Anderson Dance Academy

Julie Roberts Arnold

Julie has been teaching and choreographing for the past 18 years. She has trained at the University of Cincinnati's prepartory and attended U.C's Conservatory of Music as a classical ballet major. Julie's background is primarily in classical ballet and she has trained in both Cecchetti and Vaganova methods. Mrs. Arnold earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee. She founded Anderson Dance Academy in June of 1998 and directed the studio until 2008. Julie is a licensed instructor and member of Dance Masters of America. She is a former member of both the Turpin High School and University of Cincinnati's dance teams. She has studied ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, modern and ballroom dancing. She is currently enjoying teaching and coaching competitive and non-competitive dancers at Anderson Dance Academy. Julie is married and the proud mother of three young boys!

Kelly O’Dell

Kelly has an extremely strong passion for dance, and has been dancing/or involved with dance for over 25 years. She has been taught/instructed under Amy Reik for many of those years, and has training in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, pointe, modern, acro, musical theater, kick, pom, and hip hop. In high school, Kelly was very involved in her dance studio, was the recipient of several scholarships, and competed locally and nationally, with their Performance Team, to win many first place awards. She was a four year member of the Turpin High School dance team, of which she was the captain and choreographer for two years, and shared in the winning of several 1st place, national titles, and 2nd place in the Miss Showcase Pageant. In 1999, Kelly won a workshop scholarship from Paula Abdul’s Co-Dance circuit. She attended Point Park College as a scholarship recipient her freshman year, attended the University of Kansas; where she was a dance team member and a dance major, and then attended the University of Cincinnati where she was a member of the UC Dance Team for three years. She was part of the team when they won their, first ever, national title in Orlando, Florida, and received the “most valuable” dancer award. Since graduating from UC, with a degree in graphic design, she has judged many high school dance team competitions, and has choreographed competition routines on the high school and collegiate level. She has run several dance clinics in Ohio, and has taught dance at various studios. In 2006, she had the opportunity to choreograph her first musical for the Footlighters, Inc., a community theatre organization, called Seussical The Musical. Kelly’s love for dance is almost as great, as her love for her little four year old daughter, Brianna!

Brandie Thomas

Brandie was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and began dancing and cheerleading at the age of four. She competed both regionally and nationally, winning numerous awards including 3rd place at cheer nationals 2003 in Orlando. She was a member of the Heidelberg University dance team and later received a degree in Medical Technology from IMDT. Brandie has been teaching at Anderson Dance Academy since 2006, specializing in Hip Hop and Jazz. In 2009, she became a certified Zumba instructor which led her to go back to school. She is now obtaining a degree from Cincinnati State in Health and Fitness. During her career at ADA, Brandie has choreographed for competition teams, solos and has continued her dance training by taking various master classes, including a class from SYTYCD’s Shane Sparks and MTV’s, Taking the Stage, Tyler Nelson. She loves teaching dance and mentoring the young students at ADA. Brandie is married and the proud mother of two little boys!

Kelli Barton

Kelli Barton has been training for 18 years and teaching for 6 years. She is very versatile in her dance styles including ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap, hip hop, and partnering. Kelli was a member of the Turpin Dance Team from 2004-2008 and was the captain her senior year. In 2008 she was the Creative Dance Production solo competition winner as well as a finalist in the Cincinnati Arts Association’s Overture Awards. Kelli is currently a senior at the University of Cincinnati studying pre-physical therapy and is a member of the dance team. During Kelli’s time on the University of Cincinnati's Dance Team, they were the 2009 UDA national hip hop champions and the 2009/2011 ICU world hip hop, jazz, and pom champions.

Lindsay Rehage

Lindsay has been dancing since she was seven years old and it has been a part of her life ever since that time. She studied at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and received a Bachelor in the Arts from The Ohio State University. Before moving back to Cincinnati Lindsay danced with a Columbus based dance studio and taught dance and theatre for them as well. Lindsay is thrilled to share her love of the stage with the students and staff at Anderson Dance Academy.

Sam Geverts

I've been dancing for 12 years 7 of which were at Anderson Dance Academy. I was on the dance team at Nagel Middle School and on the tap competition team at ADA. While at Wittenberg University I was on the dance team and the student dance company. After transferring back home to UC, I kept up with dance by becoming a Zumba instructor and finding a new love for Latin dance. Dance has been a huge part of my life and I love making it a part of others lives as well.