Jenna Jones – Director – Ballet, Jazz, Tap , Contemporary, Pilates
Jenna received her Masters of Fine Arts in Dance with an emphasis in performance and choreography at Mills College, where she was the 2014 recipient of the E. L. Wiegand Foundation Dance Innovator Award for exceptional originality in performance and choreography. With over ten years of teaching experience, she teaches a variety of styles at Just Dance Academy, with previous teaching experience at Mills College, Hamilton Elementary School, and several summer programs throughout Marin County. She has performed works by Sonya Delwaide-Nichols, Yukie Fujimoto, Janice Garrett & Charles Moulton, Wanjiru Kamuyu, Sharonjean Leeds, and Wax Poets, and was a company member of Anna and the Annadroids frrom 2015-2018. She is fully certified in STOTT Pilates on all equipment and teaches at Pilates of Marin. Jenna grew up dancing at Just Dance Academy, under the instruction of Miss Deanna, for ten years.
Alyssa Carnahan- Upper Division Artistic Ballet Director – Ballet, Contemporary, Modern, Jazz
Alyssa is a dancer, dance teacher, and choreographer originally from Sonoma County, California. She earned a B.A. from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and an M.F.A. from Mills College in Oakland. Alyssa fell in love with ballet at age four, and trained at Redwood Empire Ballet and Ballet Califia, under David McNaughton and Shelley Scott, both former dancers of San Francisco Ballet and New York City Ballet. She later studied modern dance, jazz, and choreography at SRHS ArtQuest Dance Company, and continued her dance education in college and graduate school. She has performed with Ballet Califia Company, O’brien Center of the Arts, Mills RepCo, Orchesis Dance Company, Walt Disney Parks Entertainment, and Lauren Baines Dance/Theatre. In addition to teaching at Just Dance Academy, Alyssa has taught at the Dance Center of Santa Rosa, Roustabout Theater Company, Cross & Crown School, Mills College, Ballet Califia, Tiburon-Belvedere Rec Center, and Presidio Dance Theatre. She is currently on the faculty at San Domenico School in San Anselmo.
Sierra Serban – Contemporary, Ballet, Jazz
Born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sierra began her dance career at New American Youth Ballet in 2007. She joined the school’s Conservatory program in 2010, where she studied academics and pre-professional ballet for ten years. No stranger to principal roles, Sierra performed as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Dew Drop, and Arabian Soloist in NAYB’s The Nutcracker, along with featured roles in George Balanchine’s Valse-Fantaisie and Serenade, Gerald Arpino’s Birthday Variations, Eddy Ocampo’s …there, within, and Jimmy Orrante’s Communal, among others. While at NAYB, Sierra joined Pulse Performing Arts Center, where she competed in jazz, hip hop, contemporary, and lyrical styles. She began teaching dance at the age of 15 at Pure Dance Works in Fort Wayne; her teaching styles include ballet, contemporary, jazz, pointe, and improvisation. In 2013, Sierra studied at Indiana University’s prestigious summer intensive, and in 2014 and 2015, she spent six weeks studying on scholarship in the highest level of Milwaukee Ballet’s summer program. Sierra is now a dance major and a film minor at Dominican University of California, where she studies contemporary ballet with Alonzo King LINES Ballet in San Francisco while also earning her BFA degree at Dominican.
Lily Stone- Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary/Lyrical, Modern
Maddie Sager – Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Tap, Hip Hop
Maddie Sager began her training at Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre in Missoula Montana at the age of 4. Under the Artistic Director Charlene Campbell Carey, Maddie trained in ballet, contemporary, modern, tap and hip hop at RMBT until graduating high school. Throughout the years she trained during the summers at Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle and internationally in both Portugal and Austria. She also traveled with Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre’s company to perform in countries such as Italy and China. Maddie moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2019 to study at the LINES Ballet BFA Program and as a business minor at Dominican University. She has taught ballet and contemporary at RMBT and has choreographed for the company starting her senior year of high school and has continued when home from college. Recently Maddie has started the process of becoming a certified GYROTONIC ® instructor with Master Trainer Debra Rose and is currently an apprentice. Currently, Maddie dances for choreographer Kathryn Roszak, Artistic Director of Danse Lumière
Lily Hurtubise- Jazz, Pom, Hip Hop, Lyrical
Lily began competitive dancing in Park City, Utah. She later moved to Orange County, California and joined the San Clemente High School Dance Team, helping them win 4 first-place titles at USA Nationals and dancing as a solo finalist.
After graduating from high school, Lily embarked on a new chapter by joining the UCSB Dance Team. Lily assumed the role of captain during her junior and senior years. Additionally, she took on the responsibility of self-coaching the team. Notably, the team made a return to the UDA nationals after a seven-year hiatus and achieved a 4th place finish in the D1 Pom Division.
During her college years, Lily also worked three summers on USA Dance Staff and as an educator at SB Dance Arts. Currently, Lily has embarked on an exciting path as an NBA Dancer for the Golden State Warriors organization.
Ella Can- Ballet, Contemporary, Lyrical, Jazz
Ella Can (she/her) a native of Vermont, began dancing at the age of five, studying multiple forms of dance with an emphasis on classical ballet. At the age of twelve, Ella joined Koltun Ballet Boston where she deepened her studies in classical ballet and contemporary dance. At the age of sixteen, Ella moved to D.C and joined the Washington School of Ballet's Professional Training Program. There, Ella performed corps de ballet roles in The Washington Ballet's The Nutcracker and was set to perform in Swan Lake before the pandemic began in 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ella recognized her desire to move away from strictly classical ballet and explore a more contemporary dance world. In the fall of 2020, Ella began her training with the Alonzo King Lines Ballet, where she is set to graduate in 2024 with a Major in Dance and a Minor in Community Action and Social Change. In correlation to her minor, Ella teaches multiple forms of dance to children, specifically in underserved communities through the Dance Arts Program. At Lines Ballet, Ella studies Horton, Limon, X-work, contemporary ballet, improvisation, and choreographic exploration.
Cadey Turner- Ballet, Contemporary, Lyrical, Jazz
A native of Denver, Colorado, Cadey Turner has been dancing since she was 4 years old. Cadey graduated from Rocky Mountain Ballet Academy’s Conservatory program in 2021 under the training of Alexei Tyukov, Maria Tyukova, Kimberly Chmielewski, and Marina Oreshkevich where she studied ballet, contemporary, modern, character, and jazz. In the Spring of 2021, Cadey also performed with JKCO as a company member in their works “Blue Oak Lane” and “Summer Series”. She has acclaimed awards and scholarships from several competitions such as Youth American Grand Prix, ASH, Celebrity, Nuvo, W.B.A.C. Grand Prix, and Denver Ballet Guild. In addition to her home training, Cadey has trained with companies such as Pacific Northwest Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Flockworks, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and B12 Research or Die. Cadey moved to the Bay Area in the fall of 2021 to join the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program where she has been training since and is currently entering her junior year.
Jazz Brunner- Ballet/ Jazz Level 1
Currently a high school senior Jazz Brunner has been dancing with Just Dance Academy since the age of 10. She is trained in ballet, jazz, contemporary and hip hop. She is also a high level competition dancer winning several awards for solo, duet and group routines. She has a fantastic style of dance and equally enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience of dance with her students. Jazz has been teaching and subbing at Just Dance Academy for the past 2 years. She is wonderful, kind and an excellent dance instructor! We are excited to have her be on the JDA team!
Athena Miros- Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop
Athena Miros grew up dancing and training at Just Dance Academy. She attended San Francisco School of the Arts in high school for dance. She attended Emory University in Atlanta, GA and trained at Xcel Dance Studios and Talent Agency for hip hop and other dance styles. While at Emory, she danced, choreographed and was on the executive board of the largest student run dance group on campus. The past few years she has spent dancing and training in New York City at Mark Morris Dance Center and PMT Dance Studio. She recently put out a dance visual album called Sea Dreams which is a cohesive collection of dance pieces inspired by music albums. You can check out a selection of her work at her YouTube Channel.
Olive Elliot- Junior Hip Hop
We are very excited to have Olive Elliot, current advanced upper level JDA dancer instruct our Junior hip hop this year! Olive’s dance training includes ballet, jazz, contemporary and hip hop! She has been a TA for several classes and has taught the JDA younger set this past year. She is very excited to share her knowledge of dance with our junior hip hop students! We are sure they will love her enthusiasm and energy for dance!
Deanna Masgay – Owner/Founder – Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Lyrical
Ms. Deanna began the Just Dance program in Marin county in 1993. Her training includes intensive training in ballet (R.A.D, I.S.T.D) , tap, jazz and lyrical from the age of 5 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Ms. Deanna became a professional dancer at the age of 18 performing with companies in Canada, the U.S., South America and Japan. Ms. Deanna graduated Cum Laude from Sonoma State University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in teaching. Ms. Deanna strives to achieve a dance program which promotes technically sound dance instruction with an emphasis on allowing students to experience the joy in the process of learning to dance as well as the joy of performance. The Just Dance Academy accommodates the recreational dancer as well as dancers seeking intensive dance training.