Our Staff
ANTONIA FREEHLING Owner/Director
Antonia Freehling (Toni) is a certified dance instructor in ballet and jazz through Dance Educators of America. “Miss Toni” has been instructing dance since the age of 16, and studying dance since the age of four. Miss Toni grew up dancing in Colorado Springs training in ballet, pointe, tap and jazz with teachers that included Barbara Benish, Esther Geoffrey, and Barbara Ellis. Miss Toni has had the pleasure to learn from Patricia Dickenson, Valerie Roche, Juan Sanchez and Patsy Swayze. After being an assistant to her teacher Barbara Benish, Miss Toni began instructing and choreographing at Benish Dance Express in 1990.
Miss Toni graduated from Creighton University, Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Exercise Physiology and a minor in Dance Education. At Creighton, Miss Toni studied the Royal Academy of Ballet syllabus under the acclaimed Valerie Roche. Miss Toni also enjoyed studying modern and tap in Creighton’s dance program. Miss Toni gained experience with competitive choreography while at Creighton as the captain of the dance team. She performed, choreographed and inspired the team leading them to many awards at the Division I National level, including a national title.
Since 2003, Miss Toni has been instructing and choreographing for ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, broadway, and combination classes. Miss Toni brings an extensive knowledge of dance technique, anatomy and physiology to her classroom. Encouraging her students to understand their bodies and make the connections between anatomy and technique. Miss Toni also enjoys teaching classes on nutrition and body awareness. Miss Toni has continued to train with excellent teachers and loves being a life-long student of dance. Miss Toni is passionate about teaching dance and inspiring the love of dance in people of all ages and abilities.
CERESA RILEY Director, Company Choreographer, Leaps&Turns, Jazz, Lyrical & more!
Ceresa Riley is a versatile dancer, singer, actor, and choreographer. Her teaching and performance opportunities have taken her all over the world including countries like Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Japan, and more. Under Antonia Freehling’s direction, Ceresa has received the honor to teach and choreograph at Revolution Dance Academy, and now Parker Dance Academy, in which she has received multiple choreography awards from multiple dance education competitions.
Ceresa is a graduate of Don Mirault’s Theater Arts Preparatory School. She has had the honor to work with ballet master Don Bellamy, Mayfair vocalist Steve Judkins, High School Musical choreographer Bonnie Story, as well as Las Vegas producer Nick Geurts.
KATRINA LAIRSMITH Contemporary & Jazz, Company Choreography
Katrina Lairsmith began her dance training by watching classes at a local ballet school located across the alley from her house. She would go straight there after school and watch for hours and practice what she saw, she was offered a scholarship to Cleo Parker Robinson training group and that’s where she fell in love with dance. She spent 3 years dancing for the Denver Nuggets and began dabbling in choreography. Los Angeles came calling and she packed her car and headed out for Hollywood, receiving a spot in the notorious EDGE scholarship program, she met Mia Michaels, Jackie Sleight, Terry Beeman and fell in love with contemporary dance and began developing her unique style of movement. She trained in NYC at Alvin Ailey and Steps, finding inspiration in every class.
Katrina founded The Damsels Dance Company in 1998, a contemporary ballet dance company dedicated to providing assistance to women in crisis. The Damsels and Katrina Lairsmith received accolades from Glen Giffin, the Denver Post Arts critic writing, “At her best Lairsmith choreography is visually arresting.” She opened Colorado Contemporary Dance Academy where she won the national title from LAdanceforce for Hide and seek. Katrina was also awarded Educator of the year from the Co-Dance dance convention. Additionally, she was a guest judge on Dance Moms in 2017 and received a national championship from KAR dance competition for No choir.
Katrina is the owner of Collabratory Complex opened in 2021, and this is her first year as managing director of Parker Dance Academy!
SHELLY CATES WILLIAMS, Ballet Program Director, Ballet, Ballet Company, Nutcracker Director
Shelly earned her Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts at the United States International University School of Performing Arts in San Diego CA. She continued professionally, performing lead rolls in over 500 major ballet stage and television productions and teaching all levels of ballet and Master Classes for Ballet West, Milwaukee Ballet, Academy of Ballet Florida and San Diego Ballet. Shelly has had the privilege of working under the direction of Agnes DeMille, Sallie Wilson and Tony Landers of the American Ballet Theatre; John Hart, Basil Thompson, Erling Sunde and Brian Shaw of Royal Ballet in England. Bobby Rodham, Vicky Simon and Violette Verde of the New York City Ballet and T.C. Wilson. This will be her 12th year teaching with Parker Dance Academy.
JESSICA STRONG, Children’s Program Director, Little Ones, and Ballet/Tap.
Jessica has been a member of the Colorado Dance Community for over 20 years. Having started her training at Gayton Dance World and Youth Ballet Colorado, she was bit by the ballet bug at an early age. She devoted her younger years to intensive ballet training at the Academy of Colorado Ballet where she had the honor to perform in several Company and Studio Company performances. As a professional ballerina she spent seven seasons with Ballet Ariel, Denver’s Ballet Company. Now as a retired ballerina she still performs in musical theatre productions with Vintage Theatre and Performance Now Theatre Company, as well as others. She has dedicated her career to building her in-school performing arts Company – Exploration Kids! Enrichment which brings dance, cheerleading, yoga and other mediums to local schools. She also owns and operates Dance to Learn, LLC where she has created her own preschool dance curriculum dedicated to teaching the whole child through dance and movement. Additionally, she operates Dancing Princess Parties, a magical dance based birthday party company. This is Jessica’s 5th year teaching with Parker Dance Academy.
KAYLA DISHUCK Contemporary & Jazz, Hip Hop, Little Ones, Front Desk, Company Choreographer
Kayla has been dancing since she was 2 years old and started competing at 4 years old. She has trained in styles like ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, lyrical, contemporary, musical theater, Afro-Brazilian dance, and many more. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs with degrees in both Psychology and Dance. Kayla has earned a spot on the UCCS President and Dean’s list repeatedly. She also has been put in leadership positions with The National Society of Leadership and Success as well as a mentorship where she worked one-on-one with “at-risk” middle schoolers in her community. She has had many teaching and choreographing opportunities while at UCCS. She has been President/Captain of the UCCS Dance Team. During the 4 years of being on the team, she did administrative work as well as coaching them throughout their seasons. In her senior year of high school at Parker Dance Academy, she toured with Fluid Dance Convention, as part of the Fluid Force to assist the faculty members in classes and help with the logistics of the convention. One of her favorite roles while at Parker Dance Academy was being given the opportunity to be Snow Queen in The Nutcracker. She has won many awards including the Vickie Sheer Award at the Sheer Elite International Dance Convention. This will be Kayla’s first year teaching at Parker Dance Academy.
KAREN WEAVER Tumbling, Acrobatics, Yoga
Karen Weaver is married with two beautiful children and lives in Elizabeth, CO. Dance and Gymnastics have been a large part of her life since the age of three. She was a competitive gymnast growing up and continued through her senior year in high school. When not practicing, she was still in the gym teaching. Karen started coaching again in 2003 for the competitive team at Gymnastics Etc. and later moved to Chalkbox. She works with all ages and skill levels including developmental/recreational. Her biggest joy is working with the kids and being a part of their success from year to year. This is Karen’s 3rd year teaching with Parker Dance Academy.
LAUREN ANDREZEICIK Ballet/Tap, and Little Ones
Lauren started dancing when she was 6 years old and fell in love with it! She loved it so much she auditioned for company when she was 10 and started competing. While her favorite style of dance is lyrical, she also truly loves them all. Lauren also has a love for children and has always been passionate about their learning and development. Throughout her high school years and time in college in Miami, Florida (graduating with a degree in business), she has worked with children. She loves teaching kids dance skills and watching how confident they become in dance, and finds that her passions for dance and children came together perfectly as a dance teacher! Her intention is to keep her classes fun and light while focusing on helping her students become better people and dancers! This will be Lauren’s second year at Parker Dance Academy.
HANNAH McSWAIN Ballet, Tap, Little Ones
Having always adored the ballet, Hannah began training at a small studio called Joyful Soles Dance at the age of 14. There, she had the opportunity to study under Scarlett Wynne as well as many other fabulous instructors. This instilled in her a deep love for what the ballet world has yet to think of. By age 16, Hannah’s previous theatrical training and her wonderful experiences at JSD let her to pursue the goal of dancing professionally. She began attending Colorado Christian University’s School of Music in the fall of 2017. She currently holds a self-designed BA in Dance and Music which has since served as the framework for the dance program CCU is working to build. She also received a Theatre minor, which allowed her to further develop as a performer throughout her time at CCU. Aside from taking many open-level adult classes at Colorado Ballet Academy and Denver Dance Center, Hannah now teaches at Redemptive Dance Ministries in Littleton Colorado. The immense joy of the young dancers she works with continues to drive her in the pursuit of her own performance career. Hannah hopes to both dance and live her life so as to touch the human spirit and inspire young dancers for years to come. This will be Hannah’s second year at Parker Dance Academy.
MARLA McCLURE Adult Ballet, Front Desk Manager 
Marla McClure has a wealth of experience in music education and dance instruction. With a background as a Choir Director, dance teacher at Arthur Murray Dance Center, and Music Teacher at James Madison High School, Marla has developed a passion for teaching and inspiring others through the arts. This is Marla’s second year with PDA.
BROOKE SHELLY Substitute, Nutcracker, Front Desk
Brooke has been dancing since she was 18 months old and never stopped. She loves dance so much she got her bachelors degree in dance from Dean College in Massachusetts. Brooke has been dancing around Boston for the past four years. She danced with Pantos Project dance for two seasons as part of their ensemble company. She then went on and was a founding member of Leaps and Bounds Movement Company. Brooke has also been performing in musical theater around Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Some of her favorite shows include A Chorus Line, Cinderella, Wedding Singer and Chicago. This is Brooke’s first year with PDA.
DEVIN PILE Strength & Conditioning, Hip Hop, Contemporary, & Company Choreographer
Devin began his journey in the arts through music, sports, and musical theater, but dance became his true passion 18 years ago. Over the years, he has had the privilege of teaching at numerous dance studios and performing with various dance companies across Arizona, Colorado, and Los Angeles. During his 10 years in Los Angeles, Devin worked as a producer, dancer, actor, and fitness model, while also contributing to film and television production in a variety of roles. His diverse background in the performing arts has shaped his approach as both a dancer and instructor.
Devin has trained extensively in a wide range of dance styles, including ballet, jazz, hip-hop, tap, contemporary, lyrical, African dance, and multiple forms of modern dance (Graham, Limón, Horton, Cunningham). Additionally, he has studied improvisation, contact improvisation, breakdance, gymnastics, ballroom styles such as waltz, salsa, rumba, bachata, swing, and tango, as well as musical theater. He incorporates elements from all these styles into his choreography, creating dynamic, versatile pieces that challenge dancers while encouraging artistic expression.
Through his teaching, Devin aims to inspire creativity, discipline, and a love for dance in his students, helping them grow both technically and artistically while also building confidence and life skills that support their growth as individuals. This is his first year with PDA.
CALLIE MILNE Adult Zumba
Callie Milne is excited to join Parker Dance Academy as an experienced Zumba instructor. Callie received her BA in Communications from Brigham Young University. Although her career has been marketing-focused, she has always enjoyed teaching aerobic fitness classes to both adults and children. Callie has taught Zumba for more than eight years in several states.
Callie has been involved in the performing arts from a young age. She grew up watching her older sisters perform in countless full-length ballets. She then pursued her own performing arts career as a professional Elite model and actress.She is thrilled for this opportunity that allows her to fuse her passion for fitness and the arts.
During Callie’s first year teaching at PDA, she hopes to inspire her students to build confidence themselves and in their ability to try new things. Callie and her husband, Jesse, have two daughters dancing at PDA, and a baby boy; their biggest fan and aspiring PDA student. This is Callie’s first year teaching at PDA.
LISA REBIK Contemporary & Jazz Substitute
Lisa began her professional dance career in Los Angeles and has credits in television, movies, and theater. She relocated to Colorado 15 years ago to work for the international organization, Up With People, where she held the position of Choreographer/Associate Director. Lisa has taught jazz for the past 25 years. This is her 9th year with PDA.
KIM KINNEAR, Founder
Kim has studied Ballet, Tap, Modern and Jazz since the age of five. While a dance major at Loretto Heights Fine Arts College, she studied intensively with Jeri McAndrews (Paul Taylor Company), Milenko Banovich. In Los Angeles, shestudied Jazz at Moro-Landis (currently “Millennium”) under Joe Tremain and Jaimie Rogers. She also worked professionally in L.A. and Japan. She holds a BA in education and taught school in the Parker area for 6 years. She opened Parker Dance in 1993, is a member of Dance Educators of America, won the DEA Outstanding Choreography Award several times, has collaborated with dance professionals such as David Taylor and International Ballet School, and has trained students who grew up at Parker Dance Academy and continued to dance with scholarships to Alonzo King Lines Ballet in San Francisco, Alvin Ailey in New York, University of Utah, University of Hawaii, among others. She is proud to be a part of the education of multiple students who have continued on to successful commercial dance careers, professional concert dance careers with national and international dance companies, and broadway performance and choreography careers. She has 38+ years of teaching experience and a lifelong passion for dance and education.
Learn more about our philosophy, alumni, and approach to dance at Parker Dance Academy