Nicole started dancing at the age of three and immediately fell in love with dance. She trained in ballet, tap, jazz, modern and contemporary. Ms. Ceccarelli studied at Step 1 Dance and Fitness of Pepper Von and Keith Goings, where she was a member of Company and Competition teams. She also studied under the direction of Ron Cisneros at Cisneros Studio of Dance, as well as Carol Warren. As a dancer, Nicole won top honors at numerous competitions all over the US, including placing first place at the NCA/NDA National College Championships and was awarded numerous dance training scholarships for schools all over the US, including the prestigious Edge Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles. Nicole was awarded a Full dance scholarship to Hawaii Pacific University, where she was a member of the Sea Warriors Performing Company. She was also a member of the CSU, Sacramento dance team. She has performed all over the country including the International Dance Festival in Osaka, Japan. Ms.Ceccarelli has worked as a performer at Paramount’s Great America. She has performed with the California Musical Theatre Company and the River City Theatre Company. Nicole’s education includes a Bachelor of Arts in International Communications, with a minor in Japanese language. She has credentialing in both single and multiple school subjects, and has a Masters Degree in Global Education. She is certified in both CPR and First Aid.

Gianna began dancing at the age of four years-old. She instantly fell in love with performing in a dance environment. Gianna has trained in many styles including jazz, tap, lyrical, ballet, contemporary, musical theater, and pointe. Gianna has been dancing with Tip Tap Toe since its beginning and has loved being apart of the studio’s community. As well as studio training, Gianna has competed with TTT’s competitive company, EDGE, for six years. Gianna has furthered her dance training by auditioning for Benicia High School’s advanced dance team. Advanced dance sparked Gianna’s interest and love of choreographing. She has taken part in this program and its bi-annual dance show for her first two years of high school as a performer and choreographer. Also at BHS, Gianna has been a member of the high school’s cheer team. Gianna manages to maintain a 4.2 GPA in school while training in dance and cheer. She always loves to assert herself in extracurricular volunteering and programs. After high school, Gianna will be attending The University of the Pacific and is majoring in Pre-pharm. Gianna aspires to pass her love and passion of dance to other dancers. 

Jackie Purdy began dancing at the age of five and continued to dance throughout her education. She studied all forms of dance including ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, and modern. While attending Solano College, Jackie performed with the Dance Production Company. She later returned as an alumna to choreograph for the current class as well as a guest choreographer at Benicia High School Advanced Dance program. Jackie pursued her degree at San Jose State University, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Dance and a concentration in Jazz. She began teaching for Tip Tap Toe Performing Arts in 2009. In 2015, Jackie became the Artistic Director of EDGE (formerly EnCore), TTT's competitive dance company. She loves encouraging and inspiring her students to achieve their personal and team goals. Her passion for teaching is expressed in the love she has for her students! 

Alison’s love of dance performance and training began at the age of just two-and-a-half years. By the age of five, Alison was invited to become a member of a local competitive dance team. Alison’s training has included: ballet, jazz, musical theater, lyrical, and modern styles. During her ten years as a competitive dance team member, Alison supplemented her training through enrollment in Contra Costa Ballet’s summer intensive program, as well as participating annually at the Tremaine Dance Convention in San Francisco. Some of Alison’s performances include: a halftime performance at a Golden State Warriors basketball game, a guest dancer in the Nutcracker for a Bay Area ballet company, and numerous dance competitions throughout northern California. After competing for 10 years, Alison furthered her dance career by auditioning for Benicia High School’s advanced dance team. Typically reserved for upperclassmen, Alison made the team as a freshman and maintained her spot through all four years of high school. While a part of the BHS advanced dance program, Alison developed her passion for choreography. As both a dance team member and, more recently, as an alumni guest choreographer, Alison has contributed various routines to BHS’s bi-annual dance show. While in high school, Alison was also a 4-year member of the BHS cheerleading team, again taking on choreography and leadership roles. Most recently, Alison has been hired as a dance instructor for the Benicia Unified School District’s Art, Science, and Technology Exploratory Wheel program where she teaches dance at all four of the district’s elementary school’s. Alison is currently attending Napa Valley College with plans to pursuer a career in elementary education.

Leewan started gymnastics at eight years old and quickly advanced. She enjoyed gymnastics, tap, ballet and jazz while growing up. she was working for the '92 Olympics when she injured her wrist and had to quit competing. Although she could never compete again, it didn't stop her from the sport she enjoyed so much. Leewan taught cheerleader and gymnastics throughout high school and during college. Leewan now has three children and often volunteers to teach gymnastics at their groups. She is a faithful parent of TTT since their opening and is so excited to be joining the the team of instructors.

Ms. Renée started dancing at the age of 4 years old. She trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Hula. In high school, she was on the dance team and cheerleading squad. Her love of dance has been passed on to her daughter, who is a Tip Tap Toe dancer. Ms. Renée is a teacher at heart and will find and embrace the opportunity to share the love of dance with her students.

Lisa began training in dance and performing arts with the San Jose Civic Light Opera (now known as American Musical Theatre of San Jose) in their summer conservatory programs, learning from many renowned Bay Area professionals. She has since continued to train and perform on stage for over 30 years, working with respected theatre companies and choreographers in the Bay Area and Denver, CO. She still performs on local stages as a dancer, singer, and actress, and has recently earned two Solano County Arty Award nominations - both for Supporting Actress in a Musical.

In high school she danced competitively with the dance/drill team, led by coach and 49ers Gold Rush Cheerleader Laura Jollay (who went on to dance and later coach for the Oakland Raiderettes). As Co-Captain, Lisa helped lead her team to several top placements throughout the state. After high school, she auditioned for and made the finals for several professional Bay Area dance/cheer teams, including the 49ers Gold Rush, Golden State Warriors, and Raiderettes. She also danced professionally on the indoor arena field for the San Jose Rhinos hockey and Grizzlies soccer teams.

After earning a degree from Chico State and obtaining her elementary teaching credential at Sacramento State, she began her teaching career both in the classroom and the dance studio. She launched the first musical theater dance classes at Tricks Gymnastics and Dance in Sacramento, and continued to teach children's performing arts (including ballet, jazz, musical theatre, and drama) after relocating to Colorado. She also choreographed several children's theatre productions with Inspire Creative Theatre Company in Parker, CO.

Since returning to California and becoming a resident of Benicia, Lisa has longed to return to the dance studio and bring her lifelong passion for the performing arts to our local students. In addition to teaching in BUSD, she is beyond grateful to join the Tip Tap Toe family and share her love for dance with such wonderful students!

Savvy Core began her dance training at the age of three and has not stopped since. She has trained in numerous styles such as ballet, tap, pointe, jazz, musical theater, contemporary, modern, acro, and lyrical. She has also trained in acting and has participated in school plays and musicals such as Alice in Wonderland and Virgil’s Wedding. Savvy became a part of Tip Tap Toe’s Performing Company, EDGE / TTT, at the age of ten and and is now a hired choreographer for the company. Her choreography has and continues to win awards at competitions such as KAR, Starbound, Rainbow, and many more. Savvy’s love for choreographing and dance grew after being accepted into Benicia High School’s Advanced Dance program as well as Varsity Cheerleading her freshman year. She not only performs with the Advanced Dance team and Varsity Cheer squad, but also choreographs for productions and rallies. Savvy was also accepted into and participated in Penn State’s elite dance camps and Dancerpalooza’s musical theater intensives. She also enjoys volunteering for both school and extracurricular events and programs. Savvy will be attending the University of Mississippi majoring in Business and minoring in Theatre Arts Savvy plans to continue her passion for dance through teaching and inspiring all dancers.  

I began dancing at age 4 at Xtreme Force Dance Company in Livermore, CA and I started competing at age 8 through age 17 in all styles of dance. I began teaching dance at the age of 14 and I taught various combo classes, Jazz, Tap, hip hop, ballet, lyrical, and children’s summer dance camps during my years in High School. I am a recent graduate from Sonoma State University with my Bachelors in Liberal Studies and Sociology.  I was on the Sonoma State dance team for 2 years allowing me to perform at nationals in Anaheim and Florida. I have performed at various Warriors halftime games, Disneyland parades, and I choreographed for several charity dance competitions at Sonoma State while being a new dance instructor at Tip Tap Toe Performing Arts, I am also a preschool teacher at Learning to Learn Preschool. I hope to earn my MSW to become a children and family social worker. I am excited to join the Tip Tap Toe dance family! 

Terren began dancing at a young age and fell in love with it. Throughout her high school career, she was a member of Benicia High School’s Advanced Dance Team and Cheer Team. After dancing competitively for five years in hip-hop, contemporary, and jazz, she took her talents to college. Currently, Terren attends Saint Mary’s College of California on a dance and academic scholarship. There she is working to attain degrees in Education and Dance: Choreography and Performance. Terren is so excited to be a part of the Tip Tap Toe dance family!

Mady began dancing at the age of 3 and continued all throughout high school. She has danced with Tip Tap Toe since their early years and has also been apart of their competition teams. Mady has always had a huge love for dance and her passion has grown for choreography and teaching. She has trained in numerous styles such as lyrical, ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, musical theater, and hip hop. Mady continued her passion of dance through high school as she was a part of the Advanced dance team her freshman and sophomore years. She also was a member of the Varsity cheer team all four years and was captain for her senior year. With this role she was able to implement her own choreography. Currently, Mady is attending Diablo Valley College completing her prerequisites for dental hygiene as well as hopes for continuing to teach at the studio and coach cheer at the local high school. Mady is so excited and grateful for the opportunity to continue her passion through dance with her tip tap toe family!