JWSD Cross Park Faculty
Joyce Willett - Founder, JWSD
Joyce founded the dance studio in Windsor Park in the 80's to support her 4 children (Kim, Kristy, Matt, and Ryan) and to pursue her dream of owning her own business. She taught dance from the early 70's until she was in her early 60's.
By the 90's she had expanded to three studios in the Austin area. She had two more children that decade (Dustin and Chance) and is now grandmother to eleven. Every child and grandchild has taken between 2 and 17 years of dance, and 7 have continued her legacy of teaching at some point.
Joyce returned to the University of Texas in her 60's to finish her degree in education. She is now seeking accreditation in her other passion - nature and wildlife studies.
Kimberly Willett - Studio Owner and Founder, Body Talk Dance Company
Kimberly Willett is the owner of JWSD Cross Park and Founder of Body Talk Dance Company.
Meghan Hollis - Faculty and Body Talk Rehearsal Assistant
Meghan E Hollis, Ph.D. began her dance training at the Janet Hayslip-Streenz Dance Studio in 1983 and joined the Twin Cities Ballet as an Apprentice Company member in 1988. She was promoted to Company Member in 1992, becoming a soloist in 1993, and Principal Dancer in 1994. She has performed principal roles in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, La Sylphide, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Giselle, Les Sylphides, La Fille Mal Garden, Le Corsaire, and Stars and Stripes (among others).
She performed with the Scottish-American Ballet in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Scotland) in 1995 working under the direction of Alexander Bennett and Jaroslav Slavic. Dr. Meg joined the Jacksonville Civic Ballet in 1999 as Principal Dancer and became Artistic Director in 2000. She has also performed as a guest artist with the Chattanooga Civic Ballet.
Dr. Meg trained for three years at the Joffrey Midwest Summer Intensive - providing the opportunity to train with luminaries such as John Magnus, Judy Rice, and Mia Michaels. She has also received private tutoring from David Howard and Cynthia Harvey. Dr. Meg attended the Virginia School of the Arts Summer Intensive, DanceAspen Summer Intensive, USA International Ballet Competition Summer Intensive, and American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive.
Dr. Meg has taught at the Twin Cities Ballet, Twin Cities School of Dance, Dance Arts Center of Jacksonville, NC, Star Dance Center of Jacksonville, NC, and the Jacksonville Civic Ballet. She was previously a member of Dance Masters of America, Chapter 15, and has attended the DMA Teacher Training School. This summer, she plans to attend the American Ballet Theatre Teacher Training program in NYC. Dr. Meg is also a certified Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) instructor.
Jaime Lynn Witts
Jaime Lynn Witts is originally from Bucks County, PA, but has called Austin home for over 20 years. She received most of her training from Maxim Ponomarenko, Oleg Briansky, and Mireille Briane. She attended summer programs at CPYB, Boston Ballet, and Ballet Austin. There, she continued her studies with Truman Finney in Ballet Austin's Trainee program and as a member of Ballet Austin II. Ms. Witts joined the main company at Ballet Austin and danced with them from 2003 until 2021 when she retired from the stage. During her time at Ballet Austin Truman Finney encouraged Ms. Witts to pursue teaching which she did starting in 2003 and still does today. Ms. Witts works for a women owned recruiting firm in the Operations department during the day and teaches at JWSD in the evenings. In her free time she loves to spend time baking and thrifting with her child, Evaline.
Throughout her career at Ballet Austin, Ms. Witts performed in numerous contemporary works by choreographers including Chrisopher Wheeldon, Pontus Lidberg, Pam Tanowitz, KT Nelson, Nicolo Fonte, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Gabrielle Lamb. She enjoyed performing principal roles in George Balanchine's Allegro Brillante and Agon. She also performed leading roles in Stephen Mills’ The Firebird, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Belle Redux, Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, for which she earned her second Austin Critics Table Award and as Alice in Septime Weber’s Alice in Wonderland. Ms. Witts has also had the honor of performing the role of The Survivor in Mills' Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project in Austin and on tour in Miami and Israel.
Ms. Witts has been teaching classical ballet for the last 20 years in Austin and across Texas. Most of that time was spent teaching in the Ballet Austin Academy and in Bryan, Texas at Pure Energy Dance Productions including master classes, private lessons, and summer intensives. In 2021 she joined the Staff at JWSD and has enjoyed getting to know all of the Body Talk dancers. Ms. Witts loves to work on musicality and port de bras with all of her students no matter their age!
Cheryl Copeland
Cheryl Copeland graduated with a BFA in Dance Performance from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Having studied and performed extensively in Florida, New York, Texas, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, her training and technical expertise are reflected in her classes and choreography. She has worked under such notable choreographers as Mia Michaels, Milton Myers, Lisa Hopkins, and Kim Bears-Bailey. Finding her true passion behind the scenes, Cheryl gave up a career in performing for a much more fulfilling career in choreography and education.
She has served as resident choreographer for Teen Dance Company of the Bay Area, and as artistic director of pre-professional companies; Breakthru Dance, DAC PAC, and Humnz Dance Ensemble, as well as her professional company BHumn Dance Company. She owned BHumn DanceSpace, the leading training facility for modern dance in Austin, TX for four years and then retired as owner and headed to NYC to serve as the Director of Education at Peridance Capezio Center, where she established programming, ran audition tours, and managed faculty for three years. She finds herself as creatively pushed in dance administration as much as she does in choreography.
As an educator, Cheryl’s students have received countless awards and scholarships, and gone on to dance with artists such as Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, and can be seen in numerous national commercials. Many of her students find themselves pursuing dance degrees at various colleges all over the United States including USC Kaufman, Juilliard, SUNY Purchase, NYU, and Boston Conservatory amongst others. As a choreographer, she has won several awards including a Choreography Under the Stars finalist cash award, a Young Choreographer’s award from NYCDA, and has choreographed full length works for the Fordham Ailey BFA program and Peridance Certificate Program. These choreographic praises keep Cheryl in demand amongst studios and universities all over the country. Previously, Cheryl has been an instructor at Peridance Capezio Center, Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio, Edge PAC, Ballet Austin, Millennium Dance Complex, and Broadway Dance Center.
Cheryl is looking forward to all of the new opportunities and adventures coming her way and trusts that because of her diverse background, hands on approach, and her ever changing creative mind, she will continue creating innovative work and cultivating beautiful talent for years to come!
Samantha Willett
Samantha Willett is a dedicated teacher at JWSD Cross Park. She began learning dance at age 2 and joined the Body Talk Dance Company at age. 8. She started teaching dance when she was 18. Samantha has taught at JWSD for 4 years and has continued taking dance classes to learn new things and keep her own technique sharp.
Samantha is particularly enthusiastic about tap dance. Samantha has also worked at a daycare where she gained experience in creating a healthy learning environment for children. She excels in teaching all age groups and keeping her students engaged.
Samantha sees it as a privilege to watch kids have fun and get excited when they learn something new. When she is not dancing or teaching dance, she is likely knitting, drawing, or taking care of her cats.
Kiana Rowland
Ki'ana Rowland is one of our hip hop instructors at JWSD Cross Park. She's been dancing almost as long as she has been walking. She started training and taking class in the studio at 22 years old. She played sports most of her life and played basketball on a scholarship in Chicago. She transferred to North Texas in 2014 and became a member of the dance team, Choreoblock (affiliated with the Filipino Student Association). She quickly became a choreographer for the team. Later, she joined a competitive hip hop team in Dallas called Neighborhood. With both teams, she had the opportunity to travel, train, and compete around the world. Kiana auditioned to be a backup dancer for Lizz, appearing on her show Watch Out for the Big Grrlss. She has recently been the creator and director for Vice and Versa Dance Crews in the Austin area. She loves dance and creating and sharing with her students.
Adelaine Whitley
Adelaine Whitley started dancing when she was 6 and became interested in gymnastics. In high school she danced on drill team and worked her way up to captain her senior year.
She learned many different styles of dance when she attended Austin Community College majoring in art. She had the opportunity to be a background dancer in a television series working with her jazz professor who was the choreographer for the HBO series.
Teaching dance has always been a dream of Adelaine's, combining two of her favorite activities. She has worked with kids for most of her career and enjoys watching them grow and seeing the joy on their faces when they learn new and fun movements through dance. She has had many inspiring teachers in her life and always wanted to follow in their footsteps.
Jennifer Rodriguez
Jennifer started dancing at age 10. She was trained at JWSD and is a former Body Talk Company member. Her favorite style of dancing is tap, because it is not just dancing but playing an instrument at the same time. "It is like making music with your feet!" She has been assisting at JWSD since she was 14 and started teaching for JWSD this year.
She loves teaching all ages, because every day is different. The kids bring out her inner child. She likes teaching them and challenging them - especially watching their progress through the years. She is excited to learn from the kids as much as they learn from her. She teaches because she enjoys sharing something she loves with the kids. They make everything fun!
We are excited that Jennifer will be offering Spanish-language classes in the Fall of 2023! Stay tuned!
Caprice Crowley
Caprice Crawley started dancing at the age of two. Most of her dance training has come from her time at JWSD and Body Talk. She has performed in many shows, competitions, and musicals and is starting to branch out into teaching. She has been assisting and teaching at JWSD for several years now. Her favorite style of dance is musical theatre and jazz. She loves teaching the young students who just make her smile. She teaches dance to get her energy out and share her love and passion for dance.
Halley Erickson
Halley Erickson took her first ballet class after seeing The Nutcracker when she was 5. She was exposed to a wide range of styles throughout her training, but her favorite was ballet. Despite her dance journey not being as linear as most, she has danced for nine non-consecutive years and trained as a gymnast for two.
Ms. Halley has work with crocodilians, 20-foot snakes, giant sea turtles, and dove with sharks in the Caribbean. She finds teaching is far more fun and adventurous. She has been at JWSD for nearly 3 years and is a student at Austin Community College where she is studying dance.