Instructors

McKenzie Cobb started dancing at Bright Lights in Chesapeake, VA at the age of three and joined the Dynamic Movements dance family at the age of five.  She joined their national award winning competition dance team at the age of eleven and continued until her graduation in 2016.  She was accepted into the Governor’s School of Performing Arts (GSA) as a high school freshman.  While attending GSA, she studied multiple dance styles including various ballet and modern techniques, pointe, jazz, etc.  She has participated in master classes from many seasoned professionals studying varying styles of dance.  McKenzie performed in The Richmond Ballet’s adaptation of The Nutcracker for two consecutive years.

McKenzie began working with children as a student assistant with Dynamic Movements at the age of 13.  After graduating high school, she officially joined their teaching faculty.  She is also a teacher’s assistant at Aldersgate Kinder prep in Chesapeake, VA.  She is CPR and AED certified and also holds a certification from Acrobatic Arts.

With over 30 years of dance experience, Jamey Dilley has traveled the world as a professional dancer and choreographer. He studied dance at Virginia Intermont College on a full scholarship and trained at Broadway Dance Center, Nevada Ballet and Tampa Ballet. Some of Jay’s extensive performing credits include his role in the original cast of the Broadway hit “Mamma Mia” in Las Vegas. He had a role as the dance captain and lead dancer for “Triumph,” which was created by Chet Walker the creator of Fosse on Broadway and he was the lead dancer and dance captain at Rio’s “Show in the Sky” in Las Vegas. Jay also adds the roles featured dancer/singer and dance captain at Busch Gardens Florida and Busch Gardens Virginia to his resume and he was an Equity performer at Walt Disney World. He served as dance captain for Cirque ‘s Allure Call of The Ocean and had that same title while working for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Holland America Cruise Lines and Princess Cruise Lines. Jamey was a part of Cedar Points Live Entertainment as one of the Entertainment Supervisors, Casting and Choreographers. Jamey’s choreographer credits include Cedar Point Live Entertainment main stage show, Real Vegas Show Girls, Holland America Cruise Christmas Show, the Las Vegas Legend Girls professional soccer cheerleaders Las Vegas’ Goddess arena football cheerleaders, University of South Florida dance team the Sun Dolls, and was the director and choreographer for the Mrs. U.S.A. pageant. His choreography also has appeared on ESPN, Fox and ABC. Jamey is known for his award-winning choreography for competitions teams and has been seen all over the USA and Canada as a Master Class teacher. Jamey was the Head of Performing Arts Department at SLAM Charter School in Tampa Florida and was the competition director for a few dance studios in the Las Vegas and Florida area. Jamey also works as judge and master class teacher for Groove, Believe and DanceXplosion.

Tori started dancing and doing gymnastics at the age of 2 in the Hampton Roads area. Tori was a proud member of the national award-winning Dynamic Movements Dance Team for 5 years until she graduated in 2018. Beginning at age 13, Tori was a part of our student assistant program where she worked side by side with our instructors in the classroom. She attended Appalachian State University in Boone, NC where she continued to dance by taking classes in the department, performing in their Fall Appalachian Dance Ensemble, and participating in the Momentum Dance Club. With Momentum, Tori performed in multiple dance concerts and enjoyed learning from her other members through open classes. While at App State, she took a Latin Jazz class that focused on the different styles and partnering. Tori is excited to work with new and returning dancers to help develop their love for dance. She is also Red Cross Certified in First Aid, CPR, and using an AED.

Benjamin is the owner and creator of The Belhumeur Collective. The Belhumeur Collective was created to combine Belhumeur Choreography, Belhumeur Photography, graphic design, and music editing all under one roof. Along with The Belhumeur Collective, Benjamin is also the creator and Artistic Director of Elite by Ben and Release the Fire Dance Convention. Benjamin has had his award-winning choreography featured at numerous studios and schools across multiple states, as well as internationally in Canada. Benjamin is currently an instructor and choreographer for Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Point Park University International Summer Dance, Epic Dance Convention and Competition, as well as many local dance studios. Benjamin is also a regional and national judge for a variety of competitions. Benjamin has worked with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines as a Dance Captain as well as a Director and Choreographer. He was also a resident artist at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, and has had the privilege of teaching for the National High School Dance Festival. During his training, he attended local dance studios as well as Point Park University, La Roche College, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. He also attended summer programs to work with companies such as The American Ballet Theater, North Carolina Dance Theater, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He has had the opportunity to work with and perform works by Kiesha Lalama, Doug Bentz, Trye McIntyre, Bill T. Jones, Kevin Iega Jeff and more. Ban had the honor of performing and assisting in the re-staging of Torque by Kiesha Lalama for the Jazz Dance World Congress. Benjamin received his Associates degree in dance and dance education from the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) during his senior year of high school at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School. After graduating from high school and CCBC in the same year, he attended Point Park University, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in dance with a concentration in Jazz. Benjamin also attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for his Bachelors in Photography.

Kelsy started training in Musical Theatre and Dance beginning at the age of 10. Her freshman year she studied at Radford University before transferring and receiving her B.A. in Dance and Theatre from Old Dominion University in Norfolk. There she has performed with the University Dance Theatre, and the Fantastic Planet Festival. She has choreographed for several High Schools in the area, and has been involved in community productions. She is currently a Teaching Artist for The American Theatre in Hampton, and the resident Choreographer for Spotlight Productions. Kelsy is also CPR certified.

Mariah Lopez is a Spanish American choreographer, educator, researcher, and painter. Mariah is a graduate from Rider University with a degree in Dance and International Relations, graduate from Dance ICONS Choreographic Institute under Vladimir Angelov, and a graduate from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s MFA program for Dance and Choreography under an Advanced Opportunity Program Fellowship. Mariah is a Virginia based choreographer and instructor who has been commissioned / performed in New Jersey, Maryland, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and Virginia. Mariah’s movement style is derived by emotional risks leading to discovering and exposing truths about social inequality and exploring somatic movement and its relation to cross generational trauma. As an instructor, Mariah uses dance history and pedagogy to focus on conditioning work for strength, mental training for clarity and articulation, and strong performance skill that emphasizes intent. Currently, Mariah is an Assistant Professor at Christopher Newport University and a community educator and choreographer. Mariah 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.

Blake is the son of Ann Catherine Cross, and has been dancing his whole life. In his youth, he studied at ACCSD, Richmond Ballet, and Virginia School of the Arts Summer Program. He holds a BFA in Contemporary Dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts as well as an MFA in Dance from Hollins University. He has also studied at New York University, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Danceworks Berlin, The Palucca University of Dance Dresden, as well as apprenticeships with The Semperoper Ballet Dresden and The Forsythe Company. He is the co-founder of We Are Artists, and has been producing independent choreographic and performance art projects since 2006.

From Saginaw, Michigan, Sharah began her formal ballet training at age 16 at the Flint Institute of Music under the direction of Karen Mills Jennings. In 2015, she was offered a full scholarship as a trainee with Collage Dance Collective. Sharah went on to receive a scholarship to train at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. During her two years at CPYB, Sharah trained under the tutelage of Marcia Dale Weary, Alicia Good-Boresow, Darla Hoover, Melinda Howe, Amanda Edge, and many other highly acclaimed ballet instructors. She furthered her dance training by attending various summer intensives including Bolshoi Ballet NY, Ad Deum Dance Company, and Zion Dance Project. Sharah joined Ballet Hartford in 2019 and was promoted to company artist in 2021. Her repertoire includes Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Alan Hineline’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Sleeping Beauty, and a Mid-Summer Night’s Dream as well as various original works choreographed by Kevin Iega Jeff, Andrea Long, Darell Moultrie, Joshua Manculich, Caleb Mitchell, Kevin Jenkins, and NYC ballet’s Silas Farley and Gilbert Bolden III.