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.

Born and raised in Western North Carolina, Heather began her dance training at the age of five in Asheville.  She studied many genres including ballet, tap, lyrical, jazz, and hip hop.  Throughout her childhood dancing, she spent many years competing in the Southeast and also assisting and teaching classes at her home studio.  Heather attended Western Carolina University for her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education with a minor in dance.  While there, she showcased her dance knowledge in many events on campus and traveled to New York to dance at an event with retired Rockettes.  After graduation she spent six years teaching various grade levels in elementary public schools in Charlotte and Hendersonville.  Afterwards, she spent two years teaching dance at a public middle school/high school.  She founded and runs the Art of Dance homeschool co-op during the 23-24 school year, where students come to experience dance, extracurriculars, and curriculum.  She joined our studio dance class team of teachers in 2023 and has loved teaching a variety of classes for recreation and company students of all ages.  She can’t wait to continue to work and grow with us!

Laura was born and raised in New Jersey and now lives in North Carolina with her husband. She began her dance training at the age of eight. She studied Ballet, Jazz, and Tap. She began intensive training in ballet at the New Jersey School of Ballet in West Orange, NJ. Laura went on to receive a scholarship at the School of American Ballet and was asked to join ABT's Ballet Repertory Company now known as ABT 2. She spent three years dancing in association with American Ballet Theatre in NYC. As a member of Ballet Repertory she danced in the 1979 film "Hair" under the choreographic direction of Twyla Tharp. Laura also had the opportunity of dancing as an apprentice with American Ballet Theatre in NYC and performed with lead dancers Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland in "The Nutcracker". Following Laura's professional dance performing career, she began teaching for several local studios in NJ. During this time she found her love for teaching and desire to open her own studio. For 31 years, Laura was the proud owner/director of Laura's Dance Studio located in New Jersey. Miss Laura is excited to share with the students her love of ballet and devotion to dance. 

Erica Purser is a lifetime gymnast who has always had a passion for latin dance and acro. She specializes in Durganense, Cumbia, and Acro all skills.

In her free time she enjoys spending time with her two young children. They love to explore in nature and swim anywhere with water. Though she spends most of her time coaching gymnastics, she throughly enjoys the time she spends dancing.

Erica is a graduate of North Carolina State University, where she studied Spanish Education  and Nutrition.  Her acro experience  is extensive, focused  on flexibility and muscle  control. We are happy to have her on our team

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.”