Our Staff

Not pictured: Mitzi La Brie, and Sarah Matteson, and Liz Smith.

Ricki Nettleton: Office Manager

Ricki Nettleton is the Office Manager here at Premiere Dance Company and is thrilled to be starting her fifth year with us! She grew up dancing in Oklahoma City where she found her passion for performing. She spent three years on her high school pom team. She then attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas where she spent 3 years on their dance team. While in Kansas she taught Jazz and Hip-Hop at a local studio. After returning to Oklahoma she is applying her management skills to the dance world and couldn’t be happier to be part of the Premiere Dance Family!

**Ricki is currently on maternity leave. Rachel Chan will take over front desk operations.

Rachel Chan: Office Assistant

Born and raised in Norman, Oklahoma, Rachel studied and performed in multiple different dance styles for roughly 19 years. During high school she trained at Premiere Dance Company since it opened, and later taught on faculty while she was a student at OU. Now she's so happy to be coming back to her Premiere Dance Family in a new way by serving at the front desk.

Rachel is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education and a minor in Dance History. She trained with the Modern Dance Department at OU for two and a half years and was lucky to travel to Barcelona, Spain with the dance department. Most recently, she worked in Chicago for a professional contemporary dance company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, as a summer intensive chaperone. Rachel is so excited about this new opportunity to expand her experience in the dance world by working on the administrative side!

Sarah Matteson: Pre-Company Director

Sarah discovered a passion for dance and choreography at a very young age and jumped right into the competitive dance world. Native to Western Wisconsin, her training includes jazz, ballet, pointe, tap, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, precision, acrobatic arts, and pageantry. She continued her dance education at the University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts-Twin Cities, while also teaching and choreographing for the surrounding Minnesota Twin Cities/Western Wisconsin areas. With over 20 years of professional experience with dance studios and dance teams, Sarah’s award-winning choreography entertains & captivates, yet challenges both dancers and audiences alike.

Her teaching style can best be described as positive and encouraging, yet disciplined. “Seeing that ‘light up’ moment on a dancer’s face and sharing a love for being in a creative space feeds my soul,” she says.
Sarah is also a wife and proud mother of four beautiful children and believes that contributing to keeping the arts alive is the best way she can give back to the next generation. She is committed to nurturing and developing a new generation of artists who express themselves through dance. Sarah resides in Blanchard, Oklahoma, and is currently an adjudicator for BravO! National Dance and Talent. She enjoys spreading encouragement, love, and light to as many dancers as possible!

Liz Smith: Competition Director

Liz is entering her 8th year of teaching at Premiere. She was raised in Norman, and has been studying dance since she was 3 years old. After graduating high school, she spent 6 years teaching and choreographing at Modern Dance Arts before joining Premiere Dance Company in 2016. Liz has a passion for competitive dance, and spends most of her time at Premiere choreographing and cleaning routines for the competition company. Liz is also the head coach of the Norman North Pom program. Since 2018, she has led her teams to win 17 OSDTDA State Championships, and 4 National Championships at NDA and DTU dance team competitions. She was awarded the OSDTDA Outstanding Choreography award in 2018, 2019, and 2020, and was named the OSDTDA Coach of the Year in 2022. Liz loves being involved in her community through teaching and coaching, and treasures the relationships she builds with each of her students. She can’t wait for another year of growth and learning at Premiere!

Carley Schmitt

Carley Schmitt began dancing as a teenager in Bradenton, Florida and instantly fell in love with the art of dance. Carley is trained in ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, pointe, and hip hop. She attended Oklahoma City University’s dance program and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in American Dance Pedagogy in May of 2021. While attending OCU, Carley had the opportunity to perform with the American Spirit Dance Company under the direction of Jo Rowan, work behind the scenes for several university productions, and teach in the Community Dance Center. Carley has also been able to perform at Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Florida, and in Carnegie Hall throughout the course of her career. Carley believes every child deserves the right to dance and express themselves creatively. Her mission is to teach every student she comes across to feel confident in themselves and to love the world a little more. Carley is also certified in Rhythm Works Integrative Dance. Her favorite style of dance is jazz, and she enjoys working with students of all ages and abilities. Carley joined Premiere Dance Company in the fall of 2021 and has loved getting to work with each of her students. Carley is looking forward to passing on her knowledge and passion for dance for another year at Premiere!

Lacey Becker

Lacey Becker is so excited to start her second year with Premiere Dance Company! A born and bred Houstonian, Lacey found her way to Oklahoma City for college. Lacey holds a Bachelor of Science in Dance and Entertainment from Oklahoma City University and an Master of Arts of Cultural Policy and Arts Management from University College Dublin in Dublin, Ireland. Since she could walk, dance and entertainment have been a huge part of her life. Lacey has been dancing since was was 2 and has 13 years of dance teaching and choreography experience. In her career she has worked with studios and dancers across the Houston area, Oklahoma City, and abroad. While she enjoys all styles of dance, Lacey's first love has always been tap! Currently, Lacey is the event services manager for Cory's Audio Visual, where she gets to work with clients to bring their event vision to life. Lacey is excited to get back in the classroom and work the the amazing Premiere Dance Company dancers!

Kourtney Rentz

Kourtney Rentz has been involved in the dance world her whole life and is excited for another season here at Premiere Dance Company. She is originally from Utah where she began her training as a competitive dancer in a variety of genres including ballet, contemporary, tap, jazz and hip hop. After graduating high school, she attended Brigham Young University where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance. Kourtney had the opportunity to be a member of and perform with BYU’s Contemporary Dance Theater, Contemporary Dance Ensemble and Ballet Showcase companies. While dancing on these companies, she was also invited to teach college-level ballet and jazz classes at the University and received an award for her teaching. Kourtney started teaching at local dance studios at the young age of 15 years old where she discovered she had a passion for dance pedagogy and choreography. She has since been teaching and setting competition choreography for over 10 years at a number of private dance studios in Utah and Washington State. There is nothing that brings as much joy and satisfaction to her as creating moving art and watching her students grow and succeed. As far as continuing her own dance education, Kourtney is currently dancing professionally with Oklahoma’s R.A.C.E Dance Company. She recently moved to Oklahoma with her husband and can’t wait to explore the state and be a part of it’s dance community!

Michelle Rambo

Michelle Rambo holds bachelor’s degrees in Fine Arts Dance Performance from the University
of Central Oklahoma and Kinesiology from East Central University. She has choreographed for
the Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre, The University Oklahoma School of Dance, and is
the Director of The Dance Effect assistant program.
Rambo has also taught at multiple universities, numerous dance studios and schools in the Texas, Kansas and OKC area. She also continues to have the honor of teaching at Dallas Black Dance Theatre Summer Intensive.
Her work has been showcased during the pre-game performance for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and at Disney World in Orlando, Florida to name a few. Currently, Michelle has been focused on family, teaching, traveling and judging for several dance competitions.

Svetlana Todinova

Svetlana Todinova is trained in the world-renowned, classic Russian ballet style and shows her long lines, amazing strength and graceful jumps and turns every time she teaches and is on stage. She is happy to be a role model for American youth. Svetlana completed formal training in 1997 at the Ufa Choreography School, where the very famous Rudolf Nureyev was also a student. While dancing with the State Opera Ballet of Krasnodar, Svetlana trained with Yuri Gregorovich, who is world-renowned for his dynamic productions at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre. Earlier in her career she toured with the Russian Academy of Ballet Art performing around the world including Holland, China, Spain, Italy, England, and the USA. Her repertory includes Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Paganini, La Bayadere, Carmen, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker. She just finished 13 years touring as a soloist with Moscow Ballet.

Sarah Westbrook: Digital Media Coordinator

Sarah Westbrook grew up dancing at a local studio and performing in community theater before formalizing her training at The Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia. She went on to study at The University of Oklahoma and receive a BFA in Modern Dance Performance in 2022. It was there that Sarah was able to work with renowned choreographers such as Rena Butler, Sidra Bell, and Tommie Waheed-Evans, as well as performing choreography by Jiří Kylián. While in school she also furthered her training with Oregon Ballet Theater, Parsons Dance, and Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company. In recent professional endeavors Sarah has performed as a guest artist with Tristian Griffin Dance Company and the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, MO, as well as apprenticing with OM Grown Dancers (Durham, NC). She has recently relocated to Dallas to join Dallas Black Dance Theater's second company, Encore! In addition to performing, Sarah taught at Premiere from 2020-2022 and now serves as our Digital Media Coordinator.

Danielle Geary

Danielle has been a part of the dance world since she was three years old, studying ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, pointe, and contemporary at the competitive level. Throughout those years, she has danced under the invitation of world-renowned choreographers, such as Debbie Allen and many from the Kirov Academy.

Danielle shares her passion of dance with all walks of life--teaching those with and without disabilities from the ages 2 though 102. Danielle believes all persons can express their story through dance. Her background of Physical Therapy allows her to focus through technique on a dancer’s health, injury-prevention, and strengthening. She strongly feels that all her dancers have the power to be confident and it is her job to help find their way.

Danielle is excited to come into another year at Premiere committed in continuing to share her love, compassion, and fun to her sweet dancers. Currently, she resides in Moore with her four children: Harmony, Beckett, Clarke, and Diesel. Cheers to another amazing dance-filled year!

Breanne Elwell

Breanne Elwell grew up in Edmond, Oklahoma and has been dancing since the age of 2. She studied a variety of dance styles and techniques such as ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, lyrical, musical theater and ballroom. Breanne was a member of the Elite competition groups at Kim Massay Dance Productions until she graduated from Edmond Santa Fe High School. She was a member of the group INTENTION that qualified to compete on Season 3 of NBC Studios “World of Dance.” Breanne has worked with young dancers to help educate them in the basic techniques of dance and choreograph routines. Her goal is to inspire dancers coming up behind her to discover the passion for dance. Breanne is currently attending the University of Oklahoma and is working towards helping other dancers and athletes by getting her doctorate in Physical Therapy. She is currently one of the Dance Directors for OU’s USing and Scandals.

Mitzi LaBrie

Mitzi grew up dancing in Southern California. She began her love of dance at the young age of two. She studied ballet, tap and jazz at a dance studio in Whittier, California. In 2000 she was accepted into the dance program at Oklahoma City University. She spent 3 years performing with the American Spirit Dance Company. While in school Mitzi began her career in teaching at a local studio, during that time she taught all ages and levels. In 2003, she earned her BS in Dance Management. After graduation she taught for the dance department at St. Gregory's University in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

Mitzi is excited to be back teaching. She took a 9 year hiatus to be home with her 3 boys. She looks forward to sharing her knowledge with Premiere Dance Company.
Mitzi is married and resides in Norman with her husband , Tom, and children: Jonathan, Chase, and Chandler.

Hailey Lane

Hailey Lane is originally from Dallas, TX. She is currently a student at the University of Oklahoma getting her degree in Public Relations. She was a rhythmic gymnast for nine years at Rhythmic Ribbon of Texas. In high school she went on to perform with the Hebron Silver Wings dance team for three years. Now she continues to be involved in dance as a University Sing director for her sorority. Hailey is so excited to be joining Premiere Dance Company for her first season!