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.  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

BRITTANY WHEATON - Instructor of Jazz and Hip-Hop

BLYTHE BINGHAM - Office Manager

MARILU HELDRETH - Instructor of Modern and Ballet

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 Blythe” began dancing at the age of six at Dance Tree. At the age of eleven she switched studios and began dancing at Firethorn, where she learned various styles of dance, including tap, jazz, ballet, modern, and hip-hop. Blythe also attended Orange Grove School of the Arts, where she took dance classes. She was a member of the Firethorn Dance Team for a few years and competed in group and solo routines. When she began high school, she became a substitute teacher at the studio and helped coordinate for yearly recitals and dance camps. In 2005, she graduated from the C. Leon King High School International Baccalaureate program.

 

In the fall of 2005, she began college at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. During the summers, she returned home to help out with summer dance camps and receptionist duties. After three years, she graduated with a degree in Cross Cultural Studies and Youth Ministry.

 

Beginning in the summer of 2008, she joined the staff at Firethorn as Office Manager. She also works as a substitute teacher for all styles of dance and continues to take classes when she can.

“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 Marilu” has been dancing since the age of five.  She studied ballet, modern, jazz and tap at the Dance Arts Centre in Melbourne, Florida and the Dussich Dance Studio in Merritt Island, Florida. 


In 2006, Marilu attended the summer intensive of the PGK Project - A Contemporary Dance Company and studied under Artistic Director, Peter Kalivas. She also studied under Gretchen Ward Warren at the University of South Florida dance department in 2008. She has choreographed and performed pieces in venues around Florida including Melbourne, St. Augustine, Rockledge, Daytona, and Tampa.


Marilu furthers her passion for dance as a current member the modern company, known as Versa Dance Company which consists of selected USF alumni and students.  She is also pursuing a degree in Speech Pathology at USF and hopes to enter the graduate program in 2010.

“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 Brittany” started her dancing career at Firethorn when she was three years old. She has been part of the Firethorn family for fifteen  years where she has specialized in ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, and modern. She has been a member of the Firethorn Dance Team since the age of eight. She also performed with the Sarasota Ballet in their holiday show The Nutcracker from the ages of five through nine. In addition, she attended the Burklyn Ballet Theater Summer Intensive.


At the age of sixteen, Brittany was accepted into the Radio City Rockettes Summer Intensive program where she trained for two weeks at Radio City Music Hall. As part of the intensive she performed in a Broadway theater.


Brittany is currently attending Hillsborough Community College in pursuit of a Graphic Design degree. She is in charge of designing the studio’s logos and dance apparel. She is also certified in CPR, AED, and First Aid. Brittany has been a substitute dance teacher since 2005 and is  currently a coach for the Firethorn Dance Team.

“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 all 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.