FOCUS Instructors

Monie Adamson

Owner • Founder • Director B.F.A. in Dance Choreography and Performance Orange County Lifetime Teaching credential CTG Talent Agency & TRIO Talent Agency 3 time Emmy Nominee American Choreography Award Recipient Television Academy Member Monie Adamson’s diverse choreographic abilities have earned her three Emmy Nominations, five American Choreography Award Nominations, and winner of the American…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Shannon Willard

Competing Director • Instructor • Rotating Faculty Member B.F.A. Dance Performance B.F.A. Dance Choreography B.S. Mathematics Certified Pilates Instructor Certified Barre Instructor Shannon Willard has been a member of the FOCUS fam since the day the studio opened in 2003. She trained as a competition dancer under Monie Adamson and others for eight years, as well as attended numerous summer intensives, such as ABT,…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Robert Duran

Instructor • Rotating Faculty Member Member of the American Guild of Variety Artist For the past 30 years, Robert Duran has been shaping the lives of children and adults through dance. At the age of 5, Robert accompanied his twin sister to her dance class and stated “I can do that” and the rest is…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Terre Marriott

Universal Faculty and Class Adminstrator • Summer Programs Director • CSP Faculty • Instructor   Certified in Jazz and Ballet – Dance Masters of America   Certified in Pediatric & Adult CPR and First Aid Terre Marriott has been teaching dance for over 40 years. She started teaching dance at the young age of 17.…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Chris Zou

Instructor • Rotating Faculty Member B.S. in Biology at UC Riverside Raised in the Bay Area, Chris found his passion for dance at a young age while standing in front of the TV imitating the moves to “Eye to Eye” from “A Goofy Movie” before actually even knowing what dancing was. It was much later…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Maria Paula Medellin

Instructor • Rotating Faculty Member B.A. in Child Development Candidate Maria started her training at the very late age of 11 years old. Training at different studios in Orange County she found her love through many different styles, modern being her first love. Though time was of essence, Maria was determined to train as much…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Kameryn Denaro

Instructor • Rotating Faculty Member San Diego State University B.S. Statistics M.S. Statistics concentration in Biostatistics Claremont Graduate University Ph.D. Computational Science with an emphasis in Computational Statistics Kameryn Denaro, a native of San Diego, is now based in Orange County, where she is thrilled to be a faculty member of FOCUS Dance Center of…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Olivia Katz

Instructor B.F.A in Dance and Choreography from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Olivia Katz grew up in Pasadena, California where she studied ballet at The Collenette School of Dancing and was a part of the Mayfield Senior School Dance Conservatory, where she studied under Denise Darnell and Frit and Frat Fuller. Her training background…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Joanne Arakaki

Instructor • Rotating Faculty Member BS in Accountancy from the University of Illinois American Ballet Theatre (ABT) certified teacher in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT National Training Curriculum) Progressive Ballet Technique Joanne’s love for dance started in Hong Kong at the age of 5. Joanne has always wanted to be a ballet teacher…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Anessa Davies-Pier

Anessa Davies – Instructor ⦁ BFA Candidate in Dance, Cal State Long Beach Anessa, a native Californian, has been dancing for over seventeen years. She participated in competitive dance for eleven years where she represented FOCUS competing teams from 2018-2021. While on the competing team, Anessa had the honor of being chosen to perform in…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Ryley Polak

Instructor • Rotating Faculty Member Hussian College In Studio, Los Angeles, CA – BFA Ryley Polak was born and raised in the state of Rhode Island where he began his acrobatic training at age 10 and dance training at age 11. Ryley’s passion for teaching and choreographing began quickly after starting dance which inspired him…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Toni Austin

Instructor Toni Austin’s passion for dance and performing started at the young age of 5. The majority of her dance training was received at Underground Dance Company in Laguna Hills, California where she was taught ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, hip hop, improv skills, and more. Here she was also given the opportunity to choreograph recital…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Anne-Elise Garrison

Instructor • Rotating Faculty Member Anne Elise Garrison began her dance training at Augusta West Dance Studio in Augusta, GA at the age of 10, studying styles such as Jazz, Musical Theatre, Ballroom, Contemporary, Ballet, Tap, and Hip Hop. While in Georgia, Anne Elise worked with choreographers such as Kathryn McCormick, Kayla and Casey Frails,…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Kimberly Nguyen

Instructor • Rotating Faculty Member B.A. Business Administration with an Emphasis in Marketing and Management Masters of Business Administration Born and raised in the Bay Area, Kimberly trained and competed at Yoko’s Dance and Performing Arts Academy in various styles such as ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, tap and has won many national champions and…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Abby Hau

Instructor Abby grew up in Seattle where she trained with her competitive dance studio Northwest Dance and Acro. She began teaching and choreographing for her studio at the young age of fifteen and received multiple choreography awards for her competition routines. During this time she was also a traveling dance assistant at Joffrey Ballet School,…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Sunday Baxter

Instructor  B.A. in Dance – California State University Fullerton Sunday began her dance training in 2013 at The Studio Performing Technique Dance School in Amador County. She trained in ballet, contemporary, modern, jazz, and hip hop under the instruction of Cara Agustin, Sue Brumet, Kate Allen, Lucia Fanelli, and Caitlyn Rubini.  Sunday was a part…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Noah Osborne

Instructor Coming from the Denver Metro area, Noah grew up on stage and in front of a mic. He began dancing in the Nutcracker when he was in middle school. Prior to that, he was a competitive gymnast. In high school, he joined the dance conservatory program at his school and began competing with his…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Grace Osborne

Instructor Grace is an actress and singer who started performing at the age of 5.  After performing in countless musicals growing up, she went on to study Musical Theatre at the Institute for American Musical Theatre in New York City, where she worked with the best in the business. Since then, she has performed in…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Sydney Caggegi

Instructor Sydney Caggegi started dance at the age of 12, training in classical ballet and modern/contemporary dance at Southland Ballet Academy. She danced in productions with Festival Ballet Theatre for many years, and became a part of their junior students company. Graduating with a B.A in Dance from the University of California, Irvine, has helped…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Kaelyn Zhou

Kaelyn Zhou, a native of Irvine, California, is currently studying at the University of California, Irvine. Her passion for dance blossomed at the age of 3, and she has been dancing ever since. For seven years, Kaelyn was a company member at DanceLova Dance Academy, where she dedicated herself to training in the styles of…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Joy Liberty

B.A. Communications – Cal State Long Beach Joy Liberty started taking dance classes in 3rd grade and taught her first class in 6th grade. She continued dancing and singing through high school in show choir and on the cheer team. Joy also performed on-stage in a handful of musicals during college, including A Funny Thing Happened…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Bailey Coleman

Bailey was born and raised in Northern California where she began dancing at the age of 7. She trained in hip hop and jazz for many years before expanding her training to include ballet, pointe, lyrical, modern, and musical theatre. She graduated from California State University, Fullerton in 2020, with a degree in Entertainment and…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Nihar Abhyankar

Instructor Nihar Abhyankar is a former FOCUS dancer. While at FOCUS, he competed in Jazz and Contemporary, while also training in acro, ballet, and various other styles under the training of Shannon Willard, Monie Adamson, Robert Duran, Ryley Polak, Anne-Elise Garrison, Kimberly Nguyen, Maria Medellin, Chris Zou, and many others! He graduated from Northwood High…

Complete Bio / View Classes

Rotating Faculty

Faculty who train competition dancers and by exception non competing serious dancers in various genres and techniques on a weekly rotation so each dancer gets the benefits of working with each instructor.    

Complete Bio / View Classes