Artistic Director-Tracee Brann has been immersed in the dance world her whole life. Tracee began her teaching career under the tutelage of Meg Segreto in Ft. Lauderdale for 19 years where she was the Assistant Company Director. Throughout the many decades immersed in the dance world, she has attended countless teacher training seminars with organizations such as DMA, FDM, Alixa Flexibility, More Thank Just Great Dancing, and Rhee Gold Dancelife Conferences where she continues to learn from renown leaders in the dance community. At the young age of 16 Tracee decided to devote her life to teaching and she has been instructing all ages of students in tap, jazz, ballet, and tumbling for over 35 years. She is a certified by test member of Florida Dance Masters and Dance Masters of America. She has been a convention instructor with FDM and was also a Miss Dance Pageant director for the organization. As a young dancer Tracee was honored to work with June Taylor to be a featured "new" June Taylor dancer in concert with Wayne Newton, and was a dancer on the Miami filmed television special "America is Me." Tracee opened "Tracee's Dancin' Starz" in Naples, Florida in 1998. TDS quickly became the prominent studio in the area and sustained an excellent reputation. Since then, Tracee sold the Naples studio in 2006 and opened Dance Impact closer to her home in Estero. Tracee has trained dancers who have continued their dance study in college and gone on to pursue employment in the dance field, or opened their own successful dance studios. It is wonderful to be part of the gift of dance being passed on through generations. Through over 35 years as an instructor and mentor, Tracee has positively influenced the lives of countless students not just in dance, but in many important aspects of life.
Competitive Team Instructor Jaymee Brann has been submersed in the dance world since birth and the dance studio has literally become her 2nd home. Jaymee has followed in the footsteps of her mother Tracee since a young age and has grown to absolutely love working with dancers and experimenting with her own choreography which many have won elite top awards the past 2 years. Jaymee has won many dance scholarships and title awards at competitions. She’s been a Power Pak dancer for 3 years where she received special recognition with being awarded another scholarship to Broadway Dance Center. At Power Pak Jaymee studied with many acclaimed instructors. Jaymee has been a Fusion Ambassador leading other peer students through the intensive week at Nationals. Jaymee also has done modeling for Peter Sabasino’s line of dancewear hashtag dance swag. Bigger than her passion for performing, she loves teaching and choreographing. This year Jaymee attended UCF to study elementary education. She has recently decided the studio is where her heart is and she will be coming back to study at FGCU so that she can be immersed in the training and choreographing for our team dancers. We are all over the moon to have her back home full time!
Pre-school Elementary director Lisa Day graduated from the "FAME" High School of Performing Arts in New York City, and was a Dance major under June Lewis at Brooklyn College. She has also studied at Joffrey in New York City. She has been teaching for over 30 years, children 18 months all the way thru senior citizens, and is a graduate of Dance Educators of America. Lisa relocated here from Ft. Lauderdale where she had been teaching for Mrs. P's Dance and Acrobatics studios in Weston, Boca Raton, and Coral Springs for ten years, as well as teaching and choreographing for the Coral Springs Institute of the Performing Arts Musical Theatre program. Her students have won numerous awards at dance competitions and Lisa is available to give private lessons to students to prepare students for competition. Lisa also heads up our off site dance programs at many pre-schools and this year completed her training certification to teach Leap N Learn, a wonderful preschool dance curriculum. Lisa has been teaching with Ms. Tracee for the past 17 years and her energetic classes are loved by all her students.
Competitive Instructor Ally Laird grew up with Tracee at her Naples studio “Tracee’s Dancin’ Starz” for 10 years. She was actually Tracee’s first registered student! Ally knew at a young age that dance was a passion of hers. She became an assistant instructor under Tracee and showed great promise as a choreographer at a young age. Ally since danced in college at Lynn University in Boca Raton, moved to LA to study dance, and has also taken classes at Broadway Dance Center in NYC. Ally loves being able to share her gift of dance with the younger generation. Ally also works with our team members creating beautiful award winning choreography. Her choreography has been recognized with top awards and special choreography awards. Over the past couple years she has taken up a passion for Pilates, which lead her to become a certified Balanced Body instructor.She is a wonderful, loved member of our staff for the past 11 years.
Classical Ballet and Contemporary Instructor Eddy Borges Lopez grew up in Cuba and has had extensive training with many professional companies. He has danced and choreographed with Ballet of Camaguey, Professional School of Ballet "Vincentian de la Torre, and Bruckman Inge Ballet School, and San Antonio Ballet. Eddy has taught at many schools such as UEES, Holy Spirit University, National Dance Company of Ecuador, Ecuadorian Chamber Ballet, Metropolitan School of Dance, and Quenedit Ballet School. We are thrilled to have Eddy join our dance family and the students have been loving his ballet and contemporary classes for the past 3 years!
Classical Ballet Director Helen Sedmak trained in England and studied all forms of dance from the age of 5. She attended Northern Ballet School (UK) where she attained Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance and Associate of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. Helen danced with the Manchester City Ballet at the opening of the Dancehouse Theatre in the presence of H.R. H. Princess Margaret. She also danced before H.R.H. Prince Philip at the opening of Terminal Two, Manchester International Airport. She has been involved in numerous classical productions including The Nutcracker, Giselle, and La Bayadere. She has also danced on Cruise Ships in Vegas Style shows. Helen brings that much needed polish and technique to our competitive dancers. Helen has been teaching with Ms. Tracee for the past 20 years and is a much loved member of the DI family.
Kelly Welborn Tumbling/Conditioning Instructor was born and raised in Fort Myers and did gymnastics locally at both Gymnastic World and Coast Elite Gymnastics Academy. She was a level 10 competitive gymnast and also coached young competitive gymnasts.Following her gymnastics career of 15+ years, she studied to become a fitness professional. She has taken courses and/or been certified in personal training, group exercise, yoga, CrossFit, CrossFit Kids, USA Weightlifting and Functional Range Conditioning. She has been active in the fitness community for more than 20 years and uses her prior experience to teach gymnastics skills in and out of the gym. Her hobbies include handstand contests, reading, and listening to podcasts. Kelly has been a great addition to our team for the past 6 years!
Jennifer Abrams is our dedicated office manager with a keen eye for the safety and well being of our students. She plays a vital role from watching over the reception lobby and attending to the needs of our students and parents. From dance attire, to bandaids, ice packs, to homework and nurturing children, she is there for to provide needs and answer a questions parents may have. She is available M-Th 3:30pm to 9pm and Sat 9am - 2pm. We are grateful to have Jen to ensure a smooth operation for outside classroom additional needs.