Kate is the owner and artistic director of Art of Dance Studio and the non-profit organization Art of Dance, Inc.  She is originally from Raleigh, North Carolina where she started dancing at the age of two.  Kate found her passion for dance with Classical Ballet and Pointe training as a member of the company at the Triangle Academy of Ballet, taking classes under instructors from the Carolina Ballet Company.  Such technical education influenced her to have a strong focus on technique and conditioning for performance-based arts.  At the Academy for Performing Arts and throughout college, she studied Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Pointe, Lyrical, Contemporary, Choreography, Acrobatics, Pilates, Hip-Hop, Musical Theatre and was a member of the UNCW dance team.  Most of her time was spent traveling to conventions, performances, and competitions where she was awarded countless awards and scholarships through: New York City Dance Alliance, Showstoppers, SHOCK the Intensive, JUMP and many others. She was awarded a scholarship to attend Broadway Dance Center in New York under tap enthusiast Mike Minery. This memorable experience helped mold the choreographer, adjudicator, educator, and philanthropist she is today.  In 2016, she created a non-profit company, Art of Dance, Inc that provides scholarships for children’s dance education and college dance education.  Kate has a bachelor’s degree in psychology (child development emphasis), Philosophy and Religion and feels that dance unites different types of cultures in a fundamental way.  Her studio is built upon psychological principles that aid in child development and create a positive learning environment.  She has also taught at dance conventions, judged for multiple competition circuits and dance programs.  Kate truly loves traveling to choreograph, teaching, performing and inspiring others to be their best.  She believes that dance is an enlightening form of expression that every child can learn and grow creatively from.

Amanda Hoyte is a dance educator, choreographer, and performing artist based in Western North Carolina. She is a graduate of both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Psychology, and the University of South Florida with a M.S. in Medical (Health) Sciences. With over 25 years of formal dance training in styles including ballet, tap, and jazz dance, and a theatrical and concert stage performance career that spans 20 years, she has spent most of her life learning and expressing herself through dance. Over the years, she has traveled and performed regionally and nationally with several dance companies and maintained a love for performing, however,  Amanda has devoted most of her professional dance career to examining the relationship between dance, music, and culture throughout history, to educating individuals of all ages in the art and joy of music through movement, and to building a diverse dance community in Western North Carolina. Since 2017, Amanda has been resident instructor, as well as jazz and tap choreographer for Art of Dance Studio’s competitive dance team and, in 2020, Amanda joined the Theatre Arts Department faculty at Mars Hill University as the Dance Program Director, where she is working to build a holistic dance program that creates informed and experienced practitioners/performers. Amanda has frequently been a guest instructor at other institutions/studios teaching tap and jazz intensives and master classes.  In addition to teaching, she continues to choreograph (recent credits: BLVCK BRILLIANCE: A Celebration of Melanin (2021), Little Shop of Horrors(2021), Sweet Charity (2023)) and to perform, appearing in music videos for artists including The Get Right Band, Alfred Nomad, and Eleanor Underhill and on theatrical stages (recent credits: BLVCK BRILLIANCE: A Celebration of Melanin (2021), The Wedding Singer(2022)). Amanda is also a leader in the NC Chapter of the Southern Open Rhythm Collective and very active as a tap dancer/musician in Asheville's live music scene.

COMING SOON....

Elsea began her dance training at age 7 in the Dallas metropolitan area, studying ballet, jazz, and tap. Naturally drawn to high energy forms of movement, she began competitive cheerleading at age 9, and was competing at the national level by the time she was a tween. Her family relocated to Winston-Salem as she began high school, and Elsea made the decision to get back to her roots in traditional movement. Throughout her teens, she received training in jazz, tap, and ballet, as well as hip-hop, modern, and lyrical. After high school, Elsea spent two years as an apprentice with Royal Expressions Contemporary Ballet in Greensboro and in 2013 moved to Asheville to attend UNCA, where she studied Biology and Dance. Since moving to the area, Elsea has performed with professional performance companies Bronze & Ebony, Project Negus, and Mosso Kan at area events like The Art Trap House, LEAF, Goombay Festival, and Downtown after 5. Elsea is looking forward to joining us to teach kids’ and teens’ hip-hop choreography, as well as adult hip-hop fitness. Catch one of her Adult classes on Wednesday evenings…

COMING SOON....

Selah Chambers was born and raised in Henderson County, NC.  She has been with Art of Dance Studio for 6 years and began dancing when she was 4 years old.  She did competitive dance for 13 years, her favorite styles being contemporary, jazz, and ballet. Selah is currently attending college at North Greenville with a focus in Psychology.  She is excited to pour her passion of dance into teaching the next generation!

COMING SOON....

COMING SOON....

Melvin AC Howell is an internationally cultured choreographer and creative director who has been transforming and molding lives, while evolving the art of dance, for over 13 years. His approach is

 his purpose, “Spread positivity, encouragement, and guidance through dance. The positivity movement.”  With a background in fitness, art, and many different cultural styles of dance, Melvin brings a unique vision to the world that is dance. His visionary style and technique promotes growth physically and mentally, encouraging a strengthened body, foundation, and creative capacity. As a movement expert and master instructor in Hip Hop, Contemporary, Jazz Funk, and Freestyle; Melvin emits a genuine uplifting abundance of positive energy and inspiration, which fills the atmosphere and effortlessly uplifts your spirits, leaving you motivated and wanting more. With dance serving as the primary purpose in his life, Melvin not only touches at the center of what inspires people to move; the desire to create, to feel, to connect, to speak without words. Moreover, Melvin focuses on the core of the human desire for motivation, support, inspiration, and love. It is his mission, his passion, his life goal: “To Change People’s Lives for the better.”