The Dance Attic brings in guest artists to teach different styles throughout the year. This gives dancers opportunities to take class from a diverse pool of artists in a variety of different styles, being pushed outside of their comfort zone. All TDA Dancers are urged to take advantage of these guest artists coming in and teaching different styles from year to year. See below to see info from our TDA 24-25 Master Class Series with Tumble Time Add ons! We look forward to announcing the next series with you all soon!
Chania Wilson is a Raleigh, NC native with a Bachelors in Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She currently attends Duke University to obtain her MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis. Chania studied with Janet Lilly, Maurice Watson, BJ Sullivan, Clarice Young, and many others. She performed in “James” by Francine Ott and was a part of the American College Dance Association adjudicated cast in Richmond, VA. She also fell in love with Screen Dance under the instruction of Robin Gee. Her film, “the second hand” was screened in the Greensboro Dance Film Festival in 2021. Maintaining her dance connection in Raleigh during college, she worked as a guest performer with Black Irish Baile directed by Ronnie West in 2019. Following graduation, she has continued to work in dance film directing as well as choreographing music videos. In 2021, she returned to her alma mater Enloe High School and taught honors level Modern, Jazz, and Whole Body Wellness. Additionally, she was the Director of Enloe Charity Ball in 2022, raising $180,000 in 3 months for Alliance Medical Ministry. Currently, she is a board member and dancer of Black Box Dance Theatre. She was a 2023 Artist in Residence for North Carolina Dance Festival and premiered her new work, “For The Mind” in November 2023 in Duke’s November Dances and the NC Dance Festival in January. She started her dance company, Nine Movement Collective, December 2023. Her newest work will premiere in April 2024 with Nine Movement Collective.Master Class #1 with Chania WilsonA freestyle dancer born and raised in Raleigh, who one day wants to teach others and spread good vibes to all. Danced on a crew called “Entropy” at Appalachian State University. He wants to teach choreography as a professional and just have fun creating a hobby into a job. His motto is “Be the best version of you and make that you go crazy”. it’s your boy…. DRAGONBOY!! Master Class #2 with Thomas DixonMarissa Miller received a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography with a Minor in Psychology from East Carolina University. During her time at East Carolina University, Marissa performed in multiple Mainstage and Senior Choreography performances. She also performed in various grant-based works. In spring 2023, she received the Undergraduate Research & Creative Activity (URCA) award to further her creative research by creating an original work of choreography and movement film. In 2024, she was selected as the student choreographer for the Dance @ Wright spring concert. Marissa has received training from Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Carolina Ballet, and Orlando Ballet. This June, Marissa will be attending Orsolina28 to train under renowned choreographer and Artistic Director of Ballet BC, Medhi Walerski. She plans to move to New York City this Fall to continue her professional dance career. Marissa is looking forward to teaching this summer at The Dance Attic! Master Class #3 with Marissa MillerGrace Lower graduated from The Dance Attic in 2021, and is now a rising senior at UNC Chapel Hill studying Environmental Health Science and Public Health. At UNC, she is a choreographer, dancer, and Executive Board member with Carolina Vibe, a student-run dance team that performs contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, and other genres. Grace is also a certified Group Fitness Instructor, specializing in Barre and Cardio Dance. In her free time, Grace enjoys spending time outdoors, reading, and traveling. Master Class with Grace LowerChristina Billman grew up in Raleigh, NC where she began dancing at age 5. She was a competitive dancer at CC & Co. Dance Complex until she graduated from high school in 2018. Tap quickly became her favorite style and continues to be one of her biggest passions. Christina continued her dance education in college, as she received a B.S. in Dance Science from Elon University. Christina is now an Occupational Therapy Doctorate student at Duke University’s School of Medicine, a dance teacher at Wake Forest Academy of Fine Arts, and a member of Footnotes Tap Ensemble, a professional tap company in Chapel Hill. Master Class with Christina BillmanDanielle Lang was born in Heidelberg, Germany where she lived with her family. They soon moved to New York then later settled in Raleigh, NC. At age eleven she enrolled in dance at Lehman’s Studio and auditioned for the company Ballet Lehman USA. In that company, Danielle had the opportunity to perform in the Nutcracker all over the Triangle as well as compete in Sochi, Russia for 3 years. Danielle has a wide genre of dance forms such as ballroom, ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, modern, African, etc. In 1999 when the Special Olympics hosted their event in the Triangle, Danielle performed as one of the top ten principal dancers. After high school Danielle was accepted to Virginia Commonwealth University on scholarship for dance and choreography where she worked with numerous dance professionals from all over the world. She has performed pieces such as Jose Limon’s Choreographic Offering at the Kennedy Center also on BET’s 2009 Spring Bling in Singer Island, FL. Some of her Spring Bling in Singer Island, FL. Some of her students have been seen on Laurie Ann Gibson’s Live to Dance and other promotional commercials. Danielle has worked with shows such as The Lion King, Burn the Floor, Shrek the Musical and other on and off Broadway shows. She occasionally takes classes in NYC to keep her dance styles updated. Most of all she enjoys teaching all ages. Ms. Danielle has been part of the CDE faculty for over 10 years. Mac Koffa is a student pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance/Choreography and working towards a K-12 North Carolina Licensure at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. At UNCG, Koffa has had the opportunity to perform in the BFA and MFA thesis concerts, as well as the Prime Movers show. Koffa trained at The Dance Attic for 13 years where she studied ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, hip-hop, and acrobatics. Koffa held a spot on The Dance Attic’s competitive team, where she was awarded a multitude of scholarships, judges’ choice awards, and first overall adjudications. During this time, Koffa performed as a lead company member at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Ari Cruz was raised as a studio dancer where her love for dance became more than a passion and became her career. She committed to dance as an expressive art and furthered her dance education out of high school by attending East Carolina University. While at ECU, Ari performed in multiple main-stage shows, contemporary concerts, and senior choreography concerts. ECU provided her not only with a strong movement education but also with the opportunity to Coordinate and Stage Manage multiple shows. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Education from ECU in 2018. Returning to her home studio, The Dance Attic, Ari started as a dance instructor for several years and later became co-company director until 2024. As a studio instructor in the evenings, Ari was a high school teacher by Day; She was the Dance Director at Millbrook High School for 4 years. Ari has recently made the move from Raleigh, NC to Atlanta, GA to further her dance performance and teaching career. Currently, Ari is continuing her dance training by taking classes from professional choreographers and dancers in the industry at Excel Studios and working with a vocal artist as one of her dancers for her upcoming music release. Along with pursuing her career as a performer, Ari continues her passion of teaching by teaching master classes at local studios and high schools in the Atlanta area, as well as choreographing and acting as co-dance captain for the vocal artist she dances for. Ari plans to continue to audition, perform, teach, and take on any dance opportunities that she can as she continues her dance journey!
