Chaille Martin

Ms. Martin began her dance training at a young age. Her performance experience included memberships in the Dallas Metropolitan and Texas Civic Ballet Companies. While still in her teens, she began her teaching career as an assistant. After receiving a BA in Dance from University of California, Irvine, she was hired to instruct dance for Primanti Montessori Schools, Orange County, California. Ms. Martin has been involved in the Pinal County dance community since her move to the area in 1981. Her involvement includes dancing in various Central Arizona College Fine Arts performances, teaching ballet at Footnotes, a school of dance 1982-1990 and opening her own business; The Studio in 1990. Ms. Martin is certified to teach dance in the public schools and taught dance at Coolidge High School and is currently on the fine arts faculty at Casa Grande Union High School. In 2001, she became a member of National Dance Educators Organization and presented at the 2005 convention in Buffalo, New York. She is also an active member of the regional organization, Arizona Dance Educators Organization. Presently, she serves on the Arizona Department of Education's fine arts standards committee.

Ms. Martin is the recipient of the Arizona Dance Educators Organization's 2009 Dance Educator of the Year Award.

Joanie Garvey

Joanie has been teaching dance for The Studio for the past 17 years and has been dancing for over 26 years. She teaches ballet, advanced pointe, lyrical, jazz, musical theatre, and stretch for The Studio. Joanie holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Arizona where she studied with Susan Quinn Williams, Amy Ernst, Jory Hancock, Melissa Lowe, D. John Wilson, Sam Watson, and Nina Janik. Her dancing days began in the San Francisco Bay area and continued when she moved to Arizona where she studied with Suzanne Lederman and Tina McCarey (Lynn'sSchool of Dance), Chaille Martin (The Studio), and Laurie Silvestn (Tempe Dance Academy). She has studied all dance forms, including belly dance, but her love is ballet. She visits her Alma Mater often, and every year she takes her advanced students to the University of Arizona Jazz Dance Showcase.

Karina Duarte

Karina has been our Creative Movement instructor since 2005. She has had eight years of dance training. Karina has studied in a private setting with Chaille Martin, Joanie Garvey, Marsha Hindman and Kyle Taylor. Her public school dance experience includes two years in the Advanced Performing Arts program at Casa Grande Middle School and four years in the Casa Grande Union High School Dance Company. Her favorite dance forms are ballet, lyrical, jazz and modern. When not teaching, she manages the front office and helps keep everything moving smoothly.

Other Instructors - Bio's to come

Daniel Kent, Corrie Lemberg, Iguazu Montes