Born and raised in New York, Samantha began her training at the age of five with Roya Curie, former prima ballerina of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. After Curie’s passing, Samantha continued her studies with Peter and Lisa Newman of New York City Ballet and Valerie Feit of Alvin Ailey. Throughout her childhood Samantha was accepted to and attended many schools such as the Joffrey Ballet School, Alvin Ailey and the American Academy of Ballet. In 2002, Samantha attended the University of Hartford’s Hartt Conservatory on scholarship. In 2004, she was awarded a scholarship to attend Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Dance Performance and Dance Pedagogy in 2006. Upon Graduation, Samantha became a faculty member for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Pittsburgh Youth Ballet and began her professional dancing career.  After moving to Los Angeles, she danced principal roles with companies such as California Contemporary Ballet, Creations Dance Theatre, Media City Ballet, and Louise Reichlan’s Los Angeles Choreographers and Dancers. She was represented by both Trio and Bloch talent agencies where she booked many jobs in the entertainment business. As for teaching, Samantha taught for many different prestigious studios throughout Los Angeles as well as for the LA Unified School District. In 2011, Samantha returned to Pittsburgh where she opened The Pennsylvania Academy of Dance and accumulated over 200 students just within the first year. In 2016, she opened up a second location in Pittsburgh to expand her business which continues to grow and expand. Today, Samantha holds the prestigious title of the Dean of the Early Bird program at Debbie Allen Dance Academy and is the founder and owner of The Dance Conservatory of Los Angeles. 

Kimberly Anderson is from Centerville, Ohio. She began her training at the South Dayton School of Dance and spent summers training at the Boston Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the American Dance Festival and attended the Craft of Choreography Conference on scholarship. She went on to graduate with honors (earning her BFA in dance) from Point Park University in 2009. After spending one season with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company's second company, she was selected for the first company where she danced professionally for five seasons and had the honor of touring the world performing works by Ronen Koresh, Donald Byrd, Ulysses Dove, Talley Beatty, Ray Mercer and countless other renowned choreographers.  She also spent time as a guest artist with Robert Priore in Washington, DC from 2012-2015. She has taught at Point Park University for both their International Summer Dance Program and been on faculty year round. She’s been manager of the Pennsylvania Academy of Dance since 2015 where she enjoys teaching all styles to ages 16 months to adult. Kimberly has set many works on the advanced group and along with Miss Samantha, created a new staging of The Nutcracker in 2017 that has grown every year since. Most recently, she has set a new piece on South Dayton Dance Theatre to be adjudicated for Regional Dance America. 

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Brittany Morgan began her dance training at the age of 3. She grew up with ballet, tap, jazz, and hip hop, and attended dance schools such as Carol Leone, Rosalene Kenneth Dance Center, and Just Dance. Her love for musical theater began at an early age, and she performed in her first musical when she was 9 years old. Throughout middle and high school, she continued her dance training and performed in numerous musicals, and she also attended musical theater summer programs at Pittsburgh CLO. Brittany attended Robert Morris University and continued her dance and musical theater training there where she performed in many musicals, and she performed professionally with Pittsburgh Musical Theater at the Byham Theater and also with local community theaters, including Stage 62. Brittany is the choreographer and assistant director for Montour School District's musical productions; she has choreographed and assistant directed the last 4 musicals at Montour High School and the last 13 musicals at David E. Williams Middle School. Brittany is so excited about this opportunity with Pennsylvania Academy of Dance to help young dancers continue developing their skills and building their confidence to exemplify the qualities needed to thrive!

Victoria Scott is Pittsburgh born and raised. And after living and teaching in Italy for over six years, she is back in the ‘Burgh. Victoria began her ballet training with Elizabeth Makin-Karas and later trained with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School under the direction of Marjorie Grundvig and Dennis Marshall. She has attended summer programs with American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and BalletMet. She earned her B.A in Dance from Mercyhurst University under the direction of Tauna Hunter.  She has danced professionally with Ballet Concerto in Summer Dance Concert as well as Lake Erie Ballet for two seasons. Victoria later went on to dance professionally on board Carnival Cruise Lines, sailing the seven seas while performing every night in Vegas and Broadway style production shows. Victoria’s favorite ballet role was dancing as one of the Stepsisters in Cinderella while at Mercyhurst University. She has performed roles in The Nutcracker, Les Sylphides, Graduation Ball, Etudes, and Sleeping Beauty. She has also had the opportunity to work with Diego Salterini, Tauna Hunter, Kanji Segawa, Kevin Maloney, Alan Obuzor, Luis Montero, Christine Hay, Alethea Bodine, and Christina Maria Adelhart. 

Katie Schurman grew up in Sewickley, Pa and began her dance training at Carol Leone and The Sewickley School of Performing Arts. Katie went on to attend Point Park University where she received her B.A in dance in 2010. She has since worked with The Mid- Atlantic Contemporary Ballet Company and Continuum Dance Theater and continues to work in numerous movies, commercials and music videos. 

Katie has been teaching for over a decade in the genres of ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, contemporary and musical theater and is excited to spread her love of performing with her students at the Pennsylvania Academy of Dance! 

Katie Montefiori began her dance training in Erie, Pennsylvania at Marguerite’s Academy of Dance and graduated from Mercyhurst Preparatory High School at the master level within the dance program. She continued her dance training at Seton Hill University, receiving a Bachelors degree in Dance Pedagogy. She performed as a soloist for university faculty pieces and guest artists, including Kenneth Nickel, Gerard Holt, Attack Theatre, and Spilling Ink, a Classical Indian Dance Company. Katie has performed at the Historic Mazur Theatre in New York City, along with the Erie Festival of Dance at Mercyhurst University and the Baltimore Dance Invitational.  Also, traveling to Montreal, Canada, Katie performed alongside principal dancers in “The Nutcracker” with the Eddy Touissant Ballet Company. She set choreography for the Seton Hill University Musical Theatre Workshop course, where she served as lead choreographer. As a way to give back to the community, Katie was a student instructor for Seton Hill’s Exceptional Needs dance class, where she worked with children with Autism and Down Syndrome. Currently, Katie continues her dance career teaching at local Pittsburgh studios and working on occasional projects with the Mid-Atlantic Contemporary Ballet Company under the direction of Gerard Holt.