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.

Carrie Michelle Fox

Carrie began showing a love for dance at any early age. She has now been dancing for twenty-three years. Carrie grew up in Saraland, AL where she studied dance at Robinson's School of Dance and Mobile Ballet. She was a member of the Lynn Robinson Dancers for twelve years.

Over the years she has competed and performed at many dance conventions around the country, local nursing homes, fashion shows, and even on local television shows. Carrie has earned numerous awards for her talent. To name a few: 1st runner up to Sr. Miss West Coast Dance Explosion (Mobile, AL); Top Soloist at Showstoppers in Mobile, AL; awarded various convention scholarships (Tremaine, West Coast Dance Explosion, Dance Makers, etc.); Parade of Stars at Masquerade; Star Solo award at Stage One Nationals; Mobile County Jr Miss talent winner; accepted to and attended Joffrey Ballet School in New York for a summer intensive, and was chosen to be an instructor for the Universal Dance Association. While in college at the University of Alabama, Carrie earned a spot on the nationally ranked "Crimson Cabaret" Dance Team and took dance courses each year. In addition to her passion for dancing she has been teaching dance over the past nine years. Ms. Carrie has taken from a wide variety of professional dancers, which has given her a well-rounded background.

Ms. Carrie has recently moved to Pensacola where she immediately began looking for a new home to share her passion for dance with others. She is excited and anxious to get her dance shoes on and start dancing with her new students at Five Flags Dance Academy. Ms. Carrie hopes that each and every one of you will have the same experiences she has had with many years of dance!

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.

Kristen Marlette Dixon

Originally from Sanford, FL, Kristen received her bachelor of fine arts in dance performance and choreography in 2006 from the University of Southern Mississippi. There she studied both Cecchetti and Vaganova ballet techniques and a number of modern techniques including Graham, Horton, Humphrey/Limon, Cunningham, Laban and Bartenieff. A member of the Repertory Dance Company, Kristen performed in and choreographed works for concerts, lecture demonstrations, benefits, and more. She has received instruction from individuals such as Daniel Shapiro (Shapiro and Smith), Trebien Pollard (Pilobolus/Streb), Christal Brown and Jawole Zollar (Urban Bush Women), Mark Haim, Karola Luttringhaus (alban elved), and the editor of Dance Magazine, Wendy Perron. In 2006, the university presented Kristen with "Outstanding Senior Scholar" and "Outstanding Senior Thesis" awards for her work. This Fall, Kristen will return to Southern Miss as an adjunct faculty member within the dance department.

Summer Brewton

Summer Brewton began dancing at age 3 and has studied all styles of dance through studio classes, conventions and workshops. She was a member of the competition dance team, high school dance team, and assistant teacher during this time. After completing several years of training as an assistant and substitute teacher, Summer accepted a position as teacher with Five Flags Dance Academy. Miss Summer is currently a student at Pensacola Junior College and looks forward to working with the students, staff and parents of Five Flags Dance Academy. This will be her 17th year of dance!
 
 
 
 

Amanda Young

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!