MEET THE CHOREOGRAPHERS
At the young age of six, Mirna Serrano-Lara began dancing under Susanne Lee at California Dancer. During her time there, Serrano-Lara had the opportunity to work with Adam Young, Vicki Lee, Markeith Wiley, Alicia Melrose, as well as many others. While at California Dancer, Serrano-Lara started competing all throughout Southern California. She would habitually score quite high at competitions. After California Dancer closed down, Serrano-Lara moved onto Dance Dimensions Performing Arts Center (PAC) in Grand Terrace. While at Dance Dimensions PAC, Serrano-Lara discovered her love for hip-hop and experimented with contemporary and salsa. Even though her heart was mainly in hip-hop, Serrano-Lara continued to compete at dance competitions in an array of dance styles. She also continued to score well in all her groups as well as duets. Serrano-Lara not only worked under the amazing Cherie Gomez, at Dance Dimensions PAC, but she also managed to make the award-winning Pep Squad at Canyon Springs High School during all four years in high school. You can now find Serrano-Lara advancing her education at California Baptist University, as well as occasionally subbing in for teachers at Dance Dimensions PAC.
Tara Wheatley began taking dance classes at the age of six from Susanne Lee at California Dancer. During her time there, she would travel all around Southern California with the studio’s competition team. When Wheatley wasn’t at dance, she was working as background characters for television shows and movies such as: Santa Claus 3: The Escape Clause, Without a Trace, Norbit, Jericho and many others. During her winter and summer breaks, Wheatley would take master classes for dance in Los Angeles from teachers such as: Shawn Greene, Chad Michael Hall, Deborah Brockus, Arvin Arjona, and Reggie Brown. After California Dancer closed down, Wheatley decided to put her acting career on the back burner so she could focus solely on dance. She began dancing over twenty hours a week at Brockus Conservatory of Dance and Musical Theater in Redlands. Through the conservatory, Wheatley was able to take classes from teachers such as: Brian Fretté, Ronaldo Bowins, Lillian Barbito, Charon Aldredge, Gail Adkinson-DeZon, Bill Bartlett, and Jesse Abrescy. At the young age of seventeen, Wheatley was awarded partial scholarship for American Dance Festival’s six week program in North Carolina and took from teachers like Michelle Gibson, Sherone Price, and T-Lang. Wheatley has recently graduated from high school as an honor student as well as Brockus Conservatory of Dance and Musical Theater- making her the first full time student to complete the four year program at Brockus. You can now find Wheatley dancing throughout Los Angeles.
