Our Instructors

Kay teaches jazz for Huntington Dance Theatre and manages the day-to-day running of our fabulous local business.

Kay Stevens is from Huntington, WV. She has trained in jazz since grade school and danced with Mirror Image Dance Studio for many years on their competitive dance, kickline, and twirling teams. In college, she began her ballet training with Huntington Dance Theatre under the instruction of Molly Daniel, Maria Loudermilk, and Robert Royce. She was a member of the Marching Thunder’s color guard in college and has coached color guard teams at Huntington High, Cabell Midland, and Green High Schools.

She is blessed with HDT as her dance family and enjoys teaching all ages and levels of dance. 

Meredith is our certified Yoga instructor as well as one of our ballet instructors!

Meredith Cornell has been a dance teacher and director in the Huntington area for 20 years. Her training in ballet, tap, jazz, and modern dance began at the Mid-Ohio Valley Ballet and later expanded to include summer study in New York City and in Las Vegas under the direction of Joanna Kneeland.

She has danced principal roles in Coppelia, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty in addition to performances in The Firebird, A Chorus Line, and other productions.  Her teacher training includes the Mid-Ohio Valley Ballet and the American Academy of Ballet in New York City under the direction of Mignon Furman. She has also worked for Marshall University as an English professor and in Outreach.

Molly teaches ballet at all levels for Huntington Dance Theatre!

Molly Simpson has been dancing at HDT since she was a child, particpating in the preprofessional program and many Nutcrackers, Spring Concerts, and dance intensives over the years. She began teaching for HDT in 2014 and has years of experience both in the dance classroom and her own classroom as a teacher for Wayne County Schools. 

You will often see Miss Molly with her students or with a camera in hand, capturing the best dance memories at all of our shows! 

Sara is our musical theater, jazz, and tap instructor at Huntington Dance Theatre!

Sara Campbell-Stacy has been dancing since she was three years old, participated in several competitions, and studied under the direction of Meredith Cornell and Beth Carlton. In high school she played in Grease (Patti Simcox), Leap of Faith, Brigadoon for A.R.T.S., and Legally Blonde (Paulette). She co-choreographed Legally Blonde for Huntington high school under the director of Helen Freeman.

She loves teaching students about the art of dance and how to express themselves. She hopes to give her students confidence in themselves and encourage them to always have fun!

Bekah Agee began dancing at age 3, training primarily in classical ballet. She has been part of the Huntington Dance Theatre community since she was born, as her mother and aunts (pictured here) were directors of the studio for many years. The majority of her childhood memories take place in the HDT studio surrounded by family and friends.

Bekah has performed multiple principal roles in The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, attended various summer programs, taught ballet to students aged 3-adult, and was the Assistant Director of HDT for two years. She currently serves as the Board President and works in Student Support at Marshall University. Bekah credits HDT with shaping her into the person she is today and hopes to help provide a safe, fun, and welcoming studio environment for all students. 

Heather Looney holds an MFA in dance from the University of MD and a BFA in dance from Brenau University (GA). She serves as the festival director for Dance WV and works as an independent choreographer, teacher and dancer. Following receipt of her MFA, she took a position as the artistic director and ballet mistress for The Dance Theatre of Fairbanks (AK) creating full length ballets for the modern era and recreations of classical ballets. While living in NYC for 4 years, she was privileged to work with The Mark Morris Dance Group, The Merce Cunningham Studio, Ballet Academy East and many others who influenced her teaching and choreographic styles. 

Ashleigh Bell is a 23 year old from Huntington, WV. Ashleigh began training in jazz in 2013 under Ms. Kay Stevens, and in 2014 began training in ballet under Mrs. Erin Stephens, Ms. Heather Looney, Mrs. Jesse Tidquist, and Mr. Robert Royce. Now an HDT alumni and Marshall University graduate, she has over 7 years of experience dancing and teaching ballet and jazz. When not spending time with her family, she can be found at the dance studio, volunteering for her church, or with her nose in a book.  

Erin teaches all levels of our American Ballet Theatre certified ballet classes as well as modern dance for Huntington Dance Theatre!

Erin Stephens is from Williamstown, WV.  She began her dance education in West Virginia at the age of 3.  She trained in high school at Pittsburgh Youth Ballet in their High School Early Release Program.  She danced with ARC Dance Company, Paradosi Ballet Company, and as a trainee with Ballet Magnificat and Richmond Ballet.

Erin has performed in Serenade, Who Cares?, Swan Lake, Coppelia, Deliver us, Concerto Barocco, and Cinderella on professional stages .  Erin Stephens is an ABT® Certified Teacher who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.​​

Teaching philosophy: My goal as a teacher is to foster an environment that is enjoyable as well as disciplined.  Individually, to encourage the students to grow as artists, and use space well with a strong emphasis on alignment and musicality. ​

What else do you want your dancers to know?  I really want my students to enjoy dance first.  Grit counts.

Nicole is our contemporary dance teacher at Huntington Dance Theatre!

Since the age of 4 dancing has been a passion of Nicole’s. Under the direction of Christina Daniels with The American Dance Conservatory she’s trained in ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, contemporary, and ballroom dancing.

Dancing has allowed her to travel and come in contact with several influential dance instructors such as Brian Friedman from, “So you think you can dance,” and Melissa Bowman with American Ballet Theatre, to name a few. Dancing has enabled her to travel to all parts of the United States and overseas. Starting at age twelve she attended several summer programs with professional dance companies such as Boston Ballet, and American Ballet Theater in New York City.

She attended Nutmeg Dance Conservatory and Broadway Dance Centers International Dance Festival in Italy. During her school years she attended several regional and national competitions with Dance Masters of America in Las Vegas and New York City. She placed top 10 at the ballet competition, Youth American Grand Prix where she was invited to perform at City Center in New York City.  More recently you can find Nicole teaching and choreographing at our studio, spreading her knowledge and skills to anyone interested in the dance world. 

Anna will always have a passion and love for dance. She has danced since the age of three and is trained in jazz, ballet, pointe, contemporary, hip-hop and modern. Anna is from Hurricane, WV and started dancing at HDT when she was 11 years old. One of Anna’s greatest honors was being selected to attend the Governor School of the Arts where she studied and learned not only dance but all aspects of the arts. 

Anna has performed in the holiday classic The Nutcracker for many years with several principle roles such as Snow Queen and Clara. She was chosen to train in Huntington Dance Theatre’s pre-professional and day program which prepared her for many opportunities.

Anna graduated from Marshall University where she studied public relations. She had the great opportunity to be on the Marshall University Dance Team for all four years including her senior year whereby she was captain of the team. In May of 2022, Anna graduated from her master’s program with her MBA. She held a graduate assistant position for two years with the Marshall University Dance Team. Anna has been selected to be the coach/Graduate Assistant for the dance team. This is her fourth year coaching the dance team. The benefits of training at HDT has prepared her tremendously, not only for dance, but for many other aspects in life. 

Alli Fulks is from Huntington, WV and has been dancing for 21 years. She is trained in Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Ballet, and Appalachian Style Clogging. Alli graduated from Davis and Elkins College in 2019 where she received a BA in Dance Entrepreneurship. While in college she was a member of the Davis & Elkins College Appalachian Ensemble and taught contemporary, tap, and ballet at a local studio.

She has choreographed for Davis & Elkins College production of Oklahoma!. She has also choreographed dances for her college dance department, as well as multiple studios where she taught. One of her pieces was picked to represent D&E at the American College Dance Festival 2017 informal stage showing.

She has been awarded The Friends of West Virginia Culture and History Scholarship presented by The West Virginia Dance Festival, as well as Davis & Elkins dance scholarship and SCORES international dance award. She has danced the roles of “Snow Queen” and “Clara” in Huntington Dance Theatre’s “The Nutcracker” and has been asked to perform in “Adrift,” a piece presented in the WV State Dance Festival choreographed by Jerry Rose.

Alli attended Huntington Dance Theatre’s High School Half Day Program and was in their pre-professional program as well. She has trained at Davis & Elkins College Spring Dance Festival, Point Park University’s International Summer Dance Intensive, WV’s Governor’s School for the Arts, WV State Dance Festival, and many others.

She has taught beginning ballet at the Davis & Elkins Dance Festival 2017. She also has taught lyrical, contemporary, jazz, tap, ballet and creative movement classes regularly at Nancy’s School of Dance and Instep Dance and Fitness. She wants to teach kids the importance of individuality in dance and life.