Lynette Mesecke

Owner/Program Director

Lynette has been active with the studio for many years. First, as a parent/teacher liaison and Company Coordinator for the competition dancers. Her ability to manage the needs of the families, dancers and instructors by putting their interests and abilities at the forefront has been a success. With a paralegal and project management background, Lynette's attention to detail brings value to the studio and its clientele by offering a professional approach and business perspective to COPPELLDANCECENTRE. Lynette’s role as Director offers our team of talented instructors the ability to plan and work together as they design and implement our progressive programming which includes successes in the classroom and at competitions and performances.

Lisa Svejkovsky

Owner/COO

Lisa brings valuable experience to COPPELLDANCECENTRE as a CPA, former CISD Educational Foundation Board Member, PTO President, and through her active involvement in the women’s ministry at her church and the local community. She invokes trust and admiration from those who know her and is a quiet leader with strength and integrity. Lisa manages the infrastructure to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals and objectives by maintaining the balance between, instructors, programming and studio performance.

Kim Henscheid-Bryant

Instructor & Performing Company Co-Director

Kim has been teaching in the Plano area for the past 28 years. She specializes in jazz, tap and character work for ages 3 to 18. Her students have won numerous awards at competitions and conventions locally as well as nationally. Kim’s choreography has won awards from competitions such as Starpower, Nexstar, American Dance Awards, Showbiz, Showcase USA, and Stage One Productions. Many of her students go on to become professional dancers and teachers in L.A. and New York

Kim’s goal is to provide the youngest dancer with the opportunity to excel in the competition dance world. She wants her students to set their goals, work hard to achieve them and to be proud of their accomplishments along the way. Kim believes that the young dancer today is more than capable of learning a more difficult level of dance than most studios seem to provide. She has a lot of confidence in our young dancers and will encourage them to be the best they can be as dancers, teammates, and friends.

Marcella Raneri

Instructor & Performing Company Co-Director

Marcella specializes in jazz and lyrical dance. She has studied dance for over 17 years, including: ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, tap, hip hop, cheer/tumble and modern. Marcella was an award winning dance competitor in all categories of dance. She was a featured dancer for the UFC Halftime Show and the ShowBiz Nationals, 4 Time Starpower Winner and Nationals Victory Cup Winner as well as a performer with Soul Escape, Justin Giles Dance Company. One of her greatest dance accomplishments to date was touring with Gwen Stefani.

Marcella has received instruction from Jason Parsons, Mia Michaels, Shella Sattler, Marty Kudelka, Kim McSwain, Michelle Sherill, Michelle Stafford, Ted Jackson, Justin Giles, Roger Lee, Brian Freidman, Rodney Johnson, Jana Shurich, Malana Murphy, Wade Robson, and Dee Casbery. She has also trained at Dallas Power House of Dance, Dancin Feet, Rodney's Dancin Zone, Broadway Dance Center NY, Steps NY, and the Edge LA.

Amy Zurlis

Instructor & Performing Company Choreographer

Amy has been teaching tap and jazz for 21 years. She graduated from UTD in 1993 with a degree in psychology and a minor in dance. She is married and has two children, 6 and 12. Amy’s students have received numerous titles at national competitions. Some of her students have gone on to perform on television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and Barney. She has personally performed in Murder By Numbers, Little Mermaid, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Amy’s choreography has received numerous awards for solo and group categories at both national and regional competitions.

Amy’s teaching style is fast paced and technical. She is able to instill skill and confidence in both the beginner as well as the most advanced dancer. We are excited to have her talent and attitude here for your dancers.

Taylor Henscheid

Instructor & Performing Company Choreographer

Taylor has been performing since the age of 3 and has been trained in all areas of dance and is a well respected and known performer. Taylor’s gift as a dancer only strengthens her abilities as an instructor; she has an amazing motivational style that is a rare find in a dancer of her age which allows her teaching style to be very effective. Taylor teaches lyrical and contemporary classes at COPPELLDANCECENTRE as well as assisting our performing company directors with competition numbers and solo choreography.

Some of Taylor’s personal accomplishments include: title winner as the Tremaine Studio Dancer of the Year, Miss Starpower, Miss Nexstar, ADA-Performer of the Year. She has many other competition and performance awards for area and National Competitions. She performed as a Chuck E. Cheese featured dancer in 2004, and was a Junior Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader performing with: Clint Black, Jessica Simpson, Creed, Toby Keith, Billy Gilman, LeAnn Rimes, Destiny’s Child, and Sheryl Crow.

Michelle Sherrill

Ballet Director

With over 20 years of experience as a performer and instructor, Michelle has a strong work ethic and a commitment to dance education. She received her MFA from SMU in Choreographic Theory on a full Meadows Foundation Artistic Scholarship. Michelle also received scholarships to study at the American Ballet Theatre and the San Francisco Ballet. Locally, she studied under instructors such as Madame Nathalie Krassovska, Ann and Bill Etgen-Atkinson, and has had the privilege to study with many guest teachers throughout the world.

In addition to her personal accomplishments as a dancer and instructor, Michelle has excelled at instructing her students. Many of her students have pursued professional dance careers and have performed with: Celine Dion's Las Vegas Revue, NYC Rockettes, Broadway’s Billy Elliott cast, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake, to name a few. Her students have been accepted to college dance programs at Juilliard, NYU, SMU, TCU and Point Park. She also has an impressive track record of preparing students for the audition process at Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas.

Keith Green

Hip Hop Choreographer/Instructor

This athletic dancer has gained credits in numerous local as well as national markets. His exposure in a variety of media and hands-on teachings offer clients a well rounded and experienced talent.

Keith is a graduate of the University of Arkansas where he played football. His choreography includes work for the record label National Recording Artists Tyrese, Marcos Hernandez, Carsello's music video "Ay Mamaita", MTV's " My Super Sweet 16 ", MTV3's " Road to Menudo " with Johnny Wright, Wire Records' recording artist Jer-Z road tour 2002, 2005 MLS Championship Cup Half-Time Show, NFL’s Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and AFL’s Dallas Desperados Dancers, Toni & Guy 2003 Photographic Awards, BeautiControl, BKM, National Dance Alliance/National Cheerleaders Association, "Hip Hop You Don't Stop" instructional video, Dragon’s Halloween Ball 2003-2008, Move to Groove Ball 2004-2009, Karen Noseff’s 2010 Tour, and music group 3AM.

Performances include music videos choreographed by Marty Kudelka (Justin Timberlake) and Roger Lee (Janet Jackson), along with live stage performances in the "Body Art Ball ". Additional credits include Good Day Texas, The "V", Texas Lottery “Cash Five” commercial, “Indiana Live Casino” motion caption commercial and NFL’s Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Halftime Show. Opening performances for Monica, B2K, Omarion, Cassie, Ciara, Ice Cube, Chingy and Young Joc.

Sydney Durso

Instructor

Sydney grew up dancing in McAllen, Texas under the direction of Deborah Case. She has performed the lead roles of "Clara," the "Sugar Plum Fairy," the "Snow Queen," and many others in the Rio Grande Valley Ballet's annual production of The Nutcracker. Sydney specializes in classical ballet and technique. She believes that ballet ensures a great physique as well as teaches grace and control, self-confidence, self-esteem, dedication, passion, and willpower. Her goal is to not only give students a strong foundation in technique but also to teach students the joy of dance by keeping her classes fun and enjoyable.

As a dancer at Deborah Case Dance Academy, Sydney got the opportunity to study and train under many highly renowned teachers including: Russia's Kirov Ballet Prima Ballerina, Galina Mezentseva, of Vaganova School; Michael and Olga Wise of Bolshoi Ballet; Yloy Ybarra a flamenco artist from New York; West Germany's Alex Ossadnik; Russian ballerina, Irina Vakhromeeva; Dmitri Roudnev of Buckman Performing Arts Center in Illinois; Joffrey Ballet's Willy and Evie Shives; as well as many others. Her dance teacher always believed that "two heads were better than one," so having the instruction and opinions from guest artists from around the globe as well as traveling to workshops for weeks at a time truly helped her grow.

Sydney has taught ballet, jazz, and tap classes to students ages 3 to adult since 2007 as well as private lessons in dance technique, choreography, and pageant training. Sydney was Miss Rio Grande Valley Teen USA 2007 and placed 2nd runner up and "Best of Swimsuit" out of 134 girls at Miss Texas Teen USA 2008.

Sydney is currently in her fourth season as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. She has appeared and performed on Good Morning America's “Living the Dream”, Larry the Cable Guy's “Only in America”, CMT’s “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader's Making the Team: 3, 4, 5, and 6” (6 will air in Fall 2011), Oprah, Dr. Phil, America's Got Talent, American Idol, and has made many other national television appearances. In 2010 and 2011 she was selected to be a part of the elite Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Show Group and traveled to South Korea on the 2010 Christmas USO Tour. She has performed with Daughtry, the Jonas Brothers, Prima J, Jesse James, Keith Urban, Drake, Neal McCoy, and many others. She has traveled all over the U.S., Korea, Puerto Vallarta, and the Bahamas to perform with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Sydney has also been featured in the 2010, 2011, and 2012 DCC calendars.