Staff & Instructors

Lauryn Manning began her dance training at the age of 9 in Tucson, Arizona.  She began competing at the age of 10 and began attending a variety of conventions at the age of 11.  During this time, she trained in a variety of styles of dance including Jazz, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Contemporary, Ballet, Acro, Tap, Ballroom, Musical Theater, and Pom.

Throughout her dance career, she has taught many styles of dance in all levels.  She has a love for children and is compassionate about passing on all that she has learned through her years of dance.

She also was a part of her high school dance company for 4 years.  She went on to be a part of the Grand Canyon University Dancers for 4 years where she served in several supporting positions ending with Captain during her senior year.  Most recently, she graduated from Grand Canyon University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science with an Emphasis on Health Education in April 2017.

Teisha Handy is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer from Idaho Falls, ID. She graduated with honors from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a BA in Dance. While at university, she was a member of the touring Dance Alliance team where she was able to perform in the midwestern United States as well as Costa Rica and Panama. In 2011, she began her professional career with Odyssey Dance Theater of Salt Lake City, UT where she had the opportunity to perform in numerous hit shows such as “Thriller” and “Romeo and Juliet”. In 2007, she was a background dancer for Disney’s High School Musical: 2. Teisha is also a certified Progressing Ballet Technique instructor-helping students learn correct fundamental and anatomical principles through conditioning and strengthening exercises.  She has been a dance instructor for over 8 years in the studio, private, and intensive settings. She is passionate about dance education and has gone on to pursue her MFA in Dance at the University of Arizona. There, she teaches technical courses in modern, ballet, jazz, and improvisation as well as assists in academic courses such as: choreography, biomechanics for dancers, and teaching methods for dance. While in the program Teisha has continued to perform in masterworks such as Larry Keigwan’s Megalopolis as well as works produced by the UA School of Dance faculty. Teisha was also selected to present her research on communication within the choreographic process at the National Dance Education Organization’s annual national conference.

Jessica McGuire started dancing at the age of four in Fresno, California. In 2016, she accepted an offer to pursue a BFA from the University of Arizona School of Dance, performing works by renowned choreographers like Martha Graham, Peter Chu, and Larry Keigwin. In her years there, she developed a refined movement vocabulary in contemporary, modern, hip hop, jazz, tap, and ballet. She was hired by Tucson’s Hawkinsdance in its 2017 debut season, and has been an influential role in both the company’s performance work and digital marketing campaigns. Her personal philosophy is to deepen the cognitive understanding behind movement in order to foster ease, longevity, and humanity through dance. She looks forward to the opportunity to work with such amazing dancers this coming season at the conservatory, as they aspire to the next level in the arts.

Carly Puffenbarger is the BC Rhythm Company Coordinator for tap and all tap classes at BC Dance.  Carly started competitive at the age of five years old. She has studied in all genres of dance but her true passion was always the are of tap. At BC Dance she finally realized that her dreams of tapping professionally were within reach under the right masterful teachers. At the age 13 Miss Puffenbarge was the first student to join the Teaching Assistant at the conservatory. She did not just excel but flourished in the program and soon became one of the teaching faculty several years later.

She has had the professional opportunity to perform with Sole Talk Youth Tap Company in Los Angeles, Califormia to train with the world renowned ,all female performance troupe, The Syncopated Ladies , founded by Chloe and Maud Arnold. Training with the Syncopated Ladies has been the opportunity of a lifetime for her and she continues growing her knowledge of tap each month. Carly has also had the opportunity to study with Sarah Reich at Tap Music Project in the summer of 2019. She learned how to expand on her knowledge of dance by learning how to intertwine music and dance in the most beautiful ways. What she loves most about these experiences is not only how much they influence her dancing, but grant her the opportunity to share this knowledge with what to her students. Carly looks forward to the coming year at BC Dance enriching the young artists in the arts and taking the dance genre of tap to new heights.

BIO COMING SOON

Celia Cartwright has a B.A. Psychology University of  Massachusetts Boston, National Academy of Sports Medicine Certification, 600 Level Aura Wellness Yoga Certification, Athletics and Fitness Association of America Certification,  Olympic Body Pump Les Mills program Certification, Cardio Dance LA Fitness, Latin Heat, Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Acrobatics, Gymnastics Academy of Boston Coach, YMCA recreational Gymnastics Coach Certification, Pilates, Martial Arts, and Boot Camp Training Certifications.

Bridgette Jensen started dancing at the age of 3 in Tucson, Arizona. In 2017 she began her studies at the University of Arizona School of Dance, where she trains in ballet, modern, jazz, tap, pointe and contemporary. She has worked with numerous prestigious choreographers including Alonzo King, Jennifer Archibald, Gary Abbott and Gregory Dawson. She was a company dancer for Hawkinsdance during the 2018-2019 season, where she performed in an evening-length work as well as many community performances. She has trained in ballroom dance for five years and enjoys sharing her knowledge with younger students. She values the deep exploration and creative process involved in every style of dance as well as the individual expression of each dancer. She looks forward to teaching this season at BC Dance and to help foster knowledge and growth in every student.

Katie Wing is a recent graduate of both Catalina Foothills High School and BC Dance. In the fall of 2019, Katie will begin her college education at the University of Arizona where she will major in Biomedical Science and take college level dance classes within the university dance program.

Katie began her dance training at the age of 6, and began training at BC Dance when it first opened 5 years ago (age 13). She has since been on the competitive company (BCDC) and the concert company (Ballet Ensemble) here at BC Dance. Katie has been teaching dance for 2 years, and loves helping her students achieve their goals. She looks forward to working with your dancers for years to come.

Kassandra was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, where she graduated high school. At the age of five she discovered her love for competitive cheerleading and began her training at Tucson Cheer Academy. She always had the dreamed to one-day compete at the Cheerleading Worlds in Orlando, Florida. Commonly known as the olympics in Allstar cheerleading. To fulfill this dream she commuted to Scottsdale, AZ three days a week to compete with her team RAGE at Desert Storm Elite. During the three years she cheered with DSE, she was apart of a team that had numerous national titles under their belt, won two full paid bids to worlds, and placed seventh out of ninetynine teams at the Cheerleading worlds.

Kassandra’s specialty is in elite tumbling and stunting/partner. She loves teaching kids how to tumble and reach their goals, and can spot levels 1-4. Practice really does make perfect in her eyes and like great teachers she believes repetition is the key to success. She looks forward to working with your dancers for years to come.