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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.
Leslie Smythe
Ballet Instructor
Leslie Smythe began her dance training at the Academy of Ballet at the age of nine. She studied
intensively with Ballet Arizona, Ballet Aspen, Houston Ballet, Joe Tremain, Lines Contemporary and U of A Dance Ensemble.
She performed as a soloist with the Tucson Regional ballet Co. and performed preofessionally with Oakland Ballet. She
also held the position of Ballet Mistress for the Tucson Regional Ballet Co. Leslie has thirteen years of teaching experience
and is in her 3rd year of teaching at Danswest.
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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.
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Michael Gross
Jazz, Lyrical, Men's Class
Michael is a dance major at the University of Arizona. His previous
dance training was at the Colorado Jazz Company and he enjoys jazz, lyrical, and contemporary dance. Michael has been teaching
at Danswest for 2 years, and has choreographed winning competition routines for Danswest Company dancers.
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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.
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