Faculty

CARINE PUCKETT— Director, Instructor of Jazz, Tap, Hip-Hop, Modern, Pre-School Classes and Dance Team

“Miss Carine” began her training in ballet, modern, and jazz in France(Bois D’Arcy and Castelnau) at the age of five. She continued her training in the cities of Saint-Hélène and Eysines, under the tutelage of Stéphanie Massé, founder and director of Studio Petits Pas in Bordeaux. In addition to training at the school, Miss Carine was part of the junior amateur company and was invited to perform with Studio Petits Pas at numerous dance festivals throughout France. She attended intensive summer programs in Mansle and Millau,working with such well respected European choreographers/dancers as Rick Odums, Gigi Caciuleanu, Bruno Agati, Alain Grutadauria, Anne-Marie Porras, Isablelle Ridez and Raza Hammadi. She also studied at the Aline Gendre School of Dance in Bordeaux. Miss Carine graduated high school with a literature and languages diploma with Option. She received a perfect score of 20/20 (equivalent to an A+ in the US) for her dance final exam, making her the only one with a perfect score in the State that year. In the summer of, Miss Carine moved to Canada to study with Les Ballet Jazz de Montréal and the Louise Lapierre School of Dance (also in Montréal). She also attended the University of Québec where she studied ballet, modern dance, choreography, and dance education. Miss Carine moved to America in 1999. She came to the Firethorn in the fall of 2000 and started teaching in the summer of 2001. In July 2008 she became Firethorn’s Director. In the summer of 2010, Miss Carine earned an AA in Business Administration and plans on pursuing a Bachelors in Business Management very soon. She is known for her high energy classes that never fail to motivate her students to reach new levels of excellence!

SCARLETT MURRAY - Instructor of Ballet

TEAL TROMBETTA - Instructor of Ballet, Jazz. Pre-School Classes and Dance Team

KIMBERLY TERENZI - Instructor of Tap

VICTORIA HELDRETH - Instructor of Modern

ALISON JONES - Instructor of Acrobatics

JULIO MONTANO - Guest Artist - Instructor of Ballet

A native of Cuba, Julio began his ballet training in 1983. At the age of seventeen, he launched his professional career at Ballet de Camaguey under the direction of Fernando Alonso and performed in Cuba from 1991 to 1993. In 1993 he joined the Ballet Nacional de Peru in Lima, Peru as a Principal Dancer under the direction of Olga Shimazaki.

In 1995 Julio was the recipient of the Circe Prize. In Peru, the Circe Prize is the top award bestowed upon artists in their discipline. For nine years, Julio danced with the company in South America and around the world before moving to the United States in 2002 to perform as a Soloist with the Tulsa Ballet. He danced with Tulsa Ballet for two seasons under Artistic Director, Marcello Angellini.

Julio has performed most of the lead roles in the classical ballet repertory along with many contemporary ballets. In 2004, he was the co-director of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center Classical Ballet Program. From 2006 to 2009, taught for the Orlando Ballet School through a partnership with the TBPAC Patel Conservatory. Julio is also a guest teacher at the University of South Florida’s ballet program.

We are honored to have him teach our Advanced Adult Ballet class on Fridays.

“Miss Alison” began dancing at Dance Design Studios in Easton, Pennsylvania at the age of three. While performing in acrobatics, lyrical, ballet, tap, and jazz, she also began gymnastics training at the Parkettes National Gymnastics Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. After several years of intensive training and home schooling, she began traveling all around the United States competing at the Elite level on all four apparatuses; floor exercise, balance beam, uneven bars, and vault.

After graduating from Southern Connecticut State University with a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education, Exceptional Student Education, and Public Health, Alison decided to move to Tampa, Florida to begin her teaching career at Lomax Magnet Elementary School. She taught second and fourth grade at Lomax, and also began a tumbling club there. Recently she has moved to Brandon, Florida where she currently teaches third grade at Colson Elementary School. Her love for dance and athletics has led her to also become certified to teach Physical Education.

“Miss Victoria” began dancing at the age of four. She trained in ballet, modern, jazz, and tap at the Dance Arts Centre in Melbourne, Florida until the age of eighteen. When she was just thirteen years old she became interested in and started choreographing.

In 2006, Victoria studied under Peter Kalivas, the Artistic Director of the PGK Project - A Contemporary Dance Company. As a result, her focus turned to modern dance and choreography. In 2009, she was invited to be Mr. Kalivas's assistant for the modern dance summer intensive.

As a student at the University of South Florida, Victoria recently dedicated an entire year to studying dance at the University’s dance department under noted artists Gretchen Warren (author of the book Classical Ballet Technique), Jeanne Travers, John Parks, Sasha Yapparov and Lynne Wimmer. She is currently in pursuit of a Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science at USF.

Victoria has danced at many venues throughout Florida including Tampa, St. Augustine, Orlando, Daytona and Vero Beach. She continues to dance as a member of the Versa Dance Company.

“Miss Kim” started her training in dance at the age of four at Firethorn specializing in ballet, jazz, and tap. She continued dancing for eleven years until she traded her tap shoes for a pair of swim goggles.

She stayed with swimming for ten years, achieving medals in the Junior Olympics and qualified for State Champions for four consecutive years. Her love of dance brought her back to Firethorn in 2005. Kimberly started teaching tap at Firethorn in 2008. Her enthusiasm and encouragement brings out the best in each student.

Kimberly graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and is a teacher at Pride Elementary in New Tampa, Florida.

"Miss Teal" began her dance training at Firethorn studying ballet and modern at the age of six. She later added tap, jazz, and hip-hop to her weekly schedule. At the age of nine, Teal began her pointe training under Firethorn founder, Lucia Hatcher. She has attended the summer intensive program at Sarasota Ballet and been accepted to various summer intensive programs including the Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts and The Rock School for Dance Education. Teal has won multiple platinum awards for various group dances and solos in her eleven years as a member of the Firethorn Dance Team. In 2003 and 2005, she danced in the Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker in the Chinese and Spanish roles, respectively. Some of her mentors include Shelly Acevedo, Jade Barrios, Cheryl Coombs-Farfan, Lucia Hatcher, Mitsie Hilburn Kraack, Julio Montano, Patricia Plummer and Carine Puckett.

In 2005, Teal became part of Firethorn’s junior faculty as a substitute and assistant teacher. Since 2008, she been a an instructor of ballet, jazz, and creative dance as well as a coach for the Firethorn Dance Team.

Teal is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering at the University of South Florida and belongs to the University's Honors College.

“Miss Scarlett” came to Firethorn as a student and has danced at Firethorn since 2000. Since that time she has studied ballet, jazz, hip-hop and modern. For three years she competed in ballet as a member of the Firethorn Dance Team. She began substitute teaching for the ballet program in 2005 under former Director, Patricia Plummer and in 2008 became an instructor of ballet.

Scarlett has a Bachelor of Science Degree in International Business from Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton and currently works as a financial analyst in Tampa, Florida. Besides her love of ballet, she is also an avid photographer. Her work can be seen at scarlettmurray.com as well as on Firethorn’s web site. Scarlett is Firethorn’s webmaster and many photos on the site have been taken by her.

Scarlett continues her ballet studies under renowned instructor Juilo Montano. She travels yearly to New York City to take master classes and expand her dance education and experience.

New Jersey-born and raised, Lance is a Lifestyles & Fitness Model and a Dance Instructor teaching Hip Hop, Lyrical, Contemporary, Modern and Jazz. After attending Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, he began his dance career with the Rod Rodgers Dance Company in New York City. That was followed by many years at Walt Disney World Orlando where he danced in The Beauty and the Beast Show as well as The Lion King Show and was a finalist on Star Search in 1993. Lance's mom, Cheryl Rogers, is his hero and biggest supporter.

Lance has lived a diverse and adventurous life and advises to “Always follow your dreams; never let someone talk you out of something you have your heart and mind set on. Only you will know when those dreams come true”. I have followed my dreams and I’m proud of the wonderful life I have lived.

http://lrchoreography.shutterfly.com/

Lance Rogers - Guest Artist - Instructor of Hip-Hop, Musical Theater and Jazz

DANIELLE JONES - Instructor of Jazz and Lyrical

Miss Danielle" started dancing at age 6 in Spring Hill, FL. She is trained in Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap , and Flamenco. She became a jr. instructor at age 13 and choreographed her first routine at age 14 which won second place at competition. At age 16, she joined Stage West Community Theater and performed in the shows "Cabaret," "Kiss Me Kate," and "The Secret Garden" which she also choreographed.

She then went on to the "Show Palace Dinner Theater" and performed in the shows "Hello Dolly," "Carousel," and "Guys and Dolls." From there she went on to perform at the Straz Center (TPAC) in the show "Brigadoon" and also performed five shows with Opera Tampa.

Miss Danielle also worked at Busch Gardens and performed in Howl-O-Scream and played Elmo in the original Sesame St. show. She is classically trained in opera and holds an associates degree in graphic design. She currently designs apparel for the NFL and MLB. (A little fun fact: her son was born the day of recital in 2009).