Meet Our Faculty

at Ballet Arts Centre we are extremely proud of our faculty. All of our instructors have extensive training and performance experience and a deep love for the art of dance. Dance is a major part of all of the instructor's lives and we are honored to share our love of dance with the dancer in your family.

Sydney is a magna cum laude graduate of Florida State University, with a BFA in Dance. While at FSU Sydney was a member of FSU’s Dance Repertory Theatre for three years. As a company member of DRT she was able to work with guest artists; Stephen Koester, Alan Danielson, Michael Foley and more. Her choreography Life After This was showcased at FSU in their Days of Dance Concert Series in 2011. Raised in Jacksonville, Sydney attended LaVilla Middle School of the Arts and went on to graduate from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in 2007. At Douglas Anderson she was a member of Dance Theatre for three years. Since graduating from FSU, Sydney was the director of dance at Lake Forest Elementary and has been dance faculty at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, LaVilla School of the Arts, Jacksonville Country Day School and Assumption ECLC. Sydney has held the title of Miss Jacksonville 2013 and Miss Florida's Outstanding Teen 2006 in the Miss America Organization. Sydney has enjoyed choreographing and dancing with both Jacksonville Dance Theatre and Braided Light Dance Project. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her children and traveling the world with her husband who is a pilot.

Sydney Keister Phelps - owner/director

Megan Bannatyne is a Florida native who has been dancing for over 20 years. She grew up in a suburb of Orlando dancing recreationally and began to delve deeper into her future in dance when she started her collegiate career at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. Megan graduated with her A.A. in Dance Performance Degree Pathway Major in May of 2022, which led her to transfer to Jacksonville University to receive her Bachelor in Fine Arts in Dance. Throughout her time in college, Megan has worked with esteemed choreographers such as Jon Lehrer, Daniel Lewis, Yoshito Sakuraba, Alberto del Saz and John Parks. In addition, she had opportunity to dance in "A Choreographic Offering" by José Limón/Jose’ Limon Dance Company. In the summer of 2023, Megan spent three weeks in New York City where she attended the Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive. There, she studied under modern dance legends of the company such as Renee Robinson and Lakey Evans-Peña. In May of 2024, she graduated Summa Cum Laude from JU. Megan is currently an apprentice dancer for Jacksonville Dance Theatre for their '24-'25 season. She is very excited to join the BAC family and looks forward to an amazing year.

Megan Bannatyne - ballet & jazz

Katie Blandford - Tap

Katie fell in love with dance at the young age of three and hasn’t stopped since! She is a graduate of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and while there was a member of the Tap Ensemble. Katie continued to study dance while majoring in Exercise Science at Florida State University. While at FSU she was able to train under FSU’s dance faculty and performed in many of their shows.. Some of the dancing greats that she’s studied under include Joe Lanteri, Rhonda Stampalia, Mia Michaels, Ellie Potts Barrett, Finis Jhung, Phyllis Penney and Joe Tremaine.After graduating in 2003, she moved back to Jacksonville and started teaching dance at local studios. Since teaching at Ballet Arts Centre, she has fallen in love with the students and staff here and hopes to share her passion for tap for many years to come!

Mia Christie - ballet, pointe & contemporary

Mia Christie began her training at Pofahl Studios, the official school of Dance Alive National Ballet, and Kelly Christie Dance Academy. Mia has trained with Royal Ballet School, Cuba National Ballet, Sarasota ballet, and Kingsport Ballet. After years of training, Mia became corps de ballet with Dance Alive National Ballet. While with Dance Alive, Mia performed the role of Clara in The Nutcracker. She also performed various corps roles in Firebird, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Anna Karenina, Robin Hood, and Nutcracker.
In 2021 Mia became a trainee with Sarasota Ballet. She performed roles with the School such as Clara in The Nutcracker, Don Quixote Grand pas de deux, Le Corsaire: Pas d’ Esclave pas de deux, and many neoclassical works. Mia also had the opportunity to perform alongside the Sarasota Ballet’s company in George Balanchine’s Western Symphony, and The Four Temperaments.
Mia joined The Florida Ballet as a professional in 2023. While with Florida Ballet Mia has performed the lead role of Clara in The Nutcracker, and soloist roles in Roberto Forleo’s Dracula, Bach to Rock, and Linda MacArthur Miele’s Balanchine inspired Souvenir de Florence. Mia will continue to work for the company for the 24/25 season.

Alyssa Harrell - hip hop

Alyssa Harrell is currently attending Jacksonville University, working towards her bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, and helps run a club called Choreo Club represented through Jacksonville Universities dance department. Alyssa has trained in many styles such as ballet, modern, contemporary, tap, jazz, acrobatics, ballroom, various styles of hip-hop, and other fusion styles! Through out her time in the dance industry, she has been apart of companies such as Tap Into The Network, American Tap Company, Rhythmic Souls Tap Company, Orlando Tap Company, and DanceLook LLC. Alyssa has been an assistant for NRG DanceProject Convention, and Embody Dance Conference. Alyssa was apart of an opening performance at the F1™ ROLEX British Grand Prix (London,UK) through American Tap Company. She has been apart of Michelle Dorrance’s Residency at riff Dallas, where she performed a piece choreographed by Michelle Dorrance. Alyssa grew up in the competitive industry where she attended competitions, conventions, intensives, dance team, and other outside resources, she has won scholarships and titles such as AMDA High School Summer Conservatory, National Dance Alliance (NDA) All-American, Teen Miss Legacy Title winner (Legacy Dance competition), Elite Senior Dancer Title Winner (StarQuest Dance Competition), and many others. Alyssa has recently been active in the Jacksonville dance community, getting together with other dancers in the area doing concept videos and spreading her passion to others. Alyssa’s goal is to give her recourses she has learned to her students and make a change in our dance industry!

Stacey Henderson - ballet, tap, jazz & acro

Stacey has made a career out of dance and education. She began dancing at age 3 for Laurie Lanouette’s Dance Connection in Windham, NH. She performed jazz, ballet, contemporary and modern as well as started her career and love of teaching. She is a graduate of Jacksonville University with an Education Major and Dance Minor. While at JU, she was a varsity Cheerleader for the Football and Basketball teams. After graduation she returned home and taught for Laurie Lanouette for 5 more years before returning to sunny Florida. She taught preschool at JU's Wilma's Little Peoples School for 15 years. She is currently a teacher for Duval County. Stacey has a true passion for children, dance and education and it shows in her home life as well. She keeps life interesting raising her three girls who also love to dance.

Elizabeth Kuhn - ballet & pointe

Elizabeth grew up in Columbus Ohio, where she studied classical dance at BalletMet Academy. During her time at BalletMet Elizabeth had the opportunity to train in the pre-prefessional program which allowed her to perform alongside the professional company in multiple ballets and performances. She was also a member of their YouMet company, which had the privilege of training with Alvin Ailey principal dancer April Berry, and traveled the states presenting classical modern works. In 2007, Elizabeth attended Jacksonville University on a talent scholarship where she received her BFA in dance performance in 2011. After college, Elizabeth joined a local dance company and started teaching in the Jacksonville area. She has set several full-length ballets, as well has had her choreography performed all over the state of Florida.

Jayden Thomas - ballet, tap, jazz & contemporary

Native to Texas, Jayden Thomas is a recent graduate from the University of Houston, where she received her BFA in Dance. She has choreographed for highschool dance teams nationwide as well as concert pieces that have been performed in Emerging Choreographers Showcase at the University of Houston, and UH Goes to the MATCH. Jayden has over 4 years of teaching experience in various styles. She has been dancing for over 15 years, and has done competition studio dance as well as highschool drill teams. She studied under Teresa Chapman, Travis Prokop, KeyAira Lockett, Francisco Graciano, Adele Nickel, etc. Jayden will be beginning her career as a professional dancer in the Jacksonville area this upcoming Fall.