Logan Tharpe

Owner and Artistic Director

Logan Tharpe opened Artistry Dance Alliance in the Summer of 2016 bringing her unique approach of operating a studio to Tallahassee and the surrounding area. Tharpe began her training at the age of three. She was a competitive dancer and trained in a variety of dance styles both classical and modern. After high school graduation, she became a member of the prestigious Florida State Golden Girls Dance Team. She was a member for three years before moving to Jacksonville, Florida to complete her degree in event management. While on the Golden Girls Dance Team, she began her professional teaching and choreography career. Tharpe traveled the region choreographing for dance teams, studios and soloists and quickly found her passion in creating and working with young artists.

In 2008, after receiving her bachelor’s from Florida State, Tharpe was brought on to work at a growing local dance studio. In 2009, she was named Company Director and became an integral component of the studio's growth which grew substantially, both in size and acclaim, during her tenure. Her competitive company grew into an elite contender at competitions throughout Florida. Tharpe was committed to providing her dancers with every opportunity to grow both in the dance room and outside of it often stressing the importance of dedication, self-empowerment and responsibility.

In 2015, Tharpe and her husband of 6 years, moved back to Tallahassee. She continued to choreograph and instruct master classes throughout north Florida until setting roots in north Tallahassee with Artistry Dance Alliance. Her choreography is widely recognized as being innovative and dynamic, receiving much recognition. Her work has been seen at regional and national competitions and in dozens of studios and dance teams as well as on NFL Cheer teams and at Miss Florida pageants. However, her contribution to the dance community reaches far beyond the stage. She’s sought after for her mentorship and commitment to creating kind, professional and artistically driven dancers.

“I am one of the lucky ones. My hobby became my passion; my passion became my work, and my work has shown me my calling. Every young person deserves to feel unique and empowered and what better way to encourage this than through the art of dance. I am committed to Artistry Dance Alliance’s mission, to provide safe, supportive, skillful and inspirational instruction to any and all aspiring dancers.”


Mackenzie “Z” Payne

Ballet Director

Mackenzie Payne, Z, came to Tallahassee in 2015 and received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from Florida State University’s School of Dance in 2019. During her first two years at Florida State University Z performed with The Tallahassee Ballet ending her time there as a Demi-Soloist. She also participated in FSU programs such as Dance in Paris and ARTS in NYC. Following graduation, Z began teaching dance across the city and performing in local projects. Z has re-signed with The Tallahassee Ballet and will be performing in their 2023-2024 season.

Z grew up in the Birmingham, Alabama area where she trained at Exclusively Ballet and Dance for 11 years before completing high school at The Alabama School of Fine Arts with a specialty in dance. A highlight from her time at ASFA was performing in Germaul Barnes' original cast for Sweet Tea as premier soloist. During Z’s time with The Tallahassee Ballet her favorite roles were as a Doll and Snowflake in The Nutcracker.

Z believes that her indulgence in the arts has and continues to enrich her life by providing the privilege and drive to travel, perform and study across the world. Z’s goal as an educator and as Ballet Director is to shed light on the numerous paths before her students by providing a safe space to learn and enjoy all that ballet has to offer.

Mackenzie Payne is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.


Jenala Daka, MPA

Assistant Company Director

Jenala is the Assistant Company Director and Instructor at ADA. She is a Progressing Ballet Technique Certified instructor. She brings a fresh & effective way to help her students improve their technique. PBT focuses on core strength, weight placement and alignment of the body with a gradual approach of carefully designed exercises and repetitions of these exercises that trigger their muscle memory. The program is designed with safe dance methodology to promote a long, healthy career.

She’s been dancing for many years and has taken classes from many choreographers and college dance teams across the nation. She loves teaching jazz and hip hop to students. Both styles require technique and confidence, and with hard work, both can be achieved in her classes. Jenala was also an instructor for the Universal Dance Association, which is a part of Varsity Spirit. She spent two summers teaching dance camps to students around Florida. In her spare time, she choreographs competition and halftime dances for both middle and high schools. She has tons of energy and is so excited to teach at Artistry Dance again!! Her passion reflects into her fun choreography that receives special awards at many competitions.

You’ll most likely catch her with a smile because she believes there’s never a reason not to be happy when you are doing what you love!

Fun Fact: Jenala has her Master of Public Administration, and plans to continue her career working in youth services.


Sophia Chambers

Sophia Chambers is an 18 year old dancer/choreographer. She has trained at many studios such as Dance Universe, Dance Unlimited, Sean’s Dance Factory, and Dance Town. She recently graduated from Dreyfoos School of the Arts and was a former company member of Noeah Jacobs’ company “Hoodlums” and Kenneth Fowler’s company “Loud Live Productions”. She currently studies Dance and Communications at Florida State University. She has experience choreographing solos, duets, and trios for performances, competitions, and auditions. She has appeared as a backup dancer for an upcoming artist named Taylor Castro during Y100’s Jingle Ball, along with choreographing for her music video “Coffee Eyes”. Sophia has also been named an Intrigue Apprentice and an Intrigue True Performer during the past few years. She has won the female title award for National Miss Teen Leap, as well as multiple awards at Radix, Nuvo, and 24Seven. Sophia was chosen out of dancers all over the country to attend Talia Favia’s “Chapters” workshop in Chicago and The Art of Movement Intensive in Orlando, where she was picked to be a hybrid assistant. Sophia is extremely passionate about teaching and some of her favorite styles to teach are jazz, contemporary, and hip hop. She is honored to be on faculty at Artistry Dance Alliance and is excited to share her knowledge with these dancers.


Anna Hawkins

Anna Hawkins was born and raised in East Orlando, Florida and has danced competitively under Starz Dance Company for over 10 seasons. During her time as a competitive dancer, she received countless hours of training in several different styles of dance and is excited to bring her knowledge and love for dance to Artistry Dance Alliance! Anna is currently a student at Florida State University and is pursuing a dual degree for Psychology and Sociology. At FSU, she is a member and fundraising chair of the self-run Sports Club dance team, Seminole Dance Force, a nationally ranked team in Jazz and Hip-Hop. Anna is truly passionate about the art of dance and is extremely grateful to be an ADA staff member!


Autumn Simunek Conrad

Autumn Simunek Conrad has been with Artistry Dance Alliance for seven seasons. She began her training at the age of seven studying the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet, modern, hip-hop, contemporary, lyrical, jazz, tap, and musical theatre.

At an early age she captured the judges’ attention in pageantry with her lyrical dance performance, gaining her the title of Miss South Dakota’s Outstanding Teen 2007. Her 23 years of dance training includes over eleven years of choreographing production numbers for pageants, multiple Miss South Dakota contestant talent pieces, swing choirs, and dance teams. Being well trained in communication techniques, dance styles, and music led Autumn to the title of Miss South Dakota 2015 and to performing at the Miss America pageant live on ABC in Atlantic City, NJ.

Autumn was a featured dancer in her collegiate opera productions, and is a firm believer in continued professional development. Along with teaching dance for the past 17 years, Autumn continued her own dancing under the direction of Raena Rasmussen of LiRa Dance Theatre Company, Dana Alexa, and Eric Campros, and Tracy Stanfield of Broadway Dance Center, NY.

Autumn is a graduate of The University of South Dakota with her Bachelor of Music degree in K-12 Vocal Music Education. Autumn also works as a fitness instructor for The Glo, where she is certified in multiple fitness styles and enjoys blending her knowledge with her dance instruction. She is excited for another year to give back to the community of Tallahassee and work with Artistry Dance Alliance’s students to create a love of a dance in a safe, self-empowering, and fun environment.


Ashton Strickland

Ashton Strickland is a dancer and choreographer originally from Tallahassee, Florida. She began dancing at the age of three, and trained in a variety of styles including ballet, contemporary, modern, jazz, and hiphop. She discovered a love for performing when she started competing and attending conventions at the age of ten. Ashton is an original member of the Alliance Dance Company, and spent five years training and competing with them. It was here that she found her true voice as an artist, and developed her unique movement style. After graduating high school, she attended the University of South Florida as a dance major with a focus in modern performing arts. She completed her freshmen year at USF, and then transferred to a conservatory program in Massachusetts to receive the rest of her higher dance education. She attended the CLI Conservatory where she trained with numerous industry-leading choreographers such as Teddy Forance, Brian Nicholson, and Talia Favia. Since graduating from CLI she has had the opportunity to attend the “BODYTRAFFIC” summer intensive in LA, as well as the “Storytellers” intensive in New York City. Ashton has a deep passion for sharing her love of dance with others, and is excited to be able to offer that to her students!


Aubrey Swikehardt

Coming Soon!!


Demi Ulatowski

Demi Ulatowski is from Clearwater, Florida where she attended The Bridge Dance Complex and competed under their competitive dance program, West Florida Dance Company. She is currently attending Florida State University and receiving a political science degree and on the prelaw track. She began competitively dancing by the age of nine and stayed consistent ever since. Her passion and drive have allowed her to assist and travel with several choreographers and receive amazing opportunities. Her dream is to move to LA and become a professional dancer in the commercial dance realm. The experience she has gained in the commercial dance community and competitive side of dance has allowed her to be versatile for the future of dance.

Demi is thrilled and extremely grateful to teach and choreograph as apart of the faculty of Artistry Dance Alliance!

 
 

 

Maria White, MA

Maria White (she/they) is a performer and improviser based in Tallahassee, FL. She graduated from Florida State University with her BFA in Dance and MA in Studio Related Studies. Maria has worked closely with Hannah Schwadron, Tiffany Rhynard, and Gwen Welliver during her time there. Maria is a core member of Structures for Change (SFC) a direct action dance, song, and story collective, and has researched in residence with Karen Wilson-Ama'Echefu and performed for the Civil Rights Institute in Tallahassee, Florida. With SFC she has also performed research from residencies in collaboration with theater ensemble Al-Hakawati of Theater X performing at Floating University, Oranienplatz, and the streets of Moabit in an anti-war protest with Illuminate Theater in Berlin, Germany. Also in Berlin, Maria attended workshops at b12 festival in 2021 and 2022 and in 2021 was in Cherry Wringing, a performance project choreographed by Fleur Darkin. Maria has also participated in the 5 week intensive of Flying Low and Passing Through in Brussels, Belgium, and performed in their weekly performance series Crude Saturday with a solo called Anti-Lap Dance. They also performed in Glass. Einstein. Joints. choreographed by Aigars Larionovs in Riga, Latvia funded by the Latvian National Opera. An iteration of Maria's first work HomeBody premiered at 621 Gallery in Tallahassee as part of her MA Capstone. Their most recent site-specific work The Dying Mermaid of Madison Blue Springs was part of a live-streamed Zoom performance facilitated by National Water Dance, for Earth Day. As an artist Maria has been described as authentic, theatric, and unexpected with her love for improvisation, play, and compassion, guiding her way. 

 

 
 
 

Elizabeth Kessler, MA

Office Manager

Elizabeth (she/her) is originally from Maryland but has been a Floridian since she was 8 years old. She grew up dancing with Pofahl Studios, the resident ballet school of Dance Alive National Ballet, in Gainesville, FL. She is an alumna of Florida State University where she received her Master of Arts degree in Dance in 2019 and Bachelor of Science degrees in Communication Science and Disorders and International Affairs in 2014. While earning her graduate degree, she was given the opportunity to live and work in New York City as a dancer, choreographer, and intern at Steps on Broadway.

Elizabeth’s work as a Soloist with Dance Alive National Ballet, fitness instructor, graduate teaching assistant at FSU, and Marketing Intern with the School at Steps in NYC have given her a wide variety of experiences in both the performance and business sides of the dance world. She is excited to begin her fifth season with Artistry!

 

 

Io Ermoli

Director’s Assistant

Io Ermoli was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia where she trained and competed for thirteen years at Gretchen Greene School of Dance. She furthered her training at the performing arts high school, Savannah Arts Academy. Inspired by how her dance teachers influenced her, Io became a dance assistant for 7 years and a ballet, tap, and acrobatics teacher for her last 2 years at Gretchen Greene. She became a member of Savannah Stage Company in 2018. As the youngest person in the Company, she was cast as the Dance Captain and a Kit Kat Girl for the company’s performance of “Cabaret.” She accepted the role behind the scenes as choreographer for their performances of “Violet the Musical.” which has recently won Best Local Theater Production in Savannah, and Beauty and the Beast in 2019. Io currently attends Florida State University as a BFA Dance Major. Here, she has become interested in digging into her Japanese/Italian heritage and the dances that lie within.

Her love and passion for dance has grown throughout the years, and she hopes to continue to create and explore in the future, especially here at Artistry Dance Alliance.

She couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this company!

 

 

Cammy Collier

Administrative Staff

Cammy is from Tallahassee, FL. She is currently a senior at Chiles High School. Her love of dancing began at the age of 4 when she stepped into her first ballet class. Cammy joined the Artistry family in Season 4 and began dancing with the competitive company. She has trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, and hip hop.

 
 
 

Anissa Jean-Felix

Administrative Staff

Anissa Jean-Felix grew up in Miami, FL where she trained for 15 years and competed for 7 years at numerous dance studios in the Miami-Dade County area. She furthered her dance education at a performing arts school, Miami Arts Studio @ Zelda Glazer 6-12, where she competed on their award-winning dance team for one year while in Middle School. Anissa also attended John A. Ferguson Senior High School, where she was the inventory manager & co-captain of the high school’s dance team, Fusion Dance Troupe with the responsibilities of choreographing dance pieces. She danced on the team for 4 years, participating in regional, state, and national competitions as well as attended spring and summer dance training camps such as Dance Team Union, American Dance Alliance, and the MDC Air Dance Conference. Anissa is currently attending Florida State University and will hopefully be graduating in the spring with her Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology & Criminal Justice on a pre-law track. Anissa has participated in multiple performances such as the 2020 Superbowl, numerous Dolphin and Marlin games, El Clasico 2017, at Disney Springs and was seen on a Channel 6 news special, “Brag About Your School.”

Anissa has trained in multiple dance styles such as ballet, contemporary, jazz, musical theater, tap, ballroom, hip hop, modern, and acro. However, she loves to teach hip hop, contemporary and improv classes the most. She believes that dance is an art form full of expression and vision and always says that there is never a right or wrong in dance; just go wherever your body takes you. Anissa is extremely passionate about teaching the next generation of dancers and cannot wait to join the Artistry Dance Alliance family!


Faryn Scott

Administrative Staff

Faryn was born in Tallahassee, FL and currently attends Chiles High School as a junior. She joined Artistry in Season 2 as a member of the Alliance Dance Company. She has trained in ballet, hip hop, contemporary, jazz, and modern. She has loved assisting classes at Artistry during past years and is excited to join as a staff member this year!