meet the faculty

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Owner/Instructor-Acting, Acro, Musical Theatre,

Revolution Performance and Competition Team, Tap

Casey has been in the performing arts for 40 years, and instructing dance for over 20 years. She was formally trained in tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, and ballet at the Phil Osterhouse Dance Studio and The Dance Network in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Casey also grew up competing in Winter Guard International, where she honed her dance and performance skills throughout the US and Canada. Her choreography has been seen on stage, on screen, winning awards in studio dance competitions, state championship high school dance team competitions, and even on the basketball court of her alma mater, Florida Gulf Coast University (Go Eagles!), where Casey was a Magna cum laude graduate. She has been certified to teach through both Dance Educators of America and Dance Masters of America, and is an active member of the National Dance Education Organization.  Casey is also a graduate of the NYU/Tisch School of the Arts Performing Arts Industry Essentials program, and a resident teaching artist for Arts4All Florida.  In addition to dance, Casey trained at the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre School of Theatre Arts, having been both a lead actress and a teaching/choreography assistant in their prestigious Summer Stock Program. Casey became a professional actress at the age of 12 when she appeared as the lead actress in the touring production of The Troll and the Elephant Prince. She has appeared in international campaigns for Sega, WWE, Buick, Amway, Vintage Cosmetics, and Artistry Beauty, among others, numerous theatrical productions, and made her silver-screen debut in the Academy-award winning film Dreamgirls. Casey has also been featured in print modeling campaigns, commercials, documentaries, runway shows, as a feature model on the Home Shopping Network, and on the cover of best-selling novels Could I Have this Dance?, For the Rest of My Life, and All I’ll Ever Need.  She is currently working as an on-air fashion contributor for both the Home Shopping Network and QVC. Casey holds her Master’s degree in history from the University of Massachusetts, and is the proud mom of two boys, Brixon and Hudson. 

 Contemporary, Hip Hop, Jazz, Lyrical, Revolution Performance and Competition Team

Obinna comes to us from Nigeria, where he is a graduate of the Society for the Performing Arts. He is a member of the Stars on Earth dance team, which was the first dance team to represent Nigeria in the World Hip Hop Championship, held in Las Vegas.  Obinna is a founding member of the Pincode Family, and is a choreographer for the Apex Dance Company. Obinna is trained in hip hop, contemporary, and jazz, and has taught throughout Nigeria, the United States, Benin, and Togo.  Obinna has not only judged dance battles for Nike, and created pieces for UNICEF, but also has had his choreography featured in "Far From Home," a Netflix series, and "L.I.F.E.," featured on Amazon Prime. We are excited to have Obinna's unique blend of technique and storytelling here at Studio Seven!

Ballet

Barbara Marangon was born in New York, and received pre-professional ballet training at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. While studying, she had the opportunity to dance with the Royal Ballet in Sleeping Beauty, with Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Later, she performed with the Garden State Ballet and the New York Dance Ensemble until she received a contract to dance with the Stadttheater of Klagenfurt, Austria. She has danced in classical ballets, operas, musicals—and the circus. Barbara has performed in a variety of famous venues such as the Metropolitan Opera, Madison Square Garden, New York World’s Fair, and Italy’s historical Teatro Goldoni in Venice. Barbara taught and choreographed ballets in Italy, the Czech Republic, and Spain. Before Carla Fracci’s appointment, she was the choreographer for the Italian Renaissance Festival, La Dama Castellana, for five years. Students from her ballet school, Scuola di Danze American Ballet, near Venice, Italy, were awarded 26 scholarships to Vignale Danza, admitted to La Scala Ballet School, and represented  Italy in the Prix de Lausanne competition in 2000. At the International Dance Grand Prix in Barcelona, Spain, her dancers won a Best Ballet Award for their interpretation and her choreography of L’aprés midi d’un faune. She has restaged full-length classical ballets including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Firebird, Petrouchka, the musical On Your Toes, in Italy, and assisted in productions of Swan Lake, Pas de Quatre, Harlequinade, and the opera, Lucia di Lammermoor for the Oklahoma Festival Ballet. Barbara has an MFA in Dance from the University of Oklahoma where she taught ballet and was the recipient of the Ballets Russes Fellowship. She has written 2 books, Detour on an Elephant, A Year Dancing with the Greatest Show on Earth and Chasing Castles, Nineteen Years Living and Teaching Ballet in Italy. www.barbarafilemarangon.com

Art, Drums

Ron Bates is a freelance graphic artist, muralist, set designer, and internationally-published illustrator. Ron is also the newly-appointed stage production director at the Charlotte Players! Ron’s cartoons are published regularly in The Charlotte Sun and Harbor Style, and have also appeared in USA Today, Gator Country, and on the nationally-syndicated television show Fox & Friends. Ron has been the recipient of numerous first-place journalism awards for his editorial cartoons from such prestigious organizations as The Florida Society of News Editors, The Florida Press Club, and The National Newspaper Association. Ron was also recognized for his contribution to the 2016 Pulitzer Prize won by the Charlotte Sun. Ron not only has murals painted throughout the nation, and designed sets for over 35 theatrical productions, but he has also custom designed, constructed, and painted beautiful pieces of furniture housed in ten libraries throughout the state of Michigan, and at the famed Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Ron’s most recent national commission came from designing the official commemorative t-shirt for high-wire legend Nik Wallenda’s historical Chicago Skyscraper Live! stunt. Ron was also invited to participate in the internationally-recognized and highly-selective ArtPrize Seven competition!

Children's Combination, Jazz, Tap

Starting  with ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, and hip hop as a child, and then earning her degree in dance from Iowa State University, Riannan has been dancing for over 29 years.  After college, she moved out to Seattle, where she was a professional ballroom dance instructor and competitor with Arthur Murray. She traveled the country (plus Canada and Mexico!) with her students and fellow dancers, and reached her Full Silver level. Riannan then transitioned into the fitness and nutrition industry when she moved to Minnesota to be closer to family. In addition to dancing, she has been teaching Zumba for over 12 years, and she is also a personal trainer and holistic nutrition coach.  Riannan moved to Florida 10 years ago, and she enjoys meeting new people and teaching wedding couples their first dances, too!! Riannan and her husband did the waltz for their first dance, and they enjoy local venues for social dancing as well.