WSD - About the faculty

Amanda Klinke Hernandez, Artistic Director: After 10 years of professional teaching and choreography in Illinois and Michigan, Amanda Klinke Hernandez brought her teaching talents to the Seattle area in 2005. In 2008, Amanda and her husband Karim took ownership of Wendy’s School of Dance in Bothell and rechristened it the Washington School of Dance with the goal of providing superior dance education while supporting the performing arts in the community at large.

Amanda has been trained in ballet, jazz, tap, and modern dance, studying with Carolyn Lubecker, Michelle Holzman, Kathryn Irey and Annie deVuono, and performing with Chicago´s Northwest Ballet Ensemble and the University of Michigan´s Impact Dance Theater. In 1998 she helped create the Dance Ypsilanti program which used public schools and parks programs to bring creative movement curriculum to hundreds of students in Southeast Michigan.

Amanda believes in the power of arts education to change lives, and is committed to providing a positive, uplifting dance experience for every child.

Wendy Tacey, Founder: Wendy found her love for teaching dance at the age of 14 in the recreation room of her childhood home, in which she had nearly 50 students by 1996.

Upon a lifetime of dancing and the completion of a dance degree at the University of Washington in 1996, Wendy and her husband Shawn formalized the school at its current location at Canyon Park Center in Bothell.

Wendy continues her dedication in building an excellent faculty of instructors and a studio that instills the love of dance, music and performance.

Kelly Bahr: Kelly Bahr started dance at the age of 5 with The Dance Shoppe in Minnesota. As a member of their competitive team she performed all over the United States. Kelly has trained in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical and Contemporary with choreographers including Greg Russel, Many Moore, Ray Leeper, Tyce Diorio and Wade Robson. She was also a member of the Maple Grove Crimson Connection, Minnesota University Duluth and Montana State University (MSU) dance teams.

Kelly began teaching gymnastics at age 15 and transitioned into teaching dance when she moved to Montana where she earned her BFA in graphic design from MSU. She continued to teach recreational and competitive dance for five years prior to moving to Washington. She now lives with her husband Jon in Seattle and is excited to join the WSD faculty.

Annie DeVuono: An emphasis on personal enrichment and a contagious joy for movement are integral to every class Annie teaches. Ms. deVuono integrates beautiful choreography with the proper execution and terminology of each step, unraveling the mysteries of different rhythms and sharing the energy of fellow dancers.

Annie deVuono comes to teaching with a wealth of practical and professional experience. Trained in Cecchetti method for her first seven years, she then studied at Ruth Page, home of the Chicago Ballet, Gus Giordano and then attended Cornish College of the Arts.

She began teaching in 1979 while dancing with the Tallahassee Ballet. Long a favorite teacher at BellTown Ballet here in Seattle, Annie is delighted to now be working at WSD Studio and warmly welcomes her new students.

In addition to dance, deVuono began working with costume design after moving back to Chicago in 1985. Still performing and teaching, her passion for headwear had begun. Shortly thereafter, she introduced her own millinery line; this was followed by numerous private commissions and eventually international recognition for her headwear. www.devuonohats.com

Heather Hatada: Heather was raised all over the West Coast and then spent her college years in the Southeastern United States. She started dancing when she was 3 and has been able to continue throughout all her moves. Although most of her passion is with Jazz, she also has experience with Ballet, Pointe, and Tap (not to mention a class here and there with any dance style she could find).

Heather started teaching in High School and continued by choreographing many musicals in College. She received a Master's in Biology at Eastern Kentucky University but was also a dancer and choreographer for the EKU Dance Theatre where she received 2 best Choreography awards.

Kellie Larson: Kellie Larson was born and raised in the Seattle area. She began dancing at age 3 and has never stopped! She graduated with her dance degree from Brigham Young University and has been teaching and dancing professionally for the past five years.

Kellie has been blessed to share her love for dance in places such as Ukraine, Belarus, New Zealand, Fiji, Austria, India and throughout the United States.

Anne Motl: At five years old, Anne Motl began classical dance training with the Stroia Ballet Company in Little Falls, Minnesota. She moved to Washington in 1997 to pursue a career in dance and graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in 2002.

Anne’s passion for the dance stems from her experiences taking classical ballet lessons from Romanian dancer Carlos Stroia and being backstage and performing as a child and teen in his classical and contemporary productions. These 13 years of experience made her fall in love with dance and is what led her to make a career of it.

Teaching dance during college, and then formally in 2002, it has been her goal to make dance accessible to everyone. She teachers a wide range of styles including ballet, contemporary, modern, jazz and creative movement of all ages. She is on faculty at eXit SPACE School of Dance, Country Village Day School and is currently a substitute teacher at Momentum Dance Academy and the Northwest School. Past employers include,The Northwest School, Momentum Dance Acadeym, Studio 1, City of Mountlake Terrace/Mountlake Terrace Recreation Pavilion, Definitive Dance Studio, Evergreen Montessori and Seeds of Learning. She has been a guest teacher in her hometown’s high school, Little Falls Community High School as well as local schools including, Foster High School, Tacoma School of the Arts, Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, Bellingham public elementary schools. She is a member of the Dance Educator’s of America (DEAW) and has taken teacher courses in BrainDance at Anne Green Gilbert's Creative Dance Center. She has also advised several high school senior dancers who have chosen dance as part of their senior projects and guided them through final performances, fundraisers, and presentations.

In 2003, Anne co-founded NorthWest Dance Syndrome (nwds), a non-profit collaborative Seattle modern dance company who is currently in there 8th season. Aside from co-directing, producing and performing work annually with nwds, she is currently performing with Marlo Martin/Bad Mar Mar Dance and Maya Soto/Soto Style. Over the years, she has performed choreography by numerous artists including Ellie Sandstrom, Paige Barnes, Kristina Dillard, Trisha Brown, Jill Leversee, Aiko Kinoshita, Scott Phillips and Wade Madsen.

As a performer, Anne loves the freedom to become someone different on stage because it allows her to become someone she wouldn’t normally be for a moment in time. She has directed and choreographed numerous dances that range in age, genre, level, and style. She is inspired by giving others an opportunity to experience dance and movement in a positive and healthy way.

Anne’s choreography has been produced by most recently Seattle dance companies Reddlegg Dance Company and Dance Contemporary, but also includes NorthWest Dance Syndrome, MOVE! MLK Ballet, and eXit SPACE School of Dance. Her choreography has been performed in many venues and festivals including The Pink Door, Erickson Theater, Broadway Performance Hall, The Firehouse Performing Arts Center, Velocity Dance Center, Bagley Wright Theater, The Art and Nature Festival, Museum of Glass, Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts and Bumbershoot.

Tara Neal: Tara Neal began dancing at the age of 4 and fell in love with it! She has studied all types of dance including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Pointe, Lyrical, Contemporary, and Hip-Hop. Tara plans to pursue dance well into the future and is thrilled to have found a passion and love for dance and music.

Tara is currently attending college focusing on getting her business degree. Tara was chosen as an apprentice instructor at WSD four years ago because she worked very hard in her classes and demonstrated great responsibility and maturity in her ability to work with children She has been a part of the WSD facility ever since teaching, Ballet, Jazz and Hip-Hop. Tara is continuing her training in all styles of dance and is on a Hip-Hop performing team that performs all over the Seattle area. Dancing and Teaching at WSD is an exciting part of her life!

Sharon Teh-Riedy: Sharon's dance education started at the age of five with ballet and Filipino folk dance. Her training also includes jazz, hip hop, tap, and modern dance.

In 2000, Sharon earned her MA in Dance from York University, Canada completing ethnographic studies of two local groups in Toronto--a hip hop dance troupe and a Filipino folk dance company. She has taught and danced in Los Angeles, Toronto, Omaha and the Philippines.

In 2010, Sharon earned her certification as a Brain-Compatible Dance Educator under Anne Green Gilbert's Summer Dance Institute for Teachers.

The summer of 2011 was productive and fun! Sharon led a two-week summer dance and art camp at the Creative Dance Center in Seattle. In the month of August, she attended the Kaha:wi Dance Theatre's Aboriginal Dance Training, The EveryBODY Dance Conference, and completed her Zumba Gold certification at the CanFit Pro Conference in Toronto.

Aside from teaching, Sharon has a passion in extending her love of dance to the local senior community. She created the Brown Bag Dance Company--a group of movers who are passionate about incorporating "dance as service." In its third season, BBDC will continue to share performances into local senior homes, hospices and churches.

Sharon is ecstatic to be returning to WSD for her third year. As a mother of three boys, she knows that dancing and creating with your children will be an adventure!

Catie Wilkins: Catie began dancing at a young age and was trained in contemporary, jazz, tap, ballet, and hip-hop. She performed with the award-winning Dance Studio of Fresno for five years and has also performed as a guest artist for the Miss California Pageant, the Central California Dance Conference, and other benefits throughout California. Catie enjoyed teaching for several years at The Dance Studio of Fresno as well as The Dance Company in Kingsburg. She was also a member of the contemporary dance company, Altered Modalities, for six years. Catie currently attends Antioch University, Seattle and is working on her M.A. in Art Therapy and Couple and Family Therapy.