Our Staff

Premiere Dance Company is a professional dance studio located in Norman, Oklahoma. We offer quality instruction in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary and Lyrical dance forms. We also offer by audition, a competition company and a pre- professional team that performs in dance competitions all across the state of Oklahoma and beyond. We pride ourselves as a company dedicated to coming alongside your child to develop them into strong dancers with quality character.

Whether at the front desk or in the classroom, each of our staff members love students and are trained in dance.

MEET OUR STAFF

Ricki Dillard: Office Manager

Ricki Dillard is the Office Manager here at Premiere Dance Company and is the first face you see when you walk in the door! 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 jumped into working full-time as a retail manager. Now she has returned to the dance world and couldn’t be happier to be part of the Premiere Dance Family!

Sarah Matteson: Pre-School Director / Pre-Company Director

Sarah Matteson 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, 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 Smith has been dancing since the age of 3. Growing up, she studied ballet, jazz, lyrical, and hip hop at Modern Dance Arts in Norman. She developed a passion for competitive dance during her 3 years on the Norman North Pom squad. Her team won several state championships and won runner-up at the NDA National competition. She also earned many individual awards, including the NDA All-American award, and was selected to join the Oklahoma All State Dance Team. After graduating high school, she spent 6 years teaching and choreographing at Modern Dance Arts before joining Premiere Dance Company in 2016. She has choreographed many award winning competition pieces and has done work for local cheer/pom squads as well as the Sooner Dance Company at OU. Liz is passionate about dance and is excited to share her knowledge with the dancers at Premiere!

Kourtney Rentz

Kourtney Rentz has been involved in the dance world her whole life and is excited to continue her dance career as a new teacher 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 has been teaching dance for 12 years, which includes styles of hip hop, jazz/ funk, contemporary, jazz and tap.
She has bachelor’s degrees in Fine Arts in Dance Performance from the University of Central Oklahoma and Kinesiology from East Central University (ECU).
She became the first recipient of the ECU Dance Scholarship, where, for two years, she was captain for the Collage Dance Ensemble. She became the Artistic
Director for ECU dance minor program.
Michelle has received several accolades for her creativity in choreography. She has received choreography awards for a contemporary routine in ‘Amongst Us’ and in hip hop routines ‘Elevator’ in 2009 and ‘She Ain’t Got’ in 2010. She received the Dance Spirit Magazine’s Video of the Month Viewer’s Choice Award for ‘She Ain’t Got’ in August 2010. In 2011 Her high school hip hop class routine, ‘Do You Remember’, received the Dance Teacher Magazine’s Video of the Month Editor’s Choice Award. Her choreography recently won state in the hip hop pom category for Seminole High School in 2015.
Michelle has performed in the National Dance Association’s Gala Performance in Baltimore, Maryland and Wichita, Kansas. She has performed in the Oklahoma Centennial Parade and Neiman’s Children Christmas Parade. Michelle has had the privilege to teach alongside some of the best: Keith Clifton, Jackie Sleight, Rhonda Miller, Huggy Ford and Lauren Gaul, just to name a few. Michelle has been fortunate to choreograph for the well-known professional Race Dance Company located in Oklahoma City, OK. She has choreographed national hip hop pom routines for McLennan Community College and University of Oklahoma (OU). She has taught at the American College Dance Association at Southeast Missouri State University and Anderson Indiana University and the Soul De Soul dance convention as a guest artist in Oklahoma City, OK.
Michelle's talents have been showcased during the pre-game performance for the Oklahoma City Thunder and at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Currently, Michelle has been focused on judging for The Dance Effect competition. She continues to spread her energy, knowledge and her love for teaching master classes to everyone who appreciates the art of dance. This summer Michelle will be teaching for the professional Dallas Black Dance Theatre Summer Intensive in Dallas, Texas. She’s excited to continue her dance faculty position in the Musical theatre department for the University of Oklahoma (OU).

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.

MacKay Whalen

MacKay Whalen was born and raised here in Norman. She has been dancing and performing since a very young age. She grew up studying musical theatre and performing in local theatre. She began teaching dance and choreographing during her high school years and hasn’t stopped since. You may have seen her behind the desk at Queen of Hart’s Dancewear or on the stage at the Sooner Theatre. She spent the past two years living, auditioning and performing in Chicago before returning to Norman to pursue a second college degree. She now teaches at local studios while attending the University of Oklahoma studying Ultrasound. She is also an instructor at Pure Barre Norman, combining her love of dance, health and fitness. In her free time, she can be found baking, working out or dancing (to balance the love of baking), or playing with her two pups. She is so excited to return to Premiere and help new students expand their love for dance!

Haley Park

Haley Park is from Dallas, TX. She has experience teaching tap,
ballet, jazz and lyrical. Her favorite styles of dance are ballet and
lyrical. She has taught at her hometown studio in Dallas since the age
of 16. But, has found a home here at Premiere while continuing her
education at the University of Oklahoma!

Rachel Chan

Rachel Chan is from Norman, Oklahoma and has been dancing since the age of 4. She has studied various dance styles such as ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, hip hop, contemporary, musical theatre, modern, and competition dance. She began dancing at Massay’s Dancestar Productions and eventually came to Premiere Dance Company the year they opened. She was involved in various productions at The Sooner Theatre and Norman North High School and was on the Norman North Pom team for 3 years. She studied modern dance for 2 years at the University of Oklahoma and is currently continuing her education there now. She was the only dance instructor at The Station at Central Park for a summer and taught 18 month to 8 year olds. From being a student at Premiere to now being apart of the staff, Rachel is honored and excited for this opportunity!

Abbey Friedmann

Abbey Friedmann grew up in St. Louis, Mo where she trained at The Professional Dance Center. She is currently a Junior at the University of Oklahoma where she is majoring in Musical Theatre. She has performed professionally at The Muny for 11 seasons and was last seen in Footloose in 2019. Abbey has also been featured in University productions along with the Oklahoma Philharmonic Christmas Show. Her choreography has been featured in OU's production of Cabaret, assisting Lyn Cramer on the show. Abbey will be teaching Tap 3 and Tap 5.

Danielle Geary

Danielle Geary has been a part of the dance world since she was three years old and is extremely blessed to join the Premiere Dance Company family this Fall season. Danielle has studied ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, pointe, and contemporary at the competitive level for sixteen years at Top Hat Talent and The Norman Ballet Company. Throughout those years, she has danced under the invitation of world renowned choreographers, such as Debbie Allen, enjoyed modeling dancewear for boutiques and conventions, and broadcasted local events on television. Danielle went on to become a Physical Therapist, while continuing to teach dance to those with and without disabilities from the ages of 2 to 102. More importantly, Danielle is a wife and mother of four in Moore, where she enjoys homeschooling her children, being creative, and loving keeping everything local.