FACULTY
Ashley Valo-Horrigan
Owner/Creative Director
Contemporary, Jazz, Acro, Company
Ashley is originally from Southwestern Pennsylvania and began dancing at the age of two. She received her BA in Dance from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in 2006. After graduating, she moved to Richmond to pursue her career as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher.
During her performing career she choreographed works that were performed in Chicago, Richmond, Charlottesville and the Asheville Fringe Festival. She has worked with RVA Dance Collective, Ground Zero Dance Company, Dim Sum Dance, and Starr Foster Dance Project. She was selected for the work-study position at the Studio Upsun in Pennsylvania (SUPA) Choreographers Workshop in 2010 and 2013 with Jeanine Durning, 2011 ChoreoLab with Julie Mayo, and SUPA 2012 with RoseAnne Spradlin. Ashley Directed the Extended Day Creative Dance Program at Saint Christopher's School from 2012 to 2018. She is Acrobatic Arts Certified, Certified in Modules one, two and three of Alixa Flexibility, Y.P.A.D. Certified (Youth Protection Advocates in Dance) and a member of NDEO (National
Dance Educators Organization). She has a passion for continuing education in all ares of dance.
After teaching at Regency for 8 years, Ashley became owner in 2019. Ashley is determined to continue the legacy of Regency Dance Academy by providing the Richmond area with the best possible dance teachers and training. She is also the mother of Mabel 7, Roland 6 and Laszlo 3.
Tracy Crouch
Founder
Tap
Tracy founded and opened Regency Dance Academy in 1989. She has been a dancer, performer, choreographer and teacher for over 50 years. Over the 30 years of owning Regency Dance Academy, she has had the privilege to teach three generations of students and families. Making the studio one of the largest and longest running in Richmond Virginia, Tracy is particularly proud of the adult dance department at the studio. Still today, The adult students number over 100 studying Tap, Jazz and Hip Hop. Over the years, Tracy conducted many Award winning competition teams which have competed regionally and nationally and consistently won multiple first place trophies and specialty awards. To this day, The competition department remains at the top of their game at Regency Dance Academy, still winning and making a mark in the dance world.
Tracy is very proud of all she’s accomplished over the years and is most proud that Ashley Valo- Horrigan can continue her legacy and maintain Regency Dance Academy as a top dance studio in Richmond Virginia! Tracy looks forward to many more wonderful years as a teacher at Regency Dance Academy!
Kelly Allen
Hip Hop, Jazz, Company
Originally from New Jersey, Kelly is a graduate of the Freehold Fine & Performing Arts Program in New Jersey as well as studied at the NJ Governor's School of the Arts at Trenton State University. She then continued her music and dance training at Howard University. Kelly was a dancer and Dance Team Captain with the Washington Wizards for 3 years and was a Washington Redskins Cheerleader for 7 years and held the position of captain as well. Present day, she still choreographs for the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders. In addition, Kelly has performed in a few music videos for National Recording artists.
Kelly was also a member of The Capitol Movement Project Dance company where she had the honor of choreographing and performing in 7 Capitol Movements Concerts at the Historic Lincoln Theater, as well as the Kennedy Center under some of the country’s top choreographers including Tony Powell, Luam, Laura Edwards and Chris Hale.
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In addition, Kelly Directed the Lady Raiders for 4 years (Indoor Professional Football) and the Richmond RoughRiders for 2 years. In its first season, the Richmond RoughRiders were voted the best dance team in the league. She has also choreographed competition routines for Clover Hill High School’s dance team and Prince George’s High School Dance Team.
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Meredith Davis
Jazz, Contemporary, Tap, Ballet, Musical Theatre, Pointe, Company, Office Manager (AM)
Meredith Davis, a native of Richmond, has been dancing since the age of 2 under the instruction of local teachers extending from Ann Catherine Cross to The Richmond Ballet. During her teen years, she had the pleasure of circulating competition circuits with The Showbiz Kids and performed with The Moscow Ballet. During this time she had the pleasure of training with Mia Michaels, Desmond Richardson, Andy Blankenbeuhler, Suzi Taylor, and Leslie Browne. In the Summer of 2005, Meredith attended the New York City Dance Alliance Dance Intensive, and performed original works at La Guardia High School of Music, Art & Performing Arts.
Meredith graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a B.F.A. in Dance and Choreography in 2009. Through her career at VCU, she had the pleasure of performing and studying with Robert Battle, Urban Bush Women, Scott Putman, Gerri Houlihan, Francis Wessells, Arnott Mader, Lori Belilove, Starr Foster Dance Company, and Heidi Weiss.
Meredith has danced professionally in the Richmond scene with companies such as Starr Foster Dance Company, and rva dance collective. Her own award winning choreography has been shown in the Virginia Dance Festival in both 2018 & 2019.
Over the years, Meredith’s path has led her to teaching and giving her loyal students a haven to study, and embrace their gifts. In 2016, she founded The Dance Lab in Ashland, Virginia to engage and continue training with local dancers. During this time, Meredith gained many skills such as Art Direction, Lighting, Stage Management, Marketing, Public Relations, Media, Marketing, and Office Management.
Meredith has most recently become certified in both Progressing Contemporary Technique & Progressing Ballet Technique. She specializes in Contemporary, Modern, Ballet, Jazz and Tap, and integrates her love for improvisation, yoga, strength training, and dance medicine into her classes, workshops, choreography and curriculum.
Carmen Eguez
Ballet, Contemporary
Carmen is a professional modern and contemporary dancer, but is trained in ballet technique as her first passion. She began her dance schooling with the Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk Virginia as a ballet major. After graduating in 2011, she danced as a trainee with North Carolina Dance Theatre, now Charlotte Ballet under Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride, as well as Nashville Ballet under Paul Vasterling. Carmen began her professional dance career with Todd Rosenlieb Dance and Virginia Ballet Theater for two seasons. After dancing with TRD and VBT she moved to New York city and trained with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Parsons Dance, and others by taking intensives. In 2016 she became a company member with Heidi Latsky Dance which is a physically integrated modern contemporary company where she was able to perform Heidi’s work in various locations such as; The Russian Drama Theatre in Armenia, United Nations Building in NYC, Montclair University, Baruch College, The Whitney Museum, City College, Hurleyville Arts Center and many other performance venues. Carmen has moved to Richmond to re-focus on some of her ballet technique and start getting some teaching experience. Carmen is very excited to be back in Virginia, her home state, and is looking forward to another great year as a part of the Regency Dance Academy Team.
Amory Holloway
Jazz, Tap, Company
Amory is very excited to join the RDA family this year! She’s been dancing her whole life, and after a brief break when she started her family, can’t wait to jump back into it. Amory has a degree in theater and dance from The University of Mary Washington where she served as the head choreographer for their dance team and show choir. After college, she performed at Walt Disney World for 3 years and then moved to RVA. She is currently a TV/Film Casting Director and choreographer for several national commercials. She loves spending her free time on weekends on adventures away from home with her husband and 3 kids. Her daughter, Belle, is also a Company member.
Arianna Lawson
Ballet, Pointe
Arianna started dancing at the age 4, training with Maine State Ballet, Portland School of Ballet and Bossov Ballet in Maine, before furthering her training at The Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia and at the Houston Ballet Academy Houston Texas.
At 18 years old Arianna was offered a contract dancing with the Oklahoma City Ballet, where she danced for 6 years, performing works by internationally acclaimed choreographers such as George Balanchine, JiÅ™í Kylián, Nacho Duato, Helen Pickett, Ma Cong, Anthony Tudor, Agnes De Mille, and Twyla Tharp.
Arianna then joined the Dayton Ballet in Ohio, where she performed Principal roles such as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, the Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty and in works by Gerald Arpino, Mariana Oliveira and Septime Webre. Arianna has taught ballet and other dance styles at Oklahoma City Ballet, Small Steps School of Dance and Avant Dance Center.
When not in the studio Arianna enjoys doing Pilates/Yoga, cooking, and spending time with her fiancé, Joe (who is a dancer with the Richmond Ballet) and their three cats.
Josh Moises
Tap, Hip Hop, Company
A native of Haymarket, Virginia. Josh began competitive dancing at the age of 7 and since then his passion for dance has developed to be one of the most important things to him. He began choreographing at age 16 and found an even stronger love for dance through that. Josh has always centered his dancing and choreography around performance quality and showmanship, since entertaining a crowd has been his absolute favorite thing to do since before he started dancing. Josh is currently studying dance at Virginia Commonwealth University and is excited to spread the knowledge and technical ability he gains with all of his students in hopes that they can inspire each other to work harder and push past what they think our limits are. Josh can’t wait to watch everyone grow and experience greatness this season!
Julia Pasquale
Contemporary
Originally from Northern Virginia, Julia has been training in dance since the age of 3. She earned her BA in Dance from James Madison University in 2020, and worked with choreographers Matthew Pardo, Cynthia Thompson, Shane O'Hara, and various guests and peers. Julia refined their technique under Ryan Corriston, Joyce Yagerline, Julia Vessey, as well as guest artists Doug Varone, Dance Works Chicago, Arts in Motion Dance and more. After graduating, she moved to Richmond in August 2021 eager to perform as much as possible. In her time in Richmond, she has since performed with Radar in their most recent concert, Play. Julia has created and performed her own solo, “cold water” in the Richmond Dance Festival, along with group piece “Bring It To Me” made alongside her peers in the New Dance Collaborative. She most recently spent time in Brooklyn expanding her creative and improvisational repertoire with Sidra Bell during the companies’ Module series. Eager to continue to work with choreographers as well as embark on her own choreographic journey, Julia is thrilled to form strong connections in the Richmond dance community.
Valerie Tellmann-Henning
Ballet
Valerie Tellmann-Henning began her dance training at Tulsa Ballet and Lexington Ballet. She joined the Richmond Ballet in 2000, and while continuing to perform with them, Valerie also joined The Suzanne Farrell Ballet in Washington D.C., where she rose to the rank of Soloist and performed acclaimed Balanchine works from 2013 through their 2017 season. She has performed principal roles in Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, and Cinderella; Balanchine ballets such as, Allegro Brillante, Mozartiana, Stars and Stripes and Emeralds; as well as in Anthony Tudor's Jardin Aux Lilas and Agnes de Mille's Rodeo. Valerie has traveled internationally, performing at the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House in London, at the Chicago Dancing Festival, multiple times at the Joyce Theater in New York City, and most recently theatres throughout China. Valerie completed her final season dancing with both the Suzanne Farrell Ballet and Richmond Ballet in May of 2017. For the past 5 years Valerie has worked as the PR Manager for Richmond Ballet, where her knowledge of the industry and specific skill set were put to great use. Her knowledge of dance and media allowed her to help grow their social media following and engaging the Richmond community with dance in new ways.
Gregg Whitlock
Hip Hop
Coach Gregg is a Creative Director and Choreographer with over 16 years of experience.
Born and raised in Essex County, New Jersey, he has since relocated his talents to Richmond, Virginia and continues to network in various markets across the United States of America. He is a self-trained popping based dancer with a style favored to waving, hitting, house dancing, tutting, and animating, continuously growing as a freestyle dancer, but strongest as a choreographer. Giving definition to his unique style of choreography, which invites fusion of dance styles and a high level of musicality or lyrical interpretation, Coach Gregg has coined the term, "subjective dancing". He teaches various styles of Hip-Hop dance to dancers of all ages (toddlers through adults) and can be exactly what you need.
Rave Williams
Hip Hop
Lifelong Richmond native, Rave has had a natural gift for dance his entire life but began honing his passion at the age of 10. His desire to dance had him studying numerous different genres up and down the East Coast. Rave attended the School of Richmond Ballet, Jessica Morgan School of Dance, Alvin Ailey's Summer Intensive, Bates Dance Festival, Monsters Of Hip Hop Dance Convention, This Is Kaos Dance Convention, and Center for the Arts at Henrico High School where he took Hip Hop, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Ballet, and African. Although these are only a few of the plethora of experiences, Rave continues to explore and learn the different styles and variations of dance, but his true love will always be Hip Hop.
SUPPORT STAFF
Lee West
Webmaster, Portal Manager, Admin
Lee, a Richmond native, grew up dancing from the age of five until she was in college. She even studied dance here at Regency Dance Academy where she was a member of the jazz show troupe. She continued to dance at Regency and at Shuffles Dance Studio in Mechanicsville while attending the University of Richmond, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in French and Education.
Both of Lee's daughters have grown up dancing here at Regency and her youngest is now following in her mom’s footsteps as a member of the Regency Dance Company.
When not at the studio, you can find Lee teaching French at Bailey Bridge Middle School in Chesterfield County. She is the mother of three children, Hannah (19), Peyton (13), and Avery (11).
Brooke Mitchell
Office Manager (PM)
Brooke is a freelance artist with a passion for fashion. Her work spans from teaching toddler art classes to styling events at New York Fashion Week. Brooke is a Virginia native who joined the Regency Dance team in 2021. She enjoys being back in the dance studio, a place where she spent the majority of her childhood and teen years. She moved to Richmond in 2012 to attend Virginia Commonwealth University's Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture. From there, she received a Bachelors of Science in Mass Communications with a focus in advertising.
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In her free time, Brooke loves collaging, creating clothes, binging her favorite reality tv shows and belting classic Britney Spears bops.