MEET THE STAFF

Studio Owner

The director of Extreme Performing Arts Center, Nikki Arnold, has been a part of this dance studio since 2005. She became the owner of EPAC in 2014.

Nikki has always been passionate about dancing. She began her dance career at the age of 5. By the age of 16 she started choreographing solo dancers and dance crews for her company. Her drive, attention to detail, and dedication led her to become a member of the McCullough Callie Drill Team and York Jr. High Liberty Babes.

Over the years, she gained expertise and has directed and choreographed many solos and award-winning team performances. Her directions have led teams to win many National Championship Titles in contemporary, lyrical, pom, and jazz styles. She has fine-tuned her skills and become a master in the performing arts field over the last 29 years. Nikki is committed to continuing to enhance her knowledge and skills through seminars and conventions. She shares this wealth of knowledge with young learners and loves being a part of their ongoing development.

Instructor

Carly Heard is a passionate teacher, choreographer, and dancer from East Texas! Carly graduated with her Bachelor’s Degree of Fine Arts in Dance from Sam Houston State University. At Sam Houston State, Carly received training in various aspects of dance, including choreography, dance costuming, modern, contemporary, jazz, improv, and partner work.

She was a part of her high school’s drill team, the Marshall Mavettes. During Mavettes, she held the positions of Junior Lieutenant and Captain! Since 2020, she has been a proud member of American Dance and Drill Team Staff.

Carly is thankful that God has given her the gift of dance among a strong support system of family, friends, and dance mentors in her life! She is eager for another season at Extreme!

Studio Manager & Instructor

Erin has been dancing since she was 2 years old, growing up and training at her local studio in Pearland. She spent 8 years as a competitive dancer, building a strong foundation in technique, versatility, and performance quality. She then continued her dance journey on drill team, serving as a varsity member for 4 years and an elite company member for 2. Erin is also a former UTD Power Dancer, where she trained under Miguel Hernandez and had the incredible opportunity to compete at NDA Nationals in Daytona Beach.

She has 4 years of experience teaching competitive dancers and her dancers have earned multiple overalls, high point awards, and choreography recognition.

In addition to her dance training, Erin holds an Associate of Applied Science degree as a Physical Therapist Assistant. This background allows her to place a strong emphasis on injury prevention, proper technique, and safe, intentional movement in every class. She also incorporates strength and conditioning into her training as a certified barre instructor, helping dancers build the strength and control needed to support their performance and longevity.

Instructor

Cassandra Ramos is a dedicated dance educator, choreographer, and professional performer with a passion for inspiring young dancers. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Texas State University and currently performs professionally with the Houston Astros organization in Houston, Texas.

She has been a teaching staff member with Crowd Pleasers Dance Company for 6 years, where she choreographs and teaches routines for high schools across Texas. Her work includes field routines in Jazz, Pom, Kick, and Hip-Hop, as well as contest routines in Jazz and Lyrical.

Since 2019, she has also served as choreographer for Goodnight Middle School, creating choreography for dancers in grades 3–8 in Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, and Pom for both team and officer performances. She has led summer dance camps and developed engaging lesson plans in Hip-Hop, Jazz, holiday-themed dance units, and world dance/culture studies. With experience assisting varsity, JV, and pep squad dance teams, She is passionate about building confidence, creativity, and strong technical foundations in every dancer she teaches.

Acro Instructor

Emma Holtham has been dancing since the age of 2, and recently earned her BFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University in Spring 2025. She is a contemporary based moverand choreographer with a background and passion for acrobatic movement, performative self expression, and improvisation. Emma has performed with Early Era Collective in Austin, TX, festivals such as Mind the Gap, Austin Dance Festival, Aimed Dance, Artists for Hope, and showcased Tower by Andy Noble at the ACDA Nationals in Long Beach, CA. Emma has performed in works by Travis Lake, Gregory Dolbashian, Andy

Noble, Dionne Noble,Joshua Manculich, Tyler Orcutt, Lauren Serrano, Jacob Regan, and performed “Photobox D” with NobleMotion Dance in 2022. Emma has trained under Adele Nickel, Travis Lake, Andy and Dionne Noble, Jennifer Pontius, Tyler Orcutt, Lauren Serrano, Jacob Regan, and Jen Passios in university. She has received extensive training from Shannon Gillen, Jason Cianciulli,Michaela Taylor and Natalie Lomonte. She is certified to teach Acrobatics by Acrobatic Arts and has

been trained in Acrobatics since the age of 3.

Instructor

A Houston area native, Jessalyn graduated cum laude in 2007, with Highest Honors, from Sam Houston State University earning a BFA in Dance. She then founded a performance company to create a medium for exploring modern movement grounded solidly in innovation and technique.

Jessalyn’s choreography was featured in venues all over the Houston area including the Wortham, Hobby Center, Barnevelder, at Sam Houston State University, and throughout the country from Ohio to New York. As a dancer, she was part of the SHSU Dance Company, the Kista Tucker Dance Company, and had the opportunity to perform (en pointe) alongside Lauren Anderson in the narrative ballet ‘Storm Recaptured.’ Jessalyn toured New York as part of KTDC alongside Bill Evans, and danced in Paris, London, and Nice. With a strong background in Ballet, Musical Theater, Jazz, Contemporary, Lyrical and Hip Hop, she has been instructing for over 20 years.

With over 15 years directing competition teams, Jessalyn has a deep appreciation for our youth. She prides herself in developing each student’s individual technique and artistry while maintaining a positive, professional, safe, and always encouraging environment. It is both her pleasure and passion to share her gifts with dancers ages 7-18 and help them grow into independent, driven, and successful movement artists.

Instructor

Malerie Clifton, from Huntington, Texas, began her dance training at Susan’s Studio of Dance, where she trained for 16 years, including 8 years as a competitive dancer. She also served on the studio staff for 4 years, further developing her leadership and instructional experience.

Throughout high school, Malerie was a member of the Huntington Highsteppers for 4 years, serving as Co-Captain for 1 year and Captain for 2 years. Following graduation, she attended Tyler Junior College, where she performed as a member of the Internationally Famous Tyler Junior College Apache Belles. During her time with the Belles, she held several leadership positions, including Freshman Representative, Head Dance Captain, and Chaplain. After graduating from Tyler Junior College, Malerie continued her education at Texas A&M University, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. She will begin her senior year at Texas A&M this fall

Instructor

Brittani began dancing at the age of three at a small studio in Tomball, TX. She moved to In-Step at age 10 where she continued dancing competitively until she left for college at The Boston Conservatory. She obtained her BFA in Contemporary Dance from The Boston Conservatory in 2014.

She has taught dance since the age of 16 all over the United States. She has choreographed for studio productions of The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast, in addition to competitive routines. She pioneered a dance program at a charter school in Houston, built out and founded a middle school dance team in New Caney ISD.

She is now focusing on teaching dance, dancing anywhere and everywhere (including the grocery store), flow arts, being a mom, finishing her M.ed in Curriculum and Instruction, and teaching 6th graders right here in Magnolia.

She is so excited to be a part of EPAC this year!