INSTRUCTORS
Our instructors are some of the most talented in the industry! It is our absolute pleasure to teach what we have learned throughout our many years of training....Please allow us to introduce ourselves.....
**Regardless of vaccination status**
**By signing up for classes, you are agreeing & understand masks are optional at all times by staff, students & anyone entering our facility.
Jamie Azpeitia-Sachs, Artistic Director/Founder
Jamie began her training in theater, ballet, and jazz at the age of 3. Having been trained by; Rosalie & Arthur Woodson, Marie De La Palme, Evette Demarco-Swinson, Diane Amendt, Julio Padilla, Gavin Navarro ,Gina Marume, Diamond Bar Fine Arts Academy, Inland Dance Academy, Claremont Children’s Theater, Sheila Jones, Juan Uribe, and Denise Donovan, and attended Chaminade University of Honolulu to study Dance, Pilates, Physical Therapy & Kinesiology, Jamie is well trained in dance, as well as injury prevention. “Annie”, “Grease”, “Mary Poppins”, “Guys & Dolls”, “Chicago”, “Swan Lake”, “The Nutcracker”, “The Secret Garden”, “The Glory of Easter” are just a few of the productions she has appeared in.
At the age of 17, she assisted choreography on 3 world tours for various artists. Jamie has run the Ballet Summer Intensive program for Bowen Hayes School of The Arts since 2007 where several of her students went on to dance with The Los Angeles Ballet, Debbie Allen Dance Academy, cast member of the critically acclaimed “Twist”, The Nutcracker, and child soloist for “The Glory of Christmas“, LInes Ballet, Alvin Ailey & Garth Fagan Dance Companies. Her choreography has been requested to appear in numerous productions, including Mayor Patrick Morris’ Operation Phoenix. Jamie has taught in such areas as the Bangor Washington Navel Base, Ballet Mistress for Kristi's Forever Dancin in Riverside, City of Riverside School of the Arts Ballet Mistress, The Marume School of The Arts in Aiea Hawaii, FTP in Moreno Valley, and in The Riverside Unified School District’s Enrichment program.
In addition to choreographing, and dancing, she helped to implement and create the CAVAPA standards for the state of California and VAPA for the state of Hawaii. Jamie has received numerous VIP invitations to appear at the Breast Cancer Research Foundations’ charity events, for outstanding efforts in helping to find a cure with the fundraising event “Dancing for a Cure” 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010. She was nominated in 2008 as one of San Bernardino County’s Distinguished Women of the Year, & honored by the City of Grand Terrace for her scholarship program, fundraising, and contributions to the performing arts.
Jamie is a recipient of Assemblyman Mike Morrell, and the Inland Empire Magazine “Unforgettable Hearts” awards. Jamie has danced with the California Riverside Ballet, Hawaii State Ballet, Inland Dance Theater, Inland Empire Contemporary Ballet, and San Gorgonio Ballet. Most recently, Ballet Mistress, and Pilates instructor Kathryn Scarano issued an exclusive invitation to train in Pilates in closed session at her Riverside studio, Plexis Pilates. Jamie is an active student with the highly acclaimed TVI Actors Studio, former Choreographer for the Miss Greater Inland Empire & Miss Greater Inland Empire's Outstanding teen pageant. She also is a judge with the NAACP ACT-SO Program.
In addition to studying Physical Therapy, Kinesiology, and Sports & Holistic Medicine for over 20 years, as well as her theatre & dance training, Jamie also holds a California VAPA Credential & is the Executive Director of Miss Riverside City & Miss Grand Terrace, official preliminaries to Miss California for the Miss America Organization.
Jamie currently sits on the board of 2 non-profits Creative Habitat & the Inland Empire Contemporary Ballet, Inc. In 2021, she was elected to the 61st Assembly as a Delegate and now the 63rd District. Recently, Jamie was honored to choreograph for Raffles Entertainment, headed by Raffles Van Exel.
Eliezer Rabelo, Ballet & Pilates
Eli is from Brazil. He began his dance training with the dance masters in the State of Amazonas— Conceicao Souza, Marco Venicius, and Jorge Kenedy. Eliezer also trained with well-known South American teachers: Olga Shimasaki (National Ballet of Peru), Raul Candal (Colon Theatre of Argentina), Jair Moraes (Ballet Guaira of Brazil), and other internationally renowned teachers: Ivo Karaguiorguiev (National Ballet of Sophia), and Ronald E. Brown (Alvin Ailey Dance Theater).
As a professional dancer in Brazil, Eliezer performed with Grupo Espaco de Danca do Amazonas (GEDAM), Cia. de Danca do SESC, and Corpo de Danca do Amazonas (the resident company of Amazonas Opera House). He was invited by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Amazonas State to direct and teach at Bale de Camara do Palacio Rio Negro and Centro Cultural Claudio Santoro.
In 1995, Eliezer founded Cia. Ballet da Barra, a dance school and company that performed Rabelo’s version of The Nutcracker for three years at the famous Amazon Opera House. He also received awards in important dance festivals in Brazil such as Festival de Danca do Mercosul in Bento Goncalves from 1995 to 1997 and IX Seminario Internacional de Danca Brasiliain 1999.
In 2002, Eliezer moved to the United States and worked for five years with the Lula Washington Dance Theater. He has been a guest artist with other companies such as the American Repertory Dance Company, Ballet Folclorico do Brasil, Project 21, Kin Dance Co., Ballet Collective, and the Lake Arrowhead Ballet Company. In 2005, he finished filming a featured role in Ford Austin’s shortcut picture Tiny Dancer.
Eliezer has been teaching classical ballet, jazz and modern dance for over 20 years. He is also a choreographer for figure skaters, dancers, dance schools and companies and dance competitions. A classically trained countertenor, he is currently earning a degree in music performance. In 2009, Eliezer became a certified BASI Pilates instructor and has been teaching Pilates for the past 12 years. Eli's work has been seen recently at the Inland Empire Dance Festival in 2019 & 2021. Eli speaks Spanish, Portuguese, English & Italian. He is happy to share his experience and talent with us!
Chris Ramos, Hip Hop Director
Chris hip-hop has been teaching for 2 years. He is well-versed in various hip-hop foundations and grooves, and my choreography is open-style hip-hop (choreography with hip-hop as the base and utilizes combos from various styles such as jazz, contemporary, lyrical etc.). Originally from Sacramento, CA and moved to San Bernardino in 2018. He has trained with a variety of choreographers such as Tristan Edpao, Kolanie Marks, and Jun Quemado & had taught at studios such as Snowglobe Perspective , and Is currently a member of the team Snowtorious. Chris is excited to start with the IE Dance Center!
Kristina Aquino, Tap, Contemporary & Jazz
Kristina has been a dancer for 15+ years and has been teaching a variety of dance disciplines for 9 years. Her foundation of dance is rooted in ballet, but she has years of experience in tap, jazz, contemporary/lyrical, and hip hop. She has danced for a variety of different studios and groups within Southern California, including collegiate dance teams, competitive teams, and community dance groups.
Her teaching style is approachable and patient with a touch of humor. She loves getting to know each of her students on an individual level.
Outside of the studio, Kristina’s career is focused in communication and special education. As such, she is passionate about teaching and working with children with special needs both inside and outside of the dance room. Kristina is happy to be joining IEDC and looks forward to dancing with all of you!
Danielle Willis, Jazz & Contemporary
Bio Coming Soon!
Emma Cisneros, Jazz, Contemporary, Lyrical, Ballet
Emma began traing at the age of 5 in ballet & hip hop at a local dance studio in Corona, California. She later trained with Murrietta Dance Project, Inspire, Kristi's Forever Dancin where she trained in ballet under Jamie Azpeitia-Sachs & Studio 31. She competed under Kristi Wooding for 5 seasons. Emma has also performed in Ghost Walk Thriller and throughout high school on the song team. Emma is a current College Student and studying to become a teacher. She is excited to be the Assistant to our Artistic Director & teach for IE Dance Center!
Sydney Azpeitia, Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Tap
Sydney began training in ballet at the age of 4 at Inland Dance Academy with Giselle Demarco. Sydney began training in tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, swing, salsa, contemporary, and Musical Theater by the age of 6 with Bowen-Hayes School of the Arts. Since then, Sydney has trained with Julio Padilla, Jamie Azpeitia-Sachs, Debra Kaye, Anthony Jackson, & Juan Uribe on a regular basis. Sydney has attended ballet summer intensives with Inland Pacific Ballet, Inland Dance Academy, Corona Dance Academy, Maple Conservator, Inland Empire Contemporary Ballet, & the Long Beach Ballet. Sydney has been accepted into the San Francisco Ballet, The Rock Center for Dance, Long Beach Ballet, the Kirov, and has taken workshops with; Tommy Miller, Jerry Kokich, Anton Labushagne, Charmaine Hunter, Kelly Lameroux, Evette Demarco-Swinson, & Eliezer Rubello, and the Portland Ballet. Sydney has appeared in IDT's the Nutcracker, and California Riverside Ballet's the Nutcracker under the direction of Mario Nugara. In 2015, Sydney was an inductee into the Riverside Thespian Association, and was named one of Riverside's most remarkable teens for 2015 by the Riverside Youth Council & the Riverside Police Department. She is currently a Dance Major/Music Minor at Cal State Fullerton and former Captain of Bowen-Hayes School of the Arts Dance Team during their National Title wins.
Apprentices/Student Assistants:
Jessica Holley, Marissa Pesantes, Langston Sachs
Our Apprentices are carefully selected by our Artistic Director after training in all genres of dance for a minimum of 8 years. They are full time dance & theatre students with a high GPA. They wish to pursue various careers outside of the arts but ultimately want to be Studio owners, instructors, choreographers & professional dance artists. They attend a minimum of 10hrs of dance per week and continually assist the staff, students & Artistic Director.
Welcome to the 2022-2023 season Jessica, Marissa & Langston!