HOT SHOTS DANCE COMPANY

 School of Dance, Hartwell, GA

Suzanne Krause, began her formal training in Germany at the age of 5 and continued with the Dance Arts Centre Performing Arts Company in Duluth, Georgia. 

She has performed throughout the Southeast, taking part in many regional and national dance competitions before accepting a scholarship to attend Brenau University, having earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dance Pedagogy. 

Suzanne studied under the professional training of Carol Smiarowski, Vincas Greene, Jolie Long, and Diane Callahan.  She also performed with the Brenau Dance Ensemble and the Gainesville Ballet Company.  After graduation, she accepted an invitation to attend the Summer Dance Institute at Binghamton University in New York, where she studied under the direction of Danita Emma and Anthony Salatino. 

Suzanne was also a faculty artist/instructor with Arts Connect, a federally funded program through the Atlanta Ballet, which is designed to incorporate the arts into early and middle grades education. 

Suzanne performed as a member of BigHouse Dance Theater, an auditioned company specializing in contemporary dance. 

Arissa began her cheer career with Pop Warner Youth Cheerleading from age 5 to 13. During that time she also danced with Tip Toes Dance Studio. She then went on to cheer for her local middle school and high school and was cheer captain her senior year. Each year she went to UCA cheer camp where she was awarded All American. 

Her gymnastics training, through level 3, comes from her local YMCA, Brandon All Stars and Edge Cheer.

During her time as a Marketing Undergraduate student at Florida State University, Arissa was a part of many philanthropic endeavors such as yearly cheer and dance competitions - FSU Cheers For Children and Line Dance. She also added some dance classes into her curriculum whenever possible and was enrolled in Hip Hop & Contemporary. 

HSDC is very excited to welcome Arissa to our staff.

Camryn Pless began dancing at the age of 10. She soon found a growing passion for dance and knew she could find her family at HSDC.

She joined the Hot Shots Competitive Dance Team while in her freshman year of high school and continued to compete until her graduation in 2019. She practiced many genres of dance including jazz, ballet, and contemporary. Camryn worked as an assistant dance instructor throughout high school.

Camryn is currently attending Brenau University while continuing to teach and choreograph at the Hot Shots Dance Company.  She plans to graduate from Brenau University with a degree in Fashion Merchandising in the spring of 2023.

Kimberly Carter started gymnastics at the age of 9 with Tina Washington at Bishop Park in Athens, Georgia.  Shortly after, she began competing in USA Level 5 gymnastics under Coach Jay Clark, the former Assistant Head Coach for the University of Georgia Gym Dawgs.  

In 2008, Kim started working at Hot Shots Dance Company and is now in her 13th year coaching.  Kim was also the team coach for the YMCA Hartwell Twisters in 2013.  

Kim is certified in AAU and USA certified.  She has coached students in levels 1-5.  Many of her students have competed all over Georgia, Florida, and Michigan.  Kim is excited to be teaching at Hot Shots Dance Company and looks forward to many more years.

Shealy George starting her tumbling career at age 7, beginning in gymnastics. She competed nationally in State, Nationals, and Jr. Olympic competitions, placing within the top 3. After reaching level 8, she transferred her athletic journey into the world of cheerleading. She did sideline cheer for a year before moving into Allstar Cheerleading.

In 2018, Shealy travelled to Orlando, FL to compete at The Summit, the most competitive competition for Level 4 Allstar cheer. There, her team, Guns N’ Roses, placed within the top 4 teams in the country. A few months later, Shealy was invited onto the award-winning team, The Beatles of Rockstar Cheer in Greenville, SC. That year, The Beatles went on to win Cheerleading Worlds.

Now, Shealy spends her time using her education of the sport to teach young athletes the sport she loves.

Reyna O’Leary began her ballet training at the Georgia Ballet, performing in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Carmen, and Serenade.  She was also a company member for Duende Dance Theatre in Atlanta and Bighouse Dance Theater in Gainesville, GA.

Reyna graduated from Brenau University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Education. After graduation she did an extensive study with Phyllis Wiekart of High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, studying Education Through Movement. She served as a movement specialist for the Atlanta Ballet’s Outreach program as well as the coordinator for Atlanta Ballet’s Center of Education “Kids In Step” program.

Reyna has been teaching dance in the Gwinnett County Public school system since 2002 and is director of the North Gwinnett High School dance program, which she developed. As a sponsor for the National Honor Society for Dance Arts, she has inducted over 60 dancers. Reyna also serves as the Artistic Director for the performing company Dance North and the coach for the competitive dance team, Dance North Beats.

In addition to her work in the public school system, Reyna offers her time as Co-Director for K-12 of DEGA (Dance Educators of Georgia, K-12).

In 2009, Reyna was asked to be on the writing committee for the new Georgia Performance Standards for Dance Education and has done extensive work on curriculum writing with the Gwinnett County Dance programs.

In 2015 she received her Master of Fine Arts, in Choreography from Jacksonville University, and returned to Brenau University to complete her thesis study.

Shana N. Toney found her love for movement, dance, and performance at the young age of 4, when she began classes in baton and jazz dance.  At the age of 16, her passion was rekindled when she began taking ballet and jazz classes under the direction of Libby Hilley and Suzanne Krause at Hot Shots Dance Company.  While dancing at HSDC, she participated in community performances and recitals, as well as dance competitions at the regional, state, and national level.

In 2015, she graduated Cum Laude from Brenau University with a BA in Dance Studies and a minor in English Literature.  While attending Brenau, she trained in ballet, modern, and jazz technique, as well as improvisation, dance pedagogy and teaching methods, with an emphasis in choreography and performance. Shana has performed historic choreographic works of the late Helen Tamiris, as well as renowned dance artists such as NOW-ID founder Charlotte Boye-Christenson, and Brenau faculty Vincas Greene, Jolie Long, and Madia Cooper-Asirifi. 

Shana attended and performed at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) in 2014 and 2015, and has taken master classes and workshops from many notable dance artists in the southeast, including T. Lang, Georgia Staib, and Gerri Houlihan.  Shana has presented and choreographed four originals works for Brenau University, one of which was selected to go on to Emory University for ACDA in the spring of 2016.

Shana has taught all over the Northeast Georgia region and continues to share her passion and love of dance through teaching and choreography.