© 2014. TURNING POINTE Dance of Tulsa
Faculty
Holly Columbus – Director
Holly Columbus began her dance training at the age of three, training in ballet, tap, jazz and lyrical at Broken Arrow Academy of Dance and Theatre Arts and continued her dance training there until the age of 18. She enjoyed being a part of their Company Dance Team and attended summer intensive training courses during this time. In 2000, she continued her dance training under the instruction of Director Mary Magaret Holt at the University of Oklahoma where she later received her Bachelor of Arts degree.
She has traveled and received professional training from Moscelyne Larkin of Tulsa Ballet, Roman Jasinski Jr., Kirstin Jollisant, and Ronnie Underwood from The Ballet West Company & tv show “Breaking Pointe”, to name a few. Holly has performed in such greats as Shostakovich Suite, Coppelia, Giselle, Fette France, and many more. She has choreographed dances that have won State and Regional Awards and have competed at the National Level. Holly is truly excited to be able to offer TURNING POINTE Dance of Tulsa to the community. She believes that dancing can enhance your academics, grace, style and your love for life! Her passion for dance and teaching is great and to be able to pass it on to future generations is a blessing! She knows some of her students may not go on to dance in college or professionally but during the time she is blessed to be their dance teacher she hopes to instill dance knowledge and terminology, a love for the performing arts, and most important, a desire to dance with joy!
Holly’s passion is in Ballet and her discipline is in the Ballet Russe technique. She is a member of the National Dance Association and Oklahoma State Dance Team’s Directors Association. She continues her dance education by attending teacher seminars and dance conferences all over the U.S. She loves to bring energy and enthusiasm to each class while striving to be a positive role model to her students. Along with studio dance, Miss Holly has led a successful career in real estate since 2004. She is thankful and blessed for her amazing husband, Bryce and their three daughters, Colbie, Tennyson, and Giselle.
Sofiia Popova
Sofiia is originally from Russia and that is where she received her extensive dance training from many renowned teachers. She graduated from the Udmurt Republican College of Culture with a Degree in the teaching of Dance. Later, Sofiia had the amazing opportunity to dance professionally with the Opera and Ballet Theater of Udmurt.
She is in love with the art of dancing, especially with classical ballet. Being a dance teacher, means for her, sharing her love for dance, knowledge, and positive experience with others. She believes that for many students, dancing has become not just a sport, but an important part of life, which helps maintain harmony between physical and emotional development. Watching students enthusiastically prepare for performances, discuss costumes, dance concepts, and comprehend the difficulties of the dance routine makes her happy as a teacher. In 2017, Sofiia moved to the United States with her mother and their beloved old dog. Her whole family still lives in Russia; however, they keep in touch through regular video conversations. Her family loves art, from childhood her mother instilled in her a love for theater, classical and opera music, musicals, and reading.
Claire Dos Santos
Claire began her dance training at Dance Branson in Branson, Missouri at the age of 7. During her time training at this studio, she was also accepted into the competitive dance program. Living in Branson, Missouri gave her many unique opportunities to dance in local performances and gain extra experience performing. Her favorite experience was dancing in a grand-scale illusion show as a magician’s assistant for two years. Claire continued her dance education at Oral Roberts University. While in college, she taught for Next Gen Dance; a touring dance competition and convention. She worked with Next Gen Dance for 3 years, teaching a variety of styles, tap, lyrical, musical theatre. Claire has her degree from ORU in both International Business and French, and also a minor in Dance Performance. She is excited to continue sharing her passion for movement and her love for Jesus teaching at TURNING POINTE Dance of Tulsa.
Danielle Liechty
Danielle fell in love with dance at the age of three. Danielle is trained in ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip-hop, acrobatics, contemporary, lyrical, modern, and musical theater. She started competing in dance at the age of 5 and won numerous awards throughout her competition years. Danielle has held many local titles for the Miss Oklahoma Organization and has had opportunities to perform across the United States with The Legacy Project. She was the lead dancer in their production “Be The Light” and was featured in many of their productions. Danielle is a graduate of Oral Roberts University where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance Performance and is passionate about sharing her love for dance through performance and teaching. passion and love for dance has motivated her to continue to teach others about dance so they too can celebrate life with this beautiful art form!
Elizabeth Szymanski
Elizabeth is a Dance Performance graduate of Oral Roberts University where she trained extensively in ballet, modern, and various other styles. She loves to inspire her students to embody a piece of music and find freedom in dance. Her desire to see dance used as an outpouring of emotions, ideas, and experiences compels her to teach others how to use their bodies to most effectively communicate a message through technique and performance. Faith uses dance as a form of worship and finds her joy in movement unto God.
Maddie Lynch
….coming soon
Caris Pennington
… coming soon
Rebekah Sorenson
….coming soon
Daynelis Munoz
Daynelis Munoz began her formal ballet training in Cuba, where she is from. She studied Classical Ballet at the Cuban National Ballet School. After graduating in 2005, she was hired on as a Professional Classical Ballet Dancer and Ballet Instructor. Daynelis has been a company member and professional dancer for the Cuban National Ballet, Mexico Ballet, and Tulsa Ballet.She has danced on stages in Spain, France, Colombia, and Mexico to name a few. Has been highlighted most of her career as a Principal Dancer. Daynelis has danced the main roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Infra, Serenade, and Bayadera. She has danced pieces of internationally renowned choreographers in the world of art such as John Cranko, Edwaard Liang, Marcello Angelini, George Balanchine, Wayne McGregor, Ma Cong, and Alicia Alonso. She has participated in different International Ballet Competitions in Cuba, Mexico, winning Gold Medal and in Youth America, winning Grand Prix. She has also been a judge in Competitions of Dance, International Dance Meeting, and Congresses of Spectacles. The main objective of Miss Daynelis’s classes is to convey passion, technique, inspiration, love for the art of dance to transcend students and through them reach the community, and thus enhance the development of their potential and promote dance creativity! She identifies herself a lot with this phrase: “There are shortcuts to happiness and dancing is one of them”. https://www.youtube.com/
Rebekah Roberts
Born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe, Rebekah began her classical ballet training with the Royal Academy of Dance Cambridge system at age 5. She perfumed every year at the national theatre and was awarded high honors from her international examiners. Rebekah worked as a ballet teacher for the Carol Henchie School of Dance in Zimbabwe for several months before moving to the U.S. for university at Oral Roberts University. She was a performing member of a company called Backstage where she trained in a variety of movement and performance styles. This included everything from latin ballroom, musical theatre, contemporary, traditional Spanish dancing.
Rebekah is also a former Zimbabwean national gymnast and competed through out Southern Africa in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics since 2009. She also competed as an Aerobic gymnast for 2 years. Rebekah performed in group gymnastics and dance for her country at several world-renown events (Gym for Life & World Gymnaestrada) with over 18,000 participants from all over the world. These group gymnastics and dance performances were located in Cape Town, South Africa (2013 – team won silver), Helsinki, Finland (2015), and Dornbirn, Austria (2019). She was trained to coach and judge gymnastics under FIG (International Federation of Gymnastics) standards. Rebekah worked as an assistant coach at Drastic Gymnastics in Zimbabwe for several years before moving to the US. Rebekah graduated from ORU with a degree in Business Management and a minor in Dance Performance. She trained in modern and ballet mainly and performed in ensemble choreography at the end of her semesters. She loves to inspire the next generation with the love and freedom of dance. Dance gave her the opportunity to experience so much more life that she had ever dreamed and she hopes to make dreams come true for those she teaches.
Katie Henry
Katie has been active in the dance community for many years. She began her formal dance training in Colorado Springs where she began her studies in ballet. Her passion for dance grew and she began studying hip hop, followed by jazz, lyrical, pointe, and tap. After moving to Oklahoma and joining the TURNING POINTE Dance of Tulsa Studio, she continued to develop her skills in all areas of dance. She has won many titles at nationally ranked dance competitions. She is honored to be on faculty sharing her love of dance, and watching the students grow into the amazing dancers they are today. Along with teaching a handful of classes, Miss Katie now plays the crucial role of front office manager and direct assistant to Ms. Holly. he credits dancing with instilling discipline, self-motivation, and passion that can be carried into all aspects of life. She is thrilled to return to the studio where she developed the foundation for her dance career!Elisabeth Romeo-Coleman
Elisabeth Coleman began her dance training at the age of 2 in Houston, Texas. She studied under the discipline of the prestigious Houston Ballet Academy, MargoMarshall’s School of Dance, and spent many summers at the Joffrey Ballet in San Antonio. At the age of 11, she performed the role of Mother Ginger’s Clown in the professional Houston Ballet’s, “The Nutcracker”. As a teenager, she was a member of the City Ballet of Houston, and after graduating high school, attended the Univeristy of Oklahoma as a Ballet Performance Major. While at OU, Elisabeth studied under the direction of Mary Margaret Holt, Steve Brule, Jeremy Lindberg, Donn Edwards, Rebecca Herrin, and Clara Cravey. She had many opportunities performing in many wonderful ballets such as, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, The Firebird, Les Biches, and Afternoon of a Fawn. Upon graduating from the University of Oklahoma and receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dance Performance, Elisabeth moved to Tulsa with her husband. She then obtained her Physical Therapist Assistant Degree. Elisabeth is currently a Physical Therapist Assistant and TURNING POINTE’s Ballet Instructor. She excited to be teaching all our wonderful, dedicated, and hardworking dancers!
