Our Faculty
Rebecca Elster Graduated from the University of California Santa Barbra in 2017 with dual degrees in Dance and Education. There she was trained in a wide range of styles including Vaganova technique (ballet) and many forms of modern dance. She has had the opportunity to perform works by Andrea Miller, Anna Halprin, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Yvonne Rainier, Jose Limon and many others. She particularly enjoyed touring internationally and getting to perform in London, Athens, Cypress, and Italy as well as in New York and California. Rebecca is very happy to be back at her ‘childhood dance home,’ teaching Ballet and Modern at the Performing Arts Workshop.
Ms. Matsuura was born in Irvine, California, and began her dance training with Ms. Hanna Karacic at the age of six. She spent her formative years training in the Vaganova method at Southland Ballet Academy, and furthered her training at summer intensives with American Ballet Theater, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Kirov Academy of Washington, DC, the Rock School for Dance Education, and Oklahoma City Ballet. She completed her BFA in dance performance and choreography with a minor in Spanish at the University of California, Irvine, graduating with honors that included Excellence in Dance Performance (2015); Latin and Campuswide Honors; Phi Beta Kappa; the William J. Gillespie Scholarship in Ballet Studies (2013-15); and the Medici Circle Award (2014). She danced with Orange County’s Festival Ballet Theatre for six seasons, performing principal and soloist roles that included Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote; Sugar Plum Fairy, Dew Drop, and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker; Diamond and White Fairy in Sleeping Beauty; and Monya in Giselle. Her choreography has been performed at UC Irvine, Azusa Pacific University, and Youth America Grand Prix. Ms. Matsuura served as the Director of Corps de Ballet and Youth Division at Azusa Pacific University from 2015-2016 and was on faculty at Southland Ballet Academy for six years before joining Oklahoma City Ballet’s Studio Company in 2017. Ms. Matsuura was promoted to apprentice in 2018 and corps de ballet in 2019. Her teaching certifications include Progressing Ballet Technique and the distinction of ABT® Affiliate Teacher, having completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum and successfully presented students for examination.
Cleo Person is a dancer, emerging choreographer, and writer. Her work explores the soulful qualities of human beings and the mysteries of the natural world. Working with the languages of classical ballet, modern dance, and poetry, she aims to connect audiences with the environments, both inner and outer, in which they live. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School dance division and currently resides in Southern California, where she works as a collaborative, multi-disciplinary artist and teacher. She has worked with groups such as the Arts Fusion Initiative of NYC, has been commissioned to choreograph by Perry Mansfield Performing Arts in Steamboat Springs, CO, and has taught dance across the country.
REBECCA ELSTER - Pre-Ballet
NATALIE MATSUURA - Ballet, Pointe, Comp, Coaching
HOLLY MEACHAM - Ballet
CLEO PERSON - Modern, Comp, Coaching
Tiffany Rasch is from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She received her classical ballet training at Boston Ballet School, and has danced professionally with Nashville Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, California Ballet, Golden State Ballet, and Barak Ballet. Combining her love of dance and sewing she started Supuhr Designs in 2018, specializing in costume design for dance. And has recently been featured in productions by The Rosin Box Project, Ballet 314, Performing Arts Workshop, Ballet Collective San Diego and Ballet Counterpointe. As well as being featured in dance films by Freaks With Lines, and Barak Ballet. Photo by Sam Zauscher
It was in Yvonne Lakier(S.W.R.B), Robyns mother’s studio, that she began training at the age of 3. She attended the National School of The Arts training in both the R.A.D. (Solo Seal) and Cecchetti methods. Robyn continued her training at The Royal Ballet School in London, before being asked to join Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet Company after just 3 months. Robyn also danced with P.A.C.T. and N.A.P.A.C. companies in South Africa.
Robyn has worked with renowned teachers and choreographers and performed numerous leading roles, including Giselle, Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote and Swan Lake. Robyn was the lead dancer in several Balanchine ballets, including: Four Temperaments, Apollo, Sonantine and Tchaikowsky Pas De Deux . Ballets written for her include Killar’s ‘Miraculous Mandarine’ and ‘Baccus and Ariandne’, and Nierewicz’s ‘Shostakovich Pas De Deux’. A ballet ‘Segel-Suite’ was written and performed in Germany as a dedication to her work.
Robyn’s professional performing career ended abruptly following severe injuries sustained in a car accident. Robyn guest teaches ballet at schools throughout U.S.A.
Perfect technique and training are an integral part of any dancer’s success. An ability to tap into the ‘soul’ and bring out each person’s unique gifts, are skills that I am impassioned to share.
Chloe McClure has been dancing for 21 years growing up at a competitive studio in Oceanside. She graduated from California State University of Long Beach with a B.F.A in Dance and participated in the LBSU dance team. Chloe continues to perform in Los Angeles and San Diego whenever she has the opportunity. Currently she is an Assistant Instructor for U.S Spiritleaders dance team camp. She has worked with choreographers such as Rebecca Lemme, Andrew Vaca, Keith Jonson, Keilan Stafford, Derrick Paris, and Aisha Reddick. Chloe specializes in teaching various styles including jazz, contemporary, lyrical, modern, ballet, and hip hop.
GABRIELLE NGUYEN has been a professional dancer for 13 years with experience in a variety of movement art forms. Her career includes dancing shows on Disney, Nickelodeon, and more. She graduated in 2015 from UCLA with her BA in Dance and continued her training at studios around LA and NYC. Gabrielle still is an active professional dancer, personal trainer and now mom!
TIFFANY RASCH - Ballet, Pointe
ROBYN SEGEL - Ballet, Pointe
CHLOE MCCLURE - Jazz, Comp Coaching
GABRIELLE NGUYEN - Hip Hop
Ms. Andrea Petsinger is an avid singer, dancer, and performer with an educational background and over 20 years of professional performing experience. While earning her degree at the University of South Florida (USF), she performed at St. Pete Opera (in St. Petersburg, Florida), and finished three seasons in their emerging artist program. There, she happily covered operatic roles, sang in the chorus, and performed at opera gala’s, fundraisers, and outreach programs. In 2011, she graduated with a B.A. in Music from USF and phenomenal experience singing with symphonic orchestras. Since then, she has continued to pursue her career as a professional vocalist, performing in many musicals, operas, showcases, and production shows on land and on cruise ships around the world. Most recently she had the pleasure of performing the role of Eve in Stephen Schwartz’s Magic to Do, presented exclusively on Princess Cruise Lines. Presently, Andrea performs all over Southern California and beyond as a backing vocalist for Jimmy's Buffet. As a vocal instructor, Ms. Andrea is passionate about using her knowledge and training to help others build their skill sets to refine their vocal performance techniques. She believes no two voices are the same, and as a result, her approach with students of all ages is as unique as the student and their needs to learn the fundamentals of technique to achieve healthy vocal production.
Roma Anasazi Watkins has been teaching for 8 years, specializing in Ballet and Pointe. She began her performing arts career at the age of 8, when she performed in her first musical. She quickly fell in love with performance of all types, working professionally as an actress in commercials, modeling, and plays and musicals. She is also a member of the Sag-Aftra union and is an Equity Membership Candidate.
Roma spent her childhood and teen years dancing, acting, and singing before focusing on ballet as a career. She attended summer programs such as the San Jose Ballet, Ballet West, and Burklyn Ballet Theatre programs. She was grateful to receive the highest level placement, as well as acceptances to various other programs such as the Joffrey Ballet Trainee Program (Chicago), Oregon Ballet Theatre Trainee program, and other summer acceptances.
She has traveled widely to perform musical theatre and ballet, including to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Utah, and Scotland. She went to Palomar College and studied Euro-Western Dance with a focus in teaching methods, and serves on the Palomar Dance Vocational Advisory Board as a community member, alumni, and teacher.
ANDREA PETSINGER - Musical Theater Jazz, Tap, & Vocal Coaching
ROMA ANAZAZI WATKINS - Ballet
Emily Miller - Director
Currently teaching Ballet, Contemporary, and Pointe
Emily has been turning in circles ever since she learned to walk. After falling in love with classical ballet as a young child, she turned those circles into pirouettes at Performing Arts Workshop in Encinitas. Emily was lucky enough to attend Columbia College Chicago where she earned her BFA in Dancemaking and was supported, shaped, and radically challenged in her training and ideas about what dance was and could be. She has had the immense pleasure and honor of studying under Darrell Jones, Laura Wade, Bonnie Brooks, Carrie Hansen, Peter Carpenter, Dardi McGinley Gallivan, David Dorfman, Larry Rosenberg, Lisa Gonzales, Richard Woodbury, and Kate Corby among others. Emily has since come back to takeover and run Performing Arts Workshop armed with a love for community, a fascination with form/function, and a fervent desire to make as much room for and access to the work as possible. Emily is also the Director of Ballet Collective San Diego.