The Dolce Staff
The Award winning Dolce Staff are the best dance professionals in the Central Valley.
They are highly energetic and motivational. They inspire your child to bring the best out of them. They love to Dance; they will support you, motivate you, respect you, show you empathy, and teach you dance.
KENDRA PRIMAVERA
Kendra began dancing when she was three years old. From that moment on, she fell in love with the dance world. She has been teaching for 21 years. Kendra was awarded Teacher of the Year in 2006 from Rainbow Dance Competition . She has choreographed for Clovis High, Clovis East, Kastner, and Alta Sierra Competition Pep Teams. She has coached the Clovis West Pep Team as well. Under Kendra’s direction, Dolce Dance Studio was recognized as one of the Top 50 Studios in the Nation, and the Top 20 in the Region for the past 12 years. She has won choreography awards at Starpower, Revolution, Starquest, and so many more. Her choreography for “Live from the Uss Dolce” won the Most Entertaining Performance out of all the Starpower Competitions at the Star Dance Alliance Circle of Excellence Awards ceremony in 2019. Kendra’s students have won over 50 National Championships for groups . In 2019 ,Dolce received 3 Victory Cups at Starpower National talent competition, the 12 & under Premier cup, 8 & under , and 9-11 . Her solos, duets, and trios have won numerous regionals and nationals titles.
Kendra has a passion for teaching dancers of all ages and abilities. She specializes in jazz, lyrical, musical theater technique, and choreography. Her dancers have won enumerable high point awards and have gone on to work professionally in commercials, television shows, reality shows, collegiate dance programs and professional sports cheerleaders. She has the ability to develop every dancer to their highest potential.
Kendra is not only a teacher/choreographer but also a mother to four children. She makes her studio a warm, friendly, and family environment where they can thrive as dancers. She treats each and every kid as if they were her own and will help them reach any goal that they set for themselves.
SUSIE MCINNERNEY
Susie has been working with Kendra at Dolce Dance Studio since 2003 where it all began with a two room dance studio and only two dance teachers at Ashlan & Chestnut in Fresno. Susie works the front desk assisting families with their children's dance needs along with administrative and accounting duties. She has been involved with dance since her oldest daughter started dancing and competing at the age of 12 and her youngest daughter at the age of 3 years old. She has been in the dance community for the past 23 years and truly loves being a part of our Dolce Dance Studio family.
Susie is a full time commercial property manager in Fresno, but her heart and soul is with Dolce and the reason she enjoys working at the studio with our wonderful Dolce teaching staff which includes her youngest daughter, Kaelyn (Teacher KK) who has been with Kendra since she was 9 years old competing with Dolce. Susie also has an 8 year old granddaughter that dances and competes with Dolce Dance Studio. Not only does Susie love dance - she enjoys meeting and working with all our Dolce parents and their children and grandchildren. She is very proud to be a part of Dolce Dance Studio and our Dolce Family!
Alex Irby
Alex grew up dancing at a young age at a small studio in Madera. She continued on and off until she was 18 years old. Alex first met Kendra through a family friend when she was in college and took care of Kendra’s children for many years. She continued to work for Kendra as her nanny while taking college courses and obtained her Bachelors in Psychology from Fresno Pacific University.
After taking some time off to start her family with her husband she decided it was time to go back to work and Kendra offered her the Office Manager position at Dolce. Alex has two children and her daughter is currently a little Dolce dancer and loving every minute of it.
Lesley Hormel-Verret
Lesley began dancing at the age of 3 in Pinole Ca at a studio called Adrian’s Dance Studio. She started competitively dancing at age 8 at Clovis Academy, and then at the age of 11 she moved over to Fresno City Guys and Dolls under the direction of Veda Burton which later changed to Dance Rage Dance Studio. During her time dancing she has performed at numerous events which include Fresno State, Lakers, Raiders, and 49ers half time shows as well as regional and nationals competitions. Lesley works at the front desk assisting families with their children’s needs along with administrative duties. Not only does Lesley love dance but she also loves meeting and working with all of the Dolce Staff, parents, and their kids. Lesley is very excited to be a part of Dolce Dance Studio, which she calls home.
MELISSA AGUIAR
Melissa has been teaching for the past 20 years. Her teaching has built some of the top dancers in the country and her style of teaching with dancers aged 3-5 has made her one of the top Mini Teachers in the industry. Originally Melissa started as a gymnast. Traveling for gymnastics has been the key to how Melissa trains her dancers. She is strict and firm, with a touch of love and caring. She was a 49er Gold Rush cheerleader as well.
Melissa began teaching at a studio in town called “Guys and Dolls.” She learned under Veda Burton how to work with younger dancers in a positive and inspiring way. Later, Melissa purchased “Guys and Dolls” and opened “Dance Rage”. Melissa built a fantastic program offering classes for dancers between the ages of 3 and 18. After owning “Dance Rage” for so many years she decided to close and come over to Dolce.
Having her as a part of the Dolce staff has been the biggest and best thing for the studio. Her love for the little ones truly shows and is her true passion. Melissa’s training with younger dancers all the way to the oldest has been a blessing for both the dancers and the studio.
Melissa has choreographed for numerous pep teams in town including Buchanan, Clovis West, Clovis North, Kastner, and Granite Ridge. She has served as the pep coach for Buchanan and Clovis North.
AMBER wilcox
Amber began her dance career at the age of five. She started Dancing at Fresno City Guys & Dolls under the direction of Veda Burton. During her time dancing she has performed at numerous events. Fresno State, Laker, Raider, and 49er half time shows, regional and national competitions and various other venues. She has won many regional and national awards during this time. Her passion for dance led her to teaching 20 years ago. Amber started her teaching career back when she was still in High School. She would TA classes, but even before that Amber knew that she wanted to teach dance from a very young age. She wanted to share her love of dancing with her students. Amber’s forte is jazz, preschool.
She was a pep coach for Clovis West High School, Kastner Intermediate School, & Granite Ridge intermediate for many years. Amber is currently in charge of the local competition teams at Dolce in addition to teaching weekly classes. She has won numerous choreography awards through her teaching career as well. Amber has a gift of teaching and motivating her dancers to always do their best and never give up.
AMANDA GREAGER
Amanda was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, FL where she began her dance career as a company dancer at Dance Fx. She joined the competitive team attending numerous National Dance competitions including Tremaine Dance Convention, where she became Jr. female Dancer Of The Year. This gave her the opportunity to tour the country assisting choreographers such as Joe Tremaine, Wade Robson, Doug Caldwell, Liz Imperio and more. She also went on to receive a ballet scholarship to Broadway Dance Center in New York City and multiple scholarships to train with well-known teachers in Los Angeles, CA. After she graduated from high school she continued her career as a professional commercial dancer. She has had the opportunity to take part in an international tour with Flo-Rida and work as a Backup dancer in Awards Shows, music videos and movies-such as Premios Juventud/ Los Nuestros, The Teen Choice Awards, The Ellen Show, The Today Show, The Voice, X Factor, The Latin Grammys, STEP UP-Revolution, and more. She has danced along side accomplished artists such as Chris Brown, Pitbull, Ne-Yo, Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, Becky G, and Kesha.
With her Experience performing through outlets varying from the competition stage to the big screen she has been inspired to share her passion as an instructor to all ages and genres. She has taught at many studios and high school dance teams throughout south Florida, California, and Georgia, as well as professional dance teams and conventions- such as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Intrigue dance convention. She currently teaches Jazz, contemporary, Hip-hop, progression and turns, and stretch and strengthening. Amanda has won numerous choreography and entertainment awards at StarPower, StarQuest, In10sity, StarSystems, Legacy, Revolution, KAR and more. Her former students , Gaby Diaz and Koine Iwasaki, were awarded "Americas Favorite Dancer" on SYTYCD Season 12 and 1st runner up on season 14. Amanda has an extreme passion and love for dance and is so grateful she is able to share that with all the students she has the honor of teaching!
KELLy cox
Kelly started dancing at 11 years old. It was then that her love for dance started. She soon started dancing competitively at Dolce Dance Studio. Kelly was also involved in Competition cheer for 4 years. Kelly was a member of Buchanan Varsity Game pep team and Varsity Competition Pep Team. She has been the Alta Sierra Comp Pep coach for 7 years, the Buchanan Varsity Game pep Coach and Varsity Competition Pep Coach for the past 5 years.
Kelly is a full time student at Fresno State where she is a Liberal Studies Major. Kelly would love to teach first grade and absolutely loves kids. She wants to keep teaching dance and coaching pep in the future while teaching elementary school. Kelly started off teaching mommy and me classes and fell in love with teaching the joy of dance. She is super excited to be teaching at Dolce Dance Studio. Being able to dance here as a kid and now having the opportunity to be back here teaching these Dolce kiddos, has her so excited. We are beyond happy to have Kelly teaching. Kelly has an extreme passion and love for Dance, Pep and Cheer.
Aurora Warren
Aurora started her dance career at just two years old. Dance has always been the most important thing in her life. She was born and raised in Visalia California and danced at Dancers Edge from 2 years old to 18 years old. She started competing at the age of five and then went on to further her dance career at Fresno State on the pep team. She met the most amazing girls and formed awesome connections in the dance world during her time on the team. Aurora’s strengths are legs, lines, and lyrical however she has been trained in most styles including jazz, contemporary, ballet, hip-hop, and pep. She is excited to be working at Dolce and share her knowledge and love for dance with her students. It is important to her to form personal connections with her students in order to give them the best experience. “The dance room is a safe space for us all to get better doing the thing we love most and I look forward to meeting you all!”
Mackenzie Schmidt
Mackenzie started dancing at just 2 years old and began competing at the age of 6. Upon coming to Dolce in 2010, she found her passion for dance and knew she found her second home. She mostly trained under Melissa and Kendra but found knowledge in all her teachers. She competed with the competition team and won several high point awards at regional and national competitions in both solos as well as group dances. Her strengths are in musical theater and jazz. She enjoys working with children from the preschool classes all the way through high school.
Currently, Mackenzie is majoring in Liberal Studies at Fresno State with the hopes of becoming a Special Education Teacher. All her years competing at Dolce and being nurtured by the teachers and staff inspired her to become one of the teachers (in the studio and in the classroom) that she was lucky enough to learn from.
SAm Lazo
Sam began dancing at 5 years old and has never looked back.
While quickly falling in love with dance ,she started competing at 7 years old. Sam was 12 years old when she came to Dolce Dance Studio and finished out her dancing career here. She started as a Teacher Assistant at age 15. During that time Sam has been part of San Francisco Ballet productions multiple times. Sam was a company member of the Central California Ballet and performed in productions with them many times. Sam was a member of the Fresno’s professional dance company - Fresno Dance collective. She has experience in Pep and Cheer as well. She coached Kastner game pep and competition pep squads.
Sam is currently attending school to obtain her master’s degree in business administration. She is also working full time at a skilled nursing facility assisting the CEO.
Dance has always been her passion and escape. Getting to know her students and building a strong relationship with them and their families and watching them grow into beautiful dancers is one of the many reasons Sam loves to teach children. Sam is currently teaching Jazz. Sam has an extreme passion and love for dance and is so grateful she is able to share that with all the students she has the honor of teaching!
TIFFANY Tom
Tiffany began dancing at the age of 13 for her High School cheerleading squad. She played sports throughout elementary school & Junior High and then once she reached High School she decided to go for it and try out for the Pep & Cheer Team! She went on to serve as Captain for 3 years and the rest is history. After high school Tiffany went on to perform and choreograph for the PFC for 4 years. Tiffany specializes in Hip Hop, Funk, Dance Fitness, and Sass! She has trained in Hip Hop Aerobics, Zumba, High Fitness, Reformer Pilates, and Mini Trampoline. She's taught Dance Fitness in gyms across the Central Valley for 4 years now & joined the Dolce Family this past Summer! Tiffany is a mother of 2 beautiful girls. Her youngest Austyn has been a dancer at Dolce for 2 years now so it was only a matter of time until Tiffany transitioned into teaching Hip Hop at the Studio!
Tiffany's main student demographic has been adults, but she's absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to work with our kids! She's passionate about teaching her students to have Confidence and Personality. This has been such an uplifting positive message for all of the adults she teaches, and she can't wait to instill it into our kids.