Keri Bell
Director

Keri Bell began her dance training as a three year old student with Hutchison Dance Studio. By age eleven, she transferred to The Dance Academy. Her training continued through the years in a variety of dance forms, including ballet, jazz, tap and hip hop. She has continued her studies with numerous dance masters from New York and Los Angeles, like Frank Hatchett, Debbie Daniels, Joe Tremaine and Gus Giordano and many more. Keri now serves as the Associate Director and an instructor for all levels of dance and musical theater and is also a competition coach. She has been a dedicated and valued leader of The Dance Academy faculty for many students for more than 44 years.

Olivia Bell
Competition Coordinator

Olivia graduated from The University of Georgia with a major in Theatre and minor in dance. While at The University of Georgia, she was a member of the UGA Red Hotz, the competitive dance team on campus. Olivia grew up training at The Dance Academy in the styles of ballet, tap, jazz, and lyrical. Now, she is our Competition Coordinator & choreographs many of our competitive routines. She has been seen dancing professionally in Mamma Mia! and Crazy For You as an ensemble member and featured dancer. Olivia's goal is to share her passion & dedication to the next generation of dancers

More recently, Miss Olivia graduated with a Masters in Performing Arts from SCAD University.  She is eager to share her knowledge with her students.

Erin Kilfoyle House
Assistant Director

Erin Kilfoyle began her dance training at the age of three with Laurie Moore. She joined the company program at the Atlanta Festival Ballet when she was five where she studied under Gregory Aaron, Giselle DiBlassi Pugh and Nicholas Pacana. In her youth, Erin was accepted by many prestigious summer intensive ballet programs around the country. At the age of fifteen, she was selected as one of 16 dancers out of more than 300 applicants to participate in the Georgia Governor's Honors Program. She graduated with honors and was asked to join the Atlanta Festival Ballet where she reprised roles like Wendy in Peter Pan, Mirliton and Spanish in the Nutcracker and corps de ballet In Swan Lake. She started teaching at The Dance Academy in 2011 and graduated from Gordon State College in 2013.

Maliya Harris

Maliya Harris started dancing a the age of three and competing at the age of seven in Atlanta, GA. She is trained in Ballet, Contemporary, Modern, jazz and Hip Hop. Maliya took her talents to a collegiate level by training with Dominique Angel, James Boyd, Thang Dao, Adrienne Hicks, Brynt Beitman, Kelsey Metz and Marcus Allan Cobb at Troy University. She is now a graduate with a degree in Dance and Entrepeneurship

Hannah Ducharme

Hannah has been dancing with The Dance Academy since age 8. She joined our team as an instructor in 2019. You may have seen her as The Ring Master in our 2018 production number "The Greatest Showman"! Hannah teaches jazz & tap technique as well as choreographs multiple competition routines each season. She loves being apart of this dance family & looks forward to teaching the upcoming generation of tappers for years to come!

Erin Johnson

Erin is an Atlanta native ,who grew up training at Dance Arts Centre under Jeff Boss, Jamie Wardrop, Renee Pauley, Jesica Morrison , and Rachael Hopkins. She then went to Troy university to further her dance training. Erin graduated in 2022 with her BFA in dance. During  her time in Troy she has had the amazing opportunity to train and perform works by James Boyd, Domonique Angel, Thang Dao,Adrienne Hicks, Gregory Dolbashian, and Brynt Beitman , and more ! Now Erin teaches all over the metro Atlanta area sharing her passion for dance with her students.

Naomi James-Bentley

Born in Fort Bragg, NC to a British mother and an American father; Naomi is a choreographer, fitness professional, creative, teacher and coach. In 2008, she graduated from Bodywork Company Dance Studio in Cambridge, UK with a level 6 (Bachelor Degree) in Dance. After working in London, she moved to Atlanta to continue her career. 
Some of Naomi's past work includes: Pitch Perfect 2, Get On Up, B.O.B., Janelle Monae, Nashville, Disney and more.
With so much industry success, she is now following her purpose in training the next generation. Naomi looks forward to watching her students to grow into the best version of themselves. 

Jillian Padula 

Jillian Padula is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer based in Atlanta, GA. She is an emerging artist focusing in styles such as jazz, contemporary, lyrical, and technique.
Jillian has choreographed 4 state championship routines. She has created works for the 2022 and 2023 Dance Alabama productions, preformed in the University of Alabama’s internal dance company, and was recently apart of the Young Choreographers Convention in New York City. Jillian is a multi-time choreography award winner and strives to build up the dancers around her and encourage her students to do the same. She provides a safe and judgement free environment for her dancers to continue to progress. Jillian is very excited for the upcoming season at The Dance Academy.

Kayla Berry

Kayla Berry has grown up at The Dance Academy right before our very eyes! She started dancing at the age of 6 and joined the competitive company at 2017 and was always the self appointed Team Captain. Throughout high school Kayla was a proud member of the Ola High School Cheer Team. In 2023 she had the opportunity to let her natural leadership skills shine and take over classes and share her love of dance with the younger students. This Delta Sigma Theta debutante will be working toward her BIS in Law and Society at Georgia State University.