faculty

Rendee Combs has been dancing since the age of five and teaching dance since the age of 14.  She began her dance career under the direction of Wanda Manville at Tempe Dance Academy (TDA), voted as one of the top 50 dance schools in the US and Canada. She received many awards during her youth as a company dancer with TDA.

Rendee also danced in college for the prestigious University of Arizona Pom Line from 1991 to 1995.  As a “Wildcat Pommie” she danced and performed at Wildcat basketball and football games in arenas and stadiums before thousands of people and on national television.  Highlights included performing on the field at the 1993 Fiesta Bowl and on the court at the 1994 NCAA Final Four tournament in Charolette, NC. 

Before coming to North Central Phoenix, Rendee owned and directed Desert West Dance Academy (DWDA) in the West Valley for 20 years.  Starting her studio with just a boom box in a rented classroom, she grew DWDA into one of the premier dance studios in Arizona.  Her students performed at community events throughout the Valley and state and won championships and awards at regional and national competitions. Rendee grew her small studio into the studio of her dreams by believing in herself and never giving up, qualities she tries to instill into all of her students. Rendee’s former students can be seen in professional musicals, commercials, videos, collegiate, and professional performance teams, and as a die-hard Wildcat. She is most proud that two of her dancers went on to follow in her footsteps as members of the UofA Pom Line.

Rendee is also an award-winning choreographer and is a certified member of Dance Masters of Arizona.  She has danced, performed, and competed throughout Arizona and the US as well as abroad to perform in the Caribbean.  Besides her work at AZDD, she serves as a judge at the high school and college level competitions and tryouts in Arizona.

Rendee feels blessed to continue the legacy of Cannedy Performing Arts Center and excited to share her expertise and love of dance with the families and staff of AZDD. 

Cleopatra Avery, whose hometown is Carlisle, Pennsylvania, began her training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under Marcia Dale Weary. She originated roles by Sherry Morray and Alan Hineline. She continued training at Pacific Northwest Ballet School summer intensive in 2006 and 2007.

Cleopatra went on to join the Richmond Ballet in 2008, and then The Suzanne Farrell Ballet in 2010. She danced roles in The Nutcracker, Coppelia, La Bayadere, Giselle, and Sleeping Beauty.

Cleopatra’s Balanchine repertoire includes The Nutcracker, Who Cares?, Raymonda Variations, Divertimento No. 15, Valse Fantisies, La Source,  alpurgisnacht, Danses Concertantes, Diamonds, Concerto Barocco, Agon, Pithoprakta, Serenade and Stars and Stripes. Cleopatra has been teaching in Arizona since 2014, sharing her love and passion for dance.

Paula Carr has been teaching in the Valley for more than 27 years as well as the Owner/Director of the Paula Carr Dance Academy for 20 years.

Paula started dancing at the age of two right here in the Valley and continued at Camelback High School and through college at the University of Arizona. She minored in dance and performed for three fun years on the Arizona Pomline with studio owner, Rendee.

Laura Costa grew up in Phoenix and has been dancing since the age of four.  She has had extensive training and education through local dance studios in all styles of dance, predominantly in Jazz, Tap, Ballet and Modern Dance through the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts School of Music, Dance and Theatre.  In addition Laura is a certified Mind Body Mat Pilates trainer and a Rainbow Yoga Kids/Family certified instructor.

Laura served as the Studio Manager for Cannedy Performing Arts Centre from 2001-2017.  As director and mentor of the Student Teaching Apprenticeship Program, Laura helped to develop many dance teachers and professionals.  Throughout her 16 years at Cannedy Laura worked with dancers of all ages and skill sets; from toddlers in creative movement, to adult beginner Tap, teen advanced competitive Jazz and everything in between.  She created the Tiny Dancers program allowing children to participate in dance at the age of two (some still in diapers and using pacifiers) and more easily transition into preschool dance.

Sydnie DeGraff started her dance training at five years old in multiple genres including jazz, contemporary, tap, ballet, and pointe. She attended Arizona School for the Arts and the School of Ballet Arizona where her focused studies were in modern, flamenco, pointe, and ballet. She then attended The University of Arizona School of Dance and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. 

While at the University of Arizona School of Dance, she performed in works choreographed by artists such as Tamara Dyke-Compton, Lorin Mathis, Christopher Compton, Marquez Johnson and Eve Lawson. 

She has a love of helping students cultivate their love for the art of dance through teaching ballet, pointe, jazz, modern and setting choreography.

Logan’s hometown is Calhoun, Louisiana and her dance journey started at the age of three where she received elementary dance skills under the instruction of Missy Crain for a few years. At the age of 12, she started taking classes at a local studio, Linda Lavender School of Dance (LLSD) where she discovered a passion for dance that changed her life. Logan trained extensively in ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, hip hop, and contemporary/lyrical under Linda Lavender and her faculty’s instruction. 

She became a competitive dancer at the age of 13 as well as a member of the Twin City Ballet company that was accompanied with LLSD, where she performed for the community on multiple occasions, including classical ballets such as the Nutcracker. She traveled for competitions as well as dance festivals to perform and compete and was selected as one of five dancers to perform on live television for the Miss Louisiana Pageant.

Logan began assisting with teaching at LLSD in 2020 and that led her to fall in love with teaching students the beautiful art of dance. In 2022, she moved to Phoenix, AZ and found her new dance home at AZ Dance District! 

Rayna is very passionate about dance! She enjoys sharing her love and devotion for dance with all students, regardless of their experience or capability. Rayna began dancing at the age of two and has never stopped.

Rayna danced competitively until the age of 17 and then continued her dancing career at Disney World in Orlando Florida as a Disney performer! She loves jazz, hip hop, musical theater, and tap. Most importantly she loves to inspire and push her students to their greatest potential! 

Megan Neese started her competitive dance training at Gotta Dance Company, at the age of 12, in styles that included contemporary, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, ballroom, modern, etc. She was able to continue her dance education by receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Dance at Grand Canyon University. While studying there, her choreography received many awards, and she was able to perform in the American College Dance Association Gala.

Alongside her studies, she teaches and choreographs at local dance studios and high schools. Additionally, she trains with local companies such as Automatic Response & Bodies Contemporary Dance Company. She has participated in multiple dance industrial jobs with Strong Productions, trained with Zion Dance Project on full scholarship, and was a part of IAF’s mentorship program led by Chehon Wespi-Tschopp. In addition, she got the opportunity to perform in the most recent Super Bowl halftime show with Rihanna, led by choreographer Parris Goebel. She is currently signed with Go 2 Talent Agency.

Hailey is an award-winning choreographer and a certified Jazz dance instructor through Dance Masters of America. She has also guest choreographed and judged tryouts at different schools. At AZDD, she is Studio Manager, Company Director, runs the studio’s social media platforms, and teaches all jazz classes. 

Hailey grew up dancing at a studio near Portland, Oregon. Since the age of 12, she attended competitions and conventions all around the Pacific Northwest and trained extensively in different styles including jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, tap, Acro, and hip hop. A large part of her training included Kinstretch and Functional Range Conditioning, which are joint mobility conditioning and injury prevention systems developed entirely through scientific research. 

Hailey’s passion for teaching began while she was an assistant dance instructor and she realized she loved helping kids discover their love for dance. When she was 18, she moved to Phoenix where she studied dance at Grand Canyon University and took the time to explore the non-technical, contemporary movement side of dance to supplement her technical training.

Hailey found a home at AZDD in 2019, a studio that shared all of her teaching values. In her teaching experience, she has taught from age 2-18 in combo classes, jazz, contemporary, ballet, tap, and hip hop. She is a big believer that dance skills are directly translated into life skills, and her teaching methods are based on building strong technical foundations and using positive, detailed feedback to develop a dancer. 

Vince started as a competitive gymnast in High School and has since been a girls gymnastics instructor for 14 years. Vince is a certified acrobatics instructor by Dance Masters of America. When not teaching, he enjoys camping and traveling with his family.

Lara grew up dancing under AZDD owner, Rendee Combs. Upon graduating high school, she was a member of the The University of Arizona Pomline and was a dance teacher at Buckeye Union High School for six years. Lara is thrilled to be dancing with Rendee again, but with the privilege of being an instructor.