CDC Staff
Kelsey Crum
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Kelsey Crum
Co-Founder, Executive Director Originally from Rock Hill, South Carolina, Kelsey studied ballet and classical dance at an early age. She majored in Dance Education, Performance, and Choreography from the University of South Carolina, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2013. She started a dance program in high school at her church and after graduating from college, she danced professionally with modern and contemporary companies in Columbia and Greenville, SC. Kelsey did her student teaching internship in both middle and high schools and taught ballet and modern technique at a variety of dance studios as well as choreographed group and solo pieces for performances and competitions, post college. Kelsey served as the Outreach Director and Interim Director of the 501c3 Carolina Ballet Theatre in Greenville, SC from 2013-2015. In 2015 Kelsey started Carolina Dance Collaborative with colleague and college friend, Alyson Dixon. Since then, Carolina Dance Collaborative has served over 11,000 individuals, with steady growth of community reach from Greenville to the whole Upstate of South Carolina, and most recently, a 2021 expansion into the Raleigh, NC, Triangle area. Kelsey has grown her team from 2 to 7 Employees and over 20 instructors. Kelsey loves sharing her passion in arts integration and hopes to bring exposure, education, and involvement in dance throughout the different communities in the Carolinas. She can't wait to see the future and expansion of the Carolina Dance Collaborative in years to come and looks forward to growing her team and her vision. |
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Alyson Dixon
Co-Founder, Director of Quality Education, Instructor Email, Phone Extension #705 Originally from Massachusetts, Alyson started dancing ballet at a young age. She studied under the direction of Jessica Wilson at Ballet Workshop for New England and MetroWest Ballet, and supplemented her training at Boston Ballet, Jose Mateo Ballet Theater and Burklyn Ballet Theater. Alyson received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance Education with K-12 certification from USC in 2013. At USC Alyson performed in Giselle, Celia Rowlson Hall's Cinderella at the Ball, Susan Anderson's Gams Jam, various works by Bill Evan's and many student showcases. In addition she taught and choreographed in local school districts and after-school programs. Upon graduation, Alyson went to study at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London where she received a Postgraduate Diploma in Community Dance. Whilst in London, Alyson worked with Corali Dance Company and the Ovalhouse Theatre where she taught and assisted dance classes for disabled adults and children. She also performed in Marina Collard's work. Alyson looks forward to watching the future of dance in Greenville grow through CDC's impact in the community. |
Alyson Dixon
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Christina Ruiz Pastras
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Christina Ruiz Pastras
Operations Director Email, Phone Extension #706 Christina Pastras was born and raised in Philadelphia. She had a wonderful professional ballet and dance career working with Atlanta Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Gainesville Ballet and Marc Scott’s Dancers. Christina also performed in numerous industrial shows nationally and internationally as a backup dancer for Will Smith, Mariah Carey and Boys II Men. After her active performing career, Christina became a teaching artist, training preprofessional ballet dancers at The Rock School for Dance Education, The Philadelphia High School For Creative and Performing Arts, and at various guest teaching engagements through the US. Continuing with her career path, Christina became The Director of Community Outreach for The Rock School, RockReach Program for 20 years, where she has advocated for arts programs for 75,000 children yearly in the Philadelphia school system. Through her work with RockReach, Christina developed a partnership with The DEA Educational Foundation. In 2016, she began her role as Regional Manager of programs for Camden, New Orleans, Kansas City, New York City and Philadelphia. In 2019, Christina became the Associate Director of The DEAEF and a consult for all youth programs. Most recently, Christina enthusiastically joined Carolina Dance Collaborative as the new Operations Director, in Spring of 2023, and is excited to find a new dance home. |
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Stephanie Cureton
SC Upstate Director of Programming Email, Phone Extension #702 Stephanie Cureton’s passion for dance was sparked at the age of 3 in Fort Knox, KY. After moving back to Greenville, SC she started her training with Barbara English at English Theatre Arts. She graduated from the South Carolina Governor's School for Arts and Humanities in the dance pre-professional program. While there she studied ballet, pointe, and modern under the direction of Llyod Whitmore, Irina Ushakova, and Stanislav Issaev. She then went on to receive her BA in Dance/Psychology from Agnes Scott College. While there she studied Ballet, Martha Graham Modern Technique, Jazz, and Labanotation under Bridget Roosa. Not only did she perform in Studio Dance Theatre, the school's dance company, she also choreographed several pieces for the company. She has choreographed and performed for local projects both in Atlanta and Greenville. Currently she’s the Greenville Site Leader with Carolina Dance Collaborative where she teaches and coordinates CDC’s YMCA, Adaptive, and Summer Camp programming. She also teaches at 3D Center of the Arts and English Theatre Arts as well as is a freelance performer and choreographer. |
Stephanie Cureton
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Gabrielle Ardelt
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Gabrielle Ardelt
SC Upstate Special Events and School Site Leader, Instructor Email, Phone Extension #701 Gabrielle Ardelt began dancing at the age of two. After moving to South Carolina at six years old, she began training at her home studio, Dance South, where she continued dancing and competing for 12 years. By participating in competitions, Gabrielle was given many opportunities for various dance workshops and intensives which she attended. While attending Presbyterian College, Gabrielle taught classes at DC DanceWorks in Newberry, SC. Gabrielle wore many hats in this role, coaching all their competition teams and taking on administrative work, in addition to teaching dancers of all ages and abilities. Gabrielle graduated from Presbyterian College in 2022 with a Bachelors of Science in Political Science. She is excited for the opportunity she has at CDC to invest in her two passions-- dance and serving her community. She looks forward to helping us grow our dance programming in the South Carolina Upstate! |
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Alexa Soosaar
NC Director of Programming and Outreach Coordinator Email, Phone Extension #703 Alexa Soosaar started her dancing career at the age of two in her hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. She trained at Center Stage Performing Company for 15 years and competed in numerous competitions around the country. Throughout her time at Center Stage she attended multiple workshops, intensives, and summer programs under professional dancers from around the country. She continued her passion of dance into college where she joined the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Dance Company and became the Co-President. Through this experience, she was able to direct and choreograph for over one hundred dancers, as well as organize multiple showcases. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Special Education, Adaptive Curriculum and went on to teach 3rd-5th graders with moderate to severe disabilities for 3 years. She recently earned a Masters Certificate in Nonprofit Management at North Carolina State University, as further development specific to her current position with us. Her two greatest passions in life are advocating and working with individuals with disabilities and dancing! She is excited to be able to share her appreciation of dance with an amazing organization like CDC and bring dance opportunities to the Triangle area of North Carolina! |
Alexa Soosaar
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Sara Lane
Performance Director Sara graduated cum laude from Oklahoma City University with a Bachelors of Science in Dance Management. She performed with Oklahoma City University's American Spirit Dance Company and has been involved in the production of the American Spirit Dance Company's performances. Sarah has been teaching dance since 2007 for various dance studios such as the Community Dance Center at Oklahoma City University. She was awarded with pedagogy accomplishments as a student at OCU and has worked as an assistant dance and cheer coach at Neosho County Community College. Sara was the former head dance and cheer coach at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas, and worked as the Program Director for dance, cheer , and gymnastics for the Greater Wichita YMCA in El Dorado, KS. She looks forward to the opportunity to continue sharing her love of the performing arts with others. |
Sara Lane
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Julie Stoddard
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Julie Stoddard
Administrative Services Manager Email, Phone Extension #0 Julie was the licensed, organizing Director for Classical Conversations of Taylors, SC, a program empowering families with tools for excellence in Christian, classical homeschooling. She has been a very successful independent salesperson and team developer, and has additional work experience in brand promotions and marketing. She has also contributed to her community with faith based volunteerism. As the home educator of her six dynamic daughters for more than twenty-six years, the pursuit of skills and development of talent in fine arts was an integral part of her family's journey. This led to Julie's involvement with community programs for music, visual arts, and creative writing, as well as being a dance mom throughout the years. Now she is happy to be back in the dance community, contributing her administrative, organizational and interpersonal skills to our Carolina Dance Collaborative staff and the families we serve. |
