Julie Anderson is the owner of Lakewood Dance Academy in Lakewood Colorado; an inclusive community promoting a concept-based approach to classical dance training. She is an instructor for the Education and Outreach program at Colorado Ballet and the lead instructor for "Be Beautiful, Be Yourself," a specially designed series of ballet classes for children with Down Syndrome. Julie has performed with Maedee Dupre and dancers and she was a company member for Louder Than Words Dancetheatre for six wonderful years and has performed in many project-based works including Boulder Fringe Festival and Projekt Move. Julie is a certified instructor of Bill Evans Method of Teaching Modern Dance and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Dance Education from the University of Idaho, under the direction of Gregory Halloran.
Alison, a native of Illinois, moved to northern Colorado in 2013. She began her dance training at Dance Arts Studio, Inc. in Springfield, Illinois under the direction of Grace Luttrell Nanavati. In 2004 she joined the Springfield Ballet Company, performing in various main stage productions and training with professionals from the Carolina Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Broadway Theatre Project, among others.
Alison graduated with a BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2013. During her time at Dance at Illinois, Alison had the privilege of training under numerous renowned faculty and guest artists. She also took the time to experience dance outreach in the community, to engage in student groups focused on supporting the arts on campus, and to familiarize herself with the administrative aspects of the Dance Department. Alison was also selected to participate in the Mark Morris Dance Group Shadow Program in 2011. She attended the Brooklyn summer intensive fully funded in 2011 and 2012, as well as participated in the company’s university residency outreach projects.
Alison joined Lakewood Dance Academy in 2015 and directs the ballet program and Nutcracker productions.
Aria Faddis grew up in Boise, Idaho, and moved to Colorado in 2017. She began dancing at age twelve and has since discovered how much she loves to share her love of dance with children. Aria has a BFA in Dance with an emphasis in teaching from The University of Montana where she studied under Michelle Antonioli, Nicole Bradley Browning, and Heidi Jones Eggert. She spent one season dancing with Off Center Dance Company before relocating to Colorado where she teaches at studios across the Denver Metro area. When she is not working at the studio, Aria works as an administrator for Great Work Montessori School.