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Amy Lynn McGrath holds her Bachelor’s of Arts in Theatre Arts with a Dance concentration. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Amy began her dance education at age three and received over fifteen years formal dance education from the notable Schumacher’s School of Dance under the direction of Dolly Schumacher. Continuously competing she won awards regionally, nationally and internationally as a Company member. Amy also performed regionally and nationally as a member of the Bay Area children’s group “Razzle Dazzle Kids” led by the legendary Teddi Lightfoot. It was at Schumacher’s, that Amy began her teaching career in 1995, continuing on to serve as Assistant Director before eventually returning to become Director of the prestigious dance school in 2004. Broadening her education of the performing arts beyond home, Amy has choreographed and performed all over the country including New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Sacramento. She has studied Acting at Emerson College in Boston and has over 20 years experience performing and directing musical theatre productions and studying voice, dance, and acting. A few credits include: Annie, Oliver!, West Side Story, Once Upon A Mattress, Alice In Wonderland, the Jungle Book, Seussical The Musical, and more! She received a Creative Integrity Award at the California State Talent Competition for her creation and choreography of the dance production “Children One And All” in 2001. In Sacramento, Amy was honored to choreograph for the reigning Miss Junior America of 2001. She also taught dance at the notorious Broadway Dance Academy; choreographing, directing, and stage managing for many of their dance and theater productions through 2002. Most recently Amy has studied with choreographers Kristen Daley, Nancy Lyons, Stacey Printz, Sheldon Smith, and Scott Wells. She performed the works of Claire Porter’s “Matters of Influence” in 2008. Amy is a proud faculty member teaching Tap at Sonoma State University and choreographed two of SSU’s main stage productions last year, Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” and the Irish classic “Dancing At Lughnasa.” Amy currently serves as Director of Dance and Board member for Narrow Way Stage Company, a non-profit organization geared at creating excitement and passion for innovative theatre and dance in our community. She is quickly becoming a highly sought after choreographer in the North Bay, known for her creative choreography and seamless ability to blend theatre and dance into complete, emotional experiences. Opening McGrath’s Performing Arts Academy was life long dreams come true for Amy. Thanks to her innate ability to translate this beautiful art form from teacher to student, Amy is confident her skills as a strong dance instructor and wealth of experience as a performer herself will touch the soul of every student she is privileged to work with.
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A Pismo Beach native, Collette has been training in tap, jazz, hip hop and contemporary dance for over 17 years. Collette grew up dancing at Pat Jackson's American Dance in San Luis Obispo (currently American Dance of SLO). She has trained at Edge and Millenium Dance Complex in Hollywood, CA where she recieved a 2 week scholarship at age 14. She started competitive dance at age 5, in which she has traveled with her studio's nationally ranked competition team up and down the coast of California, attending both competitions and conventions. In addition she traveled to Las Vegas, Honolulu, Austria and Germany, competing and touring at national and international dance festivals with her studio. Collette now works for United Spirit Association as a professional dance instructor. She teaches junior high, high school and college dance camps across the West Coast. She judges dance competitions and teaches dance clinics with the Sacramento Kings, the Golden State Warriors and the San Francisco 49ers. She currently attends Sonoma State University where she is double majoring in Liberal Studies and Dance, with the hopes to become a high school dance teacher at a school for the arts. Collette's passion and enthusiasm for dance will bring fun to a professional setting and will offer the technical knowledge of jazz dance one would need to be a competitive and professional dancer. |
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Mackenzie trained in gymnastics for over 15 years at Santa Rosa Gymnastics and Redwood Empire Gymnastics. Her strong background in
gymnastics led to a more recent career in dance. For four years, Mackenzie has trained in Modern, Jazz, and Hip Hop and performed in several dance shows for Napa Valley College serving as both a dancer and choreographer. She is now attending elective dance classes at Sonoma State University and has been a part of Platinum Dance Company, a contemporary dance company in Napa, for the past year. Mackenzie also recently joined The U.N.I.T., a hip hop crew in Santa Rosa. |
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Bio Coming Soon |
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Bio Coming Soon |
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Bio Coming Soon |
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Born and raised in rural Missouri, Vincent joined the Air Force in 1996, becoming an aircraft mechanic and shipping off to the far away land of California. After circling the globe "fixin' planes" for over a decade he settled down and focused on his education, earning a Bachelors degree in Marketing from the University of Maryland. With a whole new world opened to him, Vincent soon discovered the wonders of Dance and the Performing Arts and helped found Mcgrath's with Amy in late 2008. He soon found himself returning to school to train in technical theatre and design. Since then he has worked on numerous theatrical and dance productions throughout Sonoma County, and has been involved in the prestigious theatre programs at both Santa Rosa Junior College and the Summer Repertory Theatre. Vincent is a proud partner at McGrath's and is extremely excited about the opportunity to be a positive influence in the lives of all the studio's students!! |
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Vernon Isadora HardApple has been the proud McGrath’s Performing Arts Academy mascot since October 2009, at only 6 weeks old! She was found scared and alone on a dark, cold Pacifica street by dog lover and best friend, “Auntie” Grace. Auntie Grace insisted on bringing Vernon home to care for, search for her owner, and uniquely naming her Vernon HardApple in the meantime. (The Isadora was added later by adoptive Mom Amy after the great Isadora Duncan, Mother of Modern Dance.) Vernon soon found her way to the McGrath/Mothersbaugh household when her owners could not be found, and the couple quickly fell in love with her and realized adoption was in their future! Since then, Vernon has become an integral part of their family and a regular fixture at the studio guarding Mom during their afternoons alone and supporting all of the faculty, students, and parents during school hours! Vernon is McGrath’s Performing Arts Academy’s #1 Fan and enthusiastic mascot. She would like to thank McGrath’s for this amazing opportunity, excellent new home, all the doggy toys a Chihuahua could dream of , and all the cool kids to play with! In the words of her buddy Sarah Tucker, “McGrath’s Forever”!!! |
