Our Team

Julie Grayson

Owner/Executive Director and Instructor

Originally from Waco, TX Julie Grayson began her dance training at the age of 3. Studying under Joy Burkhart, she developed a love for all forms of dance. In 1995 Julie was awarded a scholarship to attend Gus Giordano’s Jazz Dance Chicago in Evanston, IL. It was there that Julie was inspired to pursue a career in dance. In 1996 she began teaching jazz, tap and classical ballet at Joy’s School of Dance in Waco and discovered her love of teaching.

Julie received a Dance Management scholarship from Oklahoma City University where she continued her dance education under Jo Rowan, the renowned master ballet teacher and founder of what is now known as the Ann Lacy School of Dance and Entertainment. During her time at OCU Julie performed as a Pep Dancer for the Chiefs Basketball team, led chapel worship as a member of the Liturgical Dance Company, and was also a member of the critically acclaimed American Spirit Dance Company.

Although the direction of Julie’s life changed when she followed God’s calling into the field of nursing, her love of dance never faded. In 2015 she was involved in establishing a dance program at the School of the Arts at First Baptist Dallas, where she also instructed ballet and tap classes.

Julie is thrilled to now be leading the Danceworks Team and continuing its legacy of Faith, Family, Community, Personal Excellence and Leadership into the future. She and her husband, Rusty, live in Midlothian, TX where they homeschool their three fantastic daughters, Kate, Mia and Allie.

Summer Stevens

Director of Social Media, Graphic Design Director, and Instructor

Summer Stevens began dancing at the age of three at Danceworks with her mom and founder of Danceworks, Jennifer. She is trained in tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, flexibility, and contemporary. Summer became a member of Texas Association Teachers of Dancing in 2016 where she was certified in Jazz. She is now serving on the Board of Directors for TATD and is so honored to give back to the organization that has given her so much.

Summer is the choreographer for the Waxahachie Theatre Department where she has choreographed Chicago, Big Fish, Matilda, Something Rotten, and more!

Summer attended Texas A&M University where she graduated with a Bachelors in Psychology, a minor in Communication, and a Certificate in Event Management. While in college, she taught at On Our Toes Dance Studio.

Summer currently lives in Dallas, TX and works as an event planner during the day! She is so excited to teach at the studio she grew up in and follow in her mom’s footsteps at Danceworks.

Hayley Rasco

Business Manager, Director of Enrollment, and Instructor

Hayley Rasco began dancing at five years old at Danceworks and considers herself incredibly fortunate to have been taught by Ms. Jennifer Stevens for 13 years. Hayley is trained in ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and contemporary, but she has the greatest love for ballet.

After graduating high school, Hayley pursued her passion for creative problem-solving at the University of Texas at Arlington. She spent the next three and a half years earning her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, all the while dreaming about getting to dance again someday.

Eager to help in any way she could during Danceworks’ difficult first year without Jennifer, Hayley began working at the studio in 2018 and has been at Danceworks ever since. She quickly discovered that preschool-age dancers are her favorite ones to teach, and she has a blast teaching Creative Movement classes. She is thrilled to continue teaching and sharing her love for dance with the next generation of dancers.

Miss Hayley is very involved in her girls ministry at church, loves chocolate in all its forms, enjoys any kind of crafting, and most of all, loves making memories with her family. She lives in Waxahachie with her husband of 4 years and her two little boys.

Candice Gouse

Ballet Program Director and Instructor

For 22 years, Candice Gouse has been teaching children and adults the art of dance.   Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Candice spent the beginning years of her dance career training with various schools in Philadelphia, Washington DC and New York City.   She has studied with world renown teachers and companies such as Dance Del Bello, Alvin Ailey, Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet, Koresh Dance Company and University of the Arts.  Candice has professionally trained in ballet, lyrical, modern, jazz and pointe. In addition to traditional forms of dance, she has expanded her passion and knowledge to yoga, Pilates and Barre techniques. 

After a decade of performing on the stage and traveling with a regional production company, she found her real passion was in the classroom providing her students with an all-encompassing approach of performance knowledge; from core technique / terminology to stage etiquette and auditioning skills. Candice is proud to see her students blossom and perform on Broadway and other grand theater opportunities.   Their success drives Candice and continues her devotion to help all her students find and achieve their dreams. 

Off the stage, Candice spent time traveling the country with her husband, who served 22 years in the United States Air Force.   Candice and her husband, Fred, live in Ovilla, TX with their three daughters, Peyton, Simone and Amelia.  

Anna Rohrer

Instructor

Anna started dancing at the age of 3 and has continued dancing for the past 16 years! She grew up in Waco, Texas where she danced through high school at Joy’s School of Dance! Her favorite styles of dance are Tap and Sassy Jazz! Anna was a part of the JSOD Dance Company, a TATD Merit scholarship recipient, and was able to student assist dance classes at Joy’s for six years. She’s attended various dance conventions including TATD and Dance Revolution

When she moved to Dallas for school, Anna had the privilege to dance on the Patriettes dance team at DBU during her freshman year, and while she was on the team, they won a national championship at NDA in Daytona Beach, Florida!

Anna is going to be a junior at Dallas Baptist University where she is studying psychology to work in a Children’s Hospital as a Child Life Specialist. Once she graduates, Anna hopes to be able to work at a children’s hospital while also teaching dance alongside that.

Rebecca Hans

Instructor

Rebecca Hans began dancing under the Royal Academy of Dance curriculum at the age of five in Portland, Oregon. At age thirteen, she began training in ballet, lyrical, and modern dance at Briarwood Ballet in Birmingham, AL, eventually joining Immanuel, one of the school’s student performing companies. Throughout her dance training, Rebecca worked as a teaching assistant and quickly came to love teaching even more than she loved performing. She is grateful for the opportunity to stand on her spot, put her feet in a “V,” and encourage the imaginations of little dancers at Danceworks.

Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Baylor University, and a Master of Letters in Theology, Imagination, and the Arts from the University of St Andrews. She is the Children’s Ministry Director at Soma Waxahachie, and in her spare time, Rebecca can be found with a large cup of tea, accompanied by a good book and her beloved dog, Samwise.

Chloe Hawpe

Instructor

Chloe started dancing at the age of 6 in Stafford County, Virginia. She began to dance competitively in middle school for Epic Dance Studio and Studio J's Dance Companies in Oklahoma City, where she was trained in contemporary, jazz, musical theater, ballet, hip-hop, and pom. She attended multiple conventions and competitions through her training, even winning a national championship title in 2017. She has also performed at festivals and participated in dance video shoots.

Chloe was a member of her high school's varsity pom team for all four years, winning two state championships, MVP, and being appointed captain her senior year. Chloe got the exciting opportunity to be Miss Waxahachie 2023 and got to compete at Miss Texas with the goal of inspiring individuals to be empowered by their individuality! She is now a junior at Southwestern Assemblies of God University, pursuing a degree in Digital Media Arts. Chloe is so excited to be able to still dance in her life now as a teacher and is passionate about sharing her love of dance with all she meets! You can find her reading a book, watching a movie, or working on a new project in her free time!

Meagan Henriquez

Instructor

Meagan has been dancing since the age of three, and found her passion for teaching at the age of fifteen.  She has been involved with many after school programs with teaching dance to students as well as dance studios she attended. She won Top Soloist at Star Systems with the solo she choreographed with her brother Jonathan Campbell.  Meagan was also a Pulse Protégé where she could travel to any Pulse Convention for a year. She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in 2010.  She was a member of the Repertory I and II companies where she performed works by Robert Battle, Peter Chu, Bruce Wood, Larry Keigwin, and many more. 

By attending Booker T. Washington, she got the opportunity to audition for Point Park University.  Meagan received a scholarship to the University for a BFA for Modern dance.  While there, she got to perform for Sidra Bell and became Sidra’s apprentice for her professional company Sidra Bell Dance New York.  She has choreographed for local drill teams, such as Midlothian High School and Red Oak Middle/High School. Meagan and her husband, Bryan, have two beautiful girls: Selena and Sabrina. Meagan is so blessed to have been given this opportunity to teach at Danceworks and share her passion for dance with others. 

Warren Turner

Instructor

What is your MADNESS? What Motivates and Dedicates you to Never Ever Stop Striving? Warren discovered his gift of dance at the age of 12. From there, he joined choir in junior high and continued throughout his time in high school, discovering other musical talents along the way.

Warren has traveled around the U.S.A. as a platform guest for Bill Glass Behind the Walls Prison Ministry with his pastor and friend, Jonathan Bell, since 2009. Together, they have entertained countless people with their gifts of dance, comedy, and DJ skills through their company, M.A.D.N.E.S.S. Entertainment. Warren has performed at many local events too, including the Crape Myrtle Festival in Waxahachie, where thousands of people were in attendance.

Warren’s purpose in teaching dance is to encourage the dancer within, ignite confidence, and show the light of the star that is being born. He’s excited to embark on his first year with Danceworks, not just to learn new skills from other dancers, but to tell each others’ stories through dance.

Alicia Amatriain

Guest Instructor
Principal Dancer, Stuttgart Ballet, “Kammertaenzerin”

Alicia Amatriain was born in San Sebastian, Spain, where she received her first ballet training. She subsequently attended the John Cranko School in Stuttgart from which she graduated in 1998. She joined the Stuttgart Ballet as an apprentice and was taken into the Stuttgart Ballet’s Corps de ballet in 1999. In 2002 she was promoted to Principal Dancer. In 2015 she was awarded the national title of “Kammertaenzerin”, the highest status a dancer can achieve in Germany.

Her repertoire includes the leading roles in John Cranko’s Ballets such as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Tatiana in Onegin and Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew as well as a wide range of leading roles in full-length ballets such as the title roles in Giselle (after Coralli, Perrot, Petipa), La Sylphide (Peter Schaufuss after August Bournonville) and The Sleeping Beauty (Marcia Haydée after Petipa), Kitri in Don Quijote (Maximiliano Guerra after Petipa), Marguerite in The Lady of the Camellias and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (both John Neumeier). In addition, she dances works by, a.o., George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Glen Tetley, Maurice Béjart, Kenneth MacMillan, William Forsythe and Hans van Manen.

Several renowned choreographers have created roles for Alicia Amatriain in their ballets, including Wayne McGregor, Itzik Galili, Marco Goecke, Douglas Lee and Demis Volpi. Christian Spuck created the leading role in his ballet Lulu especially for her. Alicia Amatriain has received many honors and prizes such as the prestigious Prix Benois de la Dance in 2016, the German Theater Prize FAUST in 2015 and the German Dance Prize “Future” in 2006. Guest performances have led her to companies all over the world, including the Bolshoi Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Cuban National Ballet, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the State Ballet of Berlin and the English National Ballet.

McKenzie Holmes

Guest Instructor

McKenzie Holmes fell in love with dance as a young teenager at Dance Academy of Mansfield and was trained in classical ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, and contemporary. After a year at Danceworks, McKenzie went off to college, dancing pre-professionally with the Galveston Ballet and having the honor of leading worship with Galveston House of Prayer. After discovering swing dance in Europe, McKenzie returned home with a passion for couple dancing and began dabbling in country-western.

During the day, McKenzie works for a DC-based think tank. On the side, she loves to read fiction and is a freelance editor, novelist, and songwriter. She lives in Waxahachie with her family and her sheepadoodle pup, Willoughby.

Cayce Diggs

Guest Instructor

Cayce Diggs was born in Grand Prairie, TX, where she trained at several studios, including Metropolitan Ballet, Ballet Center of Fort Worth, and Ballet Academy of Texas. She studied under accomplished instructors, including Yelena Osipova, Alexander Vetrov, Chung-Lin and Enrica Tseng, Thom Clower, Mellissa Hamilton, and Lisa Slagle. During summers, she participated in programs such as Juilliard, Ballet West, Lines Ballet, Complexions, Tulsa Ballet, and Dallas Black Dance Theater on scholarship.

She joined Tulsa Ballet in 2020 and danced as a trainee for two years. In 2022, she moved back to TX and joined Zion Dance Project as a company member, where she dances professionally as a contemporary dancer.

Over the years, she has had many opportunities to be in new works created by choreographers such as Ma Cong, Jera Wolfe, Jay Kim, LeeWei Chao, Maria Konrad, Rex Tilton, Chung Lin Tseng, Vincent Hardy, and many others.

She has also choreographed several pieces, including a group work called "Isolation", a solo piece named "I'll Know", and a duet for a film produced by The Demand Project.

Andelyn Westmoreland

Intern

Andelyn Westmoreland started dancing when she was 3, and it was love at first class. Now 14 years later she still loves every second of it! She has been a Danceworks assistant for 5 years and is EXTREMELY excited to get the opportunity to teach this year. She and her two sisters, Camilla and Evie, have been homeschooled by their mom for their entire lives and are very involved with the children at their church. Along with dance Andelyn and her family raise longhorn cattle and have many other animals to keep them busy. Andelyn has a huge love for teaching kids of all ages and is looking forward to being challenged as a teacher. She hopes to show her students how to grow into graceful and confident people who show their love of dance through every step!

Mia Grayson

Intern

Mia has been dancing at Danceworks for 6 years and has been a Danceworks Student Assistant for 3 years. While her favorite dance styles are jazz and contemporary, Mia loves performing in Danceworks' Nutcracker Tea each year. This summer Mia attended a 2-week ballet intensive at Ballet Magnificat! in Jackson, MS, where she had the opportunity to train with professional ballet dancers from all over the world. She can’t wait to teach her first class as a Danceworks Intern this fall and share her love of dance with other students. When she’s not at the studio, Mia can be found reading a book in the sun and playing her guitar.

Evie Westmoreland

Intern

Evie Westmoreland has grown up here in Waxahachie, Texas. She has taken dance with Danceworks since she was four years old, she has been a Danceworks Student Assistant since she was ten years old, and she is currently a Danceworks Intern at the age of fifteen. Evie has trained in several genres of dance including ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, and lyrical. She was also involved in competitive gymnastics pretty much ever since she could walk until she ended her national championship career when she was nine years old. Evie now considers gymnastics to be a fun and beloved hobby.

Some fun facts about Evie: she and her family are ranchers and they primarily raise Texas Longhorn Cattle. Their ranch name is Gang Of 5 Longhorns. Evie was homeschooled, graduated high school at the age of thirteen, and began her college education at the age of fourteen. Some of Evie’s favorite things to do are: anything with her parents and two sisters, doing Church activities, babysitting, playing the piano, playing the banjo, cooking/baking, creating digital designs, doing watercolor painting, and co-hosting her ranch’s podcast. Evie strives to make each Danceworks student feel special, loved, and to have them enjoy their time in dance class as much she does.