniques and the relaxation of muscles. She has received a certification in Kinesiological Stretching Techniques and is now working on a teachers certification in Tap through Texas Association Teachers of Dancing Inc (TATD). She has instructed a master tap class at Unity Theatre in Brenham in 2018. Other styles that she teaches are jazz, lyrical, dance technique, character, musical theatre (competition) and line dancing. Mrs. Nicole has choreographed many award winning solos and duet/trios as well for dance and drill team competitions. Nicole graduated in 2015 with a BBA degree from Sam Houston State, with a comprehensive major in Marketing. She graduated with honors of Magna Cum Laude, top 10% of her class, member of Honor Society Beta Gamma Sigma (international honor society for collegiate schools of business), member of Omicron Delta Epsilon (international honor society in economics), academic excellence of 4.0 GPA, Deans List, member of PTK, president of SH Lions Club, while teaching dance all through college. She graduated from Blinn College in 2013, with an Associates of Science, receiving honors of Summa Cum Laude, member of PTK, Who's Who, Chi Alpha honor society, President of Blinn College Lions Club receiving Life membership award and Certificate of Appreciation from the International President in 2013 and other campus awards such as Blinn's Homecoming Queen for the year of 2012-2013. Mrs. Nicole is also a 2011 graduate from Brenham High School in the top 15% of her class with honors and more. In her spare time, Mrs. Nicole volunteers her time at the Margaret E. Blizzard Senior Center in Brenham, TX and teaches tap and line dancing classes to individuals ranging from ages fourty-five to eighty! Community Service is very dear to her heart and she finds any opportunity to give her time and talents through Lions Club, which she is now the President of for a two year term, memeber of the Food Insecurity Coalition Group of Brenham, assistant minister since she was fifteen years old and confirmation mentor since 2013 at Salem Lutheran Church as well as holding several committee positions and giving time, gifts and supplies to the Brenham Housing Community. Throughout her child hood, she participated in beauty pageants from the age of two to nineteen and won many National titles, such as Grand Supreme, Miss Austin 2013 and Grand Talent multiple times for dance, at Stars Over the USA, Crown Royalty, Cinderella, Our Little Miss, Texas Choice, Novice of the Year and more. Pageants helped Mrs. Nicole build confidence, stage presence, respect, how to dress according to professional settings including hair and make-up techniques, social skills and adaptation of many different social settings. She won Grand Champion at the local Washington County Fair talent show in 2016 for performing Eddies Brown's B.S. Choruses. She also, has taken piano and vocal lessons and played in her church's praise band for four years. In her spare time, she loves to indulge in photography (all photos of dancers are original works) and has received many awards for her photos in photography contest such as Grand and/or Reserve Champion every year at the Washington County Fair Country Creations Exhibit since 2011, Sam Houston's Heritage Museum photography contest in Huntsville taking Best in Show over two hundred and fifty entries and many more. Studio art such as graphite drawings and painting is also an important part of her life. She has taken many instructional as well as private art lessons and helped form a western art group called Western Art Fans, has hung art pieces for gallery openings and participated in art shows. Teaching since 2006 and a national competition award winner for performances and choreography for over ten years, Mrs. Nicole’s goal is to provide a fun-loving but challenging atmosphere for her students to evolve into the best dancers they can be! |
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Dr. Debra LaCour, a retired college vice president, is enjoying the opportunity to use her administrative knowledge and skills in other areas such as the performing arts. A native of Cloutierville, Louisiana, she earned her B.A. and M.A. from Northwestern State University of Louisiana. She then moved to Texas where she earned her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. During a thirty-two year career at the community college level, Dr. LaCour had the opportunity to serve as Vice President for Instruction/Chief Academic Officer at Southeastern Illinois College and retired as Vice President of Academic Affairs/Chief Academic Officer at Blinn College. Retirement has provided her with the opportunity to meet new people and work in other career fields. In addition to her work at the studio, she enjoys traveling, theater, reading, gardening, NASCAR, and more time with her dog Belle. Debra is a member of the Brenham Evening Lions Club and St. Mary's Catholic Church.
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Ms. Hovis’ early ballet training was with Mary Clare Sale and Irina Kosmovska, both former dancers for George Balanchine. She has 12 years of performing experience with Los Angeles Junior Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, and Theatre Ballet of Brigham Young University.
Ms. Hovis holds a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Dance, and a Master’s degree in Education. Her teaching experience includes six years with Brigham Young University, five years with The Jewish Community Center of Houston, three years with Galveston Ballet, eleven years with Live Oak Dance Center, and six years with Luce Conservatory of Fine Arts. Many of her students have been accepted to summer intensive and trainee dance programs throughout the United States. Several former students have become dance teachers -- including teaching for Ballet Austin and Houston Ballet. Ms. Hovis has staged and choreographed many productions including, Petruska, Les Sylphides, La Fille Mal Gardee, Rodeo, Cinderella, and Coppelia. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and of Corps de Ballet International which provides continuing ballet methodology education through international travel and observation of renowned dance pedagogues. The summer of 2018 Ms. Hovis was in Florence, Italy learning about the Cecchetti method of teaching classical ballet. |
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Taylor Swearingen
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Ms. Taylor Swearingen started dancing in Bellville, TX when she was about 5 years old. She quickly started learning technique and every dance style offered to her. Theses styles were Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Pointe, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Kick, Improv, and Bollywood. She started dancing with the competition team when she was only 7 years old. With her competition teams she has won several awards at area and national competitions all over Texas. She has even travelled to New York and learned from Broadway dancers!
In high school she joined the Bellville High School Brahmadoras. In the 2014-2015 school year she was one of only four freshman on the high kicking team, and she was a member of the hip hop crew and advanced tap group. During the 2015-2016 school year she was a line member, hip hop crew member, advanced tap member, and an elite team member (this team is chosen by highest scores). Her sophomore year she was also apart of the Bellville High School Varsity volleyball team. Her Junior year of high school (2016-2017) she was a part of the hip hop team, elite member, advanced tap group, and the 1st Lieutenant of the entire team. As she likes to call it, “the best year of high school”, happened in the 2017-2018 school year. She was a hip hop crew member, advanced tap member, and the Brahmadoras team captain. The team competed against other schools without UIL restrictions. Which means the team performed against some of the largest school in Texas and still managed to win! She also competed with solos and duets in these same competitions and won several awards. All four years, her solos scored 95-100, her 2 duets won first and second, each team dance scored between 90-100 all four years, along with sharpness awards, character awards, and Ms. Taylor personally winning 1st place in a high kick contest. In 2016 her team won grand champion at a Danceline competition. Her team performed every year in Houston’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade on live television. The morning of the parades she was interviewed several times for the morning news shows. She auditioned for an elite team at every camp she went to and earned elite status from every audition. At HTE dance camp, her sophomore year, she auditioned for an elite position. She was the only team member to receive elite nomination and was invited to travel to Hawaii with the faculty based on her performance. She graduated high school in the Spring of 2018. Upon graduation from high school she quickly jumped into college. She started classes at Sam Houston State University in the Fall of 2018 where she was already classified as a sophomore! As of the Spring of 2020 she is a classified Junior, and already seeing her graduation fast approaching. She has several memberships in honor societies due to her GPA, including the Elliott T. Bowers Honors Society, Alpha Lambda Delta Honors Society, and a few more. She is earning her degree in Business Management with a concentration in Supply Chain Management and minors in International Business and Dance. She has been dancing at SHSU since the Fall of 2018. She studies under many well trained dancers. With a lot of influence coming from Andy Noble, the Co-Artistic Director of Noble Motion Dance in Houston Texas, and Joshua Manculich, known for several of his choreographic works. While dancing at Sam Houston she has learned many new things, including how to train the dancers body, different technique styles, different ways choreography can be created, and so much more. She has been assistant teaching with different dance classes since she was 13 years old, and started teaching in Madisonville Texas the Fall of 2018. During the competition season of that year she had to quickly fill in as a teacher for several of the competition dances. With their first competition only 5 weeks away she had to quickly finish and clean the dances she was given. These dances ended up ranking within the top 3 of their categories and moved onto the national competition. She travelled with her team to Orlando Florida for nationals and watched her dances be awarded with firsts in all of their categories and several overall awards, including a first overall solo! She has many hobbies, but usually only focuses on one, running with her German Shephard, Heidi. She is a full time student and has three part time jobs! As you see, she stays busy every hour of the day. She tries to brighten everyone’s day, and absolutely loves teaching dance. She makes sure her students are confident in what they are doing and pushes them to their limits. Her goals are to make sure her dancers are having fun in what they are doing, and make sure they are trying their hardest to accomplish their own goals. |
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Sarah Belle Davidson is a college student living in Washington, TX. Her first
steps through the artform of dance were at the age of four, dancing for a few years until she dropped out at eight to pursue other interests. Finding her way back when she was twelve, Sarah has continued to participate in dance, both recreational and competitive, to this day. Her heart has been stolen by the loving community of Evolution Performing Arts Center since the moment the studio began a few years ago, and she has been with them ever since, teaching a recital hip hop class annually as well as assisting whenever she is able. This past year, Sarah had the joy of teaching一not one一but two company hip hop classes full of amazing and talented dancers. She has grown so much as a person all thanks to this beautiful dance family, and she hopes to continue to grow immeasurably with them in the future. |
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I, Makayla Evans, have been a dancer for 15 years and I’ve also competed for 8 years. When I competed I received awards such as a platinum and 2nd overall with a solo that I performed last year. Due to having an ACL and a meniscus tear I sadly could not compete this year like I had planned but I will get back to full time dancing as soon as I’m healed. Even though I couldn’t dance I could still teach and have taught multiple classes this year such as beginner/intermediate ballet on Mondays, the ballet portion of twinkle toes ballet/tap combo class, improv, leaps and turns class and an intermediate ballet class on Tuesday. I also assistant teach beginner jazz, beginner modern, a company tiny tots class and company production class. I co-taught and co-choreographed a company intermediate tap class with Mrs. Nicole. Additionally I have also taught and choreographed two solos for company team dancers this year. If you know me I have a big love for dance but I now have a big love for teaching and choreographing as well. I really enjoy exploring new movement through choreography and watching it come to life as I teach it to my dancers and watch them perform it. I can’t wait to see what the future brings me.
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Eleanor (Ellie) AndersonEleanor Anderson, Ellie, has possessed a passion for dancing since her childhood years. A native of Sealy, she trained at a dance studio in Bellville, Texas, and was a member of the competition team for 11 years. She began teaching and choreographing during her sophomore year in high school. Many solos, duet/trios, and group routines she choreographed won first place at competitions. Her high school activities included membership on the drill team, the Tigerettes, as well as the position of Captain for 2 years where she choreographed many of their winning dance routines. Ellie is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York City. At AMDA she trained in all styles of dance, voice, and acting often working with current professionals in those fields. Ellie’s goal is to take her passion for the performing arts and inspire her students to pursue their interests.
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