Robin has been in the dance education industry for 30 years. It has been a devotion to the Dance Arts that began at the age of three and continued through pre-professional training and professional performing and teaching-directing experiences. Robin is the former owner of the Marysville Dance Center and was the Artistic Director at The Dublin Dance Centre for 15 years. Robin is one of the founders and owners of CDA. Robin trained in Cincinnati on scholarship at the Bonet Dance Studio and attended the College Conservatory of Dance and Music. In college, Robin majored in dance and theater at the University of Cincinnati and at The Ohio State University. She performed professionally as a feature performer, dance captain and assistant choreographer with Kings Production at Kings Island in the American Heritage Theater for six years. Robin was a featured teacher in the Dance Teacher Now magazine ten year anniversary issue. Robin was the coach of the award winning Hilliard Davidson Dance Team for five years.  Presently Robin is a coach/choreographer for the CDA Competition Dance Teams. Robin is presently a primary choreographer for Contemporary Ballet and Contemporary Dance in the CDA Company classes and the CDA Company concert, DanceScope. She has written and directed numerous dance productions and choreographed for community, college and high school musicals throughout the years. Robin feels that bringing the wonderful world of dance to students is rewarding and a fulfilling lifetime journey.

Rachel has dedicated most of her life to dance training and dance education.  She has trained intensively in all of the dance art forms and has been teaching and choreographing dance for the past 21 years to dancers of all ages.  She was formerly a DDC Senior Repertory member and performed in numerous feature roles in major productions during her years at DDC.  Rachel is the former Dance Captain of the Hilliard Davidson Dance Team where she won first place awards for her choreography.  Rachel continued her dance education at Otterbein College.  She has attended and performed in The Jazz Dance World Congress. Rachel has trained in Chicago at the RiverNorth Dance Intensive, the Gus Giordano and Lou Conte studios and in New York at Steps On Broadway, Alvin Ailey and the Broadway Dance Centre. She has trained in Tap with Jimmy Tate and Hip-Hop/Jazz with Dan Karaty and Tyce Diorio and was the scholarship recipient at Columbus Taps Festival 2009 for the Cleveland Tap Intensive.  Rachel founded and was the coach/choreographer for the CDA Dance Teams where she has been awarded numerous choreography awards and the teams have consistently swept highest honors.  Rachel presently is a primary choreographer for the CDA Dance Competition Teams.  She is a primary choreographer in Contemporary Dance, Jazz, Tap and Hip-Hop for the CDA Company classes and Company concert, DanceScope, as well as a primary choreographer for CDA’s holiday performances and year end productions. Rachel is a CDA curriculum advisor in Jazz, Tap and Hip-Hop for the academy classes.  Rachel is a full-time instructor at CDA and has been a teacher here since we opened in 2003.  Rachel was named the Assistant Artistic Director at CDA in 2005. Rachel loves bringing the joy of dance to her students of all ages and she has a special connection with them that she cherishes.

Renee received her BFA in dance from Point Park University in 2008. Upon graduation she toured New England as the Lead Dancer for Latshaw Production’s Swing City Orchestra.  Based out of pittsburgh, Renee was a free-lance dance artist who was a  founding member of the Staycee Pearl Dance Project and performed with Attack Theatre, The Pittsburgh Oprah, and Shana Simmons Dance. Renee was the Co-Founder/Director/Choreographer/Performer of the Murphy-Smith Dance Collective, a modern dance company that performed regularly in Pittsburgh and New York City.  She has been a frequent guest choreographer for the Texture Contemporary Ballet Company and was the Director/Founder and one of the choreographers in the Pittsburgh Dance Junction. She taught and choreographed for seven years in the Pre-Professional Program at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and was a dance professor in the Performing Arts Program at Seton Hill University.  During her last six years in Pittsburgh she was also Co-Artistic Director at Dance Explosion Arts Center where she taught the Company and Advanced Ballet and Pointe.  Renee has studied and performed professionally in Ballet/Pointe, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary and Hip Hop. She has thorough curriculum building and teaching experience in ballet technique and classical variations as well as all other dance art forms.  Renee is a CDA alumni dancer who fully believes CDA’s program and philosophy creates well rounded professional and recreational dancers who are contributing members to society in both the arts and academic worlds. “I am so excited to teach in a dance academy that has programs I feel so strongly about. I have brought a little bit of CDA into every dance experience I have  ever had.” This is her second season with CDA!

Erin studied dance under scholarship at Ohio University where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance. She has taught dancers of all ages and skill levels, including dancers in private studio settings, public schools, preschoolers at the Children’s Center of Austin (Texas), and college students at Ohio University. Erin’s enthusiasm for dance began at a young age and has grown into a passion that she shares with students at CDA as a teacher and as the mini and kinder program coordinator. She grew up training in dance and in high school devoted much of her time to an intensive program at The Westerville Academy of Dance where she studied many different dance art forms. Erin has studied Ballet, Pointe, Modern, and Jazz with The Lexington School of Ballet and has also studied in New York with Jennifer Muller: The Works, focusing on modern dance. She has danced at Steps On Broadway (New York), at The Columbus Taps! Festival, and at the Hollywood Vibe and LA Dance Force National Conventions. Erin has performed in original pieces of choreography by New York choreographers Mark Haim and Sean Curran and was a member of the Westerville Academy Performance Ensemble. Erin has been a full time instructor at CDA for seven years.  She is CDA’s Program Coordinator of the Mini/Kinder programs and the director of the Mini Show year end performances. She is a CDA curriculum advisor for academy classes in Ballet and Jazz and is the Program Coordinator for the Preparatory Program at CDA. Erin enjoys instilling her love of dance in her students at CDA.

Melissa discovered her love for dance at a young age, beginning with ballet and jazz classes and later dancing competitively for over nine years. Originally from the Dayton area, she began her pre-professional training at Terre's Dance Workshop where she was a member of the Miami Valley Dance Company and Terre's Dance Team. Melissa attended The Ohio State University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, with a concentration on dance education and performance. During her time at OSU, she developed a greater passion and appreciation for choreography and creating movement.  Her senior project, “A Crowd is Not Company,” was featured in the senior concert and selected to be a part of the OSU Dance Department’s Spring Concert. 

Melissa’s past performance credits include; ensemble dancer in Cedar Fair Kings Island's 2008 live shows, Flashback Totally 80s and Hot Island Rhythms, company member of SMAG Dance Collective, and principal dancer with Seven Dance Company.  She choreographed and performed in numerous Seven productions including, Song of the Stars, which was featured on COSI’s Giant Screen Theater and PBS Broadcasting, and Oceans. In 2018 Melissa founded Cultivate Dance Project, a part-time, professional dance company, as a creative outlet for adult dancers in the Columbus, Ohio community. Since its formation, the work she has set on Cultivate Dance Project has been a part of local productions including Columbus DanceArts Academy’s DanceScope, Columbus Dance Alliance WORKS #2, Ten Tiny Dances Columbus, and the Columbus Arts Festival. Melissa also served as a summer dance camp instructor for AmeriDance from 2009-2012 and has been on the artistic faculty at Columbus DanceArts Academy since fall 2011. Melissa is thrilled to continue to be a part of CDA and is thankful for the opportunity to share her love of dance with students of all ages!

Abby received a BFA in dance at The Ohio State University with a performance and education focus. Abby grew up dancing at Columbus DanceArts Academy from its start in 2003, where she trained in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Hip-hop, Modern, and Lyrical. During her time at CDA, she was a company dancer within the pre-professional company track program, danced competitively on CDA’s competition team, and worked as a student teacher. Throughout her summers, she has had the opportunity to train from prestigious instructors at professional locations such as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Giordano Dance Chicago, Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center and The Ailey School. She has also had several opportunities to further her dance education by attending intensives with BalletMet Columbus, Point Park University and The Radio City Rockettes. During her collegiate years, she spent a semester in New York City attending Broadway Dance Center’s Professional Semester where she worked and trained with industry professionals and was cast in a piece by Phil Orsano for the final showcase. 

While at OSU, Abby was been able to further her dance training with amazing faculty members. Most recently, Abby has worked with visiting artist, Abby Zbikowski, on a new piece that premiered in the Dance Department’s 2022 Spring show, as well as was a dancer involved in the ArTs2U Tour which was a project under the instruction of Notator Dr. Valarie Williams and Curator Mara Fraizer involved in the resetting from score of Martha Graham’s Steps in the Street (1936) excerpt from “Chronicle” and Anna Sokolo’s Rooms (1954) which she performed in Paris, France as a soloist in the Spring.

Abby is so excited to be back teaching at CDA this season and cannot wait to share her love and passion for dance with all her students!

Sadie Luckenbach began dancing at the age of three at South Dayton Dance Studio.  By the age of six, she joined Marjorie Jones School of Dance where she studied and performed in styles including tap, jazz, modern, contemporary, and ballet while exploring tumbling and acrobatics.  Sadie furthered her dance training by attending summer intensives with Inaside Chicago Dance and Mam Luft Dance.  Additionally, Sadie danced competitively receiving numerous awards from Ohio Dance Masters.  In 2017, Sadie continued her training at Artisan Dance Studio and performed with Columbus Modern (CoMo) Dance Company.  Sadie studied dance, with a concentration in modern dance, for two years at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  During her time at Point Park, she had the opportunity to study under professors who had worked directly with well known choreographers Twyla Tharp and Martha Graham.  Since 2021, Sadie has been a company dancer with Cultivate Dance Project, choreographing and performing in the company's 2022 showcase, as well as appearing in several Columbus-area productions and festivals.  

Over the course of her dance training, Sadie has gained teaching experience serving as a demonstrator at Marjorie Jones and working as a substitute instructor for CoMo Dance.  More recently, she has worked as a dance instructor at both Artisan Dance Studio and Studio Rouge.  Sadie discovered a passion for non-classical dance forms and fitness classes such as jazz funk, heels, Pilates, yoga, pole dancing and other aerial arts.  She enjoys being able to engage and facilitate a love for movement in students of all ages and diverse dance training backgrounds.  Outside of the dance studio, she has extensive experience working with children as a nanny.  Sadie looks forward to working with CDA students and sharing her passion for dance and fitness! 

Mary McLaughlin trained in Classical and Contemporary Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, and Hip Hop at Columbus DanceArts Academy for 12 years, dedicating nine of those years to the Pre-Professional Company Track Program. She performed numerous times during her time at CDA, including year-end shows, DanceScope, holiday productions, parades, and competitions. In high school, Mary took on multiple leadership roles at CDA, serving as an Intern, Teacher’s Assistant, and Student Teacher starting in 2019. In spring of 2024, she returned to CDA, initially as a long-term substitute for Academy and Company classes, before stepping into her current role teaching dance classes and summer camps for dancers ages 3-12.

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Mary is a Primary Education major at the Ohio State University studying to become an Elementary School teacher. At OSU, Mary has been a member of Studio Dance, a student-run club, since 2022. She practices Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, and Hip Hop with her club, performing at least twice per semester in showcases and various campus events. This year, she is proud to serve as President, in addition to taking on responsibilities as a choreographer and teacher within the club. 

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Mary’s experience with children extends beyond dance; she has seven years of babysitting and nannying for children aged 1-10, along with six years of field placements in elementary and middle school classrooms across central Ohio, assisting in grades 1-7.

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Mary is delighted to be back at Columbus DanceArts Academy to share her teaching education, experience, and passion with her dancers!

Clare Nicklas is a Columbus DanceArts Academy Alumni with 14 years of training in the dance arts. During her time at CDA, Clare trained in the Pre-Professional Program in all art forms, performing in 10 CDA year-end Fairytale Productions, 4 holiday shows, and she was a member of CDA’s award winning competition team for 8 seasons. Additionally, Clare had the opportunity to dance 7 different feature roles in CDA productions, competed various solos and duets, and attended JUMP and NUVO dance conventions. Clare also participated on a high school gymnastics team for 2 years. Clare currently attends The Ohio State University where she started a dance team and serves as the team’s President.

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Outside of the dance studio, Clare started the 2nd & 7 Program at her high school that focused specifically on reading with 2nd graders and she worked at a daycare during the summers, caring for children ages 3 to 7. Clare is excited to return to CDA and teach various art forms because teaching allows her to combine two things she is passionate about: dance and helping others grow. With dance being such a huge part of her life, Clare has found that, “Getting the chance to share that with children is incredibly meaningful to me. Seeing their faces light up when they learn something new, or watching them gain confidence in themselves through movement, is so rewarding. It reminds me of how I felt when I first started dancing, and now I get to pass that feeling on. To me, teaching dance isn't just about technique or routines - it's about inspiring joy, creativity, and self-belief in every child I work with.”