The Difference...
Destination Dance of Oviedo (DDO) is not your ordinary dance studio. One of the things that makes us unique is our approach to performances. Rather than one recital at the end of the year, our dancers will perform on stage twice each year in our fall and spring productions. Different than a traditional recital, where your child would dance for 2-3 minutes during a series of unrelated dances, our productions are very entertaining! Your child will dance as part of a story told to the audience through music and movement. This type of production allows dancers to show theatrical ability in addition to dancing ability and creates a connection between the dancers, the teachers and the audience that is missing with traditional recital formats.
We do not have a competition team here at DDO. Instead, we have our DDO Performance Team. This team will perform at different events around Central Florida. Our mission is to provide quality dance instruction to all dancers, regardless of how many hours per week they dance, without an extreme time or financial commitment. Since dancers are not required to take specific classes, our students find themselves amongst peers all dedicated to that class and what it has to offer, creating a positive class environment!
The atmosphere at DDO is welcoming to dancers and parents. We want you and your child to look forward to the time you spend with us. State of the art studios, comfortable lobby seating, large viewing windows, a work station and our friendly staff help to provide this welcoming atmosphere.
Come see us soon and discover the difference at Destination Dance!
Our Wonderful Staff:
Sheila Smith
Studio Owner
Sheila has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University, where she was a gymnast from 1987 to 1990, specializing in balance beam and vault. She is married and a mother to three dancers. After several years of competition dance for her girls, Sheila’s family made the decision to stay with dance, but to find a better balance. She made the decision to open Destination Dance with the mission of providing a welcoming atmosphere to all levels of dancers and to provide quality instruction for the advanced dancer without requiring an extreme time and financial commitment. When Sheila is not busy running the business, you will occasionally find her assisting acro classes, getting to use her love of gymnastics in a small way at the studio! Her husband Tim is a big help to the business (maintenance man and all things props for productions)!
Candace Isaacs
Artistic Director
Performance Team Director
Candace is a graduate of the University of Central Florida with degrees in both Theatre and Dance. She has been dancing for over 29 years, training in ballet, jazz, modern, tap, hip hop, musical theatre, lyrical, and contemporary. Along with dance, Candace began singing and acting at a young age and fell in love with performing. As a competition dancer, she attended many competitions throughout her early dance career and now adjudicates for competitions all over the country.
She started teaching and choreographing when she was fifteen years old and continues to teach dancers from pre-k to adult levels. She is the dance team coach for the Lawton Chiles Pantherettes, as well as the choreographer for the Timber Creek High School Theatre Department. She has choreographed for numerous middle school, high school, and college dance teams, musicals, and show choirs as well as choreographed for professional & college Theatres throughout Florida.
Candace has taught several dance classes in Ballet, Jazz, and Hip Hop at The University of Central Florida as well as master classes for Broadway Unhinged, Knights and Damsels Dance Company, Broadway Lights Dance Center, Chance to Dance, and many others across the state of FL. She originally moved to Central Florida to attend college at UCF but stayed to dance and perform in the parades and shows at Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, & Sea World in Orlando, Florida. Candace is the Artistic Director of DDO and creator and Director of the DDO Performance Team and directs all the shows at DDO. Candace has a strong connection to her students and and loves being able to share her love for the Arts with all of them.
Starr-Simone Mckenzie
Instructor
Assistant Performance Team Director
Starr is from south Florida and recent graduate of UCF with a degree in Entertainment Management with minors in Theatre, Dance, and Education. Starr is a former member of the Knights and Damsels Dance Company at UCF, performs at Universal Studios, and is the assistant Performance Team Director at DDO!
Allie Bath
Colleen Madden
Courtney Lutton
Instructor
Allie Bath is dancer and choreographer originally from Cincinnati, OH. Allie began dancing at a young age before beginning her professional career at age 15 . She furthered her dance education at Point Park University where she received her B.A. in Dance, concentrating in Jazz. Throughout college, Allie performed with many reputable choreographers, in a touring burlesque inspired show, and was a part of multiple music videos. Allie completed internship programs at Steps NYC and Broadway Dance Center. Allie is a member of the Actors Equity Association and performed as Equity dancer in “Dream Along With Mickey” at Walt Disney World. Allie has toured the world with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines as a dancer and aerialist. She has also enjoyed working, teaching, and adjudicating for Starpower, Power Pak, The World Dance Pageant, Encore Talent, Pro Artist Series and more. You can catch her now at the Edison in Disney Springs! Allie is very excited to share her passion and knowledge of dance with the students at Destination Dance!
Instructor
Colleen Madden is a Dancer and Acrobat who grew up in the Oviedo area. She has been dancing for 15 years, training in Acrobatics, Ballet, Pointe, Lyrical, Jazz, Tap, Musical Theatre and Hip-hop dance styles as well as some gymnastics training. As a competition dancer, she attended many competitions throughout her dance career and continues to compete in swing and line dancing competitions. She started teaching acrobatics classes in her junior year of high school and has been teaching ever since. She loves to share her passion for acrobatics and help her students find that same passion that she has!
Instructor
Courtney has 12+ years of teaching and choreography experience. Courtney is an Alumni of the Tennessee Dance Team and a Universal and SeaWorld performer. Courtney has extensive knowledge and loves to share her expertise with her students!
Ashley Thomas
Instructor
Ashley was born and raised in Florida. She began her competitive dancing career at the age of 4. Ashley is trained in various styles of dance like contemporary, tap, jazz, contemporary/lyrical, progressions, and others. Through the course of her training, she has achieved several overall wins and multiple scholarships.She began teaching and choreographing at the age of 16 for studios over Central Florida. Ashley is also Acrobatic Arts and Muvmethod certified. She is presently setting award winning choreography to soloists and groups. Ashley loves the art of dance and getting to spread the love to fellow dancers!
Brittany Swanson
Instructor
Brittany was born and raised in Central FL. She started dancing when she was 10 years old and fell in love with the artistry! Brittany grew up dancing at DDO where she found her love for teaching and choreographing. In 2024, she attended the CLI summer intensive where she trained under Teddy Forance, Martha Nichols, Spenser Theberge, Jakevis Thomason, Stephanie Shumway and Kenichi Kasamatsu. This experience taught her so much and she can't wait to share it with her students. Her main goal as a teacher is to encourage her students to explore their artistic side and to allow them to find freedom and joy in dance!
Julia Corbin
Instructor
Julia trained under the direction of Chet Zercher and Irma Millard of Dancer’s Workshop in Lancaster, PA. At the age of 10, she was accepted into the formal program at the School of Pennsylvania Ballet where she studied and performed for four years. She also trained extensively with renowned instructors Phil Black and Luigi in New York City for five years. With over 40 years of experience in instruction and production, as well as more than 25 years of professional performance experience, Julia brings a wealth of expertise to her teaching.
As a professional dancer, Julia performed in shows across Pennslyvania, Central Florida, Japan, and Europe. Her career included performances in dinner theaters, conventions, commercials, TV specials, theme parks, and even aboard the QEII. Over the years, she has taught all forms of dance to students of all ages in Pennslyvania, Tennessee and Central Florida. Notably, she pioneered a dance program in Central Florida for at-risk children, providing them with weekly instruction and performance opportunities.
For the past 30+ years, Julia has been a dedicated instructor in Central Florida, teaching at various studios including the Central Florida Ballet, and Spotlight Dance Center. For the last 16 years, she has been a resident ballet, pre-pointe, and pointe instructor at New Dimensions Dance Academy. She joined the Destination Dance of Oviedo team in 2017. Although her ‘big girl’ job required to step away from full-time teaching in 2021, she is excited to return to the team as a ballet and pointe instructor in January 2024. She is also a Level 2 certified and licensed PBT (Progressing Ballet Technique) instructor, a unique and innovative program that enhances students’ understanding of muscle memory, core stability, weight placement, and correct turnout to accelerate their ballet training.
A wife of 32 years and mother of 2, Julia is an energetic and dedicated instructor that takes weekly ballet, tap and yoga classes, believing that ongoing learning makes her a better teacher and person. Passionate about sharing her life-long love, experience and knowledge of dance, Julia takes pride in passing down the traditions, techniques, and etiquette of dance with the greatest of care, honoring the wonderful teachers she was fortunate to study under.
Kinsey Vaughn
Instructor
Kinsey Vaughen is a professional dancer originally from Spring Hill, Tennessee. She recently graduated from Florida Southern College with a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography and a minor in Exercise Science. Along with performing, Kinsey has a passion for choreographing, and has had her choreography performed at the American College Dance Association and took part in a professional choreography mentorship with Project Alchemy. Currently, she is performing full time as a parade dancer for Walt Disney World, and is so excited to share her love of dance with her students!
Elena Santiesteban
Instructor
Elena grew up in Portland, Oregon and started dancing tap, ballet, lyrical and jazz at a young age. In high school, she attended Classical Ballet Academy under the direction of Sarah Rigles to further develop her ballet training. In 2016, she moved to Orlando, Florida to join Orlando Ballet School’s trainee program under the direction of Dierdre Miles Burger. She joined Ballet Arizona’s second company under the direction of Ib Andersen in 2018. At these programs she danced in many ballets such as The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutrcracker, Swan Lake and Don Quixote. Over the years she attended many summer intensive programs nationwide, including State Street Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Orlando Ballet, Ballet Arizona and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Elena began teaching in 2019 and loves to share her passion for ballet with her students. In 2020, Elena graduated with her degree in Business Administration from Oregon State University and she works full time as a Sr. Business Analyst.
Shannon Smyth
Instructor
Shannon Smyth found her love of dancing at the age of 2, and has been dancing ever since. She has studied ballet, tap, jazz, jazz funk, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, heels and Musical theatre. Her choreography has won numerous placements and top awards at competition. She has assisted master choreographers from So You Think You Can Dance such as Lauren Froderman, Alex Wong, Ellenore Scott with Excel in Motion Dance Convention, and currently works for that company through many different roles. She has been dancing at Universal Studios for 2 years now, and has been enjoying teaching every age group at different studios in the Orlando area. Most recently, Shannon showcased her work “Shouting into spaces that don’t exist” at Florida Southern College. Shannon Graduated with a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography in 2022. She currently resides in Orlando, FL and is so excited to be a part of the DDO family!
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Sydney Brown
Office
Sydney Brown is a dancer, artist, and writer born and raised in Orlando, FL. She started her dance journey at the young age of three and has grown to dance professionally in her adulthood. She has notably danced for Universal Studios Orlando and had taught masterclasses and drop-in classes at several studios across the city. Her writing and social media journey begun in her first year at the University Of Central Florida and has grown to become professional as she assists dance studios with social media marketing and other social media duties now as she enters her final year of college. She is so happy to be assisting Destination Dance and is constantly looking for ways to grow and continue her professional journey.
