Shea Alvarez
Owner & Creative Director
Shea began dancing at Karl & DiMarco before she was three years old. Her mother saw the Company perform at a local show and knew that was the studio she needed to take her daughter to. Shea fell in love with dance and at the age of 9 became a member of the American Musical Theatre Company, Karl & DiMarco’s dance company.
Throughout her dance training at K&D, Shea performed and competed with the Company earning multiple awards and competing nationally. Shea began teaching at K&D at the age of 15 and continued her dance education through conventions, training at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in NYC as well as dance teacher seminars such as Dance Teacher Summit. Shea is also Acrobatic Arts certified.
After graduating from USF with a degree in Advertising, Shea became a wardrobe stylist for film and television and traveled all over the country and internationally creating costuming and wardrobe for various clients such as ESPN, Maxim Magazine, independent films and countless live events. During this time Shea lived in NYC while she continued her dance training. Shea was a director of K&D’s competitive company, receiving multiple awards for choreography, costuming and overall placement at various competitions. Shea is thrilled to continue the legacy of Karl & DiMarco as the owner of the south studio and is committed to allowing every student to dance in an inspiring, nurturing and inclusive environment.
Bri Solberg
Office Manager
Brianna was born and raised in North Tampa. She attended Freedom High School and graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2018 with a Bachelors in English Literature. She works as K&D south’s full-time office manager and brings passion into every avenue of her life. She is very excited to join the Karl & DiMarco south family.
Brianna handles all billing, scheduling and general studio communication as well as Company event management.
Carolyn Rose
Costume & Merchandise Manager | Ballet, Stretch & Strength, Pointe, Floor Barre
Carolyn Rose was born in Brooksville, FL, and started dancing at age six. After completing R.A.D examinations under Gillian Davis, she started her professional career at 15. She has had the honor of performing soloist and principal roles such as Bluebird and Lilac fairy from 'The Sleeping Beauty’, Odette/Odile from 'Swan Lake’, Coppelia from 'Coppelia’, Mina from 'Dracula’, Sugar Plum Fairy from 'The Nutcracker’, as well as original choreography from beautiful contemporary ballet minds.
While continuing to strive for perfection, she has been teaching classical ballet for over 10 years in the hopes of spreading the knowledge and passion that has been given to her by so many.
Carolyn manages costumes for recital and studio merchandise.
Sasha Alvarez
Ballet, Modern, Pointe, Technique, Company Choreographer
Sasha Alvarez is originally from Tampa, FL and began dancing at the age of 6, starting her formal dance training at the age of 15 with Next Generation Ballet at the Patel Conservatory under the direction of Peter Stark and Ivonne Lemus. While in Tampa, FL Ms. Alvarez attended Howard W. Blake High School of the Arts where she trained with Albena Arnaudova and Kelly Rayl. During High School Ms. Sasha performed and competed at various dance competitions regionally and nationally including NYCDA Outstanding Senior Dancer 1st Runner Up, The Dance Awards Senior 1st Runner Up, and Youth America Grand Prix Top 3 Semi Finals. After graduating high school Sasha attended Point Park University graduating with a BFA in 2017 led by Rubén Graciani. Sasha continued her training at prestigious Summer programs including Nederlands Dans Theatre, ABT, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Danza Italia and Miami City Ballet. She has performed works by prominent choreographers such as George Balanchine, Emery LeCrone, Septime Webre, Garfield Lemonius, Norbert De La Cruz, Bobbi Jean Smith, Ronin Koresh and James Gregg to name a few. In 2016, Sasha was invited by Ramona De Saa, director of the Cuban National Ballet School, to perform at the Cuban International Dance Festival in Havana, Cuba.
Professionally, Ms. Alvarez has danced with Helen Simoneau Danse at NYU Center for Ballet and Arts, Hammerstep NYC at Mana Contemporary Museum, and most recently joined Parsons Dance Company Fall of 2018 touring the USA and Italy performing various works by David Parsons, Paul Taylor, and Trey McIntyre. Sasha was also a featured dancer in a commercial for Italian designer Loro Piana's new shoe line, The Rare Walk that debuted in New York City's Meatpacking District. Alongside her love of dance Ms. Alvarez is a 200hr RYTT certified Power Vinyasa yoga teacher cultivating her awareness and alignment of dance through her teaching. Sasha is actively teaching yoga and dance in the Tampa Bay area.
Erica Loper
Ballet, Pointe, Lyrical, Combo, Technique, Company Choreographer
Erica has been dancing since she was 3 years old and was asked to join her studio’s competition dance team when she was 8 years old. While competing she won many Platinum awards and some notables which included NUVO Breakout Artist, NUVO Stand-out in Ballet and Hall of Fame’s Dance Challenge All Stars just to name a few. She also participated in America’s most prestigious ballet competition, The Youth American Grand Prix for 4 years and was in the top ten two times.
Erica loved to spend her summers away at different Ballet Intensives learning different styles of dance as well as training with many different artistic directors. She has attended summers intensives at Orlando Ballet, Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, The Miami City Ballet, Alvin Ailey in New York and the Carreño Dance Festival in Sarasota.
She joined the Next Generation Ballet’s year-round trainee program (at the age of 11, as one of the youngest dancers in the company) where she trained for 2 years. During that time she had the opportunity to dance in the opening number of the YAGP Gala in the Lincoln Center.
In high school, Erica continued her dance training at Blake High School of the Performing Arts. She is very excited to be able to share her enthusiasm and artistry of dance by teaching at Karl & DiMarco.
Marilyn Zumbado
Technique, Jazz, Company Choreographer
Marilyn was born and raised in Tampa, FL and began dancing at the age of 2 at Maricela’s. At 3 years old she began at Elsa Pardo Dance Center, where she remained throughout her childhood. She was a dance student at Orange Grove Middle Magnet School of the Arts. After her middle school training, Marilyn was accepted into the Dance Department at Blake High School for the Arts where she graduated with her Master Certification in Dance Studies. She has extensively studied classical ballet, jazz, hip-hop and contemporary. Marilyn has also worked and studied with world-renowned teachers such as Travis Wall, Sonya Tayeh, Wade Robson, Gil Duldulao, Mia Michaels, Brian Freedman, and Shane Sparks. She is also certified in Progressive Ballet Technique (PBT).
Marilyn became a dance instructor in 2011, teaching jazz and contemporary to all ages around the Tampa Bay area while simultaneously attending HCC where she received her Associate’s degree in Fine Arts. She has choreographed and set pieces for studios and dance teams throughout the Tampa Bay area and has also received two choreography awards, Marilyn graduated from USF with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and plans to continue her studies to receive a Master’s in Applied Behavioral Analysis. She hopes to use her knowledge and education to develop a unique dance therapy program tailored for children with disabilities in the future.
Aly Lahay
Ballet, Jaz, Contemporary, Lyrical, Company Choreographer
Aly has been dancing since the age of 2 and added gymnastics to her repertoire when she was 7. She joined the competitive dance team when she was 9 years old and has been fostering her love of dance ever since then. In high school, she was named captain of the dance team and was awarded “All-American Dancer.” On top of dancing, she began teaching at her local studio when she was 16 and fell in love with choreographing for other young girls with a love for dance.
After graduating high school, Aly began completing her business management degree at State Fair Community College while moving to New York City to audition and dance professionally. In the two years of living in the big city, she performed in three contemporary productions, three musical theater productions, two ballet productions, and multiple nonprofits. She was able to find studios in need of teaching and was able to teach kids from the age of 16 months up to graduating high school seniors. While completing school, teaching, and auditioning she continued her training by taking weekly classes at Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, and Alvin Ailey Dance Center.
Shelby Russ
Contemporary, Company Choreographer
Shelby Russ was born and raised in Tampa, FL where she danced from age 3 in a local studio. At 15, she attended the performing arts school Howard W. Blake High, where she trained in ballet, modern, choreography and had the opportunity to work with Jennifer Archibald, Jon Ole Olstad, Duncan Cooper, and Bliss Kohlmyer. She then continued on to train at the University of South Florida and worked with Stephanie Martinez, Joshua Peugh, Michael Foley, Jeanne Travers, and Paula Nunez. Upon graduating in 2023 with her Bachelor in Fine Arts, her self choreographed solo “Woman’s Search” was selected for the American College Dance Association national gala in Long Beach, CA and than was further selected (1 of 5) to perform at the 2023 Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival. She is now a company member with the Tampa City Ballet Dance Theater.
Allison Voiland
Jazz, Hip Hop, Technique, Company Choreographer
Allison was born and raised in Tampa, Florida and danced at Karl & Dimarco from 2003-2017. She was a member of our competition team from 2007-2017 and a teacher and assistant at Karl & Dimarco during her high school years. Allison danced on the H.B Plant High School dance team (Danceros) from 2013-2017 and was a co-captain 2016-2017, and she danced at UDA Nationals in 2014 as well as in regional competitions each year. She performed in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2016 with Danceros.
Allison worked for the Universal Dance Association (UDA) on staff for 3 years including middle school and high school dance team summer camps/competitions all over Florida
She went to the University of Central Florida in Orlando and pursued a minor in dance and participated in 2 dance showcases with UCF (2019 & 2021). Allison choreographed and danced in several routines for her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi (ADPI), competing in philanthropy dance competitions and winning several titles.
She choreographed competition dances for a high school dance team in 2021 in jazz & hip hop. Allison currently works for Dance Team Union as a Director at high school dance team competitions in Florida and is on staff for Shake the Ground dance competitions in Florida.
Maggie Reed
Tap, Musical Theater
Born and raised in the South Chicago suburbs, Marguerite (Maggie) began Irish Step dancing when she was seven years old, and went on to compete as a soloist and team dancer at the Regional, National, and World championship levels. She started participating in school musicals in the fifth grade and training in other dance styles, such as ballet, jazz, and tap.
By her freshman year of High School, Maggie was a full-time ‘theatre kid’ and had hung up her Irish Dancing shoes. She served as the Music Director and was a member of her high school show choir, and in 2019, she won ‘Best Actress’ at the Illinois High School Musical Theatre Awards and attended the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, The Jimmy Awards, in New York City. In April 2024, she graduated from Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts with her BFA in Musical Theatre.
Marguerite is a true triple threat performer, but she enjoys working on the production side of shows just as much as she loves being in them, and has vocal directed and choreographed musicals like RENT, Newsies!, and Spring Awakening. She’s also a multi-instrumentalist, proficient in flute, piano, piccolo, guitar, percussion, and ukulele.
Maggie is quite passionate about arts education, and is thrilled to be joining the team at Karl & DiMarco south, working with the next generation of dancers and artists!
Amanda Griffeth
Acro
Amanda Healy began dancing at age two and soon after began intense training in acrobatics and contortion. Throughout her childhood, she won numerous regional and national titles as a competitive acrobat. While attending Fairleigh Dickinson University, she was a highly sought after acrobatic and contortion instructor. In 2015 she relocated from New Jersey to Saint Petersburg, FL. Now, she has over ten years of teaching experience and is certified by Acrobatic Arts, Alixa Flexibility, and Progressing Ballet Technique. Her students have been very successful in competitions as well as finding work in the industry. Her teaching style in the classroom encourages growth and motivation while building strength and mental confidence.
Karen Ritchie
Acro
Karen is a Canadian-born performer who spent her early years racing from the gym to the studio. She was an elite competitive artistic gymnast through the age of twelve, but when push came to shove, she chose to focus on dance. Her technical studies in tap, jazz, ballet, pointe and acrobatics led her to a worldly career - from working as a dancer, tumbler and aerialist on cruise ships to performing multiple contracts at Tokyo Disney in Japan.
In 2005, Karen became a Radio City Rockette and was thrilled to perform across the United States and Canada in the Christmas Spectacular for nearly 20 years. She performed in both the New York Spring Spectacular choreographed by Warren Carlyle and the New York Spectacular choreographed by Mia Michaels. Karen has appeared on NBC’s The Today Show, the Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, the Rockefeller Tree Lighting, the Tony Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, America's Got Talent, the NBA All-Star Game and the Life Ball in Vienna, Austria. Through these performances, Karen has had the opportunity to perform alongside Derek Hough, Jenna Ortega, Pitbull, Flo-Rida and Christina Aguilera. She can also be seen in the Hallmark movie “A Holiday Spectacular”, the Kasey Musgraves Christmas Show on Amazon Prime, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and several television commercials.
Karen is on staff with Acrobatic Arts as a Course Conductor and Examiner and is also certified in Progressive Ballet Technique. She has taught master classes and workshops at Radio City Music Hall and Broadway Dance Center, as well as throughout the United States and Canada. Karen is very excited to call Tampa Bay her new home and looks forward to sharing her knowledge and expertise with the local dance community!
LD Speights
Hip Hop, Company Choreographer
LD was born and raised in Saint Petersburg, Florida. He is a man of many talents, and for him, on of the purest things he can do is move to the music. he has been a dance instructor since 2012, and he always tries to find ways to bring the best out of his students. LD has performed on stages such as Wild Splash and opened up for artists in the industry such as Mindless Behavior, Kevin Gates, Fat Joe and more. He has also has been in the World of Dance stage finals in the dance battle bracket. LD has won more than 10 dance jams from free-styling and has also Dj’d events as well. His beats have been played and danced to not only here but overseas in Thailand and the UK. He enjoys making funny videos that have gotten countless views. LD works hard to bring everything he’s learned to his students and tries to lead them in the right direction in life.
Tedrick Evans
Hip Hop
Tedrick Evans was born in Tallahassee, Florida. Growing up he wasn’t much of a talker, but as an artist, his head was always on a new project that challenged his mental and visual skills. At first, dance was just a hobby he did when he wanted to feel good while the music was playing, but eventually, through college, his love for art became more dance focused and eventually joined a dance team and started competing, and creating choreography for teens, and young adults. This led to awards, and opportunities that he didn’t expect at first but was grateful to have experienced. After graduating college, he placed dance on hold and to move to another city to work in a business. He eventually knew this wasn’t all he wanted to do and got back into dancing and focused heavily on teaching the future of the dance community. During these years, as a coach he has provided the tools to help his clients and team members win pageant awards, World of Dance competitions, and teaches in various studios in the country.
Chela Levy
Contemporary, Hip Hop, Improv, Company Choreographer
Chela began dancing at K&D at the age of 2, and became a company member at the age of 7. She decided to pursue dance more seriously at the age of 11, and attended Orange Grove Middle Magnet School of the Arts for additional dance training. She was awarded Dancer of the Year in her eighth grade year at the school. In her years of competing, she has placed 1st overall for her solos, and has won multiple improv and choreography awards. She was a Top 10 Finalist for Streetz 2023 Dancer of the Year, and was also awarded Intrigue Dance Intensive’s National Title Winner for the 2024 season.
She continues her training at convention events, and will travel the country assisting industry professionals as a 2024-2025 Intrigue Senior Assistant. Chela was also a Streetz Company member for the 2023-2024 season, where she was a traveling assistant.
Chela now attends Howard W. Blake High School where she trains in modern and ballet to further her dance education. She will continue to pursue dance in college and is currently auditioning for BFA programs around the country.
Lindsey Schadt
Combo, Transition
Starting at just 2 years old, Lindsey grew up dancing at a prestigious studio in Massachusetts, training competitively in contemporary, jazz, ballet, modern, acrobatics, and tap, under the instruction of Stephanie P. Kemp, Jill D’Aguanno, and Hope Spect. She won a multitude of top scoring awards and assisted as an Elite Dancer with the Excel in Motion Convention. At the age of 14 she began assisting and teaching classes.
She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Modern Dance performance at the University of South Florida. While studying there she trained with artists such as Michael Foley, Andee Scott, Bliss Kohlmyer, Jeane Travers, John Parks and many others. Her performances include Michael Foley’s Dusk (2016) and Be Right Back (2017), Bliss Kohlmyer’s Catalyst (2017), and Alex Ketley’s Ballast (2018). During her time studying at the University she was a recipient of the Hug Scholarship for choreography.
The Summers of 2017-2018 she worked as Dance Administrator for a New England Summer Day Camp organizing and executing all dance activities and performances. In her years of experience educating and sharing her passion for dance with students along the East Coast, she has received multiple top scoring and specialty awards for her choreography. In 2018 she became certified in Acrobatic Arts and finds it important to continue her dance education so she can best serve her students.
Being a momma of two little girls, Lindsey understands the positive impact she can have on her students and is regularly reminded of the importance of fostering her ability well. Dance isn’t just what she does, but it’s a huge part of who she is. She is passionate about sharing that with her students and using it as a way to help mold them into the best individuals they can be on and off the dance floor.
Jaidah Laws
Hip Hop, Summer Camp Staff
Jaidah is currently a junior at the University of Tampa pursuing an undergrad degree in Psychology. She has danced since she was three years old and her love for dance has only grown stronger! Jaidah currently holds the position of Choreographer Captain of her school's club hip-hop dance team, Unified Dance Crew. She is super energetic and loves having a good time. Having fun is such an important part of dance and Jaidah hopes her classes bring nothing but joy!!
Sami Frost
Guest Faculty, Company Choreographer
Sami Frost graduated Summa Cum Laude from Florida State University where she obtained her B.F.A in dance and a minor in communications in 2022. She had the opportunity to train with Jawole Zollar, Gwen Welliver, Ilana Goldman, Donna Uchizono, Tiffany Rhynard, and perform works by Ronald K. Brown, Anjali Austin, Jennifer Archibald, Carlos Dos Santos and Merce Cunningham among others. After graduation, Sami danced professionally for Water Street Dance Milwaukee where she toured works by Artistic Director Morgan Williams, as well as Annie Franklin, Kameron Saunders, Arinze Okammor, and more. While growing up she attended Howard W. Blake School of the Performing Arts and danced competitively. She was a touring assistant with Revel Dance Convention and an apprentice with Tampa Modern Dance Company. Sami has been teaching at local dance studios in Tampa since she was 16 years old, teaching styles such as contemporary, ballet, modern, improvisation, jazz, hip hop, conditioning and stretching and continues to choreograph for competitive dance studios across Tampa, Tallahassee and Milwaukee. She has presented her choreographic work at the American College Dance Association (Tallahassee, 2022), Newgrounds Dance Festival (Tampa, 2022 & 2018), and the National High School Dance Festival (Pittsburgh, 2018). Most recently, she choreographed a piece for the Sarasota Contemporary Dance Company Rising Choreographer program in May, 2023. Currently, Sami is a Pure Barre teacher, yoga practitioner and continues to develop her own creative practice as a mover and artist.
