Summyr Whaley is the founder and director of 8&a1 Dance Workshop (eightandaonedance.com). She is a New York Radio City Rockette and was most recently seen on NBC for The 75th Celebration of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer. She can also be seen as a lead dancer and as Miss Utah in the major motion picture Miss Congeniality, starring Sandra Bullock and Michael Cain. Summyr was Iris Kelly on the European tour of Fame the Musical, and was also a back-up dancer for the Greek pop-star Nikos Vertis in Athens, Greece. Other regional credits include Annie Get Your Gun, Chicago, and the The Music Man. Summyr has appeared in numerous television specials, commercials, and industrials in both her native Texas and in New York City.

She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Dance. Summyr is also a proud alumni member of the jazz program at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival under the direction of Chet Walker. She is also a contributing writer for Stage Door Access (stagedooraccess.com) a website designed for performers. Summyr is in her 5th season with Starpower Dance Competition as a regional and national judge. She has been a teacher/choreographer for the past 11 years. Teaching opportunities have allowed her to travel around the country giving dancers master classes, choreography, and pre-professional dance seminars with her company 8&a1 Dance Works. Summyr is regularly brought in to choreograph for dance teams, studios, and conventions in Texas, where she currently resides after living and performing in NYC for 6 years.

Brad Barnes graduated from OCU with a Bachelor of Performing Arts. He is currently an assistant choreographer/dance captain for the touring cast of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes. Brad was also the dance captain for the national tour of Cats, he was in 4 major dance shows in Las Vegas including Imagine!, Siegfried and Roy, and EFX starring Rick Springfield. Currently he is in Les Folies Bergere which is the longest running show in the United States. Brad is excited to bring his knowledge of dance to his native state, Texas! He is a teacher at a major dance studio in Las Vegas and has been a master teacher all over the country for the last 8 years. Brad currently resides in Las Vegas.

Jacquelyn Dowsett was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She graduated from SMU with a BFA in Dance Performance as well as an Education teaching certification.  She has been a Radio City Rockette for five years, as well as a dancer for the MTV Video Music Awards with Diddy. She performed in Athens as a back up dancer for the Greek pop star, Nikos Vertis.  Her extensive ballet training allowed her to perform principal roles in many ballets including:  Raymonda, Allegro Brilliante, and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. Her musical theater credits include: Grease, West Side Story, Beauty & the Beast, A Chorus Line, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, Cinderella, Anything Goes, Annie, Oliver! & Bye-Bye Birdie. Jacquelyn was also in the movie “Stuck on You” starring Meryl Streep, Greg Kinnear & the Farrelly Brothers. She just recently filmed “BOLDEN!” due in theatres in ’08 and worked with choreographer/actor/3 time Tony winner, Hinton Battle! She enjoys teaching and has choreographed the musicals: Annie Get Your Gun, The Wizard of Oz, How to Eat Like a Child & Peter Pan.  Jacquelyn also choreographed numerous contemporary ballet & lyrical pieces for SMU.  She is also a ballet mistress with Hawaii State Ballet, where she trained extensively since the age of seven. Jacquelyn currently resides in L.A.! She is so excited to be sharing her love for dance with 8&a1 Dance Workshop.

Jeremy Duvall comes to us from sunny Los Angeles, California where he is not only a sought after dancer but also a teacher/choreographer around the U.S, Canada, Japan, and Italy. He has previously taught at the Edge Performing Arts Center and Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio in Hollywood. He is also on guest faculty at the Broadway Dance Center in New York City. Jeremy has appeared in the film National Lampoon's Clubhouse Trick or Treat and also worked professionally as a swing for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, soloist for the first national tour of A Few Good Men Dancin', featured in the musical Applause starring Sheryl Lee Ralph, as well as dance captain for Encore! at Tokyo Disney Sea. He is a Cum Laude graduate of Oklahoma City University's School of American Dance and Arts Management with a Bachelors degree in Performing Arts. Jeremy has spent this past year in downtown Chicago as the dance captain and ensemble member in Wicked. He is thrilled to be sharing his knowledge with 8&a1 Dance Workshop!

Debra Ezell graduated from UNT with a Secondary Education degree with a certification in Dance, English, and French. She has been teaching dance for over 20 years! Her knowledge of dance has allowed her to bring numerous teams to award winning status. These teams include the Richland High School Dixie Belles, Weatherford High School Blue Belles, and currently Saginaw High School's award-winning Starsteppers. She believes hard work, dedication, and a good sense of humor is the key to success for her dancers. She is proud to be the only dance director on staff with 8&a1! Debra knows she would not be were she is today with out the love and support of her two children Jeff and Amy and her husband Marty. She currently resides in Texas.

Lauren Gaul grew up in Philadelphia, PA where she began her training in all disciplines of dance. She continued her training at the prestigious Oklahoma City University where she was a dance performance major. There she graduated Cum Laude and received her BPA. She continued her training on scholarship at Gus Giordano’s in Chicago, as well as Broadway Dance Center, and Steps on Broadway.

She has performed as a Radio City Rockette for 8 years in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.   She has also been a Rockette Swing for 2 years and regular teacher for the Rockette Experience at Radio City Music Hall. She has danced with numerous companies such as The American Spirit Dance Co., Journey Dance Co., and Tap Team II.  Also, she has performed in many shows in New York such as Nothing Like a Dame, The Élan Awards, The Flobert’s Tap Extravaganza, the Astaire Awards, Dance Break, The Downtown Theater Festival, and the Columbus Day Parade.  She currently lives in New York City where she choreographs regularly around the area as well as assisting many well-known choreographers on numerous projects. She assistant choreographed a new show “Torched” for the downtown theater festival in New York.    She also assistant choreographed many different industrials which include, Lady Footlocker, Sesame Street, Capezio, Astra-Zeneca, IZOD Kids and Audi to name a few.   She assisted Rhonda Miller on choreographing a new show for Princess Cruise lines “Cinematastic” as well as set the show on original cast.  Lauren has also assisted on Broadway Bares/Equity Fights AIDS benefit in New York produced by Tony Award winning choreographer Jerry Mitchell.  

She teaches master classes in jazz, tap, and lyrical for conventions and studios and is regularly brought in as a guest choreographer to set pieces on their companies.   In addition, she has judged for numerous dance competitions around the country and in Canada.  Lauren has featured her own choreography at the Broadway Dance Center Performance Outlet, the Bridge for Dance, Jazz Dance World Congress Choreography Event, and most recently at the prestigious Jacob’s Pillow inside/out performance space.   Lauren has been on faculty at Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts camp (Steamboat Springs, CO.), and Belvoir Terrace Performing Arts Camp (Lenox, MA).  Most recently Lauren was brought on as a professor at Pace University in New York where she is teaching tap, jazz, and musical theater. She is excited to bring her talents to 8&a1 Dance Workshop!

Devert Monet Hickman A native of Louisville, Kentucky has most recently been seen in Radio City Music Hall’s annual Christmas Spectacular starring the Radio City Rockettes, for his eighth consecutive season. Devert was also in Disney’s national tour of  “The Lion King” where he danced the role of the “birdman soloist” and the “Can you feel the love tonight” pas de deux. Devert was also a company member for six seasons with “Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago” and served as a Giordano scholarship choreographer and teacher for Giordano Dance Center. He was also a master teacher for the Jazz Dance World Congress in Monterrey, Mexico.  Devert loves to spread his love for dance to young aspiring dancers. He currently resides in New York City.

Angela Kahle has been dancing for over 25 years.  She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Wright State University, where she received the Dance Achievement Award.  Angela’s theater credits include playing Phyllis in the first national tour and Broadway production of “42nd Street.”  Her proudest achievement by far has been kicking her legs as a Radio City Rockette. Angela has taught and choreographed across the country for over ten years. She currently lives in NYC. Angela is excited to bring her dance experience to 8&a1 Dance Workshop.

Kurt M. Kikuchi graduated from the University of California, Irvine where he performed pieces by Jose Limon, Billy Siegenfeld, David Allen, and was a part of Donald McKayle's "Etude Ensemble.” He also attended Pennsylvania Ballet’s Rock School of Ballet summer program and Jacob’s Pillow jazz program.  He has been teaching Pilates and GyrotonicÒ for the last 5 years in New York City. He received his Pilates certification at Long Beach Dance Conditioning with Marie Jose Blom-Lawrence and his GyrotonicÒ certification at Angel City Body Kinetics with Lisa Marie Goodwin, where he received intense knowledge of anatomy, biomechanics and movement study.  His clientele while in New York City include Bette Midler, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's" Kyan Douglas and numerous Broadway stars and dancers.  With the current demand for versatile performers, Kurt understands the importance of strengthening the body and spirit of young dancers.  He believes the work done in Pilates and GyrotonicÒ assist young dancers to have long and successful careers. Kurt currently resides in L.A.!

Heather Lang a Chicago native, she studied at Ruth Page School and Hubbard Street Dance before earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she has performed in works by Robert Battle and Nacho Duato. Heather was a scholarship student at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Austria and the American Dance Festival. In New York City, Heather discovered her passion for choreographing and created a full evening length show with NYU alumni entitled “the Sunset Clause”. Heather has appeared in “Nights On Broadway II”, performing a solo from “Movin' Out”.  Ms. Lang also won MTV's “Wannabe Madonna” competition.  Heather is proud to be a Radio City Rockette. She was just seen on NBC in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Special at Radio City Music Hall with Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer. She was ecstatic to be able to work with Julie Taymor on the film “Across the Universe” and the new opera, “Grendel”, where she performed at Lincoln Center with Desmond Richardson. Most recently Heather was in 2 exciting films!  Heather became a creature filming “I am Legend”, starring Will Smith and performed in the “Great Observer” choreographed by Hinton Battle.  Currently, she is performing throughout NYC and rehearsing for various projects. Favorite Roles include: Cassandra (Cats) and Helga (Cabaret). TV: VH1 Fashion Rocks, Coca-Cola Commercial. Heather currently resides in NYC.

Krista Saab is a native of Toronto, CANADA. She has been a Radio City Rockette in New York City for 5 years. As a Rockette, Krista has been privileged to perform on The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and at the 2005 Presidential Inauguration in Washington D.C., as well as in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Special with Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer. Krista had the honor of performing in the revival of “Carnival” at the Kennedy Center. Other theatre credits include West Side Story, 42nd St. and the Ovation Award Winning cast of Crazy for You in Los Angeles.  Krista has performed in the PBS Special “A Capitol Fourth” with Jason Alexander and Stevie Wonder and has traveled around the world as a dancer on Royal Caribbean and Seabourn Cruiselines.  She was also a Principal Dancer in “American Gangster” starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe and recently completed filming on “The Great Observer” choreographed by legendary Tony winner, Hinton Battle. Krista is a graduate of the Theatre Program at Ryerson University in Toronto.  She is currently working with her husband and fellow performer, Ryan Saab, on a performer’s resource website they have launched together called Stagedooraccess.com. Krista currently lives in New York City.

Destinee Walker a native of Texas is so excited to be teaching fellow Texans! She has performed in Broadway! The international touring production in Branson, Missouri. She was a dancer on Holland America Cruise Lines touring Mexico and Alaska. She performed as a principal dancer with STEEL Dance Company in Austin, Texas as well as with La Escuela de Balet in Bilbao, Spain! She was also seen in Somewhere in Christmas Time and at The Masquerade Show in the Sky in Las Vegas where she currently resides. Destinee is so excited to share her knowledge of dance with 8&a1 Dance Workshop!

Ryan Kelly grew up in CT and started dancing at age 7. He attended NYU Tisch School of the Arts. His professional work includes WICKED on Broadway, in LA, Chicago, and the 1st national tour where he serves as the universal swing! He was in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular as an ensemble dancer for three years, danced in Tokyo Disneyland, as well as in Pippin at Goodspeed Theater and a national tour where he served as dance captain.. He also worked with AC Ciulla in Atlantic City in the show Night's on Broadway. Regionally: Cats, Music man and  Sweet Charity.He also worked closely with Mark Dendy on various projects. Film and T.V. include: Sleepers, Across the universe, Sleepy's bed's commercial, Sylvania light bulb commercial , Spanish lottery Commercial, Firebrand Commercial, as well as Mohegan Sun. Ryan is a master teacher in jazz, lyrical, and musical theatre and he loves to teach and inspire the younger generation. Ryan Kelly currently resides in NYC.