22-23 Studio Staff
Dana Parsons
Program Owner / Creative Director
Dana has been dancing/training for over 30 years and has extensive training in jazz, pom, hip-hop, ballet, and lyrical/contemporary. She was an original member of the very first Dance Mania team in 1999 and is an alumni State and National Champion. She has been coaching and choreographing at Dance Mania for over 18 years and has led numerous teams through successful and triumphant championships. In addition, she choreographs for nationally ranked school, all-star dance, and college dance teams all over the country. She has competed with the nationally renowned Top-Gun Open dance team in Miami, has been a part of the professional COA cheer and dance staff teaching camps and judging competitions, and was a back-up dancer for recording artist Jennifer Glass. In 2009, she was awarded the “Coach Leadership” award at a national competition. In 2010, she was awarded the “Dance Coach of the Year” award at the USASF dance world’s competition, where she was chosen amongst coaches from all over the world. She was named the 2022 International Coach of the Year by the International Cheer Union. She was also chosen to be a member of the USASF dance advisory board, and the rules & regulations committee. She currently is the owner, creative director, and choreographer at Dance Mania All-stars, a choreographer for teams throughout the country, and a dance judge for national competitions.
Contact E-Mail: [email protected]
Daney Soto-Barreto
Head Coach, Office Manager, Marketing, Social Media, & Web Design
Daney has been dancing and competing both nationally and internationally for over 25 years with extensive training in numerous styles of classical studio, drill team, and all star dance. Originally raised between Mexico and Texas, she moved to Melbourne where she graduated from Florida Institute of Technology with her Bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Sciences, focusing on the fields of Aerospace Engineering, Biology, and Education. After working with local dance teams, she found Dance Mania and is entering her 11th season with the studio. She previously worked at the Walt Disney Resort as an entertainment performer for 8 years. In 2012, she was named Dance Mania's "Dancer of the Year". She has combined experience as a coach, judge, choreographer, and conditioning trainer in the dance industry. She currently serves on the USASF National Advisory Board for Dance, Dance Executive Committee, and is a dance Connection Leader.
Contact E-Mail: [email protected] gmail.com
Kim Rossi
Office Assistant
Kim has been with Dance Mania as a supportive parent for 9 years and has been a team mom for 5 years. She has three daughters at our program and she has assisted in the office this past season. This will be her first full season as an office assistant. Kim will be working in the office on Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's. Kim will run the office on her assigned days and be available to assist parents and dancers. Kim is very eager to help and we are so grateful and excited to have her!
Contact E-Mail: [email protected]
Head Studio Class Instructor
Amber is a long time Dance Mania fan and supporter. As a Melbourne native, Amber holds over 20 years of experience in gymnastics having trained at Harbor City Gymnastics. She was a collegiate gymnast for URI. She has competed, coached, and trained gymnasts of all levels and we are so excited to have her share her knowledge with our dancers! Amber also has extensive training in sports medicine & fitness training. Amber has been a teacher for the past 16 years. She currently works for FLVS, but taught PE for BPS for 14 years. When she’s not at the studio, Amber is busy being an incredible mom to two beautiful little girls who are also a part of our Dance Mania Family!
Head Coach
Andrea has been dancing for over 20 years and has extensive training in ballet, tap, jazz, pom, hip-hop, lyrical/contemporary, acro, and creative movement. She began coaching at Dance Mania at the age of 16 and upon graduation from high school, moved to Orlando to attend the University of Central Florida. While in college, she coached with the Lake Mary All-Stars studio for four years and worked as part of the professional staff teaching camps through the COA Cheer & Dance organization. Andrea graduated from UCF with her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Coaching. She served as one of the founding members of Dance Mania's "Dance Abilities", a team made up of local dancers with special needs who share an incredible love for dance. Coach Andrea is a USASF Dance Credentialed coach with emphasis in dance foundations ,legality/safety, as well as the pom, jazz, and hip hop dance styles. She had the honor to coach the US National Junior Pom and multiple World Champion Pom teams with Dana Parsons. Andrea is the Media Specialist at MILA Elementary in Merritt Island and loves to spend her free time at Disney World! Andrea was inducted in the Dance Mania Hall of Fame in 2017 and is excited for another year with the program! She is currently enrolled with the Masters Program through UCF and continues to lead our dancers to excellence day in and day out!
Carina Brown
Assistant Coach, Studio Class Instructor, & Front Office Assistant
Carina has been a part of Dance Mania for 9 years and has trained in Jazz, Pom, Ballet, and Kick. She graduated high school from Melbourne Central Catholic where she was a part of the Stingers Dance Team for 3 years. She graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a minor in Health Sciences, Go Eagles! While at FGCU she trained in Jazz and Pom and taught classes at the local studio. Carina now coaches the Variety teams here at Dance Mania and interns for other all star teams as well. When she's not at the studio, she shares her love for dance as the head coach for Viera High School’s new dance team!
Cheryl Dodd
Studio Recreational Director & Lead Academy Ballet Instructor
Cheryl Dodd has been teaching all dance disciplines for 52 years. She has extensively studied and taught ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical/contemporary, and acrobatic/gymnastics. She is sought out as one of the best acrobatic/gymnastics teachers in Central Florida. She opened her first studio right out of high school in Rochester, New York and had 3 locations with over 400 students for 25 years before relocating to Brevard County. She then owned and directed the Brevard Dance Academy in Indian Harbour Beach for 20 years before coming to Dance Mania. Cheryl has trained many national champions, title-holders, and professional dancers. Cheryl once choreographed a hit single for the Fifth Dimension. She was the central east director of Florida Dance Masters and has taught master classes all over Florida. Cheryl toured with Star Systems National Talent Competition as a judge and was the director of her own dance competition, Invitational Talent Competition, for over 40 years.
After working in the Brevard County school system for 10 years, she has decided to spend her time doing what she loves...sharing the art of dance with all the talented kids at Dance Mania. Cheryl will be teaching a traditional ballet class to the academy students twice a week. Training in this discipline will greatly help our dancers with their body control, strength, grace, posture, feet, leg lines, and poise. She will expect the dancers to work hard and push themselves. The ballet classes will help enhance ALL of their styles of dance.
Chelsea Beard
Head Coach - Dance Abilities
Chelsea has been dancing and training for over 20 years with extensive training in Tap, Jazz, Pom, all-star Dance and DanceAbilities. Originally raised in Connecticut, she grew up dancing tap and jazz at a small studio. In high school, Chelsea moved with her family to Colorado where she joined her local high school’s Pom team and continued her dance training at a local studio. She attended the University of Northern Colorado where she received a Bachelors Degree in Special Education with a minor in dance. After graduating college, Chelsea continued to grow her passion for dance and special education curriculum at Peak Athletics. She served as one of the head coaches for the Stars dance team (Dance Abilities) for 4 years, as well as the mini prep coach for 2 years. She also taught recreational classes for all athletes, hosted summer camps, and implemented monthly clinics for the Stars Dance Team. Chelsea became a very established coach while at Peak Athletics by traveling to Los Angeles for a national competition with the Stars Dance team in 2016, winning local competitions with the mini prep teams, and most importantly attending the inaugural year of the DanceAbilities division at the 2018 Dance Worlds. In December of 2018, Chelsea and her husband relocated to Melbourne, FL where she became a part of the Dance Mania family. She is the Head Coach of the Dance Abilities team and has experience working with the Mini Prep and Junior Variety teams. She is very passionate about dance, special education, and most importantly working with exceptional athletes. She pushes all athletes to full ability participation.
Erika Pimentel
Head Coach, Academy Dance Instructor, & Assistant Choreographer (DP Choreography)
Originally from Melbourne, Florida, Erika was trained at Dance Mania All-Stars in jazz, pom, and ballet. While in high school, Erika was a member of her award-winning high school dance team and was named Captain her senior year. In 2011, Erika moved to Tallahassee to study at Florida State University. During her time at FSU, Erika trained as a company member, worked as an instructor, and was assistant director of the youth company at Dance Fusion Studios. While at DFS and FSU, Erika has been trained further in contemporary, jazz, modern, hip hop, acro, and improvisation techniques. She also partook in ballet training for non-majors with the FSU School of Dance. In 2013, Erika became a part of the Universal Dance Association (UDA) staff, with whom she travels throughout the country teaching technique and dance material at summer dance camps. Erika received her Bachelor's Degree in English Literature with a minor in Education from FSU. She has co-choreographed with and assisted Dana Parsons since the summer of 2012 and continues to do so now. With DFS she has choreographed solos, duets, and small ensembles, all of which received 1st and 2nd in their categories this past season. Erika currently serves at the lead producer for DanceSounds located out of Melbourne and has one of the best dance vlogs around!
Jenny Arnold
Head Coach, Studio Class Instructor, & Dance Mania Academy Facilitator
Jenny has been part of Dance Mania for 6 years as a supportive parent to her daughter Haley who dances on several teams and cheers on her oldest daughter who is a pitcher for a high school fast pitch travel ball team. She has a degree in Early Childhood Education and currently teaches at Dairy Road Discovery Center where she serves as the theme coordinator for 18 months through elementary. She has been working there for over 9 years and has taught VPK as well. Jenny cheered and danced competitively for over 12 years on an All-Star team and has coached for 7 years.
Jenny Liu
Head Studio Class Instructor & Junior Jazz Ballet Lead Teacher
Miss Jenny was on the inaugural Dance Mania team from 1999-2002. She is very excited to rejoin the Dance Mania family after nearly 20 years away! Her oldest daughter has also joined the DMA family on the mini prep team as they recently relocated from NY back to FL. She has experience teaching ballet, jazz and creative dance to ages 2 to adult in New York City and internationally in Asia. She is classically trained in ballet and jazz. She grew up at a local Melbourne ballet company and joined Dance Mania when it was founded in high school. Jenny danced professionally in Asia in a variety of performances and events and even in some Bollywood commercials and films. In New York City, Jenny continued dancing and performing in cabaret style jazz shows and musical theater. She also has a Master’s in Education and has worked with children from kindergarten to eighth grade in and out of the classroom setting and in the non-profit sector beginning in FL, Ohio, Bangkok, and lastly in NYC. After having her youngest daughter, she took a hiatus to stay home with her family and this summer they made a return to FL. She is very grateful to start dancing again with the DMA family!
Rachel Kinna
Assistant Coach, Dance Mania Academy Dance Instructor, Assistant Choreographer (DP Choreography)
Rachel joined Dance Mania in 2019 as one of our lead dancers on our Open Contemporary routine. Dana has known and worked with Rachel for over 5 years now as she was on a high school team in Orlando she choreographed for. She instantly fell in love with her work ethic, attitude, and amazing talent from the first time she worked with her! Rachel has taught some classes this past year to our dance academy that the girls have LOVED! She has taught some of our Instagram live classes during our virtual learning time. Rachel is an assistant coach this year with our program for our youth lyrical and senior lyrical team. She is also teaching our Mini Jazz ballet class. Rachel currently attends Valencia; she is an Orlando Magic Dancer, on NDA staff, and tours with Velocity dance conventions as an MVA+.
Camryn Freese
Assistant Coach
Camryn has been dancing at Dance Mania for nine years, and is a part of the senior elite teams at the studio. Camryn has also helped with DP choreography since she was 11 and continues to now. She was a member of the US National Junior Pom team in 2019 and 2021. This is Camryn’s second year as an assistant coach and she loves everything about it! She competes in jazz, lyrical, and pom but also trained in hip hop, acro, and ballet. Camryn loves working with younger children and seeing them grow in their dancing, attitude, and mindset. She can’t wait for another amazing season at Dance Mania!
Riley Toll
Assistant Coach & Studio Class Instructor
Riley has been with Dance Mania for 9 years. She is on our senior elite teams and was also a part of the US National Junior Pom team in 2019 and 2021 which took the silver medal in 2019 and the gold medal in 2021. She has been assisting with choreography camps since age 9 and is now an assistant choreographer for DP choreography and works with high school teams around the state. This is Riley's first year as an official coach as well as a studio class instructor. Riley competes in jazz, pom, and lyrical but is also trained in ballet, technique, as well as hip hop. Besides dancing, Riley absolutely loves working with children and watching them grow and dancers. She is beyond excited for this upcoming season!
Savvy Gardner
Assistant Coach & Studio Class Instructor
Savvy has been a part of Dance Mania as a dancer for 8 years now, but started dancing when she was 4 years old. Throughout those years at Dance Mania, Savvy has volunteered and coached for the Dance Abilities team as a buddy and now an assistant coach, interned with the Youth Jazz Large team, and is now a head studio class instructor. As a dancer, she has been a National Champion multiple times and now a World Champion. Savvy had the honor of representing the USA in 2019 and 2021 and she says that feeling was indescribable. Along with dance Savvy is a dual enrolled high school student with Eastern Florida State College and Melbourne High School. She is on track to graduate high school with her associates degree. Savvy is so excited to be part of the growth of dancers at Dance Mania!
Sydney Gardner
Assistant Coach & Studio Class Instructor
Sydney has been with Dance Mania since 2014. Overall, she has been dancing for 13 years. She volunteered with the Dance Abilities program at DMA for 3 years, and last year became an assistant coach for the team. Along with assistant coaching, Sydney is a head studio class instructor, and also has been interning for the Youth Jazz Large team for two years. When she is not dancing, she is balancing high school and college classes at Melbourne High School and Eastern Florida State College. She is a Junior in High School, and is on the path of graduation with her Associates Degree. She is a multiple time National Champion, and recently became a World Champion. She was on the US National team, representing the USA in an international dance competition, and placed Second in the world. Sydney is grateful to be able to coach and teach while doing what she loves.
