Dance School Instructors
ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
Karena Brock-Carlyle
HILTON HEAD DANCE SCHOOL CO–FOUNDER
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, ABT® CERTIFIED TEACHER
Karena Brock-Carlyle was named principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre in 1973, sharing roles with such stars as Natalia Makarova, Cynthia Gregory, and Carla Fracci, while being partnered with male stars such as Rudolph Nureyev, Ivan Nagy, Fernando Bujones, Ted Kivitt and Mikhail Baryshnikov. She has danced throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America, the United States, and Canada and has performed at the White House for two presidents. She has taught Master Classes from coast to coast. Born in California, Karena, at age 14 joined San Francisco's Ballet Celeste and immediately after high school she became a soloist with the National Ballet of the Netherlands. She then returned to the United States to join the American Ballet Theatre in New York. She and her husband John are the founders of the Hilton Head Dance School. Karena is an ABT® Certified Teacher and has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.
John Carlyle
HILTON HEAD DANCE SCHOOL CO-FOUNDER
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, TEACHER
John Carlyle was born in Swindon, England but began his training in Atlanta at City Center Dance Theatre under the direction of Robert Archard. In New York City, he studied with Robert Scevers on full scholarship at the Harkness School of Ballet. While in New York, John studied with some of the finest ballet instructors in the world, including Melissa Hayden, Robert Denvers, David Howard, Edward Villella, and Bill Carter at The School of the American Ballet Theatre. He has danced professionally with the City Center Dance Theatre, The Tampa Ballet, and The Savannah Ballet. Roles include Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, the Cavalier in The Nutcracker, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Rudy in Le Baiser de la Fee. John has been a guest artist with Columbia City Ballet and the Lexington Ballet. John and Karena have a son named Timothy.
FACULTY
Katie Girardi
ABT® CERTIFIED TEACHER, BALLET MISTRESS
Katie took her first ballet class at Hilton Head Dance School in 1987 and continued until her graduation from high school in 2001. During her senior year, she had the opportunity to dance as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker and Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. Katie attended Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA, and graduated with a major in Dance and a minor in Arts Administration. After graduation, she danced with the Connecticut Ballet. She returned to the Lowcountry to teach with John and Karena. Katie is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® Curriculum.
Jamal Edwards
ABT® CERTIFIED TEACHER, BALLET MASTER
Jamal Edwards began his training at Hilton Head Dance School at the age of 13. During his high school years, he had the opportunity to dance soloist roles in Swan Lake, Coppélia, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. A graduate of Hilton Head Christian Academy and the University of Alabama, Jamal teaches ballet, tap, and jazz. Jamal is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® Curriculum.
Kathleen Watkins
TEACHER
Kathleen Watkins moved to the Hilton Head area after spending three years with the Broadway Company of Fosse as a performer and Dance Captain. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Kathleen trained at the North Carolina School of the Arts and at the University of Utah with Ballet West. She has performed extensively in New York and around the United States and Canada in such shows as Cats, Anything Goes, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Fosse. She also co–choreographed Sweet Charity for the Austin Musical Theater and Fame, Grease, and The Wiz for the Hilton Head Community and Youth Theater.
Caitlin Hoffman
ABT® CERTIFIED TEACHER
Caitlin is a native of Washington, DC. Inspired at a very young age by her sister, Kim, who danced alongside Karena with American Ballet Theatre, she has had a lifelong love of ballet. Caitlin is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® Curriculum.
She began her training with Fiora Holmes, then Lillian Tcherkasky. While in college, she continued studying ballet, as well as jazz, modern, and tap, at Principia College in Elsah, IL. While there, she danced in various productions, helped form a student-run dance company, and has in the past few years helped organize summer dance reunions/workshops for alumni. After college, she continued her training in the DC area with Eric Hampton, Theresa Kramer, and Theresa d'Alessandro. In 2000, she was given the opportunity to share her love of dance with young students and began teaching ballet, jazz, and tap at the School of Theatrical Dance in Great Falls, VA. She moved to the Hilton Head area in 2011 and was thrilled to find Hilton Head Dance School and Theatre. She currently serves on the Hilton Head Dance Theatre Board of Directors.
Erin Demers
TEACHER
Erin Demers began dancing at the age of six in Columbia, South Carolina. She has been an industry teacher and choreographer for nineteen years. Erin has traveled all over the Southeastern United States as a teacher, choreographer, and judge. Erin has had the good fortune to train with Dance World Inc., Jessica Dominey School of Dance, The Columbia City Ballet Summer Intensive, The University of South Carolina, Hilton Head Dance School, and Madeleine Walker Coastal Ballet, as well as various teachers on the convention circuit. She will always consider herself a student first and a teacher second and continues to train both in a studio and in conventional settings.
Erin has won many awards on the competition and convention circuit including scholarships and choreography awards both as a dancer and a teacher. She has had multiple past students become Tremaine Dancer Of The Year with Tremaine Dance Competition as well as being recognized as an ambassador with several competitions. Erin has choreographed for Georgia Southern University and for the Georgia Southern University Pageant. She has directed several competitive studio companies including running her own dance school and company. Erin began touring and judging with the Inspire National Dance Competition in 2015 and was given the honor of holding the title of head judge in 2016. She has joined the staff of several other competitions as an adjudicator and convention-style teacher.
She was the 2013 recipient of the Marjorie Perry Spirit Award with Dancemakers Inc., an award bestowed upon a teacher whose character exemplifies dedication and love to teaching and educating dancers. Erin’s passions include children and dance. Erin hopes to dance as long as she can and teach even longer. She will always be a student and always continue learning so she can be the best teacher she can be. Teaching dance has been a dream since she took her first class at age six. Erin is a former certified personal trainer and group exercise instructor. She holds a BA in English from the University of South Carolina.