Our teachers are among the most talented in the industry.
OUR TEACHERS
Mrs. Melanie has truly been dancing since she took her first step. By age 11 she had put together her first dance group for her brother's Little League Football team. She was Senior Captain of National Champion High School Dance team, the Eastwood Trooperettes. There she was awarded with MIss High Kick, Best Jumps, Miss Showtime, and NDA All-Star. She then went on to BYU to receive her degree. While she was there, she started a performing Hip Hop Dance group called Club Style. She also taught and choreographed the prestigious "Dance Showcase Company" and "Ballet Academy". She was a member of the "Wasatch Fever", the official dance team of a Minor League Football Team- the "Wasatch Wildcats". She choreographed and performed for a professional basketball team in Mexico at that time and then moved to Costa Rica where she had the privilege of dancing with an awesome hip hop group and teaching at a local studio, "Merecumbe".. Since her move to Arizona, she taught and coached dance teams at East Valley High School and Queen Creek High School. directed the dance team at East Valley High School, choreographed for various advanced dance groups around the Valley, and taught advanced Hip Hop at some local studios before beginning her dream of owning her own studio. She has now settled in San Tan Valley with her husband and 4 wonderful kids and is currently the dance teacher at the distinguished Benjamin Franklin High School as well as the head coach of the Varsity Chargerettes.. Melanie loves sharing her talents and love of dance with all of her students and always strives to uplift and inspire.
Melanie Ellis
OWNER, DIRECTOR
Miss Emily has been dancing since she was 3 years old. She was a Company dancer for Lynn's School of Dance and AZ Desert Dance for 5 years. She then went on to dance on the Varsity Pom Squad at Queen Creek High. She has competed numerous times and has won many top awards. She is a wonderful teacher who shares her love of tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical and pom with all of her students. Her routines are very innovative and she is known for focusing on the details. Dancing has always been her passion and it is a huge excitement when she sees her students improve and grow into beautiful dancers. Her little ones inspire with their amazing routines! She currently is the Assistant Coach of the Benjamin Franklin High School Chargerettes. Her choreography led us to a state championship in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024. She is a talented and creative choreographer who emphasizes technique, technique, technique! She is married with an amazing little boy and girl!
Emily Augustin
CHOREOGRAPHER & TEENIES 1 TEACHER
Miss Emily started dancing when she was 4 years old at Just For Kix. At age 10, she was taught flamenco dance while living in Puerto Rico. She continued her dance education after moving back to Arizona in various styles including contemporary, tap and hip hop.
In High School she was part of the varsity pom team at Queen Creek High, and even had the honor of being captain. She was coached by Miss Emily Augustin, Miss Melanie Ellis and Miss Rachel Larson. She has been teaching at Freestyle Dance Co. since 2017. Miss Emily is known for her creativity, patience and has a real gift to motivate young dancers.
Emily Smolke
POM, TECHNIQUE, SENIOR CO. & YOUTH CO. TEACHER
With 11 years of dance experience, Abby is thrilled to be back at Freestyle Dance Company, as an instructor. She is currently a sophomore at Arizona State University studying biomedical sciences. Her passion for dance was ignited in high school as a member of the Benjamin Franklin Chargerettes, and she continued to dance as a member of the NAU Dance Society. Abby is excited to share her love for dance with students and help them grow as dancers and individuals.
ABBY GONZALEZ
JUNIOR PREP & SENIOR COMBINED TEACHER
Sophia’s love for dance started at The Dance Loft at the age of 8. She is now 17 years old and a Senior at Benjamin Franklin High School. Sophia has 7 years of experience in dance including hiphop, jazz, lyrical, and contemporary. She also has competed at the intermediate and advanced levels for more than 5 years. Currently she competes for Benjamin Franklin Varsity Chargerette Pom team. Sophia enjoys having the opportunity to share her love for hiphop with anyone interested in learning.
SOPHIA RENDON
HIP HOP TEACHER
MINI ELITE, YOUTH HIP HOP & TECHNIQUE TEACHER
BETHANY RIDGEWAY
At 9 years old Bethany started gymnastics. She loved it and continued to compete until she was in the end of her 8th grade year. During this year she realized how much she enjoyed dancing and wanted to do it competitively. At that time, she chose to focus solely on dance and left gymnastics behind. As a freshman at Benjamin Franklin High School, she joined the Junior Dance Company and had a great learning experience! Then she spent the next three years competing with the Chargerettes in jazz, hip hop, and pom. As a sophmore in college now, she is still having a blast teaching youth hip hop, mini elite and a few technique classes for Freestyle Dance.
TEENIES 2 & TINIES TEACHER
Lydia began dance here at Freestyle Dance Co at age 2. She made the Varsity Chargerettes dance team as a Freshman and helped the team win 3 state Pom tournaments, runner up for AIA state, and become National finalists two years in a row. She is known for her excellent technique and sweet subtle ways with small children. They look up to her and she is so creative and patient!
LYDIA ELLIS
JUNIOE ELITE, SENIOR ELITE & SENIOR COMBINED TEACHER
Emilie began teaching for Freestyle Dance Company in 2019! She loves choreographing and her favorite style of dance is contemporary or hip hop. While Emilie Teaches at freestyle she is also a Pom Coach at Queen Creek Junior High and enjoys being in the competitive pom environment. When she is not teaching dance Emilie is either at School studying aesthetics or at home spending time with her husband Will and her puppy Reggie.
EMILIE ADAMS
TUMBLING COACH, TECHNIQUE, MINI PREP & TEEN TEACHER
LILY AGUERO
Lily Aguero is on her 4th year teaching at Freestyle! She teaches the tumbling classes and Teens. She has been dancing for 6 years and has been on Varsity Pom for 3 years and Varsity Cheer for 4 years. She just recently graduated class of 2024 from Benjamin Franklin High School and is attending Chandler Gilbert Community College in the spring semester to get her degree in Radiology. Lily is so excited to get to know all of your kiddos and teach them what she loves to do!
Sydney Aguero is enjoying her first year teaching with Freestyle! She has been dancing for 6 years and was a part of the Chargerettes team when she attended Benjamin Franklin High School. Sydney is currently a preschool teacher and also a pom coach at Queen Creek Junior High. She is also attending school online at NAU and is two semesters away from her bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice. She is excited about teaching this year and hopes to make the most of it!
Sydney Aguero
SENIOR COMBINED & TECHNIQUE TEACHER
PAYTON BLANCHETTE
TEEN HIP HOP TEACHER
Miss Payton started dancing at a very young age. She trained in all genre’s of dance competitively. When she got to High School, she decided to join the pom team where she was taught by Miss Emily Augustin, Miss Melanie Ellis and Miss Rachel Larson. She also got to meet her life long friend Miss Emily, as well as be Co-Captins with her. Miss Payton loves all styles of dance but really gravitates towards Hip-Hop. She is very excited to be a new addition to this faculty and can’t wait to get to know everyone more!
Miss Sofia Duran grew up dancing at Freestyle Dance Company from around ages 6 to 14. She is originally from San Tan Valley, AZ but has now been living in Gilbert for about 5 years. She attended Higley High School and participated in pom and dance and just recently graduated in 2023. When she is not dancing, she is reading or hanging out with friends. This is Sofia’s first year teaching at Freestyle and she is thrilled to be teaching alongside the teachers who helped her discover her love for dance.
SOFIA DURAN
MINI PREP TEACHER
MILLIE SMITH
MINI ELITE & MINI PREP TEACHER
Millie loves Freestyle Dance Company and working with all the cute kids. Millie was part of the varsity pom team at Benjamin Franklin High School and was a captain her senior year. She loved this experience as she learned how to express herself through dancing and became so close with the girls on the team. Millie also has lots of experience teaching children including teaching dance, teaching at church, and teaching english to kids in Thailand. Outside of teaching, Millie is attending Chandler Gilbert Community College and working another job. She loves to spend time with friends, go to the lake, and travel. Millie is so excited to be able to teach your kids and get to know them all better.
Gia Lombard is currently a Junior at Benjamin Franklin High School. She is a member of the Varsity Chargerettes, and has been on the Varsity Cheer Team up until this year. She has been a dancer since 7th Grade and a cheerleader since 8th Grade. Fun Fact: Gia is a two time state champion for Cheer in All Girl Stunt as well as Show Cheer. This will be Gia’s first year teaching at Freestyle. She loves to teach tumbling and can’t wait to help all the girls learn and achieve new skills!
GIA LOMBARD
TUMBLING COACH
CHLOE SCHNIEDER
TUMBLING COACH
Chloe began dancing at Freestyle Dance Co at age 3. She has always been an exciting performer! She switched gears at age 13 and became an amazing cheerleader. She is so patient with the tumblers and loves that she's had her feet in both cheer and dance to help our dance students further their goals! She enjoys being a part of the ALA Queen Creek cheer team.
Peyton Smith has been coaching cheer and tumbling for 2 years and this is her first year coaching for Freestyle. She cheered at Benjamin Franklin for 5 years and is now cheering on a competitive all star team at USA. Her favorite part about cheer is tumbling and she loves teaching others the skills she loves. In addition to cheer Peyton likes spending time outdoors at the lake or going on hikes. She also enjoys running and has done track for 4 years and hopes to continue in years to come. In college Peyton wants to study nursing at UVU to hopefully one day become a nurse anesthetist, and potentially continue her cheer career into college and compete at Daytona.
Peyton Smith
TUMBLING COACH
Miriam Padilla
POINTE TEACHER
Bio coming soon…
Miss Kayleen grew up in Snowflake, AZ and had the opportunity to dance in studio and as a part of her high school team. She went on to earn a degree from Brigham Young University in Dance Performance. While she attended BYU she participated on the International Folk Dancing team! She has been taught by some of the best in the industry and is a master of teaching and perfecting technique. She has worked for other studios as their main choreographer and director and we are so lucky she has decided to park with Freestyle and bring her expertise to our company. Her dedication to helping her students improve is evident in every practice. She is currently teaching Dance at Benjamin Franklin High School.
KAYLEEN PALMER
DANCE TEACHER
TAYLOR ELLIS
DANCE TEACHER’S ASSISTANT - TEENIES 1
Taylor started dancing at 2 years old. She is now in her second year assisting and is enjoying being a part of the advanced dance class at school, on the Pointe team, and dancing on her JV Pom team. She is great with the littles and they love her!