Maintaining a balance between dance and everyday life is important to us. We believe our biggest accomplishment is instilling a love of dance within all of our dancers. Many of our alumni continue to dance throughout their lives.
The love of dance has led many of our students to pursue dance as a collegiate major, as well as a career. We are proud of the accomplishments of all of our students. A few of our alumni are listed below.
Liana Blackburn
Liana spent 14 years studying at Suncoast Academy of Dance. She moved to Los Angeles right out of High School to pursue a professional dancing career. After graduating from the scholarship program at EDGE Performing Arts Center in LA, she began working with artists in the industry who are at the top of their field, on stage and off stage. She has worked for Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Nick Jonas, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, Kylie Minogue, CeeLo, Michael Buble, Glee, Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, Fresh Beat Band, X Factor, Cirque Du Soleil, and many more. Liana has been seen dancing in films such as Behind the Candelabra, Footloose and Seventeen Again. She has choreographed for Ricky Martin and for the TV show “Major Crimes”. Liana now teaches amongst the incredible faculty of Hollywood Dance Jamz national dance convention and competition, and at EDGE Performing Arts Center when she is home in Los Angeles. She was most recently traveling with Selena Gomez on her “REVIVAL” world tour as a dancer and Dance Captain.
Michelle Bronstein
Michelle attended Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA, where she received a B.F.A. in Dance. Michelle began dancing at 3 years old and joined her first performing dance company at Suncoast Academy of Dance. At 11 years old, her family relocated to the Chicago area where she spend 5 years performing with the Giordano Jr. Company, training with their professional dance troupe. While living in Chicago, she began attending Lou Conte Dance Studio, Hubbard Street Dance, River North Chicago Dance, and Visceral Dance Center workshops as well as summer dance intensive programs and the Jazz Dance World Congress. Michelle also had the pleasure of training under the direction of Jesse DeSoto (Dancing with the Stars) at Fred Astaire studios.
Jenni (Carlson) McGinnis
Jenni has performed in several industrial shows in the Tampa Bay area including Nexus. She attended classes at EDGE and Millennium Dance Complex in California.
Jenni is currently a counselor at Carwise Junior High School in Palm Harbor. In her spare time, she teaches classes for Suncoast.
Tracy Carter
Tracy toured the east coast performing and educating with Tap Team Two & Co. Her passion for dance, TV, and film then led her to LA where she spent 10 years. Tracy’s professional credits include teaching hip hop and tap at the world-famous Millennium Dance Complex and Debbie Reynolds Studios. She instructed celebrities such as Britney Spears, B2K, Penn Badgley (Gossip Girl), and Corbin Bleu (High School Musical). She has appeared on shows for MTV, VH1, the WB, Oxygen & HBO.
Madeline Fitzpatrick
Madeline began dancing at age 6 at Suncoast Academy of Dance. She studied for 12 years in many different idioms and performed with Art In Motion. Madeline has studied and worked with Kim Bears-Bailey, Zane Booker, Silvana Cardell, Curt Haworth, Myriam Herve-Gil, Christopher Huggins, Jennifer Binford Johnson, and Brian Sanders. She has performed Martha Graham’s “Acts of Light” under the direction of Elizabeth Auclair.
Madeline graduated from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia where she majored in Modern Dance. After graduating, she interned with Philadelphia Dance Projects and danced in some local shows for Philly choreographers. She recently returned to Clearwater to dance with a modern dance company in Tampa called Shoes At The Door.
Kassie Kilpatrick
Kassie received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College in NYC. After graduation, she went on to do a variety of work: choreography for Seventeen Magazine and Wal-Mart infomercials, back-up dancing on the “Pop Goes the World” your, Radio Disney, numerous fashion shows including Marc Jacobs, choreographed the Earl Wilson Jr. musical “You’re It”, and appeared as a hip hop dancer in numerous commercials for the Noggin Network. She spent a few years in Atlanta teaching, choreographing, and directing Showbiz Dance Company. She is also a member of Broadway Underground in NYC - which has won acclaim by NYC critics and even became featured in a Capezio ad campaign. Most notably, she was the assistant choreographer for Cirque Du Soleil’s vaudeville-inspired show “Banana Schpeel”. She went on to perform in the show (theater, hip hop, tap, contemporary, and eccentric dance) as well as serve as the show’s Dance Captain. After Cirque Du Soleil, she got the travel bug and completed two contracts as a dancer and dance captain on the Holland America Line cruise ships, where she was fortunate enough to travel throughout Europe, the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the Far East, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the South Pacific islands! When she is between contracts, she enjoys teaching master classes, choreographing, and adjudicating dance competitions around the US.
Lauren King
In addition to her education at Suncoast, Lauren studied at Millennium Dance Complex/Work-Study, Broadway Dance Center (NYC), and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood. Lauren’s professional credits include: Kids Dance LA, Surrey Festival of Dance, Just Chillin Stomp Girl, and Disney.
Ali Rosenstein
Ali, an AIM alumna, is a graduate of Oklahoma City University, where she majored in Dance Pedagogy. Ali has participated in the Broadway Theater Project as well as Tap Kids. Ali was also a summer intern at Broadway Dance Center.
Jenny St. Arnold
After Suncoast, Jenny continued her dance education by attending classes at The EDGE, Millennium Dance Complex and American Performing Arts in California. Upon her return, she enrolled at USF where she continued her studies in ballet, modern and improvisation while earning a BS in Industrial Engineering. Jenny’s performing experience includes: Super Bowl XXXV Pre-game Show, The Art & Spirituality Festival, The Oft Told Story Stage Production, and Katurah & Co. (a modern dance company).
Jenny is currently a math teacher at Palm Harbor Middle School in Palm Harbor, Florida. She continues to teach dance with us.
Cleo Sykes
Cleo began dancing at the age of 6 and was a member of Art In Motion for 10 years. She graduated from Pace University, summa cum laude, and holds a B.F.A. in Commercial Dance with concentrations in both Choreography and Pedagogy. Pace Commercial Dance brought her the opportunity to train with - and perform original works by - renowned teachers and choreographers such as Mandy Moore, Jessica Hendricks, Lauren Gaul, Rhonda Miller, and Jason Samuels Smith, as well as the chance to perform excerpts from Agnes de Mille’s “Rodeo”, staged by Paul Sutherland, and Jose Limon’s “Psalm”, staged by Jonathan Riedel. Cleo has performed as an apprentice alongside Riedel Dance Theater in the world premiere of Jonathan Riedel’s “In Violent Circles (Rite of Spring)” at the Ailey Citigroup Theater.
She was a member of the 2011-2012 LA DanceMagic Company under the direction of Jacke Sleight, and she has held a work placement position with renowned UK dance company Motionhouse Dance Theatre, working both with the dancers and the marketing team.
Cleo took part in the inaugural Pace Performing Arts Los Angeles Intensive, a 3-week program focusing on dance and choreography for the camera, which enabled her to work closely with Emmy-nominated choreographer Mandy Moore and renowned choreographer and videographer Jerry Evans.
Her performance credits include the 2015 and 2017 Park Avenue Armory Gala (Larry Keigwin), A Letter to Cancer (Rachel M. Hettinger, Metaphors&similes Dance), My Love (Mike Esperanza, Peridance Capezio Center 2017 Gala), and The Attraction of the Pedaling Ankle (Jaclyn Walsh, Pushing Progress Showcase 2016). She is currently working as a freelance dancer, teacher, and choreographer in New York City.
Ciara Byrne
Ciara Byrne is a Suncoast Academy of Dance Alumna and was a member of Art In Motion for 10 years. She is currently training at Florida State University School of Dance and studies dance performance and choreography, to eventually receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She has taken part in many performances at Florida State University School of Dance as both a dancer and a sound/light operator. Ciara regularly trains with renowned dance scholars, such as Ilana Goldman, Gabriel Williams, Rick McCullough, Anna Patsfall, Kehinde Ishangi, Tom Welsh, Gwen Welliver, Rachel Hunter, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. She has also had the opportunity to work with incredible guest artists, such as Twyla Tharp Dance and Michelle Elsworth. While Spending her days in Tallahassee training to become a professional dancer, Ciara loves returning home to Palm Harbor to teach and inspire the young dancers at Suncoast Academy of Dance.
Savanna Rice
Savanna began studying at Suncoast as a young child and was a member of Art In Motion for many years. She is currently studying at American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC.