Meet Our Amazing Team
Kristin Vincent
Owner & Director
The proud owner and director of Xpress Yourself Dance Studio, Miss Kristin, began dancing at a young age, studying several disciplines including: tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, lyrical, acro and hip-hop. Though she has a love for all dance, Miss Kristin is truly in her element teaching and choreographing tap!
Miss Kristin continued her life-long passion for dance and received a degree in both Performing Arts and Business Administration with a minor in Dance Theater from the University of Tampa. It was during this time that Miss Kristin began choreographing and teaching. She also received many accolades at her alma mater including: Choreographer of the Year and Dance Student of the Year.
A talented teacher and choreographer, Miss Kristin continued to perform as well and was a featured dancer/singer/actor in Rome Saladino's production of "Singin' and Dancin' in the Rain."
While she loves being on the stage, her passion for teaching has always come first and she strives to be a life-long learner by attending events such as the Dance Teacher Summit and Dance Life Teacher Conference.
Every student that walks through the doors earn a special place in Miss Kristin’s heart. From babies to adults, she does all that she can to give her students a quality dance education and a second home to her growing dance family.
Cassandra Spohn
Studio Manager, Instructor
Miss Cassandra can be seen in class teaching both recreational classes and assisting with Company choreography. You'll also find her behind the scenes helping to manage the studio and social media presence.
Growing up, Miss Cassandra’s favorite classes were always jazz and ballet. As she continued dancing, she was fortunate to explore other styles such as lyrical, tap, musical theater, hip hop, ballroom, and modern at her alma mater, Otterbein University. She continues to stay involved as a Board Member of the Otterbein Theatre and Dance Alumni Network. You can see her love for jazz and ballet influenced her choreography.
Miss Cassandra believes all people are capable of dancing because dance is an expression of our feelings within. She also believes that all people are teachable, and, like any other subject, it takes the right teacher and interests to be discovered for a student to thrive.
Miss Cassandra is thrilled to be teaching and helping at such a warm and encouraging dance studio and loves to be part of the XY family.
Kailey Castro
Admin Staff
If you’re here during the week, you’ve already had the pleasure of getting to know Miss Kailey. Kailey is a full time student at FAU and has always had an interest in dance. She’s super helpful wherever needed and always has a smile on her face She aspires to pursue a degree in Business, is bilingual and a eager learner.
Kelly Armstead
Admin Staff
Miss Kelly also works for the City of Miramar as the Program Superintendent in the Social Services Department. She comes to us with a vast knowledge of Dance and Performing Arts with previous experience as the Arts & Education Manager also at the City of Miramar as well as at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.
Prior to working in Florida, Kelly worked for the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, TN and was the founding member of the Village Drum & Dance Ensemble, where she worked as the Artistic Director providing choreography for African Dance Suites and taught on-going weekly West African, Jazz, and Contemporary dance classes.
Nia Ramirez
Competition Coordinator, Instructor
Miss Nia wears many hats at the studio and is truly a Jack-of-all-trades. When she’s not teaching an amazing class, you can find her photographing professionally and throughout the studio. Miss Nia brings an incredible amount of expertise in many different dance forms…and we could not be more excited to have her as part of our XY team!
In addition to recreational classes, Miss Nia works hard preparing our Company and Performance Team dancers for each and every performance and competition. After competing for several herself, Miss Nia moved to Cali, Colombia to begin her professional ballet training at Incolballet under the direction of Gloria Castro. She also began to train in Jazz, Contemporary, Tap, Hip-Hop and Tango.
Growing up, Miss Nia loved the freeness, explosive movement, and all around groove and happiness while dancing Jazz.
After attending Earl Mosley’s summer intensive in 2011, Miss Nia discovered a great passion for teaching and eventually became the Artistic Director of a children's Jazz and Lyrical company with Be! Danza in Cali, Colombia. Miss Nia is constantly traveling and taking classes to expand her dance knowledge, to places such as New York City, Cuba and Los Angeles. Her goal is to give students a new language through which they can express themselves freely and confidently. Miss Nia is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She is also certified through Progressing Ballet Technique. Miss Nia is currently working on becoming a Certified Personal Trainer through NSAM. She also has a bachelor’s degree in Film.
Miss Nia teaches dance to instill confidence and body autonomy to all of dancers. Overcoming obstacles gives confidence to approach harder things in life. She hopes that at the end of each class, her students have faced a challenge and feel proud of the way they navigated it. Making progress everyday is an important life skill.
Rosanne Slifko
Instructor
Miss Rosanne comes to Xpress Yourself with an impressive background including owning and operating a dance studio in the Pittsburgh, PA area for over 20 years. She brings an extensive knowledge in dance, and we could not be more thrilled to have her on staff! Some of Miss Rosanne’s accomplishments include: Board of Directors of Dance Masters of PA #10 for over 30 years severing as President for two terms and is also a member of Ceccehetti Council of America (Classical Ballet), Dance Masters of America, Dance Masters of Florida, and National Twirling Judges Association.
Miss Rosanne studied at Broadway Dance Center, Steps, Luigi’s and ABT. She has attended Dance Masters of America’s national conventions for the past 30 years, as well as the Teacher’s Training School and holds a continuous education with Dance Masters of America.
Miss Rosanne is delighted to introduce students to the wonderful world of dance and hopes to touch students’ lives in a positive way while exposing them to the art of dance.
Jessica Henderson
Instructor
Miss Jessica has been dancing for over 35 years and has taught for 21 of those years. Now she brings her experiences and talents to the XY family!
As a dancer, Miss Jessica has appeared on Star Search in 1993, The New Original Amateur Hour and on WDZL as cool kid of the week. Jessica has been awarded numerous scholarships to attend classes in both LA and New York with teachers such as Mia Michaels, Tyce Diorio, and Doug Caldwell.
Miss Jessica has also been awarded with scholarships to tour nationally with Tremaine Dance Convention where she assisted and performed in their end of the weekend showcase.
As an instructor, Miss Jessica has won numerous choreography awards and many of her students have won overall awards and scholarships. Miss Jessica is excited to join the XY staff this year where she can pass on her expertise and enthusiasm for dance with her students!
Lexi Mancini
Instructor
Lexi began dancing at Xpress Yourself Dance Studio at the age of ten. While at Xpress Yourself Dance Studio she competed in all genres including Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, and Hip Hop. She graduated from Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in 2018. Upon graduation she moved to Texas and completed a Bachelors’ of Science degree in Exercise Physiology at Baylor University in Waco Texas. While attending Baylor University she taught at All That Jazz Academy of Dance for four years. She taught Jazz, Ballet, Lyrical, Contemporary Tap, Acro, and Hip Hop, as well as choreographing routines for their competition team.
Lexi is passionate about working with children and teaching them how to love and appreciate dance. Dance taught her the value of teamwork, perseverance and hard work and she’s excited to be back as part of the Xpress Yourself staff.
Dez Ragin
Instructor
Dez was born and raised in Queens, NY. She began dancing at American Dance and Drama Studio at the age of eight, training in various genres from Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Modern. Even though she was well rounded in various styles, Miss Dez connected to Hip Hop the most.
Miss Dez has had the opportunity to professionally train at Alvin Ailey and Broadway Dance Center in New York. She has taught Hip Hop for eight years in Philadelphia, PA. and is passionate about creating more pieces as she transitions to Florida.
She has received various awards for her choreography and continues to strive for greatness, not only for herself but her students as well!
Leah Stricker
Instructor
Leah started her dance training at the age of three at Southern Dance Theatre located in Boynton Beach. She was accepted and attended both Bak Middle School of the Arts and Dreyfoos School of the Arts majoring in Dance. Leah continued her dance career at Marymount Manhattan College where she studied Entrepreneurship and Dance. She continued her studies outside of college at Broadway Dance Center training with choreographers such as, Theresa Stone, Phil Orsano, and KC Castellano.
Leah has choreographed for Loud Live Productions under the direction of Kenneth Fowler for the past four years and recently choreographed and performed at Immerse Fest in Orlando. Additional choreography credits include Fright Nights in October of 2021.
Although Leah teaches daily, she continues to train and is mostly known for her unique Contemporary-Fusion movement. She a member of Virtual Movement Academy, under the direction of Michelle Olson and Sakura Liu, as well as Unikiyo, where she is a company member.
Alana Scheuerer
Instructor
Alana began dancing at the age of two and is one of Xpress Yourself Dance Studio’s Company Alumni. She has trained in tap, ballet, jazz, pointe, contemporary, and hip hop. Competing for over 15 years in South Florida, Alana has achieved numerous overall top scores for tap solos, has been awarded Studio Dancer of the Year at Tremaine Convention, placed 1st at Legacy Nationals for her pointe solo, and was awarded the Broadway Bound Award at On Stage America Nationals.
Alana received her Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management and Tourism from Florida State University. As an undergraduate, Alana participated as a member of the competitive dance team, Seminole Dance Force, partook in officer roles with the philanthropic organization, Dance Marathon, and helped start up the university’s first tap team as President of Seminole Tap Troupe. She continued at Florida State University to earn a Master of Arts in American Dance Studies.
Alana competes in the Miss America Organization and is the current Miss South Florida Fair 2022. Her personal social initiative is TAP: Turn up Artistic Participation. She has previously won preliminary talent awards for tap dancing and placed 3rd runner up at Miss Florida. She also works in Boca Raton for a multimedia production company, hosting live radio, recording voiceovers, and producing NBC Comcast commercials. Alana is excited to be teaching 'back home' again.