The Team
Who We Are
Alicia Manica
Founder & CEO, Lead Teacher
Alicia Manica is the Director of Stunning Dance Studio. She grew up in Greenfield, MA and began dancing at Karen’s Dance Studio. From junior high to college she was a member of the Greenfield High School chorus and later a select choir member. At Berkshire Community College she continued her love for music and dance by being selected into the select choir there as well. After High School, she went on for further study at the Hartford Conservatory in Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Tap, Improv, Music for Dancers, and Somatics with a concentration in Dance Pedagogy and Performance. She graduated from the Hartford Conservatory in 2007, with a diploma in Dance Pedagogy and Performance. She has been teaching dance and Acro for over 18 years for children age two to adult. Alicia also has experience in choreographing and performing for local theater, choral groups, and for circus routines at French Woods Performing arts Camp. She is a former member of Crazefaze Hip Hop Crew from Massachusetts.
After studying Kinesiology at the Hartford Conservatory, she went on to further he interest in rehabilitation and anatomy at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, MA. In 2012, Alicia graduated from Berkshire Community College with an Associates in Science; Physical Therapist Assistant Degree. She has been practicing as a licensed PTA for 7 years now. Her interest in teaching the geriatric population and people with neurological disorders has stemmed from her work in Physical Therapy with a focus in Orthopedics and Neurology. Alicia’s greatest passion is teaching dance to the adults with disabilities and has an immense compassion for those living with autoimmune diseases. She teaches a dance class she created for those living with MS and other Neurological disorders called, Dance Fusion in the summers and volunteers for the Healing Motion Ballet Barre class for Neurological Disorders at the Skaggs Wellness Center for the University of Utah. She is a former volunteer teacher of two years for the Dance for Parkinson’s program through the University of Utah, under the direction of Juan Carlos.
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Alicia enjoys spending time with her partner, Tristan adams and her two tuxedo kitties Benny and Iris in her free time. She also loves to bake and practice her photography skills in her spare time. It is her ultimate dream and passion to work with kids and have her own studio. She is happy to be living that dream at SDS!
801-447-1760
Emma Talbot
Teacher/TA, Office assistant, Boutique sales/ Key holder
Emma started dancing when she was three years old at Murray ballet. She then went to Starlight learning how to do jazz, tap, ballet followed by Premiere Productions when she was 5 where she studied musical theater and singing until she was 8 years old.
Emma started competing when she was about 9 years old at Element dance center. At Element she studied in ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, tap, tumbling, acro, hiphop, breaking, and a little bit of all styles of ballroom. When competing Emma won many outstanding and high point awards.
When Emma was 13 she then went to Stunning dance studio. She continued her training in ballet, jazz, contemporary, and tap. She has continued to compete on Stunning Dance Company and win many of awards.
Emma is now 16 and started dancing on Murray dance company this year at her high school and loves it. Currently, she just finished doing "Shrek the Musical," at her school. At stunning she is doing a solo with Mic Thompson a Disney choreographer and also used to dance with Michael Jackson. Emma is so happy dancing at Sunning dance studio and loves that she gets to work with these amazing kids.
Milly Jensen
Teacher/TA, Office assistant, Boutique sales
Milly has been dancing since she was two. She spent lots of time at various studios but danced the longest and gained the most experience from dance maker studio.
She began dancing specifically at dance maker studio at age 8 when she moved to Murray. At dance maker she enjoyed learning lots of ballet (technique as well as en pointe) along with lyrical, contemporary and jazz. She loves the time where she learned to love dance as well as the amazing community.
Milly was a two year member of Hillcrest Jr. High's Dance company. She served as captain of the team on her second year. During this time she found a love for creating choreography as well as performing in front of her friends and family. This was her first real introduction to hip hop, which she also grew to love. She helped participate and choreograph for two Jr. theatre productions at Hillcrest Jr. High: "Peter Pan Jr." and "All Shook Up."
She is currently a second year member of Murray high's Dance company as well as serving as the company's social officer. She loves spending hours in the studio and growing closer to other dancers. She got to learn more about choreography and even have 3 dances of hers displayed in their winter and spring concerts. Last year she was in the high school production of "Shrek the musical" where she got to dance various ensemble parts and she is very excited for the coming year's production of "9 to 5."
Milly is so excited to share her love of dance with her students at stunning dance studio.
801-859-1706