Faculty

Dianne Robbins

Dianne has 33 years of dance experience as student, demonstrator, competitive dancer, choreographer, director and coordinator. Growing up in a small town on the border of Arkansas and Texas, Dianne began dancing at the age of 5 as a talent for a national pageant system. She knew from the start that dancing was going to be her life's desire. Although she enjoyed dancing on stage her true passion is teaching. Knowing how important her instructors were in her life was the driving force for her to achieve her goal of one day giving back to other dancers the experience she had grown up with.

Ms. Dianne began assisting and "demonstrating" as it was call in those days, for classes at the age of 12. At the age of 16 she was instructing and choreographing for her own classes, dancing in the community ballet and dancing competitively. Dianne received her full dance teacher certificate and was certified by members of the Texas Association of Dance in 1988. In 1989 she moved to Pensacola and in 1990 opened Five Flags Dance Academy fulfilling a life long dream. Although Five Flags offers a full dance program including a competition team, the main emphasis of the studio is not on competition but on instilling a love of dance and giving those interested an opportunity to perform.

Over the years she has had the opportunity to dance and work with many top names in the dance industry, but it is the students that have had the biggest influence over her life. Nothing is more rewarding than having former students return because they want their own young children to experience growing up at Five Flags Dance Academy to continue with the tradition of passing dance from one generation to the next.

Amanda Baldwin

Amanda began dancing at the age of eight. By the age of fourteen she was assisting in classes and at sixteen was instructing several classes on her own. She participated in the teachers training program at Five Flags Dance Academy and now is instrumental in running the day to day operations of the studio as well as heading up the preschool program. Tap is Miss Amanda's favorite subject although she is a beautiful dancer in all disciplines. Miss Amanda is a charter member of Five Flags Dance Academy and of the first competition team which began in 1998. She still attends workshops and fills in when needed in a competition piece.

Amanda Young

Amanda started taking dance at a very young age and taught her first dance class at age 16. She has studied various principles of dance in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, and performance / musical theater. Besides teaching dance she has training in gymnastics, theater & baton. Ms. Amanda competed at regional and state levels in various forms of dance, pageantry and gymnastics. It is and always has been her passion to teach the art of dance in an inspiring, fun, and challenging way. As an instructor Ms. Amanda believes her job is not only to teach principles and techniques, but more importantly to instill self-esteem and confidence in each student. Ms. Amanda has two daughters who both attend Five Flags, and loves sharing her love of dance with her children. The 2010-2011 will be her third year at Five Flags Dance Academy.

Kristen Mettes

Kristen Mettes grew up in Kansas City where she began dancing at the age of 2 under her mother's instruction. She is now in her 26th year of dance and has never looked back. Ms. Kristen is well educated in all forms of dance specializing in ballet, tap, jazz and lyrical. She has competed since the age of 5 on a nation level at competitions include Showstoppers, Dance America, Hollywood Vibe, Company Dance and Dance Caravan. Having competed herself, she understands what a dancer needs to be competitive in this market.

As an instructor, she has won many award including Best Choreography, Most Entertaining, High Score, Teachers Choice, Best Costuming and Judges Choice. Ms. Kristen has danced all over the U.S. under the instruction of professionals including Gus Giordano, Paula Abdul, Patricia Dickenson, Debbie Dee, Barry Youngblood, Mia Micheals just to name a few. She has also instructed master classes and been on staff at the Pensacola Junior College Workshop in 2007 and 2008.

"Every day I am blessed to work with students and a staff that I adore. This is what I do, it's who I am."

Along with teaching, she has also been trained in vocal, gymnastics, and musical theatre. Kristen has coached dance teams on a state and national level and enjoys choreographing for school dance teams when she has the opportunity. Several of the local schools have utilized her talents since she has moved to the area.

This is Ms. Kristen's third year at Five Flags and second year as director of the competitive dance team. She is looking forward to continuing to build a strong and prestigious program.

*Five Flags Competitive program only selects a limited number of dancers to insure individual instruction to each dancer and their needs.

LaVonne French

LaVonne French, received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance, with an emphasis in Modern Dance and Choreography, from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, and a Master of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Humanities, with an emphasis in Critical and Creative Topics in Dance, from the University of West Florida. She is a founding member/artistic co-director of SWERVE/dance, a Northwest Florida-based modern dance company, and is chair of the Dance Stage committee of the Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival. She serves on both the Artistic and Treehouse Theatre committees at Pensacola Little Theatre, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Florida Dance Association from 2005-2008.
 
LaVonne has been on the theatre faculty (Dance) of the University of West Florida, dance faculty of Kaleidoscope & Ballet Pensacola, and is currently a faculty member (Dance) in the Pensacola Junior College Department of Music and Theatre. LaVonne has worked with Young Audiences of Kansas City, Missouri Repertory Theatre, and City in Motion Dance Theatre (KCMO). Her choreography has been presented at the Florida Dance Festival in Miami, with Kaleidoscope & Ballet Pensacola, Paraplue Dance in Mobile, and most recently at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX. Her theatre choreography includes Jekyll & Hyde, Man of LaMancha, and Cabaret at UWF, and Peter Pan, Oklahoma!, Siyotanka, Seussical, and The Producers at Pensacola Little Theatre. In 2006 and 2008, she won a PLT "Crystal Award" for Sustained Excellence in Dance and Fight Choreography, and this year received a PLT Award of Excellence as Director/Choreographer of Go Dog, Go!

Ursula Pegg

Ursula began dancing at the age of 4. She has trained in many styles of classical and contemporary dance. As a dancer, she participated in conventions and competitions around the country including Dance Makers Inc., Access Hollywood, Dance Troupe, and Applause. She has earned numerous awards including DTI's "Youth Dance Ambassador" and the prestigious I Love Dance "Sweetheart Award". She has performed in Walt Disney World, aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and for the NFL's New Orleans Saints pre-game show.

Ursula has danced under the instruction of renowned professionals including Scott Benson, Barry Youngblood, Jeff Hill, Steven "Twitch" Boss, and the late Al Gilbert.

At age 18, Ursula became an instructor with a local studio where she taught classes in the disciplines of ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, and pointe. She has also served as coach and choreographer for several school dance teams.

Ursula moved to Pensacola in 2007 to complete her Bachelor of Arts Communications from Communication at the University of West Florida. After a brief hiatus from the dance world, she realized nothing could be as fulfilling as sharing her love and passion for dance with others. Ursula is very excited to become part of the FFDA family!

Joanne Adams

Joanne has come to you with over 20 years of experience. You will find her to be very motivated and eager to share her knowledge and love for the art of Ballet. Ballet has been a passion of hers for most of her life, and she truly loves to share her gifts with students. Joanne was born in England and started her ballet training in Spokane, Washington with Tessa Williams (RAD). She passed up to Grade level 4, with honors from the Royal Academy of Dance Program. She received a half scholarship to the San Francisco Ballet Company and performed in numerous productions which include Aida & Oklahoma. She has recently passed her Grade 1 level with Cecchetti and hopes to pursue further levels in the future.

Joanne has also staged and choreographed numerous productions which include: Coppelia, Stone Flower, Paquita, Le Corsaire and Sleeping Beauty. She has started a ballet program for the American Youth Association at the Bitburg Air Base in Germany and worked with a competition team in Tampa, Florida.