faculty

Rendee Combs has been dancing since the age of five and teaching dance since the age of 14.  She began her dance career under the direction of Wanda Manville at Tempe Dance Academy (TDA), voted as one of the top 50 dance schools in the US and Canada. She received many awards during her youth as a company dancer with TDA.

Rendee also danced in college for the prestigious University of Arizona Pom Line from 1991 to 1995.  As a “Wildcat Pommie” she danced and performed at Wildcat basketball and football games in arenas and stadiums before thousands of people and on national television.  Highlights included performing on the field at the 1993 Fiesta Bowl and on the court at the 1994 NCAA Final Four tournament in Charolette, NC. 

Before coming to North Central Phoenix, Rendee owned and directed Desert West Dance Academy (DWDA) in the West Valley for 20 years.  Starting her studio with just a boom box in a rented classroom, she grew DWDA into one of the premier dance studios in Arizona.  Her students performed at community events throughout the Valley and state and won championships and awards at regional and national competitions. Rendee grew her small studio into the studio of her dreams by believing in herself and never giving up, qualities she tries to instill into all of her students. Rendee’s former students can be seen in professional musicals, commercials, videos, collegiate, and professional performance teams, and as a die-hard Wildcat. She is most proud that two of her dancers went on to follow in her footsteps as members of the UofA Pom Line.

Rendee is also an award-winning choreographer and is a certified member of Dance Masters of Arizona.  She has danced, performed, and competed throughout Arizona and the US as well as abroad to perform in the Caribbean.  Besides her work at AZDD, she serves as a judge at the high school and college level competitions and tryouts in Arizona.

Rendee feels blessed to continue the legacy of Cannedy Performing Arts Center and excited to share her expertise and love of dance with the families and staff of AZDD. 

Cleopatra Avery, whose hometown is Carlisle, Pennsylvania, began her training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under Marcia Dale Weary. She originated roles by Sherry Morray and Alan Hineline. She continued training at Pacific Northwest Ballet School summer intensive in 2006 and 2007.

Cleopatra went on to join the Richmond Ballet in 2008, and then The Suzanne Farrell Ballet in 2010. She danced roles in The Nutcracker, Coppelia, La Bayadere, Giselle, and Sleeping Beauty.

Cleopatra’s Balanchine repertoire includes The Nutcracker, Who Cares?, Raymonda Variations, Divertimento No. 15, Valse Fantisies, La Source,  alpurgisnacht, Danses Concertantes, Diamonds, Concerto Barocco, Agon, Pithoprakta, Serenade and Stars and Stripes. Cleopatra has been teaching in Arizona since 2014, sharing her love and passion for dance.

Laura Costa grew up in Phoenix and has been dancing since the age of four.  She has had extensive training and education through local dance studios in all styles of dance, predominantly in Jazz, Tap, Ballet and Modern Dance through the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts School of Music, Dance and Theatre.  In addition Laura is a certified Mind Body Mat Pilates trainer and a Rainbow Yoga Kids/Family certified instructor.

Laura served as the Studio Manager for Cannedy Performing Arts Centre from 2001-2017.  As director and mentor of the Student Teaching Apprenticeship Program, Laura helped to develop many dance teachers and professionals.  Throughout her 16 years at Cannedy Laura worked with dancers of all ages and skill sets; from toddlers in creative movement, to adult beginner Tap, teen advanced competitive Jazz and everything in between.  She created the Tiny Dancers program allowing children to participate in dance at the age of two (some still in diapers and using pacifiers) and more easily transition into preschool dance.

Hailey grew up dancing at a studio near Portland, Oregon. Since the age of 12, she attended competitions and conventions all around the pacific northwest and trained extensively in different styles including jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, tap, Acro, and hip hop. A large part of her training included Kinstretch and Functional Range Conditioning, which are joint mobility conditioning and injury prevention systems developed entirely through scientific research.

Hailey’s passion for teaching began while she was an assistant dance instructor and she realized she loved helping kids discover their love for dance. By the time she was graduating, she assisted in just about as many classes at her home studio as she took. When she was 18, she moved to Phoenix where there is less rain and a bigger dance community. In Phoenix she took time to explore the non-technical, contemporary movement side of dance to supplement her technical training. Hailey found a home at AZDD in 2019, a studio that shared all of her teaching values. She is a big believer that dance skills are directly translated into life skills, and her teaching methods are based on building strong technical foundations and using positive