Teacher Bios

Cristin Herr Leoni

STUDIO OWNER 

Cristin is the current choreographer for Ecole Internationale de Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland where she now resides.

She began her dance training at the age of two in Burleson and began her professional career at the age of 16 while attending Joshua High School. She was awarded her B.A. from the University of North Texas in Denton.

She traveled extensively throughout the U.S., performing in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Phoenix, and Tampa for such companies as Mary Kay Cosmetics, American Airlines, Wilsonart International, 7-Eleven, Sally Beauty Supply, State Beauty Supply, MAC Tools, Forever Living Products, and Fannie Mae Housing Foundation. Cristin also performed in Munich and Frankfurt, Germany for five years with Mary Kay Cosmetics.

Most recently, Cristin appeared in Tony and Tina’s Wedding at Bass Hall in Fort Worth. She has also performed in numerous productions at Bass Hall and Casa Manana, such as 42nd Street, Bye Bye Birdie, The Wizard of Oz, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

She served as choreographer for the Burleson High School Showchoir for 16 years and choreographed musicals for Burleson High School including, The Boyfriend, Thoroughly Modern Millie, 42nd Street, Honk, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Shrek, and Seussical the Musical.

She is a life-long learner and continues her dance education each year attending master classes and dance conventions and recently became a certified Kindermusik® educator. Cristin raised her two sons Rocco and Frankie at the studio and knows that their early years in the dance studio led them to their current success as musicians and performers and all-around wonderful humans.

Cristin is thrilled for Studio C Dance to celebrate 25 years in Burleson, Texas.

Kandice Stehlik

STUDIO DIRECTOR | ACRO | TAP/BALLET COMBO | LYRICAL | CONTEMPORARY | JAZZ | DANCE KARAOKE | HIP HOP | COMPANY

For more than 25 years, Kandice has dedicated her career to coaching, choreographing, and inspiring performers of all ages. Her passion for dance began as captain of her high school dance team, where she developed a strong foundation in pom, drill team, and kick technique while discovering her love for leadership and performance.

She continued her training as captain of her collegiate dance team befor attending Blinn College on a full dance scholarship, where she earned her Associate of Arts degree. Kandice then continued her studies at the University of Houston where she trained in Martha Graham, Bob Fosse, and Isadora Duncan techniques and trained with artists from Les Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo.

She later earned her BFA in Dance Performance from the University of North Texas, where she immersed herself in the study of Jose Limon and Katherine Dunham techniques while expanding her training across a broad spectrum of concert dance and performance styles.

Throughout her career, Kandice has continued her professional development by training with nationally recognized choreographers, including Mia Michaels and Sonya Tayeh, while continually expanding her knowledge across multiple dance disciplines and performance styles.

Kandice has coached, choreographed, and mentored students of all ages. She has worked with recreational dancers, competitive performers, cheerleaders, pageant contestants, and aspiring artists--helping each student develop strong technical foundations while building confidence, artistry, stage presence, and performance quality. Her choreography and students have earned numerous overall award, judges awards, scholarships, titles and national honors.

As studio director, Kandice is passionate about creating a positive, encouraging, and family-centered environment where every student feels welcomed, challenged and inspired. She believes dance is about more than mastering technique--but also building confidence, developing character, creating lifelong friendships, expressing oneself through movement, and discovering the joy of performaning together. Her goal is to inspire every student to become not only a stronger dancer, but also a confident, compassionate individual with a lifelong love of dance and the performing arts and the courage to pursue their dreams both on and off the stage.

Jennifer Santoyo
COMPANY COORDINATOR |TAP/BALLET | JAZZ |  LYRICAL 

A passionate dancer since the age of two, Jennifer has explored all genres of dance. During high school, she excelled as a member of the dance team, leading as captain her senior year. Her talent earned her a full dance scholarship to Weatherford College, where she continued to share her love of dance by teaching young dancers at various studios. Since graduating, Jennifer is now embarking on a nursing career while still nurturing her passion for dance. 

Carlin Dixon

BALLET TECHNIQUE

Carlin Dixon began her early dance training with Orlando Ballet School and Patel Conservatory Youth Ballet before becoming a trainee with Next Generation Ballet in Tampa, Florida. There she trained under the direction of Peter Stark, Ivonne Lemus, and Philip Neal for four years. During her time at Next Generation Ballet, Carlin had the opportunity to perform soloist roles in many full-length ballets including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, and Don Quixote. She received additional training through summer intensives at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Carolina Ballet, and The Washington Ballet. 

Lainie Simmons

ADULT TAP

Lainie grew up dancing in Benbrook at Caron Moore Dance Productions, performing with the company. During that time, Lainie performed with many guest choreographers including Rhonda Miller and Gregg Russell. She went on to teach for CMDP while studying at the University of Texas in Arlington--teaching tap, ballet, jazz and clogging. After college she continued dancing at Studio C Dance. She performed in the Junior Women's Club of Fort Worth Annual Spring Show, serving as choreographer for several years. She has a career in Finance at Lockheed Martin and has continued to dance throughout the years as it is a strong passion of hers.

Addisen Bairrington

TAP/BALLET COMBO | LYRICAL | CONTEMPORARY | JAZZ | DANCE KARAOKE | MUSICAL THEATRE

Addisen is a current Senior at Texas Christian University, pursuing a BFA in Musical Theatre and a minor in Kinesiology. Addisen has performed professionally over the DFW area for the last 10 years at theaters like Casa Manana, Theatre Arlington and Lyric Stage: Dallas. 

She has been teaching dance for four years and has enjoyed choreographying for musicals, music videos, and student productions. 

Offstage, Addisen enjoys serving the community at her local church as well as her local coffee shop. 

Lori Woods

TECHNIQUE

Lori Woods was the head of the dance and drill team program at Lamar High School in Arlington for 24 years and was the first dance educator in AISD. She has an Associates degree in Musical Theatre from Mountain View College and a Bachelors degree in Theatre from Texas Wesleyan University.

Lori began her dance teaching career at the age of 15 at Miss Persis Studio of Dance in Arlington.  Around the same age she began performing at Six Flags Over Texas in the Southern Palace Theatre which led to a remarkable career performing at local professional theatres including Bass Hall, Casa Manana, Theatre Arlington, Theatre Three and Stage West. Some of her favorite roles include Charity in Sweet Charity, Velma in Chicago, Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Bebe in A Chorus Line, Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, Paulette in Legally Blonde and Lorraine in 42nd Street. She also taught dance and musical theatre at Dallas Summer Musicals School of Musical Theatre, TCC College for Kids, JTM School of Performing Arts, Granbury Opera House and Casa Manana.

In addition to her teaching career, she worked with Eclipse Entertainment as a choreographer and casting director for more than 20 years, producing award-winning custom theme entertainment for private and corporate events. 

Her mission is to create well-rounded, positive citizens using dance as the vehicle to teach her students artistry, empathy, compassion, dedication, discipline, integrity, and performance.