FACULTY

Amy Connolly

Owner/Prodigy Director

2000-2002 Kilgore College Rangerette & Swingster
2005 Miss Texas Best Overall Dancer & top 10 Finalist
Miss Southeast Texas Title (Amy Lenderman)
Miss Garland Title
Over 25 years teaching experience
Graduate from Sam Houston State University with a degree in Kinesiology and a minor in Dance Education
Crowd Pleasers Dance & Performance judge 2004-2008
Miss Texas National Teenager Choreographer/Producer 2003-2008
National Award Winning Choreography

My Family: My husband of 10 years, Tim Connolly, is the love of my life and the one person I don’t want to do life without! Our Son, Commodore Jet Connolly, has stolen my heart and given me a greater purpose for living each day! My fur babies, Belva and Burbank, both Great Pyrenees rescues and my cuddle bugs who make me smile everyday!

My Hobbies: Shopping, Cooking, Decorating, Designing, watching a good movie and most of all traveling to the most beautiful beaches in the world!

My Favorite Dance Memory: I have two: My first one was performing in the 2000 Presidential Inauguration Parade as a Rangerette wearing the famous Red, White and Blue and waving to President Bush who was standing in front of the White House! I have never felt so proud to be an American! My second was in 2005 when I finaled in the top 10 at the Miss Texas Pageant and had the amazing opportunity to perform my talent and dance on live television to more than 1 million people! It was the most surreal and rewarding feeling!

My Favorite Vacation: Oh Gosh, I have so many!!! The one I will forever treasure is my wedding to my Soulmate, Tim, in Bora Bora and then island hopping for our honeymoon to: Rangiroa, Tahiti, Moorea and our own private island! It truly was the most beautiful and romantic paradise in the world!

My Favorite quote: This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever. In its place is something that you have left behind. Let it be something good!

Lauren VanSyckle

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader 2008-2009
Dallas Mavericks Dancer 2010,2011, 2012
Performed at NBA All-Star 2011
Was a guest choreographer for China’s hit show NBA Dance Fusion
National All-Around Dancer
Performed along side artists from Reba Mcentire, Toby Keith, Jessica Simpson, Destiny’s Child, Carrie Underwood, Creed, and The Jonas Brothers
Over 16 years of performing
7 years of teaching experiance
My Hobbies: When I am not at the studio teaching you can find me at home scrap booking on shutterfly trying to find anything and everything to put pictures on, I also love to find things to make into a pintrest project.
My pets: I have two amazing dogs, one is an all white Siberian Husky/German Shepherd with crystal blue eyes the other one is a dark chocolate German Shepherd
My Favorite Restaurant: Olive Garden
My Favorite Dance Memory: is when I had the opportunity to travel to Zhuhai China for the NBA Tour, it was so amazing to experience the culture and everything china has to offer!
My Favorite Vacation: Florida, I love the beaches but most of all I love going to Disney World!

Rhodessa Bell

Rhodessa got her start in dance at the age of 12 under the direction of Koni Riley at Dance Dimensions studio in Mineola, Texas. She is now the assistant artistic director / rehearsal director for both Rhythm Express and Rhythm Elite at Dance Dimensions. Rhythm Elite has claimed several national championship titles due to Rhodessa’s integral role since 2010. She received her BFA at Stephen F. Austin where she was a member of the SFA Pom Squad and the SFA Repertory Dance Company. After graduation Rhodessa moved to Houston where she studied under the direction of Richard Hebsche, Jhon Stronks, and Dina Veil. Houston expanded her performance vocabulary and from 2004 to 2008 she performed with several professional companies like Houston Metropolitan, Psophonia, Wyld Style, and Planet Funk. This exploration expanded her training to include ballet, contemporary, modern and hip hop. Since 2003 Rhodessa has worked for Marching Auxiliaries teaching dance and creating choreography for children of all ages nationwide. In 2009 Rhodessa completed a year residency in Amsterdam Netherlands. During her stay she taught hip hop and lyrical jazz for Amsterdam Dance Centre, Body Action, and Lucia Marthas Institute for Performing Arts. Within that year Rhodessa also choreographed an evening length work called “Laughter” set on a performance company she created called UniverSouL Dance Company. She was honored to showcase her work as well as perform at several festivals and local venues throughout Holland. Rhodessa’s love for teaching and performing has span more than two decades. Thorough in her approach, she gives special attention to the specific needs of each dancer she teaches. After leaving a class with Rhodessa dancers are sure to feel more accomplished, energized, and empowered.

Kristen Wendorff

Kristen began her dance journey at a young age at Orange County Performing Arts Academy (formerly Dance Dynamics) in Yorba Linda, California. She began competing at the age of six, and had the opportunity to train throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties working with teachers and choreographers such as Amy Nakamoto, Shannon Mather, and Patrick McCollum. She was a three time Top 5 National Solo Finalist. She went on to earn her BFA in Dance Performance from Chapman University in Orange where she studied under Jennifer Backhaus, Alicia Okuchi-Guy and guest faculty Mike Esperanza and Leann Aluenda. Following graduation, she has worked as technique coach, choreographer, and adjudicator for high school dance programs in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Kristen is excited to continue her journey in dance after relocating to Texas at the end of 2017, and is excited to be a part of the Royalty family.

Jamie Driver

Jamie was born and raised in the Dallas area. She found her passion for dance at Royalty Dance Academy and trained in jazz, ballet, contemporary, and her favorite style tap. Her passion for tap dance grew when she joined Rhythmic Soul’s Tap Company in high school. Jamie is now an Assistant Director and Instructor with Rhythmic Soul’s Tap Company. She loves training the next generation of tap dancers and she continues to perform with Rhythmic Soul’s Pro Company. Jamie also competed in high school and choreographed two of her award-winning tap solos. She recently graduated from Collin College with her Associate of Arts with a focus in Kinesiology and Business. Jamie loves helping dancers find their voice by embracing who they are as a dancer and encouraging them to have fun, while stepping outside their comfort zone. She is beyond blessed by her Royalty family and loves working with every Royalty dancer in all styles of dance.

Susanna Wesson

Susanna Wesson began her dance training at Timbrel School for the Arts. She later moved on to Royalty Dance Academy where she trained in Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Acro, and Jazz. Susanna has performed featured roles in Royalty Dance Academy’s ballet productions such as Queen Victoria in The Greatest Showman, and Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins Returns. She has also been in Ballet North Texas’s productions of the Nutcracker and Coppealia. Susanna’s main passion is ballet but enjoys all styles of dance. Susanna loves sharing her passion with others through teaching and enjoys working with kids. She is currently a trainee with Ballet North Texas and is pursuing a professional career in ballet.

Julia McGavock

Julia started dancing at the age of 6. Her first 12 years were at the Ballet Conservatory of Saddleback Valley in Orange County, CA. She received scholarships throughout the years allowing her to dance with American Academy of Ballet, where she received a silver technique medal, Virginia School of the Arts, Milwaukee Ballet and Ballet Chicago. Julia danced with the Modern African Fusion company, Deeply Routed in Illinois and with Backhausdance in California. She was a regular in Ballet Pacific’s annual nutcracker and danced in various roles. She graduated in 2010 from Orange Coast College’s prestigious dance program with an AA in Dance and Theatre. She was involved in the production side of over 12 shows and a touring group while at Orange Coast. Julia was the director of dance at Fort Hood Military base. She has over 20 years of dance teaching experience in California, Texas and North Carolina.

Audrey Jones

Audrey started dancing at the age of 2 where she subsequently spent 10 years in precision dance and training in the studio. She holds two national champion solo titles and was awarded a scholarship for dance and academics upon graduating highschool. She spent a year studying modern and ballet at Texas Woman’s University before transferring to UNT to earn a BBA in Entrepreneurship. During college she spent three years traveling and choreographing with HTE Dance and spent two seasons cheering professionally for the Allen Americans Ice Angels. Most recently she started her own dance company, Odyssey Dance Collective, based out of Denton Texas who performed at Denton’s Collage Festival and performed as the openers for Oprah’s tour. Currently Audrey travels and dances with Jordan Kahn Music Company performing as a backup dancer. In her free time Audrey loves surfing, baking, reading and spending time with her cats!

Avery Cleavinger

Avery started dancing competitively at the age of five at Royalty Dance Academy and attended the studio for 13 years. She won numerous regional and national titles throughout her time as a competitive dancer as well as scholarships to dance programs across the United States, such as NYCDA, AMDA Conservatory Program, and Joffrey Ballet Intensives. She continues to train in all forms of dance, but especially enjoys jazz funk, hip hop, and contemporary. Avery became an award winning choreographer at the age of 12 and has since continued to win awards for solo and group choreography. Her credits include:

• Performed at the 2020 Capezio Ace Awards in Los Angeles

• KinFigure Kollective lifetime member

• Feature dancer for Even It Up- the Ultimate Heart Tribute Band

• Four national tours with Celebrity Dance Conventions and Competitions

• Most recently, Avery made it through to the final round of auditions for the television series “So You Think You Can Dance: Season 17” before the show was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Avery is a college student by day and dance teacher by night. She graduated with her business degree from the University of North Texas in 2022 and currently is in the nursing program at the University of Texas at Arlington.

As she goes into her 18th year at Royalty, Avery hopes that she can inspire her students to find their passion for dance one ball-change at a time. She is very excited to be working with the young artists of Royalty Dance Academy once again.

Brooke Sanders

Brooke started dancing at the age of four at Busby Dancenter in her hometown, Victoria, TX. She has trained in ballet, character, jazz, mime, modern, and tap. She performed with Victoria Ballet Theatre in numerous performances including: Don Quixote, Firebird, Frog and Toad, Gaîté Parisienne, The Nutcracker, Peter and the Wolf, The Red Shoes, Sleeping Beauty, Spooktacular, and Swan Lake. She attended and performed at Regional Dance America in Pittsburgh, PA; Montreal, CAN; Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, TX. Brooke also trained at Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet in New York City for three consecutive summers. After graduating high school and completing Gelsey Kirkland’s pre-professional and repertory programs, Brooke attended Texas Tech University and danced with Ballet Lubbock. Later she moved to the Dallas- Fort Worth area and finished her bachelor’s degree at the University of North Texas. After graduating college, Brooke landed a position in finance. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Brooke felt out of touch with her life as she realized that she was not pursuing her real passion: dance. She took a risk to follow her passions as she quit her big girl job. Brooke has been teaching eversince with no regrets. In the summer of 2023, Brooke had the opportunity to perform at Bill Evans Dance Conference and attended the Bill Evans Teacher Institute in Port Townsend, WA. Brooke is excited to join the Royalty family and looks forward to creating artistically by sharing the joy of dance, as well as promoting a safe, comfortable environment for all students of dance.