|
Megan Maltos
Owner, Artistic Director
Tap, Jazz, Preschool
Megan began dancing at the age of four in California
and at the age of 9, joined Danswest Dance Productions. She was a member of the Performance Group and Danswest Company until
the age of 19, where she studied under Frank Trent. She became a teacher at Danswest in 2001. She received her education
at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and graduated in June 2005 with a Bachelors in Business Administration from the Eller
College of Business and a minor in dance from the School of Fine Arts.
As a student at Danswest, she received
numerous group and individual dance competition performance awards, including Junior National Dance Champion in 1995 at the
Showstoppers Dance Competition, and Top Senior Tap Soloist at the West Coast Dance Explosion Dance Competition in 2001. She
also had the opportunity to tour Europe and her company was invited to dance at the Roman Jazz Festival as the youngest group
to ever perform. While at the University of Arizona, Megan had the privilege to study with such greats as Amy Ernst, Michael
Williams, Sam Watson, David Berkey, Nina Janik, and Susan Quinn. She was also selected to perform at Gus Giordano's Jazz
Dance World Congress in Buffalo, NY. Megan has also worked in music videos and film. More recently, her choreography has
been performed at regional and national competitions, with awards for performance and choreographic creativity.
Anton Smith
Hip-Hop Teacher
Anton is a native of Philadelphia, PA. He received his dance training in the Philadelphia/New York area and has
choreographed and performed actively throughout the U.S. since 1992. In 1996, Anton was awarded Most Dynamic Group, for his
VIBE Hip-Hop Troupe, in a Philadelphia citywide talent search. Anton continued his dance studies in the Bachelor of Fine Arts
program at the University of Arizona in 1999 and received the Honors College and Medici Scholars award for choreography. In
2002, at the finals of the National Dance Alliance in Orlando, Florida, Anton's choreography won overall in the Best Funk
category. More recently, Anton and other members of his performance group, The Human Project, were commissioned in 2003 to
share the stage with R&B recording artist Ashanti and R. Kelly, in addition to studying with internationally renowned
Brazilian dance company, Bale Folklorico da Bahia, in their home country. Anton has also worked with many arts and community
service organization to include the YWCA, Tucson Unified School District, Tucson Pima Arts Council, and UA Presents.
Shelly Steigerwald Modern, Jazz, Contemporary Shelly, who majored in dance at the University of Arizona,
began dancing at the age of three. She has danced at the Houston Ballet Academy and the Colorado Jazz Dance Company.
She started dance training in ballet, moved to jazz and through her training at the U of A, fell in love with modern dance.
She has been teaching modern, contemporary, and jazz, at Danswest for 5 years, and has received choreography
awards for her innovative style. She most recently was a dancer for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. We are glad to have
her back on our faculty again.
Heather Griffin
Jazz/Lyrical/Modern
Heather began her early training in Yuma, Arizona
at Dancemakers studio where she became a teacher in 2002. While in Yuma, she was a
member of Dancemakers Performing Arts Company for nine years and a guest artist at Ballet Yuma.
She choreographed works that have been performed in the annual Arizona Jazz Dance Showcase and the Yuma
Dance Festival. She has performed in various competitions through out as well as the
Jazz Dance World Congress and with the Arizona Repertory Theatre. Heather attended
summer programs on scholarship hosted by The Joffrey Ballet, Ballet and San Francisco Ballet.
She has been graced with the opportunity to perform in Las Vegas, San Antonio, New York and Italy.
In 2003 Heather was awarded a scholarship to attend the Giordano Dance Center
but decided to pursue her education at the University of Arizona. Heather has been
a performing member of the UofA dance ensemble for the last four years and in 2007 she received
her BFA as a dance major. Heather has been teaching jazz, modern and contemporary at Danswest since 2006
and choreographed award winning routines for the Dance Company.
Mika Deslongchamps Jazz/Lyrical/Ballet Mika's goal as a teacher is to inspire the love of dance and
movement in dancers. She is from Tucson and has danced and/or taught at various studios in the local area. She won awards
both as a dancer and choreographer at regional competitions. Mika started the On The Mark Dance Company and has participated
in competitions and the Danswest recital and performances. She also teaches the College Jazz classes at the studio.
Nicole Meador Tap, Preschool
Nicole Meador was born and raised in the San
Franciso Bay Area and started
dancing at the age of four. She was trained in both Russian and Cecchetti
styles
of ballet, as well as tap, jazz, lyrical, and modern. She competed nationally in
groups and also as a soloist.
She was one of thirty dancers picked to dance at
the World Expo in Spain. She was a junior member of Dance Masters
of America
which afforded her the opportunity to attend conventions all over the U.S.and
perform on a cruise to
Mexico. She was Miss Teen San Jose in 1995, her senior
year of high school, which provided her scholarship money
to attend college.
In addition to being a member of the
San Jose Ballet School started by Wana
Williams Kalimos of the San Franciso Ballet Company and later co-directed by
Francesca and Dimitri Romanoff of American Ballet Theatre and Janet Vertin, she
also had the opportunity to train and
perform with a number of professionals
including Anthony LoCascio from Tap Dogs, Marie Stinnett, Audrey King, Glenna
Bell and Cory Finn. After high school graduation, she headed off to Tempe to
earn degrees in political science
and business at Arizona State University.
During college she took
dance classes at the university as well as taught
ballet, tap, jazz, and lyrical at a nearby studio. In 1999, she
returned to
the Bay Area where she continued teaching dance while beginning a career in
education. She earned
her teaching certificate and M.A. in reading at Santa
Clara University. She taught pre-school, kindergarten, and
7th grade before
deciding to start a Ph.D. program in educational psychology at the University
of Arizona.
|
