Staff

Christy Crosswell Williams
Owner and operator of Swansboro Dance Studio since 1982, Ms. Williams has studied and taught ballet, pointe and tap for more than 23 years. She has a bachelor of arts degree in English from East Carolina University and is a certified teacher. While at ECU, she studied dance under the world renowned Mavis Ray and Pat Pertallion, former head of the ECU dance department.

Hazel Starks Collins
Ms. Collins has over 35 years of combined dancing and teaching experience. A Swansboro Dance Studio instructor since 1990, she was a dance major at the Lenard Davis Center for Performing Arts, City College of New York, and a modern dance scholarship student of Merce Cunningham. She has trained with Martha Graham and Lester Horton and is a former member of the Chuck Davis African-American Dance Ensemble.

Allison Cornett
Ms. Cornett has been teaching hiphop in Wilmington studios for the past 2 years. "Ali" was the debuting choreographer for UNCW's spring concert , " A Night Under the Stars" and also choreographed for the city stage, " Tick. Tick.. Boom". She has also choreographed for dance teams such as, "Tremor" , "Next Step" and "T.I."
Ali's love for theater began as a child when she perfomed in "Worthy is the Lamb" at the Crystal Coast Amphitheater. She continued that focus graduating from UNC-Wilmington with a degree in theater.
She starred as "Lulu" in her senior production of "The Birthday Party". Ali has studied the Hagen and Meisner techniques of acting.

Heather Gupton
Heather has taught tap, ballet, pointe, and jazz for every age, for several years. She has taught at private studios in Durham and Wake Forest. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance Performance, with a concentration in jazz, at East Carolina University. While attending ECU, she studied under Tommi Galaska, Elie Lazar (from the Joffrey Ballet), Joseph Carow, Timour Bourtansenkov (Carolina Ballet principal), and world renowned Galina Panova. Heather has also had the opportunity to perform in "Sharing the Legacy" in New York, at the American College Dance Festival in Ohio and Florida, and perform as a Miss North Carolina Pageant dancer for 4 years.

Jennifer Kelly
Ms. Kelly studied at Washington School of Ballet and the School of American Ballet in New York. She danced with the Dutch National Ballet for 13 years. She was a guest teacher at the Elicott City (Md.) Ballet Guild and was rehearsal director at the College of Liberal Arts and in Amsterdam, she was the assistant choreographer of Voortman/DeJong Produtions of Rotterdam.

Amy Richter
bio coming soon...