Instructors

Carrie grew up dancing in the Columbus area. At 8 years of age, she won her first national dance title, which began her competitive career with many awards and dance titles to follow. During her high school years, Carrie began teaching dance in the Columbus area and joined Atlanta’s Rising Theatre Stars and studied dance with Dolores and Lisa Werner. Carrie was also selected to perform in the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Ga. After graduating high school, Carrie began a professional dance career with Carnival Cruise Lines. Carnival provided Carrie the opportunity to work with both national and international choreographers. Carrie lived and studied in New York City as a scholarship student at STEPS on Broadway, affording Carrie the opportunity to study with the world’s best dance instructors. Since opening Performance Dance Centre, Carrie has won numerous choreography awards both nationally and regionally. As Director of PDC Competition Team, the team has received recognition at a national level. She received CoDance Educator Award in 2008 for Excellence in Dance Education. In 2015, Carrie was awarded the prestigious honor of Woman of the Year in Performing Arts for the State of Georgia. Dancing is her passion and she hopes to instill that same love and passion for dance in all her students. Carrie teaches all styles of dance including jazz, tap, ballet, hip-hop, acrobatics, and lyrical. Carrie is also the only certified Acrobatics Instructor with accredited Acrobatics program in Columbus and one of three in the state of Georgia. She is also certified through Progressing Ballet Technique and enjoys implementing the wonderful curriculum into PDC’s program! Carrie takes great pride in her alumni of Performance Dance. Many have taken extraordinary paths in dance, theater, and music around the country.

Carrie loves being able to provide such a wonderful family oriented dance studio for her students. Carrie is happily married to Carson Paris and they have two beautiful children, Emerson and Landon.

Katy started taking dance as a tot. She has been trained in multiple dance styles and has competed in Tap, Jazz, Ballet, and Lyrical thru adulthood. She was also an award winning color guard and winter guard member. She was named in Who’s Who Among High School Student two years in a row for her achievements in dance, music, and academics. Katy was an inaugural member of Southern Dance Theatre and performed in multiple productions including Sleeping Beauty and the Nutcracker.   After getting married and moving to Columbus she entered into the dance profession by becoming a certified member of the Georgia High School Athletic Association where she coached and judged for local high school. Katy married her husband in 2002 and they have two beautiful children. Katy has developed an incredible PreSchool program providing many different class options for younger preschool age dancers. When she is not dancing or teaching, she is very active in her church where she sings as a worship leader.

“The teachers and instructors here are giving these young dancers the best dance education and they truly care about their students. Ms. Carrie’s studio has such a family atmosphere, it’s wonderful and I’m so excited to be a part of it.”

Sarah is from Columbus Georgia and currently attends Columbus State University majoring in general business. She has been an Instructor for 4 years and has loved getting the opportunity to teach at Performance Dance Centre. Sarah started dancing at a young age and came to PDC and absolutely loved the environment and instructors. She believes her training at Performance Dance Centre shaped her into the teacher she is today. “It has been a joy for me to teach students in the same place that sparked my love for dancing!”

Kendalls love for dance began  at the age of 4 at Performance Dance Centre. She has trained in all styles of dance and acrobatics. Kendall stepped into the competitive dance world at an early age where she has obtained numerous regional top honors and awards with her team. Being a part of Performance Company she has had the chance to work with some of the country’s Top Choreographers and Instructors to further her dance training. Kendall performed with Performance Dance Company at their very own show in Walt Disney World. Kendall is a Senior this year at Columbus High School. Along with being a talented dancer, she also is an extremely gifted artist. She is excited to begin her second year as Dance Instructor where she teaches her students to work hard while having fun in class!

Courtney is a Columbus native with a love for all things circus. In fact, her favorite show, Cirque du Soleil’s LOVE, inspired her to learn aerial arts. As a child, she trained for several years in gymnastics. Then, in 2009, she began her aerial arts journey, learning the practice as her Columbus High School Senior Project. After high school, she continued to perfect her art, eventually helping to establish the very first aerial arts program in Columbus, GA. And the rest is history. Courtney now has 10 years of experience teaching aerial arts to adults and children.

Her favorite thing about aerial is that it constantly challenges her to push her limits—physically, mentally, and creatively. Aerial is always evolving, so there are always new skills to learn. But it’s not just the challenge of learning new skills. Courtney loves to perform, and aerial encourages her to push herself creatively when putting together a new piece.

In addition to her vast experience in aerial arts, she has also taught yoga, TRX, Pilates, and various other fitness classes.

Savannah began dance classes at Performance Dance Centre when she was only 3 years old. She developed a passion for dance at a very early age and it has carried with her through her high school years. Savannah began competitive dance at age 7 winning awards all over the southeast. She has competed in numerous regional and national competitions all over the southeast. Savannah has had the amazing opportunity to perform twice at Disney World. Once with her home studio, Performance Dance Company where she also had the chance to work hands on with Disney performers as well as Dance the Magic Experience! Teaching dance has become a passion of hers! She loves to share her knowledge and love for dance to younger children. Savannah is a rising senior at Columbus High School. She is excited to be entering her second year as an Instructor! 

Eva began dance at Performance Dance at the age of 8. She trained in all styles of dance and quickly jumped into the world of competitive dance at an early age. Eva became a member of Performance Dance Company where she began performing and competing all over the southeast. She had an exciting opportunity performing at Disney World with Performance Dance Company and working with Disney World choreographers. As a young teen Eva auditioned and was selected as a Company dancer for Dance League, a national dance convention that toured around the US. Being a company member under Dance League provided her the opportunity to work with some of the Industry’s leading dance professionals. Eva is a senior at Northside High School. She is very excited to take on the role as Assistant Teacher / Instructor alongside Carrie Paris where she can share her love for dance to the younger generation.

Savannah is a senior at Central High School. She begin dancing at an early age with Performance Dance Centre training in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, and acrobatics. She joined Performance Dance Centre’s prestigious Company dancers where she was able to take her training to the next level. This provided her the foundation she needed to advance in dance. Savannah competed for many years under PDC Owner and Company Director Carrie Paris winning numerous regional Top Honors and Awards! Savannah is excited to have the opportunity to share her love of dance to the young students at Performance Dance Centre this year!

Justine Wasilewski grew up in Tucson, Arizona. She trained at Tucson Dance Academy under Tammy Booth until high school graduation. Justine has trained in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Modern, Acro, Improvisation, Ballroom, Tap, and Hip-Hop. She spent summers training at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Perry Mansfield, and Juilliard. She continued her pre-professional dance training at the University of Arizona School of Dance under directors Melissa Lowe and Jory Hancock. While at UA, she performed works by Paul Taylor, Jessica Lang, Christopher Wheeldon, Jerome Robbins, Larry Keigwin, and George Balanchine. In May 2021, she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. Justine performed as a company artist with Spectrum Dance Theater in Seattle under the direction of Donald Byrd for the 2021/2022 Season. Calling Georgia home since June 2022, Justine is a new company artist with Monica Hogan Danceworks in Atlanta. She is excited and honored to be teaching at Performance Dance.

Hannah is a senior at Columbus High school, and has been a student at Performance Dance Centre since preschool age. She began taking dance at a very early age and continue training all through elementary middle school and our high school. Hannah is a part of our competitive dance company that travels all over the southeast to compete. She has even had the opportunity to perform at Walt Disney World with the PDC company, she trains extensively with a company while maintaining excellent grades in school. Hannah is a true role model to all Performance Dance Centre students. She joins our faculty this year as an assistant instructor. We are so happy to have Hannah assisting with our younger students as she is such a great role model for them!

Hope began training at an early age at Performance Dance Centre. She began competing competitively not too soon after. She trains extensively and all genres of dance, as well as Ariel arts, where she is excelled in advanced levels. Hope has had the opportunity with her competitive company at Performance Dance Centre to perform at Walt Disney World, or she got an inside look to the professional world of dance. Hope attends the Rainey McCullers school of arts in Columbus, Georgia. Hope is an assistant for preschool dance, as well as acro and Ariel arts. We are so happy to have Hope’s enthusiasm and hard work ethic as an assistant teacher at Performance Dance Centre.

Selina is a junior at Columbus high school and has danced at Performance Dance Centre since elementary school. She trains extensively and all genres of dance and acro. Selina dances competitively at Performance Dance Centre, where she has won numerous Top overall awards. We are happy to have her as an assistant teacher at our studio!