Christina McDonald - Artistic Director
Christina has been studying dance since she was a young child. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Dance from Jacksonville University as well as an A.A. in Business. While in college, she worked with several famous choreographers who instructed residencies at J.U. as well as who set choreography on a select group of dance majors. Christina founded Sigma Rho Delta honors Dance Fraternity at J.U. and was President. Mrs. McDonald received choreography awards while at JU and also from the Dance Troupe Dance Convention in 1993 and Adrenaline Dance Competition in 2006. She was a member of the Brunswick Civic Ballet Company for 10 years and a soloist for 6 of those years. Her teaching experiences include 6 years in the Brunswick, St. Simons area. She began teaching in Jacksonville in the fall of 1986 an became the owner and Artistic director in the summer of 1989. Other experiences in the dance field include: Appearing in promotional dance videos, reorganizing the Movin’ Company Dance Troupe, choreographing and performing for Jacksonville’s Actors Theater, choreographing for Theatre Jacksonville, instructing for Theatre Jacksonville’s Summer Arts Camp, instructing at the J.C.A.’s Summer Arts Camp, Choreographing for San Jose Catholic and St. Joseph’s, trips to attend classes in New York City at Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, Martha Graham, David Howard, Alvin Ailey, and Eric Hawkins, instructing through Duval County’s Magnet programs for 5 years, making a children's aerobic video and assisting with First Coast Nutcracker. Mrs. McDonald has owned and directed Fascinatin’ Rhythm Studio of Dance for 20 years!
Leah Strickland
Miss Leah has been instructing at Fascinatin’ Rhythm since the fall of 2006. She has danced for 20 years at Fascinatin’ Rhythm where she was also a member of the Movin’ Company and Tap Ensemble for 5 years and participated in many competitions, conventions and local area shows. She attended classes in New York City at both Alvin Ailey and Broadway Dance Center. Miss Leah has been a substitute and assistant teacher and taught during the Summer Dance Camp. She was also a cheerleading coach at Hendricks Day School for two years and took her squad to many competitions where they won many trophies and awards, including 2004 Division State Champs! She received her Bachelors Degree in Community Health with a minor in Exercise Science in 2010 from UNF. She won a choreography award at Starpower and received a style award at VIP in 2010.
Sara Jane Hamilton
Mrs. Sara was born in Brighton, England. She is married and has three children, including two daughters who have danced at the studio. Mrs. Hamlin attended Salton College in London, England. She has a strong interest in child psychology and is working towards her masters in child psychology with a grade point average of 4.0. Sara has been on the Dean’s List and is a member of the Honor Society. While in London, Mrs. Sara studied with Ballet Rambert for 4 years. After moving to the United States, Mrs. Hamlin studied in Rochester, New York at the Rochester School of Ballet which is affiliated with the American Ballet Theatre. She continued her dance education at the Gainesville School of Dance for 3 years. Sara has danced at Fascinatin’ Rhythm for the past 15 years. She has modeled both in England and the U.S. For 7 years she was a high level competitive rider. She was a member of the Jacksonville Country Day School Board of Parents for 4 years, has chaired and assisted with numerous charitable functions including fundraising for the Florida Theatre, and has been with Derek J. Hamlin M.D. Corporation (Radiology) for many years. She is wonderful with the young children and we are thrilled to have her as an instructor at Fascinatin’ Rhythm.
Kim Matovina
Kim was born and raised here in Jacksonville and has been dancing for 17 years in the community. She spent 8 years dancing here at Fascinatin’ Rhythm and was a company member for 7 of the 8 years. She attended many competitions and workshops throughout the Northeast Florida area and has also spent several weeks studying in New York City at Broadway Dance Center. Through her high school years, she was a member of Bartram Trail Dance Team, a team that has been nationally ranked for over ten years now. Ms. Kim taught here for 2 years before taking a break from teaching to focus on school. For the past 2 years she has been a guest artist at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and has studied under guest artists such as: David Parsons, Kiara Eli, Missy Ponder- Reston, Tiffany Sullivan, Wes Chapman, Pilobolus, Attila Joey Csiski, Adrienne Clancy, and American Ballet Theatre II. In December 2010, Kim graduated from Jacksonville University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance.
Rhonda Lalonde
Rhonda, a Jacksonville native, began her dance training at Fascinatin’ Rhythm Studio of Dance at the age of 5. Continuing her training in high school, Rhonda attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and graduated as a dance major in 1994. To then further her education, she went on to study dance at Florida Community College of Jacksonville. She studied under teachers such as Arthur Duncan, Frank Hatchett, Gregory Hines, Mia Michaels, Beytee Morrow: former student of Gene Kelly and has attended countless classes at The Alvin Ailey School of Dance and Broadway Dance Center in NYC. In 2005 she accepted the Dance Director position at St. Johns County Center for the Arts at St. Augustine High School and doubled the enrollment within her first 2 years. As the director she was responsible for providing an educational atmosphere where the dancers could fufill their potential for intellectual and physical growth. She also coached the Ja’Quettes dance team and choreographed musicals such as “West Side Story”, “Music Man” and “Guys and Dolls”. Mrs. Lalonde has won numerous awards for her choreography and been a guest teacher throughout Duval and St. Johns County.
Vanessa Gospich
Miss Vanessa began teaching at Fascinatin’ Rhythm in the summer of 2009. Prior to joining our staff she was a substitute teacher for us after moving from Cleveland, Ohio. Miss Gospich danced for over 17 years at Bobbie Barna’s Dance Studio in Solon, Ohio where she began assisting and instructing her own tap, lyrical, and hip hop classes. She competed for 6 years throughout the Northeast. Vanessa also attended technique classes in New York City at Broadway Dance Center. She is trained in ballet, lyrical, jazz, cheerleading, hip hop and tap. She hopes to continue a higher education in dance this winter. Vanessa is excited to bring her knowledge of story telling through dance and choreography to the dance stage.
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Erin Pitts
Erin began dancing at age 3 and became a student at Fascinatin’ Rhythm at age 7. She has been trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, tap, and pas de deux. She was a member of the Moving Company for 10 years where she won many awards for solo and group performances. Erin began instructing at Fascinatin’ Rhythm in 2000 at age 16. She has also performed in the Community Nutcracker in Jacksonville Florida for 12 years where she has danced various solo and core roles. In 2004, Erin was a member of the ROAR of the Jaguars. She had the opportunity to meet and dance for thousands of Jaguar fans as well as participate in many activities related to Superbowl XXXIX. After moving to Georgia to teach for and dance in Atlanta Festival Ballet, Erin returned to Jacksonville and resumed teaching at Fascinatin’ Rhythm. She was also a member and director for the Ice Girls (Barracudas hockey team) and the Jacksonville Sunbeams (Suns baseball team). Recently, Erin has danced for Dulce Anaya of Jacksonville Ballet Theatre, Debbie Peters- Rankin of Baggs Studio of Ballet, and Kim Lyons of Florida Get Dancing. Erin is a licensed massage therapist and is currently working in the administrative department at Signature Healthcare of Jacksonville nursing home. She lives in the mandarin area with her family and daughter, Rylee.
Jenay Torres
Jenay Torres has been dancing since the age of seven. She was a member of the Movin’ Company Dance Troupe for nine years where see performed and competed receiving numerous high score awards. She attended LaVilla School of the Arts where she received the award of “Best All Around Dancer” from the head of the dance department. Jenay attended Mandarin High School and was a member of their dance team. She has always had a passion for dance and creativity while choreographing her own solos and choreographing for her high school’s pep rallies during her senior year. Jenay has been an assistant teacher at Fascinatin’ Rhythm for seven years, a substitute teacher for two years, and is now ready to put her creativity to use with her own classes.
Kacie Hood
Kacie danced at Fascinatin’ Rhythm for 12 years and was a member of the Movin’ Company Dance Team for 9 years. She has attended numerous competitions and conventions throughout Florida. Missa Kacie was a member of Episcopal High School’s Dance Ensemble and won Most Outstanding Dancer award. As a member of EHS Dance, she attended National High School Dance Festival in Miami and taken classes at New World School of the Arts. Miss Kacie attended Broadway Dance Center’s Convention, The Pulse in Atlanta and studied under various instructors including Shane Sparks, Dave Scott, Mia Michaels, Brian Friedman and Chris Judd. She has been attending FSU for the past 2 years and is currently studying elementary education at UNF.
Katelyn Blow
Katelyn has been dancing for 14 years. For the last 11 years she has been dancing at Fascinatin’ Rhythm. She has performed, competed and attended conventions as a member of the Movin’ Company Dance Team for the past 8 years. Katelyn has received numerous scholarships at competitions & conventions including a scholarship from Broadway Dance Center’s convention “The Pulse” where she had the privilege of taking classes from famous choreographers such as Mia Michaels, Tyce Diorio, Wade Robson, Desmond Richardson and many others. Katelyn is a Dance Major at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts where she receives training in various areas of dance from renowned teachers and guest artists. Katelyn has been a member of DA Tap Ensemble performing group for the past 2 years. She has also attended dance workshops at The University of Florida as well as spending several summers studying with The Florida Ballet. Katelyn has danced in performances of “The Nutcracker” for the past 8 years with The Florida Ballet and First Coast Nutcracker. She also performed in The Moscow Ballet’s performance of “Cinderella”. Katelyn has been an assistant teacher at Fascinatin’ Rhythm for the past 5 years and this past year was a substitute instructor and a teacher at Red Hot Dance Camp.
Becky Richmond
Becky trained at Fascinatin' Rhythm while growing up. During that time she was an active member of the Movin' Company Dance Team and Tap Ensemble. Becky has traveled to New York City to attend classes at Steps on Broadway, David Howard Ballet Center, Martha Graham and Broadway Dance Center. Becky attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts where she studied under guest artists and participated in several dance concerts. Becky has attended many regional and national dance competitions and conventions such as DanceMakers, Tremaine, Showstoppers, New York City Dance Alliance and Dance Troupe. We are excited to have her back this year as an instructor.