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.
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
Madison DaBell
Assistant Manager, Teacher, Program Manager for Latin/Ballroom Program
Madi began her dancing career at the age of 5, when she began studying tap and ballet in Nashville, TN. She quickly fell in love with dance and started training in jazz, hip hop, tumbling, contemporary, and lyrical on top of maintaining her training in tap and ballet.
From ages 6-14, Madi was a member of the competition team at Hermitage Dance Academy, going on to win multiple national titles and championships throughout her twelve years on the team. In high school, Madi took a break from competing and joined a touring performance dance company, Heritage Dance Company, also based in Nashville, TN.
Once Madi graduated high school and moved on to college, she added ballroom and latin to her repertoire while studying at Brigham Young University. She competed in ballroom and latin on a national level, placing consistently in the top five in each style.
While studying at Brigham Young University, she had the opportunity to teach and choreograph for Dance Fusion studios in Rigby, Idaho, helping with both the jazz/ hip hop teams as well as the ballroom and latin teams for ages 4-18.
Following graduation from Brigham Young University-Idaho, Madison moved to Naples, Florida, where she taught dance full time in the following styles: tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, tumbling, lyrical, contemporary, ballroom and latin. She also built up the kid’s program and started a competitive team from the ground up.
Madi now lives in Orem, UT and is so excited to be a part of the Stunning Dance Family!
123-456-7890
Amanda Robison
Voice and Music Teacher
Amanda Robison is our Music and Voice teacher. She is a graduate of Southern Utah University, where she received a bachelor's of music education with emphasis in choral education. While there, she participated in a number of choral and instrumental ensembles, as well as two operas.She has been teaching music privately since 2012, both individually and for ensembles. She has performed three season with the Salt Lake Choral Artists under the direction of Brady Allred, and three shows with the Empress Theater: Urinetown, She Loves Me, and The Huntchback of Notre Dame as music director. She also performed in three music reviews with Taylorsville City and has recently enjoyed performing with her ukulele at the local care center on multiple occasions. We love Amanda. Don't miss learning from her!
Emma Talbot
Teacher/TA, Office assistant, Boutique sales
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.
