Bella Danze Artz - Westminster, CO | Dance Classes - Kids to Adults

Miss Diane is a native of Denver. During a career of more than thirty years, Miss Diane has brought dance education to thousands of students throughout the metro area. She attended the United States International University in San Diego, CA on a dance scholarship, and graduated with a Musical Theater Dance Arts degree. She auditioned and was accepted at the MGM hotel in Reno, Nevada to perform in “Hello Hollywood Hello!” Miss Diane has performed in numerous musicals; West Side Story, Oklahoma, Oliver, and Guys and Dolls. She was a member of the original Bronco Cheerleaders and performed with a local jazz company, Jazz West.

Her professional training has spanned from the East to West coast spending time studying privately with such greats as; Henry LaTang, Savion Glover, Michael Minery, Rhonda Miller, Al Gilbert, Charlie McGowen, Laurie Johnson, Joe Tramaine and the great Gus Giordano, just to mention a few!

Miss Diane’s involvement in the community has been immense. She owned and operated her own dance school for 31 years. During this time she was the director/choreographer for the Miss Colorado Pageant, regional director for Dance Educators of America and a member for 25 years. She was also the choreographer for numerous high school musicals, judged several national talent competitions and was on the faculty for PDTA, traveling state wide teaching at conventions. She received an award for 30 years of Excellence in Business from the City of Westminster.

In 2008 she joined the Academy of Colorado Ballet faculty as the administrator, serving as the interim Academy Director. She was the tap instructor as well as guest choreographer for the performing and competing company until June 2010. She has been working recently with the ice skaters at the Promenade Ice Arena and teaching at Ballet Nouveau. She will be guest teaching this summer at Classic Dance Academy in Centennial.

Diane’s passion and love for dance is grounded in the belief that owning a dance school and sharing a love for the art, goes hand in hand!

 Mary began dancing at the age of three and hasn’t stopped since!  She has studied ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, modern, hip-hop, musical theater and lyrical.  After receiving her Bachelor’s of Arts in Dance Performance from Oklahoma City University, Mary performed with companies and in shows, traveling across the USA and abroad.  In addition to performing, she has always had a passion for teaching and passing the gift of dance on to her students. 

With over 10 years experience instructing all ages and genres of dance, Mary continues to study her passion as she currently pursues her Master’s of Arts in Dance Movement Therapy at Naropa University.  She is a great asset to BDA!

Miranda Meyer is a Colorado native that began her passion for dancing at the age of 3 under Miss Diane Caputo. She has danced locally in Denver at various competitive dance schools studying all genres of dance. Miranda loved to perform for an audience at a young age. 
In High school Miranda was a member of the Varsity Poms team four consecutive years, ranking within the top five at CHSAA State competition and NDA National competitions. She received a dance scholarship to Avila University in Kansas City, MO where she excelled in dance as an Avila Glitter girl placing 3rd in the open hip hop category at UDA Collegiate Nationals and 4th in the Jazz division. Miranda has worked for the National Dance Alliance for the past 5 years as a high school and college camp instructor, choreographer and competition judge. Miranda was invited to Tokyo, Barcelona and Italy for various teaching and performance opportunities with NDA and the NBA.
Miranda pursued her life-long dream of becoming a professional dancer when she auditioned for the Denver Nuggets Dancers; she is currently a member of the Denver Nuggets dance team as well as a choreographer. Outside of dancing for her favorite home town sport team she enjoys doing Poms and Hip Hop choreography for local high schools and Colleges as well as spending time with her French bulldog: Hercules. Miranda has a bachelor’s degree in Communications and Marketing.
Miranda is anxious to start teaching at BDA as the Poms and Hip Hop instructor!
 

Sophia Falbo is the third generation of dancers in her family. She began dancing at the age of three under Miss Diane Caputo. She immediately fell in love with dance and began her journey that led her to Bella Danze Artz.

By age ten she became a part of the Dance Elite Team at her dance school. They competed in local and national dance competitions, including jazz, tap, ballet, lyrical, hip-hop and pointe. As a freshman in high school, she was a member of the Varsity Pom Team and helped lead her team to the top ten in the state. She excelled in choreography and contributed to several of the competition routines, as well as being the pee wee pom instructor. She then became a part of her high school Varsity Cheer team and stayed with them for her remaining high school career.  Currently Miss Sophia is the Pom Coach for Pomona High School JV Team!

Sophia is excited to be a part of the team at Bella Danze Artz and hopes to further continue her dance career as a teacher and performer!

Shannon comes to Bella Danze Artz with 24 years of dedication to the art of dance. In 1988, she enrolled in dance with Miss Diane and continued studying until 1992 when she graduated high school.

Miss Diane hired her as the studio secretary in 1993 and she retired in 2001. During her time at the studio she studied Tap, Jazz and Ballet. In 1997 Shannon introduced Hip Hop to the studio and in no time it became a growing success!

After leaving the studio she pursued a career in HR and Training Development. She has a degree in Psychology and is finishing her Masters in HR MGT. Shannon is a stay at home mom with 3 children; a girl and 2 twin boys. BDA is happy to have Shannon back as a part of a dance family!

Brenda Williamson is a Colorado native and has been dancing since she was 3 years old. She loves all types of dance and has competed in jazz, tap, hip hop and lyrical. She has studied at several Denver area studios including Academy of Colorado Ballet where she studied under Miss Diane Caputo.   There she performed in the Colorado Ballet’s Nutcracker at the Elle Caulkins Opera House for multiple seasons as Angel, Party Girl and Polichinelle.  Brenda was also a member of the competition group ASPIRATIONS!

She has attended numerous dance conventions and workshops taking classes from some of the best teachers and choreographers in the business including Twitch, Nick Lazzarini, Stacey Tookey, Mandy Moore, Benji Schwimmer, Brooke Lipton, Laurie Johnson and Ben & Miller.

Brenda attends Denver School of the Arts (DSA) as a dance major where she is exposed to dance from various cultures. Last year’s highlight at DSA was getting to learn and perform a Hollywood piece.

She is very excited to be student teaching with Miss Diane.

Kathryn Rogers was born in Oak Forest, IL and trained under Patricia Sigurdson with the Salt Creek Ballet. During her first summer program away from home, she won a full scholarship to The Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington D.C. and trained under Alla Sizova to complete her junior and senior years of high school.
She was a company member of The Colorado Ballet from 1997-2001, under the direction of Martin Freedman. Her roles included Clara in The Nutcracker and soloist roles in Coppelia, Le Corsaire, Serenade, Stars & Stripes, Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet, and Sleeping Beauty. She was part of history as the first ballet company to perform a Martha Graham masterpiece; Appalachian Springs in 1998. A few of her favorite roles include; the Cowgirl in Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo, Four signets in Swan Lake, Stepsister in Cinderella, and Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty.

After an injury in 2000 she made a career change into the retail and specialty foods world, working in such cities as Chicago, Boston, and New York. Kathryn works at What’s Cooking in Lafayette, CO and loves to bake. She is thrilled to be back to her roots in the ballet world as the Ballet Mistress at BDA!!