Staff

Paul was virtually raised at Dance Express and some of his earliest memories were made here. As a child, he would sit hidden in the curtain and watch every single moment of the Dance Express recital. His talent was quickly spotted the first time he performed on stage and he was immediately chosen for the competition company. He competed in clogging for many years, before adding hip-hop, jazz, modern, ballet, tap, and acrobatics to his repertoire. Paul has led his team to many victories, including several top scores, judge’s choice awards, and most entertaining performance. He has competed in the Junior Olympics and considers his one bronze, three silver, and two gold medals his most prized possessions. Paul also appeared on the hit television show Paula Abdul’s Live to Dance and was awarded Mr. Personality for his self-choreographed routine during competition season. Paul has also been an instructor and performer in Brunswick County’s Dancing With the Stars, in which he and his partner were awarded the Most Entertaining Performance. He also performed in the Carolina Opry’s Christmas Show with the clogging group All That!

In December 2010, Sara graduated Suma Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance Education and a Minor in Art from East Carolina University. She has been teaching since 2006 with proficiency in ballet, modern, jazz, contemporary, tap, pointe, and hip hop. Sara has been teaching at The ARTS Company in Faison since 2006, and with Dance Express PAC since 2012. Throughout her career, she has studied with teachers and choreographers such as Galina Panova, Timor Bourtesynkov, Autumn Proctor, Tommi Galaska, Clarine Powell, Rodger Belman, Patricia Weeks, Dr. Dawn Clark, Misty Rasconsmith, Ryan Warren, Kathryn McCormick, Chris Donnelly, and others. She has received numerous overall high score and choreography awards at competitions throughout North Carolina, and from 2009 to 2010, Sara was also president of the East Carolina Dance Association at ECU and performed in Dance 2010, ECU’s annual dance concert. As a consistent attendee to Dance Revolution Christian dance convention, she believes in using dance as a way to reclaim the arts for God’s glory. Sara strives to provide quality dance education and artistic experiences to all children, no matter their background, while aiming to instill a love and respect for the arts in all of her students.

A Cum Laude graduate of UNCW, Sabrina has been dancing for 25 years and competed for 20, earning top awards in group and soloist categories at both the regional and the national level. Being a well-rounded dancer, she was named a Future Star by Dance Spirit Magazine and earned a spot in the off-Broadway tap production of Slide in New York City. Sabrina has taken dozens of classes with dance masters from across the United States and abroad including, Mia Michaels, Mike Minery, Twitch, Fik-Shun, and Mark Goodman. She attained semi-finalist status in Dance Machine Production’s America’s Miss Dance Pageant three years in a row and was named an All-American dancer of the Universal Dance Association, while being offered a chance to dance in Italy. Sabrina has had the opportunity to dance in Walt Disney World twice and auditioned for America’s Got Talent. Her competition groups have placed in numerous overalls and received special awards including Star Systems’ Top Teacher for Sabrina’s tap choreography. Sabrina loves sharing her passion for dance with ALL she teaches at Dance Express.

Destiny Lockard started her dance journey with the Royal Academy of Dance at Mounty Airy Performing Arts Center in Maryland. She has also studied under the tutelage of instructions from Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Ballroom Dance in Frederick, Costa Mesa Dance, Dance Theater of Lynchburg, and Roanoke Ballet Theater. Destiny had the honor of attending the Joffrey Ballet School’s six week Summer Intensive program, where she trained under instructors from the Vaganova and ABT curriculums. Throughout the years, Destiny has passed Royal Academy examinations through Grade 8 with merit and distinction, and competed in both ballet and ballroom styles of dance. Destiny currently resides in Wilmington, NC, where she dances professionally with US international Ballet. Her passion and love for dance has shown her that with faith, dedication and support, any dream is attainable; and she strives consistently share these principles with everyone around her.

Aricka is born and raised in Wilmington, NC and began dancing at the age of two. At the age of 5 she began competing in Tap and jazz while taking ballet. She began training at Dance Express in 1999 as a competitive dancer in many genres of dance. Growing up as a competition dancer I was able to achieve numerous top awards with my teammates as well as top soloist awards such as the Gregory Hines award and Fastest feet award.

As a teenager, she was hired by Hoctor Dance Caravan as a Caravan Kid traveling across the country during their summer intensive program, performing and working with professional choreographers and dancers known both internationally and nationwide.

Upon graduating from New Hanover High School she attended East Carolina University and received a BS in Criminal Justice. While at ECU she was still able to take classes from the Theater and Dance Faculty. She performed in several Fall and Spring shows. She was a member of the most popular and very well known hip hop Nubiance Dance Team where she held the titles of Captain and Co- Captain.

Upon graduating ECU she returned to Wilmington, NC and began teaching at Dance Express. I absolutely love teaching to give children a positive outlet to express themselves as well as the structure to evolve in the dance world.

Courtney Dancy comes to us from Boone North Carolina where she trained as a competitive gymnast from the age of 5 and began her formal dance training at the age of 11.

Courtney continued her dancing career at Appalachian State University. She was a member of the App State dance team for four years and served as co-captain for two years. While there, she gained extensive experience in a variety of disciplines through the dance team and dance department, including modern, hip-hop, jazz, pm, swing, salsa, African Jazz and musical theater. While in college she began teaching at a local studio where she would become the lead instructor and choreographer for the teen competition company.

A highlight of her career was becoming a TopCat for the Carolina Panthers in the NFL. She was TopCat for the 2017 & 2018 season and was given the opportunity to dance along side various halftime performers including Young MC, Luke Combs and Montell Jordan.

Courtney currently teaches dance at Laney High School and also coaches the Dance and Step teams.

As a dance instructor, Courtney believes it is important for her students to feel motivated, confident and inspired while performing. She aspires to see her students work hard, be proud of their accomplishments, and share the love of dance as deeply as she does.

Georgette Woolcock was born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina. Fun fact about her is when she was born she had two teeth in her mouth which is very rare. They are called natal teeth 1 in 10,000 Babies have them. Georgette started dancing at the age of 2 years old with Dance Express. Growing up she attended dance after school and trained in Jazz, Tap, Clogging, Ballet, Hip-hop and Contemporary. Georgette is also trained in Fitness and in Latin dance. She also trained in karate and is a second degree black belt in taekwondo! After high school, she attended and graduated from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) Conservatory Program in New York City where she studied Dance Theatre. Georgette then went on to earn her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance theatre from AMDA College of the Performing Arts, in Los Angeles. After graduating from college Georgette decided to go back to her hometown where she originally discovered her love for dance in Wilmington, NC. There she taught dance for 2 years at Dance Express Performing Arts Center. Georgette soon after moved to Atlanta where she taught dance for Expressions in motion, where she was able to teach an after school dance program in various counties in Atlanta’s school system. Georgette has also been blessed with teaching different people in various areas in Atlanta including at the metropolitan YMCA, helping start the youth dance program. Georgette is now married, and has moved back to Wilmington to begin her own family with her husband! Georgette is a very versatile dancer, and can show you all the vibes you are looking for.

Originally from Wilmington, NC and trained at Dance Express until High School graduation, Kaitlyn Dee Snyder is a dancer, teacher, and performer actively working in NYC. Currently, she is on faculty at PMT house of Dance and sub faculty at Broadway Dance Center. She has received training from Marymount Manhattan College and University of North Carolina School of the Arts. For several years, she has assisted Emily Bufferd and Julie Carter at Broadway Dance Center, Peridance Center, PMT House of Dance, and Steps on Broadway. Kaitlyn has performed on the Today Show and performs for various NYC companies such as Animus Movement, BEings Dance, Julie Carter Dance, and Querencia Dance. She has presented her work at the Professional Showcase at PMT House of Dance and choreographed a music video for Katie Lynne Sharbaugh. As an assistant choreographer, Kaitlyn has worked on several projects including pieces for Peridance’s International Program and Steps Youth Program.