Meet Our Instructors
Debbie Baile
Debbie Baile, owner of Dance Theatre of Jacksonville, is now in her 33rd year as a dance teacher. She majored in Primary Education at East Carolina University while continuing her dance training. After marrying and starting a family, Debbie combined her love of children with her dance and is now teaching children of many of her former students.
Debbie’s goal is to offer the best training by the most qualified instructors and to develop a love for dance in a warm and wholesome environment. .
Debra Baile
Debra Baile began dancing at the age of 3 at DTOJ. She started dancing competitively at the age of 6 years old. She studied under Desiree LeFebvre, Bridget Stone, Larry Payne and, of course, Debbie T. Baile, her mother and owner of Dance Theatre of Jacksonville.
She started assisting dance teachers at the age of 13 and started her dance teaching career at the age of 18. Under her direction, students have won regional and national honors at various competitions.
As a dance teacher, she has won choreography awards, top score awards, technical awards. DTOJ students and staff won the “Super Sport” award for good sportsmanship four times and the “Class Act” award at NYCDA for the most age appropriate choreography.
Debra has a deep passion for innovative and fresh choreography and instilling new concepts into her choreography. Debra also choreographs and directs the DTOJ Musical Theatre productions. For the past three years, she was hired as the choreographer / co-director of Broadway Junior Musical at DeLalio Elementary School in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
Debra continues to educate herself on dance styles and improve her dance skills by attending conventions, workshops and master classes.
Maura Herrera
Maura Herrera began her intensive dance training at the Central Delaware Dance Academy under the direction of Daniel Kaiser and Victoria Voshell. At the academy she trained in ballet (Balanchine Based), jazz, tap, and contemporary. She was a principal member of the Delaware Ballet performing such roles as “Sugar Plum Fairy” in The Nutcracker, “Juliet” in Romeo and Juliet, and “Cinderella” in Cinderella. Maura also had the distinct opportunity to be a dancer for the Delaware Opera in performances such as “Eugene Onegin” and for the opening gala of the “Nicholas and Alexandria ” exhibit.
Maura Herrera attended Towson University in Towson , Maryland on a dance recruitment scholarship. She graduated a year early in 2006 with a BFA in Dance Performance. While at Towson Maura was accepted into the Towson University Dance Company and served as rehearsal assistant to Linda Denise Fisher-Harrell of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. With TUDC she performed leading roles such as “Sugar Plum Fairy”, “Snow Queen” and “The Black Swan”. She also performed featured roles in pieces set by world renowned choreographers such as, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (Dreaming the Blues: Meditations on Africa), Nani Chen (Way of Five), Stephanie Powell (Ellington Suite), Yanis Pikjeris (Frame by Frame), and had the distinct opportunity to perform Valse Fantasies choreographed by George Balanchine restaged by Elise Borne of the Balanchine Trust. She was awarded the Jean Snyder Technical Excellence Award out of her graduating class.
Maura has taught at pre-professional and private dance studios in Delaware , Virginia , North Carolina and New Jersey . In 2008 she received her teaching license for k-12 Dance Education at East Carolina University . Along with instructing ballet classes at Dance Theatre of Jacksonville, Maura is the Artistic Director of the Dance Theatre of Jacksonville Ballet Company and a dance education teacher at Northwoods Park Middle School .
Tiffany Lovett
Tiffany was born and raised in central California. She started dancing at the age of three at Kings Dance Center.Tiffany’s grandmother was a ballet dancer who danced with the USO from 1945 to 1952. Her Great Uncle was a Dance Instructor in Los Angeles and trained her mother in Tap, Ballet and Ballroom. Tiffany has been trained in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Contemporary and Musical Theatre.
At the age of six Tiffany started performing musical theatre with The Kings Players and at the age of twelve started voice training. At the age of 13, while still in middle school she was accepted into the Chamber Singers, the high schools honor choir and was able to perform and compete at colleges throughout California and had the privelage of singing at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Throughout her time doing musical theatre she has had many lead roles in origional works by local writers, and also had lead roles in “Closer than Ever,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” and “Wizard of Oz” to name a few.
Tiffany started competing with Kings Dance Center at the age of 12 winning numerous awards with her teams and also performed at talent showcases in Los Angeles. At the age of fifteen Tiffany started extensive ballet training with Severance School of Ballet and at that time also started her assistant teaching.
From 2000 to 2004 she performed in The Nutcracker as a soloist in “Waltz of the Flowers,” “Marzipan,” and was the “Spanish Chocolate” soloist two years in a row.
Tiffany began her teaching career at the age of seventeen teaching ages three to adult. She was a Ballet Ensemble choreogapher and coach with Kings Dance Center building classical and contemporary ballet pieces that they performed throughout California. She recieved recognition for her choreography and the ensemble did very well competitively.Tiffany has a passion for teaching and choreographing and and is excited to share her ideas and style with DTOJ.
In 2005 Tiffany went to Paul Mitchell and got her cosmetology liscence. In 2007 she met her desire to keep learning and growing as a choreographer and dancer and went back to school at Fresno City as a dance major. She performed many original works choreogaphed by the dance staff at the college. Tiffany had to leave due to a severe injury but hopes to start school again soon in North Carolina.
Tiffany is stationed in Jacksonville at Camp Lejeune with her son Kamden and her husband, who is a Marine.
Ashleigh Hunter
Ashleigh Hunter comes from a family of dance. She trained mostly under her mother Desiree LeFebvre. At a young age, Ashleigh began traveling to New York City every summer to study with some of the country’s finest artists and teachers including Jason Parsons, Joe Lanteri, Lauren Adams and Beth Goheen. Ashleigh danced with the Corpus Christi Ballet under the Artistic Direction of Cristina Stirling Munro for 5 consecutive seasons. She performed roles in numerous ballets including The Nutcracker, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Coppélia, Cinderella, and Peter and the Wolf. During that time Ashleigh also performed several works at Regional Dance America/Southwest where she studied with John Magnus, Thom Clower, Suki Schorer, and Judy Rice. Ashleigh was accepted into American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive in 2002 and 2003. She was also accepted into Marymount Manhattan College in NYC to study dance. Ashleigh continues to learn and grow as a dancer and artist to share her love of movement with her students. The 2010-2011 season marks Ashleigh’s 20th year since first becoming a part of the DTOJ family.
Allison Cornett
Allison Cornett *Ms. Ally* is thrilled to be a part of Jacksonville Dance Theatre. Having previously taught hip hop at a few local dance studios in Wilmington, Allison first emerged to the general public as a debuting choreographer and dancer in UNCW’s 2008 spring dance concert, “A Night Under the Stars”, and later as the choreographer for the City Stage production of “Tick, Tick…Boom!” Another performance she takes pride in was with Thalian Hall, in the 2008 Dancalorous Concert. Within the past year she has performed as a soloist in the Michael Jackson Tribute, performed in both Jacksonville, North Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida, and as a soloist in the James Thor Project, performed at an ECU hip hop competition. Other credits include performing and choreographing for “Tremor”, “Next Step” and “T.I.”.
Mary Jo Parker
Mary Jo Parker started dancing at the age of two in Worcester, Massachusetts. She continued her dance education there until she was 18, dancing competitively for the Charlotte Klien Dance Company. Her dancing has been recognized on both regional and national levels. She then moved to New York City where she was cast in three Off – Broadway shows, including “Thin Line”, “Automatic Superstar”, and “The Donkey Show”. New York was also the birth place of her teaching career. She began teaching at Ballet Academy East, under master teachers like, Peter Frame, Darla Hoover (both former New York City ballet dancers) Olga Dvorovenko, and Francis Patrelle. Her teacher training there was not only from the best in the business, but absolutely priceless.
After 6 years of living the New York City Dancer life she relocated to Chesapeake, Virginia. There, she got back to her routes by teaching and choreographing for the Spotlight Dancers Competition Team at Maureen’s School of Dance. Her first year of routines won three Outstanding Choreography Awards, numerous Overall High Score Awards, and her soloist were not only recognized with scholarships, but earned the titles of Miss Headliner, Miss IDC, and Miss Starquest. She then began teaching in Charlotte Hall, Maryland with Power Explosion School of Dance, and continued her award winning streak of competitive choreography. Mary Jo was married to a United States Marine in 2007, and their first child Lucas was born January 2009.
Mary Jo is ecstatic to be a part of the DTOJ family and hopes to stay that way for years to come!
