Sheridan Roalson, owner and general manager
Sheridan comes from an artistic and educational background. She has worked as a performing musician in Austin, TX, for over twenty-five years. Sheridan also worked as a public school teacher and department chair of Special Education for eight years. Her administrative skills were honed as she performed her duties that included accurately completing documentation for over one hundred-twenty students per year, and overseeing the tasks and responsibilities of her team. With Wimberley Dance Elite, Sheridan is given the opportunity once more to learn and excel. She applies her organization and communication skills and expands her accounting and marketing knowledge to make WDE a strong, sound business.
Nicole Wesley, owner
Nicole is a teacher, performer, and choreographer out of Austin, Texas. She received an MFA in Dance from Texas Woman's University and a BFA in Dance from The University of Texas at Austin. Nicole is a Certified Laban Movement Analyst (CLMA) and has performed works by renowned choreographers David Dorfman, Paul Taylor, Michael Foley, Donald McKayle and Dianne McIntyre. Her choreography has been commissioned and performed nationally and internationally at performance venues such as The Dissolving Borders Symposia in Dundee Scotland; Culturesfrance’s Danses Caraibe in Havana, Cuba; The COCO Dance Festival in Port of Spain, Trinidad; Dance City in Newcastle, England; The Big Read Festival in Austin, Texas; The Dallas Morning News Dance Festival; The American College Dance Festival; The MAD (Modern Atlanta Dance) Festival; The Fringe Festival, Costa Rica; The Fringe Festival, Austin and The Fringe Festival, New York.
Nicole is Artistic Director of The JUSTICE Project in collaboration with her dance partner of twenty years, Darla Johnson. The JUSTICE Project an experiential and community-oriented and devised performance, created and developed collaboratively within diverse populations. Revolving around dialogues of social, political and personal responses to justice, The JUSTICE Project celebrates the authentic artistic voice and embraces the transformation that arises at the intersection of self and community.
Nicole is Co-founder of the Contemporary Choreographers’ Collective and Co-Artistic Director of Trinidad and Tobago’s COCO Dance Festival since 2009. The mission of the Contemporary Choreographers’ Collective is to inspire, encourage and serve the community through creative processes and collaborative and outreach-oriented endeavors. Nicole is currently Associate Chair of Curriculum and Student Success for the Department of Theatre and Dance and Head of the BFA Teaching Certification track at Texas State University.
Nicole is Artistic Director of The JUSTICE Project in collaboration with her dance partner of twenty years, Darla Johnson. The JUSTICE Project an experiential and community-oriented and devised performance, created and developed collaboratively within diverse populations. Revolving around dialogues of social, political and personal responses to justice, The JUSTICE Project celebrates the authentic artistic voice and embraces the transformation that arises at the intersection of self and community.
Nicole is Co-founder of the Contemporary Choreographers’ Collective and Co-Artistic Director of Trinidad and Tobago’s COCO Dance Festival since 2009. The mission of the Contemporary Choreographers’ Collective is to inspire, encourage and serve the community through creative processes and collaborative and outreach-oriented endeavors. Nicole is currently Associate Chair of Curriculum and Student Success for the Department of Theatre and Dance and Head of the BFA Teaching Certification track at Texas State University.
Lowery Walker, artistic director Elite Dance Company
Lowery is a native Texan and a graduate of Wimberley High School. She joined the Navy after graduating as part of the Nuclear Propulsion Program. After leaving the military, she moved to Savannah, GA with her husband who was stationed there while in the Army. They recently moved back to Wimberley after Lowery’s husband retired, to raise their three children, Jesse, Lynzee and Ryann.
Lowery participated in dance and cheer as a youth, and her love of dance continued through her twelve years as a competitive dance mom. Her passion led her to learn more about the world of competitive dance and over time, she became a consultant to dance teams on everything from choreography and team building to makeup and costumes. What Lowery brings to EDC is an an extensive knowledge of competition dance, and with it, she will oversee the team of instructors and the progress of the dancers so that the team succeeds. Equally important is her ability and heart to see and encourage the very best in our dancers, and to relate and support them as they strive to reach their dance goals and their life goals.
Teaching Faculty
Angela Altmeyer
Angela Altmeyer began dancing at the age of two at a small dance studio in Guam. When she moved back stateside, she continued her dance education at Betty Jack's School of Dance, Fredrick Maryland Regional Ballet Company, Ballet Austin and January's Academy of Arts, but her dance home was always the Wimberley Dance Studio. After five years as a dancer at WDS, Angela began her teaching career at the age of sixteen, and worked and danced at Wimberley Dance Studio for ten more years. During this time, she graduated from Wimberley High School and got her Bachelors of Fine Arts at Southwest Texas State University, focusing in metallurgy, art history and, of course, dance. Angela has also worked at Jackie's Performing Arts school in Austin and the Jadco Dance Company in Charleston, West Virginia, where she was also a principal dancer.
Now that she is back home in Wimberley, she is excited to join Wimberley Dance Elite family and continue teaching and sharing her love of dance.
Holly Bowling
Holly Bowling is a sophomore from the DFW area that has been dancing for seventeen years. Bowling is trained in many styles such as ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip hop, and musical theater. In high school, she joined the Hebron Silver Wings Drill Team. There, Holly served as Sophomore Lieutenant, Junior Lieutenant, and Captain her senior year. After high school, she was accepted into Texas State University, where she is currently pursuing a BFA in Dance with a concentration in Performance and Choreography. While at Texas State, she decided to join The World-Famous Texas State Strutters her freshman year. Holly is currently a member of Merge Dance Company, a pre-professional dance company at Texas State.
Lindsey Gerson
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Lindsey Gerson was born in Germany and grew up in El Paso, Texas. She started her dancing career in classical ballet at 13 and continued for 6 years under the direction of David Alejandro Duran. After graduating high school, she traveled abroad for 7 months in Germany and China during a Discipleship Training School where she also experienced native dance forms. After returning, she moved to Austin and began choreography and improv classes with Darla Johnson and learned American Sign Language at Austin Community College. During this time, she began sewing and costume making. After gaining her Certificate in American Sign Language Studies, she transferred to Texas State. She was a member of Merge Dance Company for the 2016-2017 season and traveled with them to preform in Trinidad for the Contemporary Choreographers’ Collective Dance Festival. She joined Transient Dance Collective in 2016 and was the President this past year (2017-2018). Her dance films, Refine and Imprisoned, have both been selected for various film festivals. She graduated in May with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with an emphasis in Performance and Choreography. She continues her selftaught work as an amateur seamstress and also teaches dance in the surrounding Austin area. She will be preforming with the aerial dance company, Blue Lapis Light, this fall. Lindsey’s darling black cat, Coco, enjoys assisting with all sewing projects. Lindsey is very excited to be teaching at Wimberley Dance Elite this year!
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Gianna Soliz
Gianna Soliz is a Sophomore attending Texas State University. She is a second year on the Texas State Strutters dance team; in which she also holds the position of Lieutenant Officer for the team. She has been dancing since she was three years old in almost every style of dance. In high school she was on a pre-professional dance company, called the METtoos, in Houston for two years. She then transferred to the HC2s at the institute of contemporary dance Houston for her senior year. She has received scholarships from AMDA, THUNDERSTRUCK, THE BEAT, LADM, STARBOUND, STARQUEST and many more. For her senior year of high-school, she toured with the LADM senior company to many cities. Gianna has choreographed several award winning dances for middle schools, high schools, individual soloists, and competitive teams. She is so excited to be on staff for WDE and cannot wait to meet everyone!
Saraya Manning
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Saraya Manning was born in San Marcos, Texas and has been attending Wimberley schools since the 6th grade. She’s attended our studio since we opened and has dance background in contemporary, jazz, tap, hiphop, lyrical, and musical theatre. Saraya has been dancing since she was two years old and started competitive dancing at the age of seven. Right now Saraya is a senior at Wimberley High School and she is the lieutenant of the Texan Stars dance team. While on the team she preformed at pep rallies, football games, and even went to New York to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade! This semester she’ll go on continuing to perform with her team for competition season. Not only does she dance on the team but she teaches many classes at the studio including Tiny Tumblers, Pre-K combo classes, and various levels of Acro. After graduating she plans on attending either Texas State or Texas A&M University where she’ll major in Business Marketing and minor in dance!
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Sarai Herrera
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Sarai Herrera was born in Austin, Texas but has lived in Wimberley her entire life! She is a Junior at Wimberley High School and enjoys to visit with her variety of friends. She has been dancing since the third grade, but has been attending Wimberley Dance Elite since they have opened in her fifth grade year. She has studied many styles of dance including ballet, contemporary, lyrical, hiphop, tap, and many more! Sarai is not only a teacher and student at Wimberley Dance Elite but is also on our EDC Competition Team and Wimberley Texan Stars! Sarai loves to go visit her very large family; she loves to cook, dance, sing, play games, and watch movies. Sarai loves dance and hopes to inspire your kids love for dance as well! She is very excited to work at Wimberley Dance Elite!
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