Our Staff
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Bethany Sleebos
Bethany Sleebos was born and raised in College Station, TX. At the age of 5 she began dancing at Suzanne’s School of Dance. After completing 10 years at Suzanne’s, she went off to join Ad Deum’s Trainee Program in Houston. Bethany was a trainee for 2 years and then continued on to dance as an Apprentice and a main company member. During her time at Ad Deum, she had the privilege of dancing works by Randall Flinn, Steve Rooks, Hope Boykin, and many more incredible choreographers. They performed both nationally and internationally. Along with performing professionally, she has taught at various studios in the Houston area including The Met, West University Dance Center, and Sugarland Dance Center. In 2009, she moved to The Netherlands to start Arise Dance School & Company under Youth With a Mission. It was there that she met and married her husband, Patrick Sleebos. In 2013, they felt called to move back to College Station and take over Suzanne’s School of Dance. Bethany and Patrick feel blessed to carry on this legacy for the years to come.
Patrick Sleebos
Mr. Patrick never dreamed of working in a dance studio. When he met Ms. Bethany he was exposed to a new world of performing arts and he absolutely loves supporting Ms. Bethany’s ministry of dance. After he and his wife took over Suzanne’s School of Dance her started working full-time for the studio and has developed a passion for what he does. One thing that bring Mr. Patrick joy is to see young dancers use their talents and gifts for Gods Kingdom. He is proud to be a part of the SSD family!
Andrea Sheridan
Andrea was born and raised in Boise, Idaho and later moved to Moscow, Idaho to continue her dance training at the University of Idaho. It was there she not only received her Bachelor of Science in Dance, but where she also met her husband, Ryan. During her time in the Northwest, Andrea was provided many opportunities to teach, choreograph and train under some amazing instructors and choreographers for which she is extremely thankful.
Since moving to Texas, Andrea has been blessed to teach a variety of dance and fitness classes at various studios, (including the occasional invitation to teach at Texas A&M University for their Dance Science program). She has enjoyed getting to dance with Talitha Dance Company and guesting with Mei/Co. Dance Company in the past and hopes to continue to this year.
Going into her 12th year of instructing at Suzanne’s School of Dance, Andrea is amazed and humbled by the Lord’s kindness, generosity and overwhelming love. She is so thankful to have found a studio where she can combine her passion of dance with her faith, feeding into the lives of her students. This would be so much harder without the continual love and support of her amazing husband of almost 15 years, Ryan and their (adorable) 5-year-old son Asher. She is excited to see what the Lord has to bring this year!
Christi Varvel
Christi Varvel began her Ballet training at Le Studio Dance in Los Angeles, CA under the instruction of Philip and Charles Fuller of Ballet West, and Julia Ortega, and Roberto Almaguer of Ballet Nacional de Cuba. During her time at Le Studio she performed in the Nutcracker, dancing the roles of Chinese, Spanish, Mirliton, and Waltz of the Flowers. Continuing her education, she danced under the direction of Cynthia Lawrence of Ballet West and Lawrence Blake of The Joffrey Ballet at Pasadena Dance Theater as a member of Pasadena Dance Theater’s Company. She performed in a Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Nutcracker, and original works by Lawrence Blake. With an eye towards teaching, Christi received her Bachelors degree in Dance, from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a focus in pedagogy, Ballet, Jazz, and Modern dance. During these years, Christi taught Ballet at a Boulder area studio and creative movement at a Montessori school. Through her work at the Montessori school she taught creative movement and dance as a form of therapy for students with ADHD. After moving to College Station, TX, in 2014, Christi began teaching at Suzanne’s School of Dance and has served as the Director of Apprentice AbunDance, Mini Company, and The Ballet Academy. In 2017, she redeveloped the Ballet curriculum to focus on rigor, art, and individual motivation. In past years, she has enjoyed serving as a rehearsal director and choreographer for Ballet Brazos’ annual production of The Nutcracker and spring production. When she is not teaching dance, she enjoys performing with Talitha Dance Company. It is her hope through teaching, performance, and passion, that her students will be inspired by the discipline and art of ballet.
Stephanie Murphy
Ms. Stephanie began her dance training at the age of four in Lewisville, Texas with the Ballet Conservatory under the direction of Kelly Kilburn-Lannin. After moving to Houston, she continued her dance training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Amy Blake’s Academy of Dance, and Houston Ballet Academy. During this time she had the opportunity to perform roles with Houston Ballet, Irving Ballet, and Clear Lake Metropolitan Ballet. Stephanie’s love for teaching began in high school and continued when she moved to College Station, teaching at Suzanne’s School of Dance. Stephanie graduated from Texas A&M University with a BA in Theatre Arts and minors in both Dance and English. After graduating, she then moved to Houston to teach theatre for New Caney ISD for a number of years. Later, Stephanie and her family returned to the College Station area and Stephanie was honored to return to Suzanne’s School of Dance where she’s now taught for over 10 years.. At home Ms. Stephanie loves spending time with her husband and 3 boys. She is grateful to have the opportunity to share her love of dance!
Mariah Pfieffer
Mariah began dancing when she was 7 years old focusing primarily on classical ballet. She had the opportunity to train at the Ballet Conservatory of South Texas and participated in their pre-professional ballet company. Over the Past 4 years Mariah has had the opportunity to dance with Chara Christian Dance Company and Talitha. She is now continuing her education as a teacher by attending courses such as Marie Walton-Mahon’s Progressive Ballet Technique. Mariah has been a part of the Suzanne’s family for 4 years and is excited to start her 5th year of teaching at the studio. This will be Mariah’s second year directing Apprentice Company and is looking forward to the new year. This will also be Mariah’s second year being a part of the SSD Customer Care Team. Mariah is so grateful for her studio family and she is eager to see all the year has in store!
Emily Anton
Mary Emily Anton graduated from Texas A&M University in May 2020 with a BA in Dance, and minors in Business and Creative Studies. During her time in college, Emily’s choreography was chosen to represent Texas A&M at the American College Dance Association in 2020. Before college, Emily danced in a pre-professional modern company under the direction of Cheryl Copeland for 5 years. With this company she competed at conventions and competitions around the state and received many scholarships and awards. She also held a leadership position on her high school team, where she was awarded for her choreography and solos. After graduation, Emily has been working with Mei/Co. Dance as a choreographer, teacher, and dancer. She has also had the opportunity to dance with and choreograph for other local companies such as Chara Christan Dance Company and Talitha. This year, she is so excited to be directing Company AbunDance for their 2021/22 season and to be teaching for her 6th year at Suzanne’s School of Dance.
Breeann Patek
Breeann began her dance journey after watching the Victoria Ballet Theatre’s performance of The Nutcracker in 3rd grade. After watching the performance, she auditioned to join VBT and danced with them for 9 years. While there she trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, and modern dance. During her time with VBT, she danced various principal and soloist roles in The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. Breeann has also performed around the US and Canada for the Southwest Region of Regional Dance America. She is currently a senior at Texas A&M University where she is pursuing a BS in Kinesiology, Dance Science with a teacher certification. During her time at A&M she has performed in faculty, guest artist, and student works. She has also traveled with the Dance Science program to Helsinki, Finland to attend the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science conference. Miss Bree enjoyed teaching modern dance for the 2020-2021 season at Suzanne’s, and she is excited to be returning for the 2021-2022 season.
Katie-Beth Craig
Katie-Beth Craig is a Dallas native and began dancing at "Steps-A Dance Studio" at 3-years-old. Her training background is strong in jazz and contemporary, and she loves to tell others about Jesus through dance. She was a 3-year line member and chaplain of the National-Champion Rockwall Stingerettes dance and drill team. Katie-Beth is a Psychology major and Neuroscience minor at A&M, with plans to go on to obtain her PhD in order to become a clinical therapist for children. In her free time, she loves photography, spending time in her Christian organization at A&M and serving in kids' ministry at church.
Natalie Robinson
Natalie Robinson is from Texarkana, Texas. She has danced for 19 years and studied ballet, pointe, contemporary, modern, and jazz. In high school, she performed lead roles in “The Nutcracker,” most notably Sugarplum Fairy. She starred as Odette in “Swan Lake.” Natalie trained in the Ballet Arkansas Pre-Professional Division for three years. She attended Youth American Grand Prix three times performing “Bluebird,” “Gamzatti,” and “Lilac Fairy” variations, as well as two contemporary solos. In May 2021, she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Belhaven University with a BFA in Dance. In College, she was cast in a variety of works and received starring roles as Snow demi-soloist in “The Nutcracker,” soloist in “Frontiers” pas de deux, and soloist in “Frescoes,” restaged by Henry Danton. While earning a dance degree, she gained knowledge in dance health, pedagogy, dance production, teaching methods, and kinesiology. She had opportunities to choreograph and stage works. Natalie was inducted into the National Honor Society for Dance Arts in March, which is a program for the National Dance Education Organization recognizing artistic merit, leadership, and academic achievement. She recently received Youth Protection Advocates in Dance certification and CPR training through Suzanne’s School of Dance. Natalie is passionate about sharing and cultivating the love of dance through teaching. She is excited to join the SSD team and educate her students in technical proficiency and artistry.
Christi Varvel
Christi Varvel began her Ballet training at Le Studio Dance in Los Angeles, CA under the instruction of Philip and Charles Fuller of Ballet West, and Julia Ortega, and Roberto Almaguer of Ballet Nacional de Cuba. During her time at Le Studio she performed in the Nutcracker, dancing the roles of Chinese, Spanish, Mirliton, and Waltz of the Flowers. Continuing her education, she danced under the direction of Cynthia Lawrence of Ballet West and Lawrence Blake of The Joffrey Ballet at Pasadena Dance Theater as a member of Pasadena Dance Theater’s Company. She performed in a Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Nutcracker, and original works by Lawrence Blake. With an eye towards teaching, Christi received her Bachelors degree in Dance, from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a focus in pedagogy, Ballet, Jazz, and Modern dance. During these years, Christi taught Ballet at a Boulder area studio and creative movement at a Montessori school. Through her work at the Montessori school she taught creative movement and dance as a form of therapy for students with ADHD. After moving to College Station, TX, in 2014, Christi began teaching at Suzanne’s School of Dance and has served as the Director of Apprentice AbunDance, Mini Company, and The Ballet Academy. In 2017, she redeveloped the Ballet curriculum to focus on rigor, art, and individual motivation. In past years, she has enjoyed serving as a rehearsal director and choreographer for Ballet Brazos’ annual production of The Nutcracker and spring production. When she is not teaching dance, she enjoys performing with Talitha Dance Company. It is her hope through teaching, performance, and passion, that her students will be inspired by the discipline and art of ballet.
John Reid
Born in Houston, Texas, John Henry Reid began his training at the Houston Ballet Academy under the direction of Ben Stevenson. He started his training in a young mens program at the age of 10 and graduated from Houston Ballet Academy at the age of 20. While there he study many different dance styles including classical ballet, partnering, character, mordern, jazz and many others, and he was also the first to receive the Ben Stevenson Scholarship award. Upon his graduation from the academy, John was asked to join Texas Ballet Theater. At Texas Ballet he performed many principle roles from the Nutrcracker Prince, Franz in Coppelia, Peer Gynt in Ben Stevensons Peer Gynt and Ben Stevensons End of Time pas de duex. He spent the next seven years dancing for companies like Colorado Ballet, where he met and danced for Martin Fredmann, to Complexions Contemporary Ballet in New York, and City Ballet of San Diego. He has guested for Cincinnati Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Twin City Ballet Theater, Houston Ballet Rep Ballet, Uptown Street Dance Company, Ballet Artisan, and the University of Oklahoma.
His repertoire includes leading roles in Dracula, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Celts, Company B, 9 Sinatra Songs, Swan Lake, Walpurgisnacht, and many more contemporary ballets choreographed by choreographers such as Dwight Rhoden, Igal Perry, Jessica Lang, Darrell Grand-moultrie, Jo Funaki and others.
Mr.Reid has spent the last eight years continuing to expand his extensive repertoire while dancing, teaching, choreographing, and coaching in Japan. His choreographic works have been set on companies and schools across Japan. While in Japan John and Aya opened their own school Elements Academy of Dance.
Aya Reid
Born in Osaka, Aya Ota began her ballet training at Homura Tomoi ballet school in Osaka. She was trained in Vaganova. Her teachers were Makio Homura, Toyoko Miyamoto, and Emiko Inoue. During that time she attended The School of Kirov Ballet Vaganova Ballet Academy. While there she studied Classical Ballet with Zagurskaya Margarita, Character dance with Averkina Larissa, Historical Dance with Apadiakos Natalya, and Mime with Stiopio Alexander.
She has also studied in RAD, Royal Academy of Dance and has received high marks in Elementary, Intermediate, and Advance 1 exams. She has attended the London Studio Centre and studied under teachers Barry McGrath, Margaret Barbieri, Anita Yang, Jane Sang, Sue Booker, and others.
After Graduating from the London Studio Centre, Aya returned to Japan and joined Ballet Chambre Ouest in Hachioji Tokyo, under the direction of Hiroaki Imamura. Over her 16 years at Ballet Chambre Ouest, Aya danced Principle and soloist roles in many classical ballets and original works. Her repertoire consist of lead roles in The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Le Corsaire, Thumbelina, Gisselle, Swan Lake, Raymonda,Tenjyo no uta, Pas de duex from Donizetti, Fairy tale, and Luna. She has also performed at the Bolishoi Theatre with Ballet Chambre Ouest.
For the past 15 years Aya has been teaching ballet technique, pointe, variations, and pas de duex. Some of her students received 1st place, 5th place, and finalist in competitions such as, Educational Ballet competition, YAGP in Japan, Japan Dance Competition, Japan competition in Hachioji, Japan Gran Prix, and the All Japan Competition.
Mariah Pfieffer
Mariah began dancing when she was 7 years old focusing primarily on classical ballet. She had the opportunity to train at the Ballet Conservatory of South Texas and participated in their pre-professional ballet company. Over the Past 4 years Mariah has had the opportunity to dance with Chara Christian Dance Company and Talitha. She is now continuing her education as a teacher by attending courses such as Marie Walton-Mahon’s Progressive Ballet Technique. Mariah has been a part of the Suzanne’s family for 4 years and is excited to start her 5th year of teaching at the studio. This will be Mariah’s second year directing Apprentice Company and is looking forward to the new year. This will also be Mariah’s second year being a part of the SSD Customer Care Team. Mariah is so grateful for her studio family and she is eager to see all the year has in store!
Katy Byrne
Description Coming Soon
Emily Anton
Mary Emily Anton graduated from Texas A&M University in May 2020 with a BA in Dance, and minors in Business and Creative Studies. During her time in college, Emily’s choreography was chosen to represent Texas A&M at the American College Dance Association in 2020. Before college, Emily danced in a pre-professional modern company under the direction of Cheryl Copeland for 5 years. With this company she competed at conventions and competitions around the state and received many scholarships and awards. She also held a leadership position on her high school team, where she was awarded for her choreography and solos. After graduation, Emily has been working with Mei/Co. Dance as a choreographer, teacher, and dancer. She has also had the opportunity to dance with and choreograph for other local companies such as Chara Christan Dance Company and Talitha. This year, she is so excited to be directing Company AbunDance for their 2021/22 season and to be teaching for her 6th year at Suzanne’s School of Dance.
Mackenzie Clowe
Mackenzie Clowe graduated from Texas A&M University in May 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Education - Middle Grades Math/Science. Throughout her time at Texas A&M she had the pleasure of serving as the President of Dance Arts Society. Mackenzie is an esteemed choreographer for various drill teams and studio companies in the DFW area. Mackenzie has been recognized and awarded for her choreography at competitions with Crowd Pleasers, Showtime International, American Dance/Drill, Star Quest and Nexstar. She most recently became a National award-winning choreographer after one of her pieces was selected to perform in the Star Quest Classic Dance Off and received a Judges Award at the Star Quest World Finals 2021. Before coming to A&M, Mackenzie trained with various studios, pre-professional companies, and also served as the Captain of her HS drill team. Mackenzie has had the pleasure of performing with the local dance company, Talitha. She feels so blessed and excited to be beginning her 3rd year as an instructor at Suzanne’s School of Dance where she cherishes sharing her love for dance and the Lord with her students.
Abby Dang
Abby Dang is currently a sophomore Kinesiology Dance Science Major at Texas A&M University, who hopes to attend physical therapy school after college. Abby has been dancing for 13 years and has trained in the genres of tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, lyrical, contemporary, and modern. Abby began her dance training at St. Saviors School of Dance in Greenwich, Connecticut, where she fell in love with tap and jazz as a member of their competition company. Upon moving to College Station in 2014, Abby started dancing at Suzanne’s and became a member of Apprentice Abundance Company. Over the years, Abby continued to level up through SSD’s companies, eventually reaching principal dancer in Senior Company and starring as a main character in the studio’s productions of Annie, The Lion King, and The Greatest Showman. During her time with Abundance, Abby attended and performed at conventions such as Dance Revolution and Project Dance New York. After graduating high school, Abby opted to further her dance training as a member of the TAMU Dance Science Program where she has the opportunity to continue dancing while also completing the prerequisites for PT school. Most recently, Abby has danced with Mei/co Dance Company in their production of Sunshine Personified. Abby is thrilled to be back at Suzanne’s and cannot wait to begin teaching and fostering a love for dance in the next generation of dancers.
Taylor Dickson
Taylor Dickson is a Junior Childhood Education major at Texas A&M. She began her dance training when she was 5 years old at Collective Dance Artistry in San Antonio. There she trained thoroughly in ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap, and modern. Taylor attended competition circuits all over the country and received many state and national titles including National Teen Miss Encore 2013 and Texas State Solo Champion 2016. She also danced with Ballet San Antonio in the Nutcracker in 2015. Taylor was Captain of the Johnson High School Legacies and led the team to 4 national titles at NDA in Orlando. She has continued to choreograph national winning solos and team routines for studios and high schools across Texas. This year, Taylor is excited to be the Mini Company Director at Suzanne’s and the Co-chair for her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, in Songfest. When Taylor isn’t dancing, she enjoys time with her furry friends and family! This will be Taylor’s 3rd year teaching at Suzanne’s!
Emma Duke
Emma Mae Duke started dancing when she was 5 years old in her hometown of Madisonville Texas. She was homeschooled by her mother from start to finish along with her many siblings. At 13, Emma was ready to take her dancing to the next level by attending classes at Suzann’s School of Dance. Her first year with SSD was taught by Andrea Sheridan and instantly fell in love with the studio. After the first year, Emma heard of the Ballet Brazos’ production of the Nutcracker and quickly jumped on board. Emma Duke participated in the pre-professional ballet and pointe at SSD for 2 years under the tutelage of Kerry Godkins, Katy Ellison, and Katy Hanik. In 2018, she started taking many different genres of dance, such as contemporary, tap, hip hop, jazz, and modern to widen the horizon of skills. Emma realized her true passion was to teach dance and inspire dancers just as her teachers did for her. Now in her 3rd year of teaching at SSD, Emma Duke is focusing on training her students not only proper dance etiquettes but also show each dancer how to glorify GOD with their dancing.
Olivia Eckhardt
Olivia Eckhardt began her training at Heather Stolle’s School of Dance in San Antonio, TX at the age of 5. While there, she trained in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop and Contemporary. Olivia has been on multiple performance and competition teams since the age of 11, leading her to travel around the country in competition and convention circuits. While competing, she earned multiple titles, awards and scholarships for her solos and team routines. Also, she has danced multiple roles in the Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker. In high school, she was a part of Johnson High School’s dance teams all 4 years, serving as an officer for 2 of those years. During her time there, she helped lead her team to multiple national titles. She is now a student at Texas A&M University majoring in Biomedical Science, while still keeping active in the dance community. She also has served as a Songfest chair for Alpha Chi Omega. Olivia is thrilled to be part of the SSD family!
Terra Fiedler
Terra is a Sophomore Dance Science and Nutrition student at Texas A&M. She began dancing at four years old and has attended multiple studios while moving around the San Antonio and Boerne area. She focused mainly on Tap and Jazz and competed in those areas until she started high school. That is when Terra really found her passion for dance. She joined (and fell in love with) her high school dance team, and she ended up leading them as Lt. Colonel and Colonel her Junior and Senior year. She competed with her team, as a soloist and in multiple duets. They were Danceline National Champions in 2019, but her proudest accomplishment was being the officer in charge of a children’s summer “Shining Star” dance camp for ages 3-15 two summers in a row. She also began attending, and taught at, Lonestar Collective Dance in Boerne, TX, where she branched out into Ballet, Pointe, Modern, Contemporary and Musical Theatre. Terra’s dream is to dance on a cruise ship for a few years after graduating from A&M so she can travel while doing what she loves.
Anna Jones
Anna Jones is a junior at Texas A&M University majoring in Dance Science with plans to attend physical therapy school after graduation. She was born and raised in Waco, Texas where she grew up dancing at Joy’s School of Dance. She’s danced for 18 years (and counting), training in ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, modern, pointe, lyrical, contemporary, and musical theater. Anna was also a 4 year member of her high school dance team, the Midway Goal Tenders, where she competed with the team and as a soloist, receiving Division I ratings every year. Anna regularly attended the Texas Association Teachers of Dancing summer conventions and had the opportunity to take a multitude of classes in different styles from different instructors. In 2015 and 2016, she was recognized as a finalist for the Junior Tap and Senior Hip Hop scholarships, respectively. In 2017, Anna was awarded the Senior Jazz scholarship and later was a recipient of a Merit Scholarship from TATD in 2019. She has had the opportunity to train and take classes from notable names such as Teddy Forance, Thayne Jasperson, Rhonda Miller, Misty Rascon-Smith, Ryan Warren, Geo Hubela, Jay Fagan and more. During her time in college, Anna has had the opportunity to be a member of the faculty work “But Where There’s Hope, There’s Life” through the dance program and is a member of Fade to Black, A&M’s hip hop dance team. Anna is so excited to be teaching at Suzanne’s and cannot wait to see what the year will bring!
Amanda Marnock
Amanda Marnock is currently a student at Texas A&M University studying dance science and eating her certificate to teach dance grades 8-12. During her time in the TAMU Dance program she has performed in multiple student and faculty choreography for research and performance. Before college, Amanda began dancing at a very young age in Spring, Tx at Koenig Dance Studio. She then trained at The Dance Movement and International Conservatory of Performing Arts in Plano, Tx. Amanda primarily studied ballet specifically in the Cecchetti Method with certification for many years. During highschool Amanda was in a leadership position on her school Drill Team where she choreographed, cleaned and trained her teammates. This experience has led Amanda to her current degree in hopes of becoming a drill team director and teaching dance for many years to come. Since highschool, Amanda has enjoyed choreographing for local students and companies in Katy, Tx. Amanda is blessed to be joining Suzanne’s School of Dance for her first year and excited to be a part of her students' growth and help them find their love for dance.
Stephanie Murphy
Ms. Stephanie began her dance training at the age of four in Lewisville, Texas with the Ballet Conservatory under the direction of Kelly Kilburn-Lannin. After moving to Houston, she continued her dance training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Amy Blake’s Academy of Dance, and Houston Ballet Academy. During this time she had the opportunity to perform roles with Houston Ballet, Irving Ballet, and Clear Lake Metropolitan Ballet. Stephanie’s love for teaching began in high school and continued when she moved to College Station, teaching at Suzanne’s School of Dance. Stephanie graduated from Texas A&M University with a BA in Theatre Arts and minors in both Dance and English. After graduating, she then moved to Houston to teach theatre for New Caney ISD for a number of years. Later, Stephanie and her family returned to the College Station area and Stephanie was honored to return to Suzanne’s School of Dance where she’s now taught for over 10 years.. At home Ms. Stephanie loves spending time with her husband and 3 boys. She is grateful to have the opportunity to share her love of dance!
Mariah Pfieffer
Mariah began dancing when she was 7 years old focusing primarily on classical ballet. She had the opportunity to train at the Ballet Conservatory of South Texas and participated in their pre-professional ballet company. Over the Past 4 years Mariah has had the opportunity to dance with Chara Christian Dance Company and Talitha. She is now continuing her education as a teacher by attending courses such as Marie Walton-Mahon’s Progressive Ballet Technique. Mariah has been a part of the Suzanne’s family for 4 years and is excited to start her 5th year of teaching at the studio. This will be Mariah’s second year directing Apprentice Company and is looking forward to the new year. This will also be Mariah’s second year being a part of the SSD Customer Care Team. Mariah is so grateful for her studio family and she is eager to see all the year has in store!
Natalie Robinson
Natalie Robinson is from Texarkana, Texas. She has danced for 19 years and studied ballet, pointe, contemporary, modern, and jazz. In high school, she performed lead roles in “The Nutcracker,” most notably Sugarplum Fairy. She starred as Odette in “Swan Lake.” Natalie trained in the Ballet Arkansas Pre-Professional Division for three years. She attended Youth American Grand Prix three times performing “Bluebird,” “Gamzatti,” and “Lilac Fairy” variations, as well as two contemporary solos. In May 2021, she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Belhaven University with a BFA in Dance. In College, she was cast in a variety of works and received starring roles as Snow demi-soloist in “The Nutcracker,” soloist in “Frontiers” pas de deux, and soloist in “Frescoes,” restaged by Henry Danton. While earning a dance degree, she gained knowledge in dance health, pedagogy, dance production, teaching methods, and kinesiology. She had opportunities to choreograph and stage works. Natalie was inducted into the National Honor Society for Dance Arts in March, which is a program for the National Dance Education Organization recognizing artistic merit, leadership, and academic achievement. She recently received Youth Protection Advocates in Dance certification and CPR training through Suzanne’s School of Dance. Natalie is passionate about sharing and cultivating the love of dance through teaching. She is excited to join the SSD team and educate her students in technical proficiency and artistry.
Andrea Sheridan
Andrea was born and raised in Boise, Idaho and later moved to Moscow, Idaho to continue her dance training at the University of Idaho. It was there she not only received her Bachelor of Science in Dance, but where she also met her husband, Ryan. During her time in the Northwest, Andrea was provided many opportunities to teach, choreograph and train under some amazing instructors and choreographers for which she is extremely thankful.
Since moving to Texas, Andrea has been blessed to teach a variety of dance and fitness classes at various studios, (including the occasional invitation to teach at Texas A&M University for their Dance Science program). She has enjoyed getting to dance with Talitha Dance Company and guesting with Mei/Co. Dance Company in the past and hopes to continue to this year.
Going into her 12th year of instructing at Suzanne’s School of Dance, Andrea is amazed and humbled by the Lord’s kindness, generosity and overwhelming love. She is so thankful to have found a studio where she can combine her passion of dance with her faith, feeding into the lives of her students. This would be so much harder without the continual love and support of her amazing husband of almost 15 years, Ryan and their (adorable) 5-year-old son Asher. She is excited to see what the Lord has to bring this year!
Christi Varvel
Christi Varvel began her Ballet training at Le Studio Dance in Los Angeles, CA under the instruction of Philip and Charles Fuller of Ballet West, and Julia Ortega, and Roberto Almaguer of Ballet Nacional de Cuba. During her time at Le Studio she performed in the Nutcracker, dancing the roles of Chinese, Spanish, Mirliton, and Waltz of the Flowers. Continuing her education, she danced under the direction of Cynthia Lawrence of Ballet West and Lawrence Blake of The Joffrey Ballet at Pasadena Dance Theater as a member of Pasadena Dance Theater’s Company. She performed in a Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Nutcracker, and original works by Lawrence Blake. With an eye towards teaching, Christi received her Bachelors degree in Dance, from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a focus in pedagogy, Ballet, Jazz, and Modern dance. During these years, Christi taught Ballet at a Boulder area studio and creative movement at a Montessori school. Through her work at the Montessori school she taught creative movement and dance as a form of therapy for students with ADHD. After moving to College Station, TX, in 2014, Christi began teaching at Suzanne’s School of Dance and has served as the Director of Apprentice AbunDance, Mini Company, and The Ballet Academy. In 2017, she redeveloped the Ballet curriculum to focus on rigor, art, and individual motivation. In past years, she has enjoyed serving as a rehearsal director and choreographer for Ballet Brazos’ annual production of The Nutcracker and spring production. When she is not teaching dance, she enjoys performing with Talitha Dance Company. It is her hope through teaching, performance, and passion, that her students will be inspired by the discipline and art of ballet.