Staff

Paul has been part of the Dance Express family for over 25 years, having been virtually raised in the studio. What began as a passion for clogging quickly evolved into a deep love for dance in all its forms, including hip-hop, jazz, modern, contemporary, lyrical, ballet, tap, and acrobatics.
Paul is an accomplished performer and competitor, with a career that includes a bronze, three silver, and two gold medals at the Junior Olympics. His clogging performances have brought him national recognition, including the honor of performing for the executive producers of America’s Got Talent. He also appeared on Paula Abdul’s Live to Dance, where his dynamic stage presence captured the attention of a national audience.

One of Paul’s proudest accomplishments was performing in the renowned Carolina Opry Christmas Show as part of the professional clogging group All That! He remains an active member of the group and is regularly called upon to perform when a spot needs to be filled, continuing to bring high-energy entertainment to one of the Southeast’s most prestigious stages.

In addition, Paul has served as both a performer and instructor in Brunswick County’s Dancing with the Stars, where he and his partner were awarded Most Entertaining Performance—a testament to his charisma and creative choreography.

As a choreographer, Paul’s work speaks for itself—his routines have remained undefeated at both regional and national levels, earning top placements and setting the bar for competitive clogging. He is regularly invited to choreograph for studios across the country, with his signature style and creativity in high demand.

In December 2010, Sara graduated Suma Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance Education and a Minor in Art from East Carolina University. She has been teaching since 2006 with proficiency in ballet, modern, jazz, contemporary, tap, pointe, and hip hop. Sara has been teaching at The ARTS Company in Faison since 2006, and with Dance Express PAC since 2012. Throughout her career, she has studied with teachers and choreographers such as Galina Panova, Timor Bourtesynkov, Autumn Proctor, Tommi Galaska, Clarine Powell, Rodger Belman, Patricia Weeks, Dr. Dawn Clark, Misty Rasconsmith, Ryan Warren, Kathryn McCormick, Chris Donnelly, and others. She has received numerous overall high score and choreography awards at competitions throughout North Carolina, and from 2009 to 2010, Sara was also president of the East Carolina Dance Association at ECU and performed in Dance 2010, ECU’s annual dance concert. As a consistent attendee to Dance Revolution Christian dance convention, she believes in using dance as a way to reclaim the arts for God’s glory. Sara strives to provide quality dance education and artistic experiences to all children, no matter their background, while aiming to instill a love and respect for the arts in all of her students.

Sabrina Morris is an accomplished and passionate dance instructor at Dance Express, known for her high-energy teaching style and commitment to helping dancers shine. A well-rounded performer and educator, Sabrina was honored as a Future Star in Dance Spirit Magazine and earned a coveted spot in the off-Broadway tap production Slide in New York City.
She has trained extensively across the United States and abroad, taking master classes from top instructors and choreographers including Mia Michaels, Mike Minery, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, Fik-Shun, and Mark Goodman. Sabrina was a three-time semi-finalist in Dance Machine ANDC’s America’s Miss Dance Pageant and was named an All-American Dancer through the Universal Dance Association, which led to an invitation to perform in Italy.

Her performance highlights also include dancing at Walt Disney World twice and auditioning for America’s Got Talent. As a teacher and choreographer, Sabrina’s competition routines have consistently placed in overall awards, earned special judges’ recognition, and led to her being named a Top Teacher at Star Systems for her tap choreography.

Sabrina is dedicated to fostering confidence, creativity, and technical growth in every student while nurturing their love for dance in a supportive and inspiring environment.

Destiny Lockard began her dance journey at a young age in the prestigious RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) training program, and completed the many examinations in the program. From there, she went on to acquire tutelage under instructors from Maryland School of the Arts, Costa Mesa Ballet Company, Etoile Ballet, and also studied the Vaganova method of ballet at Joffrey Ballet School in NYC. She is also extensively trained in Luigi Jazz, and the Graham and Horton modern methods. Destiny is proficient in many styles and methods of dance, but mainly adheres to the Vaganova and ABT curriculums in her ballet instruction, and builds her program around these techniques.

In addition to being an award winning choreographer and competitive ballroom dancer, Destiny spent 5 seasons as a professional ballerina with US International Ballet, performing and touring as a first company member and featured soloist, until 2023 when the company closed.

In 2024, after seeing the need for it in the area, Destiny founded Port City Ballet Theater, a nonprofit professional ballet company, and holds the title of Executive and Artistic Director for the company. It is her goal to continue to create professional dance opportunities here in Wilmington, NC for seasoned dancers, as well as provide extra performance and outreach opportunities for the rest of the area’s dance community. She believes in the power that art has, and strives to consistently share the beautiful art of dance with the community, and to also teach the upcoming generations the importance of being passionate in pursuing your dreams.

Aricka is born and raised in Wilmington, NC and began dancing at the age of two. At the age of 5 she began competing in Tap and jazz while taking ballet. She began training at Dance Express in 1999 as a competitive dancer in many genres of dance. Growing up as a competition dancer I was able to achieve numerous top awards with my teammates as well as top soloist awards such as the Gregory Hines award and Fastest feet award.

As a teenager, she was hired by Hoctor Dance Caravan as a Caravan Kid traveling across the country during their summer intensive program, performing and working with professional choreographers and dancers known both internationally and nationwide.

Upon graduating from New Hanover High School she attended East Carolina University and received a BS in Criminal Justice. While at ECU she was still able to take classes from the Theater and Dance Faculty. She performed in several Fall and Spring shows. She was a member of the most popular and very well known hip hop Nubiance Dance Team where she held the titles of Captain and Co- Captain.

Upon graduating ECU she returned to Wilmington, NC and began teaching at Dance Express. I absolutely love teaching to give children a positive outlet to express themselves as well as the structure to evolve in the dance world.

Courtney Dancy comes to us from Boone North Carolina where she trained as a competitive gymnast from the age of 5 and began her formal dance training at the age of 11.

Courtney continued her dancing career at Appalachian State University. She was a member of the App State dance team for four years and served as co-captain for two years. While there, she gained extensive experience in a variety of disciplines through the dance team and dance department, including modern, hip-hop, jazz, pm, swing, salsa, African Jazz and musical theater. While in college she began teaching at a local studio where she would become the lead instructor and choreographer for the teen competition company.

A highlight of her career was becoming a TopCat for the Carolina Panthers in the NFL. She was TopCat for the 2017 & 2018 season and was given the opportunity to dance along side various halftime performers including Young MC, Luke Combs and Montell Jordan.

Courtney currently teaches dance at Laney High School and also coaches the Dance and Step teams.

As a dance instructor, Courtney believes it is important for her students to feel motivated, confident and inspired while performing. She aspires to see her students work hard, be proud of their accomplishments, and share the love of dance as deeply as she does.

Georgette Woolcock was born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina. Fun fact about her is when she was born she had two teeth in her mouth which is very rare. They are called natal teeth 1 in 10,000 Babies have them. Georgette started dancing at the age of 2 years old with Dance Express. Growing up she attended dance after school and trained in Jazz, Tap, Clogging, Ballet, Hip-hop and Contemporary. Georgette is also trained in Fitness and in Latin dance. She also trained in karate and is a second degree black belt in taekwondo! After high school, she attended and graduated from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) Conservatory Program in New York City where she studied Dance Theatre. Georgette then went on to earn her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance theatre from AMDA College of the Performing Arts, in Los Angeles. After graduating from college Georgette decided to go back to her hometown where she originally discovered her love for dance in Wilmington, NC. There she taught dance for 2 years at Dance Express Performing Arts Center. Georgette soon after moved to Atlanta where she taught dance for Expressions in motion, where she was able to teach an after school dance program in various counties in Atlanta’s school system. Georgette has also been blessed with teaching different people in various areas in Atlanta including at the metropolitan YMCA, helping start the youth dance program. Georgette is now married, and has moved back to Wilmington to begin her own family with her husband! Georgette is a very versatile dancer, and can show you all the vibes you are looking for.

Originally from Wilmington, NC and trained at Dance Express until High School graduation, Kaitlyn Dee Snyder is a dancer, teacher, and performer actively working in NYC. Currently, she is on faculty at PMT house of Dance and sub faculty at Broadway Dance Center. She has received training from Marymount Manhattan College and University of North Carolina School of the Arts. For several years, she has assisted Emily Bufferd and Julie Carter at Broadway Dance Center, Peridance Center, PMT House of Dance, and Steps on Broadway. Kaitlyn has performed on the Today Show and performs for various NYC companies such as Animus Movement, BEings Dance, Julie Carter Dance, and Querencia Dance. She has presented her work at the Professional Showcase at PMT House of Dance and choreographed a music video for Katie Lynne Sharbaugh. As an assistant choreographer, Kaitlyn has worked on several projects including pieces for Peridance’s International Program and Steps Youth Program.

Johnna started dancing at Dance Express at the age of eleven and instantly fell in love with dance. She has trained in jazz, lyrical, musical theatre, hip hop, clogging, acrobatics, ballet, and pointe.

She started competing on the Dance Express competition team at twelve years old where she has won several awards with her teammates, as well as for her solos and duets. She started assisting classes at Dance Express when she was thirteen and absolutely loved getting to help teach and inspire a love for dance in all the kids she taught.

She is currently a student at Cape Fear Community College where she is getting her Associate in Arts degree. She is also an assistant preschool teacher at LCOR preschool. She is so excited to open a new chapter in her life by starting to teach a new generation of dancers.

Abby is a Wilmington, NC, native who grew up dancing right here at Dance Express. She began training at the age of three and was a dedicated member of the Dance Express Competition Team for 13 years. As she began assisting classes, Abby discovered her love not only for dance but also for teaching and inspiring young dancers. Abby is a 2024 graduate of Laney High School and is now entering her junior year at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she is pursuing a degree in Elementary Education with a concentration in Language Arts. She continues her dance training as a dance minor and a member of the UNCW Dance Company. Throughout her training, Abby has studied a wide range of dance styles at Dance Express and has learned from professional dancers and choreographers at regional and national competitions and conventions. One of her favorite memories is performing on stages across the country, especially at Walt Disney World. In addition to her studies and dance training, Abby serves as a Watson Ambassador at UNCW, representing the Watson College of Education and assisting with outreach and recruitment. When she’s not dancing or studying, Abby enjoys reading, relaxing at the beach, spending time with friends, and her brother, Brock — especially if an adventure with roller coasters is involved! Abby is excited to continue teaching at Dance Express, where she hopes to continue to share her love of dance and inspire the next generation of dancers.

Angel is a North Carolina native with roots in Rocky Point and Wilmington. Her journey in dance began at Dance Express at age of three, quickly evolving into competitive dance at age four. She trained in Jazz, Ballet, Tap, Clogging, Lyrical, Contemporary and Gymnastics. She began assisting and help out with summer camps in middle school and her favorite parts of assisting were being around the kids and building everlasting bonds. Angel dedicated fifteen years to Dance Express, where she met some of her best friends and some of the most amazing role models. She was always up to try any crazy trick the teachers threw at her!

Currently, Angel is pursuing her passion for healthcare at Cape Fear Community College, where she is studying to become a travel occupational therapist. Her interest in helping others extends beyond academics. She will graduate Fall of 2025 with her associates in arts and begin her occupational therapy courses.

Angel started the basics tumbling when she started dancing. She found interest in it and began taking Gymnastics. Tumbling was always something she looked forward to doing in every dance. She is extremely excited she will now be able to share the exciting feeling and adrenaline boost that tumbling gave her with all of her new and returning students.