Staff

Affectionately known to her students as “Miss Amy”, Amy began her own dance education at age 2 ½ and has been dancing ever since. Growing up in the Boston area, she trained with some of the area’s best schools - Victoria and Roland Philips, Susan Woods, Sherry Gold, Boston School of Ballet, and many others. Although she majored in Business and Marketing for both her undergraduate and graduate studies (Bentley College, American University), Amy minored in dance and taught for several local studios. She has received numerous teacher achievement and choreography awards at regional and national competitions and conventions

After graduate school, “Miss Amy” opened The Dance Center of Ashburn in Ashburn, VA. Over six years, the studio grew to over 550 students and produced The Rising Stars Performing Company. Her students have become national dance champions, dance scholarship winners, medal test recipients, civic and social performers, independent teachers and professional dancers. After six years she sold the studio to Studio Bleu Dance Centers and relocated to Celebration, FL.

Recognizing the need for a strong dance studio in the area, Amy recently opened Platinum Dance Academy. Under her direction, the school offers classes with individual attention in a positive and encouraging atmosphere. It is her philosophy that students should enjoy their lessons, as well as have a sense of accomplishment for their efforts. A fun and structured atmosphere is encouraged where building the student's self-esteem is top priority.

A native of Puerto Rico, Yadhira, began her currently 20 years of dance at the age of 3 with classical ballet training from Ballet Tanya. At age 10, she moved with her family to Florida where she continued her studies at James Dance Center in Kissimmee.

Along the way she was fortunate to be invited to the Boston Ballet Summer Intensive and join her studio as guest dancer for Walt Disney World. Upon graduating high school, Yadhira went on to study dance at Rollins College where she received training from Sylvia Waters from Alvin Ailey, Carla Maxwell and Francisco Ruvalcaba of Limon Dance, Adrea Mantell-Seidel of the Isadora Duncan Dance Company, Instructors Dr. W. Robert Sherry and Suzanne Salapa, and various others.

Her training includes all areas of dance and performance; however her passion has always been ballet.

Ms.Kendra began dancing as soon as she came out of the womb at her grandmother's dance studio in Massachusetts.  Since then she has been hooked on dance, singing, and the entertainment world! In moving to Atlanta, she danced competitively for ten years taking from instructors such as Savion Glover, Mia Michaels, and Doug Caldwell. Kendra has been teaching and choreographing for the past eight years winning numerous competitive awards and having the opportunities to choreograph and produce musicals throughout the state of Georgia!

After graduating from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Kendra moved to Orlando and is currently a performer in Disney's Festival of the Lion King as well as Magic Kingdom's day Parade and Move It Shake It Celebrate It Street Party.  She also recently became a member of the 2009-2010 Orlando Magic Dancers and will be dancing on the courts of Amway Arena this year!  Kendra was previously a dancer for the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers in 2001 and 2002 performing in Broadway style variety shows!

Kendra is extremely passionate about children and finds nothing more rewarding than the inspiration that comes from watching youth succeed!  She is extremely proud of all of her students and their hard work and dedication to Platinum!

Melanie Kallai began dancing at age 4 in Tampa, Florida. She trained for 17 years at Frank Rey Dance Studio, The Tampa Ballet and other studios in the area. She is trained in Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Acrobatics, Lyrical and Gymnastics. At age 14, she began performing in Musical Theater productions for the Spanish Lyric Theater which she did for 6 years before she pursued a performing career at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. She went on to become an Acrobat for Universal Studios, Orlando all the while teaching dance, tumbling, cheerleading and gymnastics.

In 2000, Melanie left the Orlando area and moved to the Washington D.C. Metro area where she continued teaching ballet, jazz and Musical Theater and soon after, opened a studio of her own, Dance Upon A Dream, where she started a competitive dance team. After only two years, her dance team was winning first place awards at regional competitions and qualifying to attend national competitions. Miss Melanie was also given the choreography award at Star Systems Regional Competition.

With thoughtful consideration and a growing studio, she decided to sell Dance Upon A Dream and move to Germany where she continued her own studies of ballet, jazz and modern dance with Peter Rilling at Rilling Art. Miss Melanie is back in the Orlando area where she has been teaching ballet, acrobatics, cheer, jazz and tap for the past year and is thrilled to bring her talents and over twelve years of teaching experience to Platinum Dance Academy.

Originally from Tampa, Kim began dancing at the age of 4, studying at Frank Rey Dance Studio where she was trained in classical ballet, jazz, tap, acrobatics, lyrical and modern styles. A professional performer at a young age, she was a member of Just Kids, Florida Ballet Theatre, Encore Tumbling Team, Good Time Cloggers and other dance groups where she was a company member and featured soloist.

She has won numerous state and national competitions and was a high school All American Cheerleader finalist. After completing her formal education at The Florida State University, she moved back to Tampa, where she was a member of the faculty and staff at Frank Rey Dance Studio. Upon returning to the Orlando area, she was a dancer at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris.

She is currently the Director of Choreography for the Celebration Players Community Theatre group where she has worked on productions such as A Chorus Line, 1776, Man of La Mancha, Fiddler on the Roof and Godspell.  Kim currently works in the marketing/advertising industry, but her passion continues to be dance and inspiring the future of young dancers. 

Lindsay Miller comes from Northern Virginia where she has been dancing for nineteen years and teaching both competitive and recreational dance for eight years. She has studied ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, modern, lyrical, swing and hip hop. In 2007, Lindsay took a break from her dance performance studies at Shenandoah Conservatory to attend the Disney College program which led to a full-time position in Disney entertainment.

She has performed as an opening cast member in Disney's Block Party Bash, along with animations, aerials, stunts, parades and other acting and dance roles. Prior to joining Disney, she performed at Carnegie Hall, Disney World, Universal Studios, the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the Manhattan Center on Broadway with Colin Mochrie, and as one of two featured dancers in a dance aerobics video. She has attended numerous master classes in Virginia and New York City and a full summer dance intensive with the North Carolina Dance Theater in Charlotte, NC.

In 2006, Lindsay was selected to compete against performers from nearly 40 countries at the World Championships of Performing Arts in Burbank, California. As a member of Team USA, she earned a gold medal in Tap (seniors 18-24), gold in comedic acting, silver in Ballet/Pointe, bronze in Jazz, and a bronze as a Spokes Model, along with an Industry Award for Showmanship and a scholarship to the New York School of Film and Television. Lindsay also choreographed award-winning dance routines for two of her teammates. She is very much enjoying performing at Disney and looks forward to sharing her passion for dance with her new students at Platinum Dance Academy.

Sean owns and operates his own thriving fitness business named Mr. Fitness LLC
(www.Mr-Fitness.org) and has taught thousands of Group Fitness classes in Central Florida over the past few years. In addition to Platinum Dance Academy, Sean is also THE Pilates instructor for ALL of Disney property, Spinning, Pilates and Yoga instructor at Celebration Health, Pilates, Spinning and yoga instructor for Golds Gym Orlando, Yoga teacher at the Celebration Montessori School,  Pilates instructor for Celebration School, and does many in-home training sessions in and around Celebration. His passion for fitness is evident in every class that he teaches and he is a true motivator.

Sean is also celebrating over 12 years working as a professional singer/actor/dancer/director in opera and music theatre all around the world. He is a member of Actor's Equity and has performed in over 70 shows and racked up well over 2000 performances. A few of his favorite roles include: Riff in West Side Story, Hero in Forum, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro and Lt. Joe Cable in South Pacific. Last summer he directed  Hello, Dolly at his favorite theater: The Bigfork Summer Playhouse in beautiful Bigfork, Montana. The experience gained from many years on the stage has been invaluable in motivating groups of people.

KJ comes to us with 10 years of professional stage experience performing all around the world from Branson, Missouri, Los Angeles, Australia, South East Asia , and three major Cruise lines featuring in Broadway and Hollywood style productions.
 

Her training comes with the highest credentials ,studying at North Carolina School of the Arts, the Pittsburg Youth Ballet and with modern legend Bella Lewitzky.

Her High School Diploma was received from the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.She continued her education in dance receiving a BFA degree from the renowned Boston Conservatory.

KJ has enjoyed many years of teaching and choreographing throughout her career and is happy to make her home in Central Florida with her husband and her baby daughter.

Heather was born in New York and studied dance since age 3 at some of the most prestigious dance studios including Broadway Dance Center. When she moved to Florida, she continued studying at Showtime, where she was a member of their elite company Pro-Dance. Heather then went on to college where she was the captain for The University of Central Florida's award winning dance team "The >

Heather has taught at many studios including Showtime, & Turning Point, as well as taught & toured in many dance conventions & companies. She has been featured on the cover of many magazines including Dancer & Fitness Magazine, as well as becoming the spokesperson for a fitness equipment company. Heather currently is a dancer on the Florida Punishers dance team. Besides dance Heather also acts, models, and is a TV host. You can see her in commercials, print work, movies, and on television.

Born in New Jersey, Evelyn Nieves’ passion for dance began at the age of 11. After her first dance performance at a youth concert in her local church, she fell in love and since then has strived to surround herself with anything that encouraged her growth in dance. After moving to Florida in 2000, she went on to being captain of the St.Cloud High School Dance Team for 3 years and competed in state and national competitions. At 16 years old, she started “Youth X-treme Dance” at Iglesia El Calvario (Calvary Church) in Orlando where she taught and performed with dancers ages 10-21 for 5 years in local concerts and community events.

She is a graduate of Valencia Community College and has received ballet, jazz and modern/lyrical training from Dr. Suzanne Salapa, Dario Moore, and Lesley Brasseux Evelyn is currently an active and committed member of SolosCrew, a hip-hop dance crew ministry who has shared stages and appeared in music videos with various musical artists such as Group 1 Crew, GRITS, and 4th Avenue Jones at UCF, Amway Arena and Universal Studios.

She is excited to be teaching at Platinum Dance Academy and hopes to inspire and encourage children to follow their dreams and aspirations just as she did.