Faculty Biographies

Owners

Micaela Marchand Coner began her dance training with In the Company of Dancers' founder Lisa Hooks Murray at Turning Point dance studio. Micaela trained and performed extensively with the Cangelosi Dance Project directed by Kris Cangelosi. She has attended the Jazz Dance World Congress, the Panoply Festival, and has studied at ImpulsTanz in Vienna, Austria. She has choreographed works for the LSU Dance Ensemble, Cangelosi Dance Project apprentice group, Baton Rouge's UnCommon Thread Wearable Art Show, and Of Moving Colors Productions "Kick It Out."  Micaela is currently dancing and choreographing professionally with Of Moving Colors Productions under the artistic direction of Garland Goodwin Wilson; she joined OMC in 2001.  Micaela is an experienced ballet, modern, contemporary and jazz teacher.  She received her Bachelors degree from Louisiana State University in microbiology where she studied under the dance minor program.  Micaela received her MBA from LSU in 2009; she is currently a scientist for the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration.  Micaela serves on the board for Louisiana Earth Day and the Louisiana Alliance for Dance.  She is looking forward sharing the art and experience of dance with the students of all ages.

Stephanie Ann Faucette began her dance training with Jeanne Bonaventure at The Center of Performing Arts in her hometown of Central, Louisiana. Following her high school graduation, she trained and performed under distinguished Baton Rouge dance educators such Molly Buchmann, Susan Perlis, Dina Ternullo-Melly, and Garland Goodwin Wilson at Louisiana State University, Of Moving Colors Productions, and The Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre. In the past, she has choreographed works for the LSU Dance Ensemble and Of Moving Colors Productions and has also created award-winning numbers for her studio's performance team. Recently, Stephanie has attended classes and workshops at Dance New Amsterdam and Peridance Capezio Center in New York City. By day, she is a high school English teacher at St. Joseph's Academy in Baton Rouge, and, by night, she owns The Coda dance studio with fellow dancer and choreographer, Micaela Marchand Coner.  Stephanie loves sharing her passion for dance with her students and considers herself to be both a life-long learner and dance educator. 

Faculty

Alexandra Barbier began dancing 18 years ago. The majority of her training was with BRBT where she danced in their junior and senior companies. Alexandra also enjoys acting and has performed in Chicago and Dracula with BRLT. Alexandra is a dancer who is currently performing and working in the Baton Rouge dance community, and The Coda is pleased to welcome such a gifted ballet instructor!

Kendall Keating began her dance training at BREC in Central. In 1998, she began training with Jeanne Bonaventure at the Center of Performing Arts in Central. She competed with the COPA dance troupe for 8 years and passed on her love of dance to her students for another 5 years. Ms. Kendall was also a proud member of the Central High School Kittens for 3 years, and choreographed numbers for the Central High School Musical Theater Productions. Ms. Kendall continued her dance education at Louisiana State University while completing her two degrees. When she is not sharing her love for dance with our students, she works at a law firm downtown.

Briana McCardles began her dance training at the age of 3 at Jean Leigh Academy of Dance in Denham Springs, LA, studying under Dianna Jones, Christy Martin, Daniel Masterson, and Summer McCarroll. She has studied ballet, tap, jazz and hip-hop with Jean Leigh and competed regionally with their Junior and Teen Companies. She is currently a Baton Rouge Magnet High School senior, where she studies ballet under Sharon Mathews, co-Director of the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre. Over the years, she has had the privilege of performing with the Moscow Ballet in The Nutcracker and also in Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker, a Tale from the Bayou. She was honored with acceptance into The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, NOCCA, with full scholarship in both 2008 and 2009. She is also very grateful for the opportunity of performing for the past three years in Debbie Allen’s Just Dance (2010), All the Right Moves (2011), and Brothers of the Knight (2012) productions, having earned scholarships to attend Debbie Allen Dance Academy for a month-long intensive in 2011 and again for 2012. She could not be more proud of her girls this year, and is extremely grateful for their hard work and dedication during her first year as a teacher.

Rachel Vierck has 19 years of dance training in various styles, predominately through Baton Rouge Dance Connection and Revolution Dance Company. She is currently a student at Louisiana State University, pursuing a double major in Theatre Performance and Mass Communication. She is a member of the LSU Dance Ensemble, current president and choreographer of the LSU Tap Ensemble and a member and choreographer for the hip hop crew Legacy Dancers. She recently choreographed the latest theatre production with the Baton Rouge Chapter of The Possibility Project, and is pioneering a new contemporary dance student organization at LSU called Variations Dancers. Some of her training highlights include the Disney Dancin' program at Walt Disney World, The Edge Performing Arts Center in Hollywood, CA, and with Debbie Allen and instructors of the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. Her past performance credits include, Magic Music Days at Walt Disney World, halftime for the NFL's New Orleans Saints, Just Dance with Debbie Allen, The LSU Spring Dance Concert, and the LSU Theatre Lab productions A Kind of Alaska, Eiffel Tower: Revisited, and Dante.

Allison Ward information coming soon!

Guest Faculty

Anginetta Smith Wilkerson began dancing at a young age. Starting out as a liturgical dancer in the church dance group and after school programs, she went on to take dance lessons at McKinley Middle, Baton Rouge Magnet High School, and Tari's School of Dance. While competing with Tari's Senior Competition team she received several convention scholarships and a scholarships Broadway Dance Center. She went on to dance professionally with the contemporary company, Cangelosi Dance Project and in her time as a featured soloist with CDP, she traveled to Barcelona and Madrid, Spain as a soloist, New York, California, Alabama, Chicago Illinois and various other places. She received a seven-week scholarship in 2005 and a year- long scholarship in 2007 to study with Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago. She received her Bachelors degree from Louisiana State University where she danced as a golden girl for three years, and was featured in Louisiana's July 2006 La Vie magazine. She is currently a mother of two girls, Brianna and Isabella and is married to LSU graduate assistant coach Ben Wilkerson.