Owner and Director

Corie is a Bay Area native who started taking Ballet and Tap at 3 years old. While she loves dancing, her true passion is teaching. Her competitive dancers have earned numerous Regional and National Titles, including high scores and Dancer of the Year awards. Known for fostering community and self-confidence, her teaching philosophy emphasizes a strong technical foundation, thoughtful training, and a safe, nurturing environment in which children can learn, grow, and thrive.

Corie has a 3 year old son (Callan), a 3 month old daughter (Rylie), and the most supportive husband in the world (Brandon).

Contemporary Teacher

Lynn Brilhante is described as having dynamic, fluid and gutsy dancing and choreography. She brings a fresh and innovative approach to the world of Jazz and shows a unique ability to merge and update various elements, in the process creating her own trademark style. These talents have recently earned her a nomination for the Theatre L.A. Ovation Award for Choreography. Ms. Brilhante has also received the Dance Masters of America Choreographer's Award and the Robbi Award for Choreography. Her success in transferring her love of dance through teaching is evidenced by a flock of loyal students, both in her studio classes in the San Francisco Bay Area and at numerous workshops, master classes and camps throughout the world. Ms. Brilhante boasts a long and impressive resume of choreographic and performance achievements, spanning the diverse media of stage, film, television and video. Her contributions will continue to enrich the dance world.

Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, Contemporary Teacher

Kahana has been dancing since the age of 4 and teaching various styles of dance for 8+ years. Growing up, her favorite styles were etap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, and ballet. She danced competitively throughout high school and continued dancing in college on the Santa Clara Dance Team. Kahana loves teaching all different styles of dance and cannot wait to continue fostering a fun and welcoming environment at RISE Performing Arts Center!

Jazz, Hip-Hop, Combo, and Acro Teacher

Rachel has been dancing for nearly 20 years. She has trained in a multitude of style including jazz, tap, ballet and contemporary, but considers upbeat styles such as jazz funk and sassy jazz to be her favorites. Rachel was a member of her high school Dance Team, the Lincoln Convertibles and continued her dance journey as a 4 year member of the UC Davis Dance Team. During her years on te team Rachel has gained experience choreographing and performing in numerous Big West Tournaments. In addition to her love of dance, Rachel is a certified Acrobatic Arts instructor who thrives sharing her passion for dance with her students.

Hip-Hop Teacher

Alee fell in love with dance at a young age. Her whole family loved to dance, especially her parents. At the age of 15 she joined a dance group in her church and performed at many services. In early 2009 she was introduced to the dance community here in the Bay Area which led her to join a local dance team. In 2011 she auditioned for a professional dance company in San Francisco. She got the opportunity to travel the world and performed in AGT season 7 and other television shows. As time went on and she fell more and more in love with her craft, she decided to start her own dance company with her former teammate and now Fiancé, Stuck Sanders. They are now running POISE’N BRIGADE, a youth team in the Bay, as well as their adult company THE TRIBE.

Hip-Hop Teacher

Jun's passion for hip-hop dance ignited when he was just 12 years old, starting his journey with local studio classes. By the age of 16, he had joined the youth dance team Poise'n Brigade, directed by Alee Martinez and Stuck Sanders, where he honed his skills of tutting, break dancing, popping, and feminine and gained experience in competitive dance. Jun participated in their annual Halloween and Nutcracker shows and competed in events like Body Rock Juniors. He also trained with The Room by Kolanie Marks, an industry-level dance program. Additionally, Jun has contributed to the Los Altos High School dance community as a teacher and director for their annual dance show.

Ballet Teacher

Astrid formally began her ballet studies at the Terpsicore Comprehensive Dance School, at the age of 13 with teacher Humberto Rodriguez. At the age of 15, she joined the stable dance corps at the Nuevo Mundo ballet in Caracas, under the artistic direction of the teacher, director and prima ballerina from Venezuela Zhandra Rodriguez, who was a principal dancer at the American Ballet Teatro and Hamburg Ballet. Finishing part of her training at the Ballet Nuevo Mundo, she joined the most important company in Venezuela, the Teresa Carreño Ballet, dancing various roles in many productions including Coppelia, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, The Flames of Paris, Spartacus, Paquita, Giselle, The Death of the Swan, and many more.

In 2018 she won the Silver Medal in the fourth division at the Miami International Ballet Competition USA.

In 2021 she moved to the United States to continue her career as a dancer and sharing her experience as a ballet teacher, dancing and in different companies in Miami such as Dimensions Dance Theater (Entrenar) of Miami and Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami as Soloist and Corps of Ballet under the artistic direction Heriberto Jimenez.

Her focus is on being able to share all my experience and learning in a responsible way with all those passionate about the world of ballet.