After living in the Lake Highlands area for ten years, Vandy Haby wanted to share her passion of dance with the youth of such an amazing community.  In 2016, Lake Highlands Dance Academy was established to create a fresh and fun atmosphere, for children to not only learn dance steps, but to thrive, excel and develop a true love and appreciation for the art of dance.
 
Vandy has been teaching and sharing HER love of dance for the past 23 years. Each class draws on varying techniques and styles of dance to give a more inspiring and unique experience. Classes foster physical, social, emotional and intellectual development through music, movement and dance for students of various ages. Most importantly, individualized attention focusing on proper technique and performance skills ensures every dancer reaches his or her potential.

Vandy’s journey began in her mother’s dance studio, Candy Crocker School of Dance in Tyler, TX, where she danced until graduating from Robert E. Lee High School and was a Southern Belle Drill Team Officer.  She went on to attend Texas Tech University  where she  was a member of The Texas Tech Pom Squad and an instructor and choreographer at The Dance Gallery in Lubbock, TX.  During this time she was selected as an intern at the prestigious Broadway Dance Center in New York City, NY where she studied all genres of dance and worked with tap icons Savion Glover and Mike Minery.  She additionally assisted with The Rockette Experience and various master classes at BDC.  After graduating from TTU in 2002 with a BBA in Marketing she immediately moved to the Dallas area where she became a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader for three years where she performed nationally with personalities such as Destiny's Child, LeAnn Rimes, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, Jessica Simpson and Ludacris.  She traveled internationally with The United Service Organization, entertaining and building the morale of US Troops on two different USO Tours to South Korea.  She has continued to teach and choreograph in the DFW area for Southlake Dance Academy, Pat Riddle School of Dance and SWAY Dance Center.  She has choreographed award winning productions across the state for various dance teams, drill teams, officer lines and cheer squads.  Vandy is married to her husband Jason, and they have three daughters, Arden (15), Madeline (12) and Cameron (6) who are truly the lights of her life.

Kaylan Alday is a Dallas based interdisciplinary movement artist and maker. She was born in Houston, Texas where her love for dance began at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at the age of four. After moving to Mobile, Alabama, she continued training in ballet, jazz, hip hop and contemporary styles under the direction of Colby and Celi Shinn at Sheffield’s School of the Dance and Zoë Lombard-Todd at Mobile Ballet. After high school, she attended The University of the Arts, School of Dance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she trained under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield, and in the spring of 2019 received a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography, as well as a minor in Art Therapy. During her time at school she worked with renowned artists such as Jesse Zaritt, Sidra Bell, Kyle and Dinita Clark, Katie Swords Thurman and Tommie-Waheed Evans.In addition to her training at UArts, Kaylan attended the American Dance Festival in 2017 where she worked with international artists Lui Wen-Chun and Saar Harari, and in the winter of 2017 traveled to France and Belgium where she worked with distinguished choreographers Douglas Becker, Clinton Stringer (Rosas), Dominique Duszynzky (Pina Bausch), Daniel Candamine (Pina Bausch), and Gala Moody (Cie.OFEN). Most recently, Kaylan attended the Zion Dance Project Summer Series, where she performed in the production "Sealed" as a 2019 Summer Series Student Artist. She is looking forward to creating more collaborative work in the DFW area, and diving deep into the beautiful arts community here in Dallas.   Currently, Kaylan is an apprentice with Zion Dance Project under the direction of Vincent and Abigail Hardy, and spends her days sharing her love for dance in the studio teaching and fulfilling her duties as an arts admin. When she is not dancing, you can find Kaylan outdoors soaking up as many sun rays as possible, eating a giant bowl of pasta, or covered in paint and chalk making new artwork in her room. Kaylan is excited to be a part of the LHDA family this year and is looking forward to a year full of love, joy and lots of dance!

Suni Petty, a Fort Worth native with 20 years of experience in the dance and performance industry.  Suni has extensive training in Jazz, Hip Hop, Ballet, Tap, Contemporary, Lyrical, Modern, Pointe and Musical Theater. As a student, she was awarded Studio “Dancer of the Year” multiple times and received several outstanding performance and overall awards at local studios, competitions, and conventions. In 2012, Suni became one of the founding members of the Floor Invasion Dance Crew where she was featured dancing in a Staples commercial. She has had the opportunity to perform at many local and national venues, including KLTY’s Celebrate Freedom Fest, Six Flags Over Texas Fright Fest and Holiday in the Park, Fort Worth Parade of Lights, the Gaylord’s Cover Girl fashion show, Fort Worth Magazine’s Best of 2016 Party, Disney World, and Universal Studios. She has performed at many local charity events and has been a part of several concept videos. Suni performed in seven seasons of “The Nutcracker” with the North Texas Youth Ballet, where she had many lead and featured roles and was seen as “Clara” in 2012. Suni is not only a dancer, but an accomplished singer and actress as well. She participated in several musical productions throughout her youth. She is a graduate of the DFW Performing Arts Conservatory, where she trained extensively in various styles of dance, stage and film acting, music, and singing. As a student there, Suni was featured in the full-length stage production of “Grease” as “Frenchy” and starred as “Ariel” in the musical version of “Footloose.”
Since graduating, Suni has been training dancers in all styles for seven years. She had the opportunity to work as a talent coach for local pageant contestants, was a backup vocalist for the Miss Texas Pageant, worked as an assistant and stage manager for the Dallas Summer Musicals youth academy, was a backup dancer for a Drag Pageant, and has taught at several schools for Fine Arts Day. In 2014, Suni attended the hip hop convention Urban Legends in Los Angeles and was featured dancing in a concept video under the direction of Marty Kudelka.
Suni can now be seen as a prominent member of the all-female, Dallas-based, competitive hip hop crew Team Athena. She has been training extensively with her directors, Kylah Henry and Darius Brown, for Athena’s past 4 seasons where she was able to compete at World of Dance Houston 2019 and danced in a concept video. Suni continues to train weekly in hip hop and urban styles from some of the top DFW choreographers.  She is currently teaching recreational and company level dancers, as well as, directing company teams throughout the DFW area. Suni teaches energetic and challenging classes with an amazing love and appreciation for the art of dance.

Christine Berry joined the LHDA family in 2019 and has been making a lasting impact on our dancers ever since. She began dancing at age three in Lubbock, TX where she trained in multiple styles of dance, was a member of Ballet Lubbock, and performed in the Nutcracker for multiple years. After moving to Richardson in junior high, she continued her dance education and attended JJ Pearce High School where she joined the renowned Pacesetter drill team. In addition to performing under the Friday night lights as a Pacesetter, Christine was selected to be a member of the Express Kick Line and the Elite Dance team, served as a Lieutenant her junior year, and earned the coveted role as Pacesetter Captain her senior year. She went on to attend Texas Tech University where she was a member of the nationally ranked Texas Tech Pom Squad, receiving numerous accolades as well as a dance scholarship during her time on the squad. During her college years, she also instructed for the nationally recognized Universal Dance Association, traveling across the southern US training various dance and drill teams in all genres of dance. During this time, Christine was also a member of and choreographer for the Lubbock Cotton Kings Dancers, a local dance team that performed throughout the year at minor league hockey games. She fulfilled her goal of being an educator and proudly received her Bachelors in Education in 2001. Upon graduating, she relocated back to the Dallas area where she became a middle school special education teacher in Frisco ISD.  Christine and her husband, Adam, live in Richardson and are the proud parents of three children, Parker (17), Connor (15), and Anna Beth (12), who is one of our talented dancers here at LHDA. Christine finds great joy in being able to combine her passion for dance and her love for teaching children.

Chloe Parrish is a performer, arts manager, and instructor/choreographer originally from Dallas Texas. She began dancing at the age of eight and fell in love with it, training in Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap, Ballet, Musical Theatre, and partnering.  She was able to put this passion to action by growing her training at Sway Dance Center, where she was able to serve as a member of their Teen Company, Company, and Company captain. After graduating high school, she continued her education at Oklahoma City University attending the Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Entertainment pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Dance Management as well as a certificate in Entertainment Business. Here, she was able to serve as a member of The American Spirit Dance Company, Pep Dancers, as well as The Star Dance Company as line captain and a featured dancer. She was also able to grow her education and passion in the arts management field by serving as a Production Assistant, Assistant Company Manager to the Star Dance Company, and a Static Light Board Operator. Chloe has also had the privilege to be able to exercise her love of performing through a variety of musical theater productions through the theater community in the DFW area. Some of her favorites include CATS (Victoria), Footloose (Ensemble/Dance Captain), Newsies (Specs/Dance Captain), and Brigadoon (Fishmonger). She is currently working as a Registration Coordinator at Artistic Dance Exchange, a dance convention a competition, through registration assistance, backstage management, and general operations. Chloe cannot wait to start her first full year at LHDA on faculty, after teaching and assisting for the past three summers, and cannot wait to see what the year brings.

Brittany Lewis began dancing at the age of 2 and eventually joined a competitive studio, Dance Dynamics, when she was 8 years old.  Brittany danced competitively with the studio for 10 years as both a soloist and team member. During her senior year of high school she was honored to be selected as the USASF Silver Scholarship recipient at The Dance Worlds in Orlando, Florida. Her senior team also brought home the first ever Dance Dynamics gold medal from The Dance Worlds.  After high school, Brittany attended Texas A&M University where she was selected as a member of the Aggie Dance Team, serving as Captain of the team her senior year.  

Brittany has always been excited to share her love of dance with others.  While in high school, she worked as a Dance Dynamics assistant coach for four years and volunteered with the Danceabilities Team, Shining Stars.  During college she worked at On Our Toes Dance Studio where she coached and choreographed the Junior Company Team. Brittany recently graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in accounting and married the love of her life in August 2021. She is excited to continue her dance career and help the next generation of dancers grow!

Alex Marin was born and raised in Troup, TX. She began dancing with Candy Crocker Jordan at Candy Crocker School of Dance at the age of three in Tyler, TX. She learned all styles of dance while attending, such as Jazz, Tap, Ballet and Hip Hop.  She also trained at Broadway Dance Center and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.  During this time, she was able to compete, grow, and realize her passion for dance while training with the best!
Alex attended Whitehouse High School where she was a member of the award-winning Whitehouse First Ladies drill team. She performed on the Disney World Stage at Downtown Disney as a First Lady and trained with Disney World performing cast members. She earned many awards as a member of First Ladies, including solo awards at Nationals and was an officer her senior year.
After graduating from High School, Alex earned a position with the World-Famous Kilgore College Rangerettes on the 75th Line. As a Rangerette she was given the opportunity to perform at many destinations including the ESPN Center in Florida, Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Ireland, and Croke Park in Scotland where they received the only standing ovation since its opening in the 1800’s. 
Alex then moved to Dallas where she continues to take classes and train with professionals every opportunity she gets. During her time here in Dallas she has been a proud member of three professional dance teams, the Texas Revolution Dancers, Dallas Sidekicks Dancers, and most recently the Frisco Fighters Bombshells.  She is currently studying at the University of Phoenix to gain a bachelor's degree in Business and will be graduating in the Fall of 2023.
Alex is very excited to help others find the passion that she found when she was younger and inspire them to follow their dreams!

Reilly Johannsen (Plano, TX) is a graduate of Texas Christian University who obtained a BFA in Modern Dance and minor in Business and Arts Administration. Prior to her academic career at Texas Christian University, Reilly trained at Next Step Dance Performing Arts Center and is a proud graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Tx. She has been dancing and performing in classical and contemporary styles since the age of two. She has performed in works by Desmond Richardson, Joshua L. Peugh, Jason Parsons, Doug Elkins, Andy Scott, David Parsons, Nick Bass, Lauren Adams, to name a few.

Reilly is an arts educator, a performer, and small business owner. She has been teaching and mentoring students since 2013 and is passionate about helping children express themselves through creativity and building a strong technical foundation. Reilly also owns a Dallas based hair and makeup company called Grand Slam Glam and manages a full team of professional stylists.

Abby was born and raised in Dallas, Texas more specifically lake highlands. She began dancing at the age of 2 at Studio B Dance & Performing Arts, at the age of 6 she moved to Kitty Carter Dance Factory where she danced for nine years, five of which included being on their company team. In 2016, she had the fortune of being taught by Ms. Vandy Haby who was her favorite teacher and deepened her love of tap dancing. After 13 years as a full-time dance student, Abby step ball changed into her role as teaching assistant at Lake Highlands Dance Academy. There she has the joy of working alongside many brilliant instructions who she does not only look up to but considers to be great friends. She also has the pleasure of being able to work with and cultivate relationships with all of her favorite talented young dancers.
When Abby is not dancing, she attends Ursuline Academy of Dallas as a member of the class of 2022. She was involved in their lacrosse program for two years and holds many leadership positions including President of their Ambassador Program and the CAUSE for Life Club, she also acts as member of their peer ministry team, a position which has blessed her with the ability to plan and lead masses and retreats for the entire school. Abby is also a member of the National Honor Society, Science Honor Society, and English Honors Society with awards in Computer Science as well as being a transfer mentor and a member of the best buddies and paws for kindness clubs.
In her spare time, Abby runs a small sticker business on Etsy. She also enjoys playing tennis, drinking Starbucks, and spending time with her friends. In the summers Abby continues  to pursue her love of education by working at various summer camps and teaching Sunday school at her church. Abby has aspirations of attending Texas A&M University as a loud and proud member of the fightin’ Texas class of 2026. Where she intends to study education in hopes of becoming an Elementary school teacher.