Cerena Chaney is a native of Ponca City, Oklahoma. Dance has been her passion for as long as she can remember. Cerena began dancing at the age of three and continued to dance under the direction of Fran Norris at Miss Fran’s Dance and Tumbling Studio until graduating high school. Her love for this art form quickly grew into a permanent part of her life.

After graduating high school, Cerena wanted to take her passion to the next level, and she attended Oklahoma City University as a dance major. While at Oklahoma City University, she continued her love of dance technique and performance, but also fostered a passion for teaching dance to others. Cerena graduated in May 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Dance Pedagogy.

Since graduating, Cerena has continued to teach, learn, and grow in her love of dance. She is starting her fourth year working for American Dance Drill Team, teaching dance team camps during the summer months to high school dance teams across the Midwest. Cerena is also starting her second year as the Pom Coach at Oakdale Middle School! She is excited to start her first year as a dance teacher as Classen SAS Middle School. Cerena is so excited to be starting her third year at Dance Unlimited, and she can’t wait to continue teaching, growing, and building relationships with students and families!

Emily was born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma. She grew up dancing at Dance Unlimited Performing Arts Center. She then pursued a dance degree at The University of Oklahoma, graduating in May of 2015 with a BFA in Modern Dance Performance. Emily was a member of the Contemporary Dance Oklahoma Company where she was able to work with and perform work by choreographers such as Carla Maxwell/Jose Limon, Alvin Ailey, Jessica Lang, and Austin Hartel. She was able to perform with Hartel Dance Group for a season, traveling to the International Fringe Festival, as well as the fall concert Retrospective. She was also a member of the Oklahoma City Dance Project 2012 and 2014. She spent a season working with the talented artists in Hannah Kahn Dance Company in Denver, CO under the artistic direction of Hannah Kahn. Most recently, she has been pursuing her passion for teaching dance and has had the fulfilling experience of directing The Vibe Dance Company.

Keyna grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, dancing for 15 years under the direction of Bee Pinotti at Camria Ballet Academy. She continued studying dance at Oklahoma City University (OCU), where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Dance Performance in 2016. While at OCU, Keyna performed with the OCU Pep Dancers, as well as in several productions, including Time of Our Lives, Applause, One Night Only; and the American Spirit Dance Company’s Home for the Holidays, On Broadway, and Hot Shoe Shuffle. Since graduating, Keyna has been working professionally both teaching and performing. In addition to teaching at Dance Unlimited, she spent two years teaching ballet and tap full time at Classen School of Advanced Studies Middle School. She has performed with Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma in their productions of West Side Story (Graziella), Mamma Mia!, and Singin' in the Rain; with Music Theatre Wichita in their productions of Thoroughly Modern Millie (Alice) and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Martha); with Larrwell Productions in Dallas, TX; and for the OKC Philharmonic Christmas Show. Keyna absolutely loves being a part of the DU family, and is looking forward to her 6th year of teaching here at Dance Unlimited!

Lesa began dancing at the age of three at Applause Studios in Oklahoma City under the direction of Patricia Oplontnik. She became a member of the competition company at the age of eight and continued competing through high school. Competing at various conventions and competitions throughout the region, Lesa, had the opportunity to study with various professional artists such as Keith Clifton, Rhonda Miller, Greg Russel, and Jeff Amsden. In 1997, Lesa competed in the Miss Dance of Oklahoma competition taking 5th place and going on to compete at the Dance Masters of America National Convention in Orlando, FL taking 2nd runner up in her age division. After graduating high school in 1998, she went to the University of Central Oklahoma where she was a member of the Kaleidoscope Dancers Company for four years. During her college career, Lesa toured to various middle schools and high schools performing for children of all ages. She also performed in Opening Night in Bricktown and at the American College Dance Festival Gala. Lesa graduated with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in 2003 and has taught here at Dance Unlimited PAC for the past 21 years. Looking forward to another great year with the best dance family!

Makenzie Boatright is from Edmond, Oklahoma. She has a Bachelor of Music in Musical Theatre Performance from the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO). Makenzie has had 13 years of vocal training and 9 years of dance. Along with years of performance experience, Makenzie also has experience in choreographing, music directing, and teaching private lessons. She has also been the Director and Assistant Director of many shows here at Spotlight! Makenzie is active in performing in the community, and leading worship at her church. During the day, Makenzie spends her time serving as the Fine Arts Assistant at Crossings Christian School. In July 2020, Makenzie married her husband Dustin, and they live in Edmond with their dog Piper! Makenzie is so glad that Dance Unlimited and Spotlight have given her the opportunity to teach and share her passion with others!

Maya Cook is from Edmond, Oklahoma. She is a graduate from the University of Central Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Musical Theatre. She loves working with kids and has worked at her church’s children’s ministry and Project Princess. She has been working as a Musical Theatre teacher, Voice teacher, and Piano teacher at Dance Unlimited for two years now. She has experience in directing, music directing, and choreographing. Maya has participated in several UCO productions, and has been performing for about 15 years. She is so ecstatic to teach at Dance Unlimited for another year!

Michelle Rambo has been teaching dance for 11 years, which includes styles of hip hop, jazz/funk, contemporary, jazz and tap. She has bachelor’s degrees in Fine Arts in Dance Performance from the University of Central Oklahoma and Kinesiology from East Central University (ECU).

She became the first recipient of the ECU Dance Scholarship, where, for two years, she was captain for the Collage Dance Ensemble. She became the Artistic Director for ECU dance minor program. Michelle has been fortunate to choreograph for the well-known professional Race Dance Company located in Oklahoma City, OK. She has choreographed national hip hop pom routines for McLennan Community College and University of Oklahoma (OU). She recently taught at the Soul De Soul dance convention as a guest artist in Oklahoma City, OK. She has taught at the American College Dance Association at Southeast Missouri State University and Anderson Indiana University. She also travels with numerous organizations teaching and judging all across the states. Michelle's talents have been showcased during the pre-game performance for the Oklahoma City Thunder and at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Michelle is excited to be apart of the University of Oklahoma Musical Theatre department this year and Dance Unlimited.

Jessica is so happy to be on Dance Unlimited faculty!

Jessica is a student at the University of Central Oklahoma studying Musical Theatre and Dance Performance! She has taught dance master classes all over Oklahoma, some in Texas, and Alaska!

Jessica’s favorite style to teach is Hip hop, Contemporary, and Theatre Jazz! She loves to see her students grow and push themselves, while encouraging them to be their true authentic selves.

Some of her credits include: “Grease: the Musical!”, “Christmas Live with Brian Nhira from NBC’s the Voice” , and “Sweet Charity”!

She also is a part of the Kaleidoscope Dance Company and the Abstrakt Mindz Hip Hop Dance Company.

Maddi Hill is from Mansfield, Texas. She is currently a rising senior at the University of Central Oklahoma pursing a Bachelor of Music in Musical Theatre. She loves working with kids, seeing the joy and passion in their eyes as they find their passions and talents. After completing her degree, she hopes to inspire children to always chase their dreams by working as a performer for the Walt Disney World Company, Cruise lines, and more. She is so excited to continue to be a part of the Dance Unlimited family.

Chelsea Jones is a graduate from Oklahoma University with a BFA in Musical Theatre. While performing was fun for Chelsea, she felt more fulfilled teaching. She has been teaching consistently with Dance Unlimited for almost 8 years now and enjoys all disciplines! Chelsea is the head of the dance department at Heritage Hall, and works consistently with the DU Starlette program. Teaching is Chelsea’s passion but when she’s not teaching, she is being a mom to Jentry (5) and Janson (2) and eating as many sour patch kids as she can!

Jane Warner Neil is an OU Musical Theater graduate. In addition to raising her three beautiful children with her husband, she has a great passion for teaching and performing. She has been a part of many musicals, but her favorite roles were “Laurie” in the musical Oklahoma and “Gabriella, in the musical high school musical. Jane specializes in the Alexander technique and can teach vocal styles ranging from pop to opera. She teaches beginner piano, beginner-advanced voice, and beginner-advanced acting, and beginner-advanced songwriting. Jane believes strongly in unleashing the artist that lives in you and having a blast on the journey.

Mel Blake is a dancer/choreographer from Edmond, Oklahoma. She has been teaching for 10 years, styles include Jazz, Contemporary, Lyrical and Technique. Melissa graduated with a BFA in Dance Performance from UCO in 2014. There, Melissa had the pleasure of training under an amazing faculty, along with some guest artists such as: Andrew Palermo, KiKi Lucas, Will Johnston, and many more.

Since then, she has choreographed and taught master classes for many studios. She has also had her presented in 2 RAW Artist shows, Celebrity CREATE and Kidz Carnival in LA. Melissa is so excited to continue to be a part of the DU family!

Alyssa Hedding is from Flower Mound, Texas, and is currently a rising Sophomore Musical Theatre Major at the University of Central Oklahoma. Alyssa has been dancing all disciplines for 16 years. Some of Alyssa’s favorite shows to perform in were, Smitty in How to Succeed, Rosie in Mamma Mia, Rock of Ages (Ensemble/Dance Captain) , Oklahoma, and Bye Bye Birdie.

After graduating college, she hopes to perform, teach dance, and choreograph at studios and theatres! Alyssa loves sharing her love of dance with kids and is excited to be a part of the DU faculty!

Lillian Ball is from Lincoln Nebraska, is a Rising Senior at OCU, currently earning a Bachelor of Science in Dance Management. Lillian began dancing at the age of two and studies all genres of dance. Lillian’s proudest moments included receiving First Over-All National Championship for her tapping, alongside her brother in 2018, named National Senior Dance Down Winner for three consecutive years, and being crowned the National Title of “Miss Spotlight 2018” at Spotlight Dance Cup National Finals. Lillian was honored with the “Blue Cobalt Award” for the Most Promising Sophomore Dance Universal student at OCU in 2020. Lillian has held many leadership roles at OCU such as: Director’s Assistant to Jo Rowan, Choreographer’s Assistant to Vincent Sandoval and Alana Martin, Head Deck Crew, and Film & Editing Assistant. She has performed in American Spirit Dance Company shows at OCU, as well as danced the lead role in the Student Choreography show in the fall of 2019. Lillian performed in the Spring into Spring show as the Line Captain for Jeremy Duvall’s dance, “Big Noise”. Lillian took home a choreography award with a tap solo choreographed for her brother, Beaudree Ball, “False Confidence”. Later, she received another choreography award for a tap solo, “Too Cool” danced by Madison Mattson. Lillian most recently was the Tap Master Instructor for Alpha Omega The Intensive during the summer of 2021. Lillian pours her heart into each student she gets the chance to teach. Lillian strives to be a role model and hopes to share her love for dance with many people and bring out the best in each of her students.