About Us

Ballet, Pointe, YAGP Coach, Project Dance Pittsburgh Producer, Outreach Team

Experience

Toni started her dance training at the age of three. She studied with many renowned instructors, such as David Howard, Patricia McBride, Jonathan Phelps, Patricia Sorrell, Cherie Noble, Richard Cook, Marcia Dale Weary, Darla Hoover, Gennadi Vostrikov, and Robert Steele, and has performed with various groups throughout the Eastern United States.

Toni danced professionally with Harrisburg Ballet for two years before moving to the Pittsburgh area. She has completed the Teacher Training Seminar at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and has become a certified Instructor with the American Ballet Theater Teacher Curriculum.

Toni is currently a team leader for the Adult, Teen, and Youth Dance Teams at Word of Life Church in Greensburg, PA. Toni and her husband have three wonderful children, Michael, Kaitlyn, and Jacob.

Tap, Jazz, Zumba, Hip Hop, Project Dance Co-Producer, Group Fitness, Office Administrator

Experience

Michelle is originally from Binghamton, New York where she began studying dance the age of 8. She has studied classical ballet, tap, jazz, musical theater, voice and drama. She later added pointe, hip-hop, ballroom, modern, contact and contemporary dance. 

From 2004 to 2010 she owned and operated her own studio in Binghamton, New York. Her students attended many competitions on both the regional and national levels. Michelle’s choreography and original costume designs have received many high score, special recognition and superior achievement awards. She has choreographed over 300 original pieces of choreography, including 3 original full length ballets. 

Michelle is a student member of Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway, in New York City. She has studied with renowned teachers Jeff Shade, Frank Hatchett, Suzi Taylor, Mimi Quinlin, Leslie Browne and many others. For the past several years she has attended Project Dance New York with Pazaz students and staff. In 2019, along with Miss Toni and other Pazaz staff, she Co-Produced Project Dance Pittsburgh as the Administrative Director for the event. 

In 2017 she obtained a certification by Zumba International to teach Zumba B1 and Gold. In January 2020 she joined the office staff as an administrative assistant, and she is very excited and pleased to expand her role at PCDA. Also in 2020, she has become AFAA certified (American Fitness & Athletics Association) for group exercise. This new training specializes in group movement, safe stretching, injury prevention and fitness education, along with adult and pediatric CPR/AED and first aid training. 

Michelle lives in Greensburg with her husband Joe and their 2 sons Nick and Brandon. They are members of Word of Life Church in Greensburg. 

Preschool, Ballet, Tap

Experience

Carissa has been dancing for twelve years. She has spent the past ten of those years dancing at Pazaz. She has attended summer intensives at The Dance Conservatory of Pittsburgh and Ekklesia School of Ballet. Carissa has attended Project Dance New York four times and Project Dance Pittsburgh once. She competed and took master classes at YAGP two years in a row. Carissa taught ballet and hip hop for Penn Township Area Recreation Commission for one year. 

For the past three years Carissa has been directing Greensburg Alliance Church’s dance ministry. For Greensburg Alliance Church’s 2018 Christmas Eve services she had the chance to perform a pas de deux with and choreographed by Ben Rabe, a dancer from The Rochester City Ballet. Carissa was homeschooled all throughout her schooling and is currently taking a gap year. 

Carissa has attended Greensburg Alliance Church for seventeen years. She is actively involved there especially in children’s ministry where she helps with the toddlers and preschoolers for both the Sunday and Wednesday programs. Carissa is passionate about finding ways to use dance to help others and reach them for Christ.

Ballet, Pointe, Certified PBT Trainer (Progressive Ballet Training)

Experience

Dinah Mason is a graduate of Point Park University with a B.A. in Dance.  She studied Vaganova (Russian) ballet under Petrus Van Muyden, the Primier Danseur of the Paris Opera.  Dinah founded and ran her own dance school for 23 years which closed at the end of 2008. 

Through the many years of teaching, Dinah developed a unique and pleasingly friendly teaching philosophy.  Dinah has danced for more the 50 years and her love for the art form is one of the gifts she passes on to her students.   She is very pleased to be a part of Pazaz Christian Dance Academy.

Contemporary, Hip Hop, YAGP Coach

Experience

Rachael has studied dance for over 20 years. Exploring, many different styles, what she loves above all is dance’s ability to communicate story & emotion and form connections. In college, she founded & directed a dance division of the theatre department while majoring in education.

Along with years of jazz, tap, ballet, pointe, & hip hop, she has also taught & explored swing, modern, salsa, tango, Bollywood, & African. She hopes to someday make the marriage of special education & the performing arts common practice.

Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Baton, YAGP Coach

Experience

Michelle has studied baton since the age of three. She has competed in numerous competitions all over the United States, both in group and individual performances. She was captain of her squad in both junior and senior divisions, as well as in college. She has twirled many different types of batons, including hoop, flag and fire.

Michelle has studied Ballet, Tap, Jazz, and Pointe at Pazaz and continues to grow by leaps and bounds. She is very excited to share her passion for dance with the dancers at Pazaz.

Ballet, Pointe, YAGP Coach

Experience

Aimée has been dancing since she was seven and has been teaching dance in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania for more than twenty five years. She received her early training and teaching experiences at Anderson Young Ballet Theatre (AYBT) where she performed leads in such ballets as Cinderella, Coppelia, Giselle, Nutcracker, The Red Shoes, and Sleeping Beauty as well as many original works.

As a company member she attended many Regional Dance America Dance Festivals. During this time she also worked with the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre as a trainee, performed in the 10th Pan American Games Opening Ceremonies as a professional dancer, and competed in several ballet competitions including the Association of Arts and Letters National Competition in Dance. 

Ballet, YAGP Coach

Experience

Yael began her ballet training when Pazaz first opened in 2003. Over the years, she has attended workshops held by CPYB, Vertical Movement, and Ballet Magnificat.  Yael has performed on Times Square in New York City 3 years in a row with PCDA and studied with many professional artists at the Project Dance, New York Workshops. Yael was homeschooled for 7 years by her parents.

In May of 2016, she became a homeschool graduate. She currently attends Westmoreland County Community College for Office Administration and is the audio/visual technician at The Way Church. She loves to worship God using the gift He gave her, dance! She is very excited to teach others how to dance for Jesus!

Tap, Jazz, Acro, Tumbling, Special Needs, Conditioning

Jenny joined the army after high school and was a linguist in military intelligence and on the army’s run team. During her tour in Bosnia, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  She has been using food, herbs, and supplements as alternative therapies to treat the MS for about 7 years now and has almost completely cured it from her body.  

She is currently majoring in biochemistry at Saint Vincent College under their pre-med program, and will eventually become a naturopathic doctor.  She says Natural medicine has helped her so much, that she must use it to help others!  In addition to teaching dance and going to college, she is also a homeschooler mom!