FACULTY & STAFF
CAITLIN ROBERTO
Owner | DIRECTOR
Caitlin Roberto graduated from Cal State Fullerton with her BS in Kinesiology with a concentration in Teacher Education. After completing her student teaching at Santa Ana High School for Dance, she went on to become the Dance Director at Lakewood High School for two years. She returned back to Santa Ana High School for the past four years as one of the Dance Directors.
Miss Caitlin is excited to start a new journey at La Serna High School as the Dance Director and build a dance program from the ground up! She hopes to further her education with a Masters Degree in Education and Fitness while pursuing multiple choreogrpahy opportunities. With her 20+ years of dance experience, she brings her student's award-winning choreography and the best of the best in technique and performance.
Caitlin continues to round out her teaching career with clinics, special events choreography, and master classes throughout Southern California. She is the sole choreographer for the Anaheim Angels Stadium Dance Nights. Her love of Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, and Lyrical/Contemporary are seen through her choreography and the talents of all her students. She is so excited to be one of the new owners of Imperial Dance Studio!
CHRISTINE ROBERTO
Owner | Administrator
Christine is proud to embark on this new adventure of studio ownership with her daughter Caitlin. She has much business experience working for the cities of Downey and Norwalk for more than 35 years and is excited to bring her organizational skills to IDS. She has a Masters Degrees in Public Administration from Cal State University Dominguez Hills and is currently employed as the Public Services Manager for the City of Norwalk, supervising 75+ staff. Christine began dance lessons at a very young age, but today, she leaves the dancing and teaching to Caitlin and ensures that the business-side of the studio runs smoothly!
ALIDA CARMONA
faculty | ballet
Alida began her serious ballet training at the "Phyllis Cyr Academy" under the direction of Anthony Sellers, in the late 1970s. She continued her training with the renowned Ballet master, Stephan Wenta, around the same time. All the while performing with the "San Gabriel Valley Ballet", under the direction of Virginia Paulo Lovejoy. Alida began teaching dance in the early 1980s, at various studios in Southern California. Alida has been teaching at Imperial Dance Studio since September 2001.
NICOLE LEEMAN
faculty | Tiny tots, children's Tap/Ballet/Jazz/Hip Hop
Nicole is a resident of Brea, California and grew up dancing at Imperial Dance Studio training in Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Lyrical and Hip Hop. Inspired by studio owner and instructor Todd Van Dorn and many other teachers, Nicole decided at a young age that she wanted to become a dance teacher. At age 16, Todd offered her a teaching position at Imperial Dance Studio, and began teaching a beginning tap class, and eventually began working on a full time basis. Now with 8 years of teaching experience, Nicole now teaches classes of all kinds and for all ages. According to Nicole, "dance has made me who I am today, and I love sharing my passion for dance with all of my students.
KATIE WINANS
faculty | Ballet/Technique
Katie is a Whittier native, where she began dancing at the age of 4 at Claylee's Dance Academy and instantly fell in love with dance. There she trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, lyrical, and modern. She studied the classical Cecchetti ballet method, completing her ballet exams all through Grade 9. During high school, she was a member of the non-profit Whittier Youth Ballet company where she had the opportunity to learn and perform classic ballet variations, and work with many ballet and modern choreographers.
Katie's love of dance followed her to college where she earned her B.F.A in Dance and B.A in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. During her senior year at UCSB she had the amazing opportunity to be a part of the UCSB dance company and perform on a European tour.
Katie's love of teaching dance began at the age of 12 when she first started assisting ballet/tap combo classes. She has had the immense joy of teaching for multiple studios in the Whittier, Brea and Santa Ana areas. She also currently teaches at California School of the Arts - San Gabriel Valley as the elective ballet teacher. She loves working with dancers of all ages and hopes to inspire them to become strong, passionate dancers!
EMMA SENECAL
faculty | Jazz/Tap/Lyrical
I am originally from Atlanta, Georgia and trained at my mother’s dance studio from age 3-18. After I graduated high school I moved to California to train at the Brea Space. I now train in all styles ranging from Ballet to hip hop to ballroom. I have been teaching dance and tumbling for a few years now and I thoroughly love teaching kids. I am looking forward to traveling and training more as the world starts to open back up!
Olivia Garcia
FACULTY | Hip Hop/Lyrical/Acro
Olivia Garcia grew up in Downey, California where she began dancing at the age of 6 and has been training since. She was a member of the Downey High School Dance team for 4 years where her team competed & was awarded a total of 8 first place national titles. Olivia is currently a student at Cal State University of Long Beach majoring in marketing and minoring in dance. She loves Hip Hop, Jazz, Lyrical, Acrobatics, and more! She hopes to one day open a dance studio of her own and continue to teach dance full time. As a former student of Ms. Caitlin, she can’t wait to start this new journey at Imperial Dance Studio.
Marisa Rivera
FACULTY | tap
Marisa began dancing when she was 7 years old. She has been teaching dance for the past 12 years in various styles such as ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical/contemporary, and Polynesian/Hula. In 2014 and 2015, she performed with Cerritos College Dance Department and had featured roles. In 2019, Marisa received a Bachelors of the Arts in Liberal Studies from Arizona State University. She currently teaches dance at California School of the Arts - San Gabriel Valley. Marisa loves having the ability to share her passion for dance with her students.
CAITLYN GOLDEN
FACULTY | ACRO/JAZZ
Caitlyn has competed in all styles of dance for over 8 years at South Coast Conservatory. She was also a 4 year varsity song leader at her high school and was placed in the top 10 for USA (United Spirt Association). She is certified in Acrobatic Arts and trained in all styles of dance. Caitlyn is at Cal State Fullerton for Business & Early Childhood Education. She is excited to be teaching at Imperial Dance Studio and share her love of dance and Acro with her students!
JUSTICE GULLEY
FACULTY | JAZZ/ LYRICAL/TECHNIQUE/ACRO/STRENGTH TRAINING
Justice Gulley has had the passionate fire for dance her entire life. She began classes when she was 4 years old in Las Vegas, NV. Upon moving to Lake Elsinore, CA when she was 9, she trained at JDI Dance Company until she graduated at 18 years old. She is currently attending Fullerton College on a transfer degree for Business to finish at Cal state Fullerton. She is trained in Ballet, Hip-hop, Contemporary, Jazz, Lyrical, Technique, and Pilates. She continues to train and build her skills by taking adult classes all around Orange County. She is excited to be on her journey of dance instruction to the kids and plans to one day have a studio of her own. She looks forward to passing down her skill and knowledge of hard work, dedication and to inspire passion and love of dance. Justice quotes, “I love kids and am happy to be setting my future up to be teaching them! They are my pride and joy.”
ISABELLA ESCOBEDO
FACULTY | ACRO
Bella is from Whittier, CA and has been passionate for dance since she was 4 years old. Bella has trained in all styles including, Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Contemporary, and Acro. She was a part of Downey High School Dance Team for 4 years where they won 14 titles. She also trained at Imperial Dance Studio for 3 years and competed 2 years, winning overalls and Title wins thoughout her 2 years competing. Bella is currently attending Cal State University of Fullerton majoring in Psychology. She is continuing her dance journey as a member on the CSUF Dance Team. Bella is extremely excited to be teaching at Imperial Dance Studio!
RYAN YAMASKI
FACULTY | HIP HOP
BIO COMING SOON!
Mackenzie “MAC” Macfarlane
Guest Choreographer
Mackenzie MacFarlane has been dancing for 25 years studying with various choreographers giving her multiple opportunities to dance at the professional level. She studied dance at Clifton Dance Project, Studio Fusion, APA, and Hudson Dance Academy. She attended Huntington Beach High School where she was Dance Team Captain and creator of the hip-hop dance club. Mackenzie had the pleasure to coach and dance on an adult hip-hop dance team that won 3rd in the World at the “Dance Worlds.” Mackenzie has been teaching and coaching dance since the age of eighteen, as she absolutely loves sharing her love for hip-hop dancing and has a passion for helping kids grow.
