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 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 6th 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 7 OSDTDA State Championships, and 2 National Championships at NDA and DTU dance team competitions. She was awarded the OSDTDA Outstanding Choreography award in 2018, 2019, and 2020, and was recently selected to serve on the Norman Public Schools coaches’ advisory committee. 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 is looking forward to passing on her knowledge and passion for dance with her students at Premiere this year.

Kayla Smith

Miss Kayla Smith is so excited to be teaching at Premiere Dance Company! She is originally from Highland, Michigan, and has been dancing since she was five years old. She graduated from the Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Entertainment at Oklahoma City University in May 2020 with a Bachelors of Science in American Dance Pedagogy, and a minor in English. Some of her favorite courses were Jazz, Tap, and Ballet Pedagogy, History of Teaching Dance, and Choreography Theory. Kayla performed with the American Spirit Dance Company in the annual Home For The Holidays and Broadway Revue productions. When she wasn’t performing, Kayla worked with the wardrobe team as the Assistant Wardrobe Supervisor and Assistant Costume Shop manager to create many of the costumes used in the American Spirit productions. Her favorite style of dance is jazz. Kayla hopes to perform on cruise ships so she can combine two of her passions: dance and travel. Her dream job is to be a dance teacher . She is so excited to join Premiere Dance Company this year!

Brittany Vahalik

Brittany Vahalik was born and raised in San Antonio Texas. She has been dancing for 17 years training in ballet, modern, jazz, hip hop, and tap. She attended the North East School of the Arts High School as a dance major. She is now currently a senior modern dance performance major at the University of Oklahoma and will be graduating with her BFA in spring of 2022. Brittany has performed with Contemporary Dance Oklahoma and Oklahoma festival Ballet for multiple years. She is also trained through the Mark Morris Dance Group to teach dance for Parkinson’s, and teaches for the Dance for Parkinson’s program at the University of Oklahoma. Brittany has multiple years of experience teaching various dance styles and has a strong passion for teaching and choreographing. Brittany is very excited and honored to teach 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.

Sarah Westbrook

Sarah Westbrook is a Senior Modern Dance Performance Major at the University of Oklahoma. Prior to attending OU, she studied ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, and pilates at the Governor's School for the Arts in Norfolk, VA. While this is her first year teaching full time with Premiere, she worked as part of the administrative team for the 2020-2021 season. She also serves as our Social Media Coordinator. Sarah was recently married to her husband Joshua this past May and they now live in Chickasha, OK.

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.