Lana Wright
It all started back when she was just two years old and went to her very first dance class. She was a natural and quickly became skilled in tap, jazz, ballet, hula and soon after acrobatics. Born in Gilroy and raised in San Martin, Lana was quite active in her community. Besides being talented in dance, she also played fast pitch softball in Jr. High, playing both pitcher and shortstop. She was involved in the 4H Club, where she raised an award winning pig named Rascal and won numerous awards in cooking and sewing. She was a cheerleader at Raymond Gwinn Jr. High, which is named after her grandfather! At Live Oak High School, Lana was an active member of the gymnastics team and was a cheerleader for three years and a song girl for one year. During her senior year, she was a member of the first and only CCS Championship gymnastics team and was voted "Most Spirited" in her class. Lana performed throughout the community at various events, rest homes and for the troops at Fort Ord. In October 1979, she opened Lana's Dance in Morgan Hill. A second location in Gilroy was added just a few years later. Soon after the opening of the studio, Lana married her high school sweetheart, Doug and their family grew to three with her daughter Leila. Her son Joel was born just five years later and their family was complete! Lana formed her very first competition team within a couple of years of opening. Lana quickly became a popular choreographer and set routines for the Sacramento Kings Fast Break Dancers and the San Jose Jammer Girls. She was a judge and choreographer for the Dance Masters of America Competitions/Conventions and I Love Dance. She also traveled as a guest teacher/choreographer to Australia with the I Love Dance Sweethearts. In addition, she taught master classes in Florida, Texas and Lake Tahoe. Her students have gone onto many successful careers on Broadway, music videos, cruise ships, The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes (her daughter Leila was a Rockette) and danced for teams such as the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers GoldRush, San Diego Chargers Girls, Oakland Raiderettes, Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders and the San Jose SaberKittens. She has received many different choreography awards for her creative style since the very beginning. Currently, Lana and her daughter Leila co-direct the tap and jazz competition teams. They just enjoyed another one of their most successful seasons to date! Lana is so excited to begin her 29th year as owner/director of the most successful dance studio in the south county.

Leila Wright
Leila – well where do we begin? She began her training the minute she was born, but actually began class at the ripe young age of one. She was competing by the age of six, where she began her award winning dance career on the Lana Wright Competition Team. To list all her accomplishments would take all day, but lets just name a few of her titles….she was Miss Headliner from 1995 – 1999, Miss Showbiz from 1996 – 1999, Miss StarPower from 1997 – 1999, Miss Elite Dance Rave form 1998 – 1999, Miss KAR in 1999, LA Underground Outstanding Technique and Distinguished Performer Awards and LA Dance Magic Distinguished Performer. She was an overall high score soloist for over eight years and a member of the overall high scoring group for fourteen years. She was a member of the I Love Dance Sweethearts for eight years and was fortunate enough to travel with them to Japan in 1994 and Australia in 1998. In between her various competitions, she also managed to squeeze in a little modeling and did billboard modeling from 1990 – 1995. She was crowned Miss Almaden Valley USA in 1999 and was in the Top 15 in the Miss California USA Pageant. After graduating high school, she became a Rockette and was a member of the first international tour of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular in Mexico City in 1999. Leila was also named Miss Gilroy Garlic Festival Queen in 2000. She then became a member of the best dance team in the Arena Football League as a SaberKitten for the San Jose SaberCats from 2000 – 2003. She was named SaberKitten Dancer of the Year in 2001 and 2002 and was the SaberKitten of the Year in 2003. Leila was a member of the San Francisco 49ers GoldRush from 2004 – 2006. After the GoldRush, she became a member in 2006 of the GoldRush Alumni Squad. She has trained with Mark Meismer, Cindy Ricalde, Keri Quinn, Jackie Sleight, Dave Carter, Mia Michaels and Kristin Needham to name a few. In 2005, she graduated from San Jose State University with her BS in Business Management. She currently heads the competition teams with her mom and is an inspiration to all the up and coming dancers in the studio.

Angie Dixon
Angie was born and raised in Sacramento, CA and relocated to Morgan Hill in 2001.  She began dancing at the age of three and trained at a Sacramento studio in tap, jazz and ballet for fifteen years.  She began competing at the age of ten and won many awards throughout her ten years on competition team.  She began teaching at the age of sixteen and also traveled to Australia and New Zealand in 1995 on a Goodwill Ambassador tour (if you haven’t figured it out – Angie and Marci are sisters).  Angie graduated from Sacramento State University in 1999 with her BA in Organizational Communication.  She taught in Sacramento and Folsom for eight years before she began teaching for Lana six years ago.  She specializes in the tot program because they are the same height as she is and once they pass her up in height, they are shipped to Miss Lana’s classes!  Just kidding!  She teaches the majority of the tot program and teaches through pre-teen students.

Marci Dixon
Marci was a later graduate of Lana’s Dance, but went on to become one of our most popular teachers.  She was born and raised in Sacramento, CA where she danced and competed for many years for a Sacramento studio.  She began her training at the age of three in tap, jazz, ballet and pointe and was competing by the age of eight.  Her favorite style was tap and won numerous awards throughout her years of competing.  Marci traveled to Australia and New Zealand at the age of fifteen for a Goodwill Ambassador tour.  Once she graduated at the top of her high school class, she moved to Morgan Hill and competed for the Lana Wright Dancers for two years.  She was also a member of the staff for five years and specialized in the tot program and taught children of all ages.  After graduating from San Jose State University, she received her teaching credential and began teaching elementary school.  Her teaching brought her back to Sacramento, but Miss Marci still remains a member of the staff and works with our competition team.

Allison Ashworth
Allison was also born and raised within the studio. She began dancing at the age of two and a half and was competing by the time she turned eight. Allison danced her way all the way through school and was one of the very exceptional students to receive the 15 Year Dance Award from Lana’s Dance. After retiring from the competition circuit, Allison became part of the staff and took on her own classes four years ago. She was also the assistant coach for the Live Oak Cheerleading/Dance Team for two years before taking over the program as head coach for two more years. Allison is trained in all forms of dance, but specializes in tap and teaches in the tot program through pre-teen students.

Pauline Locsin-Kanter
Pauline was one of Lana’s first students and a member of her first competition team. She began her training with Lana at the age of ten where she danced and competed all the way through high school. After graduating, she attended the United States International University in San Diego where she majored in musical theater. Pauline was a member of the USA Song Girl staff for three years before she launched her very successful career. While in San Diego, she danced for the San Diego Charger Girls for one year before heading east. She then danced for Norwegian Cruise Line and then began working with American Musical Theater where she performed in many productions. She then relocated to Florida where she was a dancer at Pleasure Island in the Walt Disney World Resort. As well as being a dancer, she choreographed many parade segments and commercials for Disney World and Tokyo Disney. She also taught many business and entertainment workshops for Disney and was the sketch model for the ever popular Disney movie “Mulan.” She then joined the Stars Over Orlando Sketch Comedy Performance Group where she furthered her training in the entertainment industry. After Florida, she moved to New York, where she performed in the ensemble for the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular for three years. In New York, she also joined the Actors Circle. She traveled with the national tours of “Jolson: The Musical,” “Promises, Promises” and “A Chorus Line,” which was under the direction of Mitzi Hamilton, who was an Original Broadway Cast member. She also performed at numerous industrials at the Ford Theater in Washington D.C. under the direction of Broadway gypsy Tony Stevens. In Los Angeles, she performed in “Hot Mikado” at the Musical Theater West. Pauline has been a popular judge for StarPower National Talent Competition and a teacher for their “Power Pak” and a choreographer for Dance Masters and numerous other national pageants. In addition to all of her dance and musical theater accomplishments, Pauline has made several guest appearances on ABC soaps “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” Pauline has recently relocated back to California where she teaches the ballet program for the competition teams and is also an entertainment coach and holds her own workshops to train the kids to their fullest potential. She and her husband Matthew are also the proud parents of two beautiful children – Mia and Max.

Tiffany Maaske
Tiffany is our very popular hip hop teacher, although she is trained in tap, jazz and ballet as well. She began her training at the age of eight at Dance Attack. When she was 15, she competed for Lana’s Dance and was a member of Teen Dance Company. During that same competition season, she received one of her biggest achievements when she was named the Most Outstanding Performer at LA Dance Magic. Nowadays, Tiffany is busy teaching hip hop, in addition to directing her very own hip hop team – Hip Hop Craze. Since their beginning, they have grown immensely and have received top honors at many competitions. Hip Hop Craze was also featured on BET’s 106th and park, where they placed second in June 2007. Miss Tiffany teaches hip hop to students ages six through adults.

Kristi Martinez
Kristi is another great product of Lana’s Dance Studio. She started dancing with Lana at the age of ten and competed on her award winning competition team for six years until she graduated. While attending Live Oak High School, she was on the dance team and was the recipient of their Dance Team Scholarship. After finishing high school, she was a part of the best dance team in the Arena Football League as a SaberKitten for the San Jose SaberCats from 2003 – 2005. She was also an Oakland Raiderette for the 2206 – 2007 season. Miss Kristi teaches tap, jazz and ballet in our tot program, as well as all ages through adult.

Katie Peterson
Katie began her dancing career at the age of three and never stopped! She started with ballet, but quickly added tap, jazz, lyrical and hip hop to her repertoire. Katie was on the Live Oak High School Song Squad and that is where she met Lana. Soon after she was dancing for Lana and quickly became part of the competition team. She competed for two years and loved every minute of it! Katie recently joined our staff as one of our new tot teachers.  We are very excited to have her as part of the team!

Jimene Stelling
Jimene began her training in gymnastics at the age of seven years. Her dance training began with Lana at the age of eleven, where she went straight to competing for eight years on the competition team. She was a member of Lana's award winning senior competition team until she graduated from high school. In high school, she was a member of the Live Oak Dance team and performed in many musicals, including "Grease." She then began teaching for Lana and has been teaching now for seventeen years. She currently teaches in the tot program through teenage students and is the marketing and sales director for her mom at Creative Labels. Jimene and her husband Marc are the proud parents of three daughters - Laila, Haylie and Sierra.

Jill Weaver
Jill began dancing at a young age in her hometown of Fremont, California.  Her classical training began under the direction of Paul Curtis and Shawn Stuart of San Jose Dance Theatre where she quickly progressed into the school's company.  She trained with Western Ballet in Mountain View, CA under Alessandra diPierro and Mark Foehringer, where she performed soloist and principal roles in such ballets as The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Cinderella, White Tie and Tails, and Balanchine's Valse Fantaisie.  Jill was invited to dance with the Oakland Ballet Company in Oakland, California, under the direction of Ronn Guidi.  She was contracted as a company member in the spring of 1998, and traveled with the company in their national tour of The Secret Garden. Additional performances included Eugene Loring's Billy the Kid, Ronn Guidi's Bolero and the world premiere of Beneath the Wake, which was choreographed for the company by San Francisco Ballet's Betsy Erickson.  Jill then moved to Jackson, Mississippi to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Ballet at Belhaven College.  While studying at Belhaven, she had the opportunity to travel with the Belhaven College Dance Ensemble to Kunming, China for a cultural dance exchange with the Yunnan Arts Institute.  Her performing roles with Belhaven included soloist roles from such ballets as Le Corsaire, Pas de Quatre and Raymonda, as well as in many other mixed repertory works.  Jill was the recipient of the Dance Department's Daniel Award for outstanding scholastic achievement in the spring of 2002.  After graduating Magna cum Laude from Belhaven College in May of 2003, she danced for a season with Polarity Dance Theatre in Jackson, Mississippi.  Jill currently resides in Fremont with her husband, Matt and her two cats, Jack and Oliver.  She has been teaching ballet to all ages in the Fremont area for the past 10 years and we are so pleased and privileged to have her join our staff as our ballet teacher.