Staff & Instructors

Becky Belanger began her dancer training at Dance Theater West in Phoenix, AZ. There she fell in love with the Artform and developed a strong foundation in both ballet and modern dance.

She attended high school New School for the Arts, a performing arts charter school in Scottsdale, AZ. The she was offered a scholarship to study abroad at the prestigious Newtown High School for the Performing Arts in Sydney, Australia. Becky then attended the University of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania on scholarship and received her BFA in modern dance performance. She also holds a professional dance diploma from the Laban Center in London, England.

After years of dancing professionally, Becky moved to Tucson and attended the University of Arizona, where she received her MFA in dance performance.

Born in Holland and raised in Minneapolis, Lorin Mathis began his training at Ballet Arts Minnesota before attending year round programs at North Carolina School of the Arts and San Francisco Ballet School. He supplemented his training with summer intensives at Pacific Northwest Ballet and San Francisco Ballet.

Professionally danced with San Francisco Ballet, Alberta Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet performing numerous lead roles with world-reknown choreographers. National and International touring has allowed him to perform in the United States, Canada, China, London, Ireland, and throughout Spain.

Recently retiring from dancing in 2016, his teaching experience includes classes with Pennsylvania Ballet School, Artifact Dance Project, Saint Paul Ballet, Kaatsbaan Extreme Ballet summer intensive, Ballet Royale, Twin Cities Ballet of Minnesota, and the University of Arizona.

Shelly Hawkins is a graduate of the University of Arizona School of Dance MFA program and the Founder and Artist Director of Hawkinsdance, a non-profit contemporary dance performance company in Tucson. She has danced professionally for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Artifact Dance Project and brings 20 years of teaching experience to BC dance.

Hawkins was the recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for the UA College of Fine Arts. Her choreographic style is athletic and expressive and is influenced by Giordano Jazz and Lewitzky modern techniques. Visit www.hawkinsdance.org to learn more about her work.

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.

Abigail was a natural mover and began dancing at the age of 2. She trained in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, acrobatics, and hip-hop. She has performed on the BCDC Competitive Companies and where she has won many awards, titles and scholarships regionally and nationally. She interned at BC Dance through collaborative a high school program training as a teacher and choreographer. Abigail started in the fall of 2019 as the BCrew Company Coordinator, the competitive hip-hop division of the conservatory. She is an assistant to Diamonds & Co under Miss Lauryn. She adores working with children of all ages and looks forward to working with your little dancer.

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.

Brianna Bishop grew up in Tucson, Arizona where she trained for 14 years at a studio. In addition to dancing competitively, Brianna participated in her high school’s dance team and won 4th in the nation at UDA her senior year. She relocated to Scottsdale in order to attend Arizona State University as a psychology major. While at ASU, Brianna danced for the ASU Spirit Squad. Currently, Brianna is in her third year dancing with EPIK Dance Company and Halo Movement Collective in Arizona. She specializes in jazz, contemporary, and ballet and enjoys teaching young dancers how to follow in her footsteps!

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.

Marisa Gutierrez is the Office Manager at BC Dance. Marisa started working in management as she was pursuing a degree in microbiology. Since, she has been working in business management for 10 years. She has always appreciated fine arts, growing up with the love for music and playing guitar, leading her to find a home here at BC Dance in August 2014. Marisa was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona and played softball for 13 years.  Some of her hobbies include playing guitar, training and running marathons, hiking and spending time with family. Please stop by the office and meet Marisa when you have the chance, she is very excited to welcome your family to BC Dance.

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.