Our Instructors
ALLY PELTON
Ally Pelton’s passion for the art of dance and her dedication to excellence are woven into the foundation of Seaside Dance. Establishing Seaside Dance was an opportunity for Ally to give back to her community, while training and changing the lives of the next generation of dancers.
Ally has extensive training and professional experience in the world of dance. This experience has taken her around the country to train with many high profile choreographers as well as some of the most prestigious dance studios in the world.
Ally spent multiple summers with the American Ballet Theatre. While living in Nashville, she joined a prestigious and competitive studio, where she performed in multiple shows, competitions and events in the Midwest and the East Coast.
She has performed in multiple music videos for various artists, including Country artist Danielle Bradbery. She continued intense training in California and also trained in New York City in precision tap and jazz with the Radio City Rockettes. Ally was also a part of an NDA multi-National Championship team. Ally is disciplined in several genres of dance, including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, and ACRO.
CiCi joined our staff in September of 2023. Her love for dance began at the age of 3 and she has been dedicated to perfecting her moves ever since. With training in a number of studios and academies, CiCi went on to be the captain of her high school dance team and was an integral member of her collegiate dance team at Fayetteville State University, She began studio teaching to aspiring young dancers when she turned 14 and has continued to invest in the lives of her students ever since.
While CiCi is highly trained in multiple dance genres, she excels in Jazz and Hip Hop. She is taking SeaSide Dance’s Hip Hop dancers to the next level!
Ciara “CiCi” Bryant
With a background in Dance since her toddler years, Donna has experience in many facets of the dance world. Tap has always been top focus, with Modern and Jazz following. New York City Masterclass training and a dance major at Rutgers University led her to placement in an off-Broadway Tap Dance Company, and several performances in Equity and non-Equity Summer stock theater productions. She took a break to get married, raise a family and start the business of Interior Design. “Once in the Arts, always in the Arts!” Donna stayed engaged with Dance in one form or another over the years and has happily returned to teaching. She lives in Southport with her husband and is honored to be a part of the SeaSide Dance faculty.
Donna Gonzales
HALEY HAYES BOLTON
Haley joins Seaside Dance after a career as an adjunct professor at Wofford College and professional choreographer and instructor in Spartanburg, SC. She is no stranger to the area, having taught at Southport's beloved On My Toes in the early 2010's, directing the Nutcracker and teaching children throughout the community. Her family and career moved her to Spartanburg where she taught theatre and dance at Wofford, choreographing Cabaret and teaching stage jazz, tap, ballet, and lyrical. She choreographed large-production shows for Spartanburg Little Theatre, including 9-5 The Musical, The King and I, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Disney's The Little Mermaid, and Mamma Mia, for which she was nominated for the upstate's best choreographer. She taught ballet and pointe for Ballet Spartanburg's pre-professional division as well as tap, jazz, lyrical, musical theatre, and ballet for the school's recreational students and choreographed for the professional company. She has a BA in Dance Performance and Choreography and nearly 20 years experience teaching students of a broad range of age and ability. Her students have danced professionally, performed on Broadway, danced on college dance teams, taught dance themselves, or moved on to completely different careers and lifestyles. Her hope is that the variety of lessons learned through taking dance classes will have a valuable, lasting impact on how her students interpret the world and live their lives outside the studio. She is thrilled to be a part of Seaside Dance in its inaugural year and looks forward to watching the studio flourish for many years to come!
KATE MULLER
Kate has been dancing competitively since the age of six. She began her classical ballet training in Charlotte, NC under the direction of Rebecca Massey and Daniel Wiley. She earned the lead role of Clara in The Nutcracker production in 2020. Because of Covid, the show was filmed into a movie that was later showcased at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Christmas Lights Show and at the Kannapolis Ballpark Stadium. Kate was also a top finalist for the role of Clara with the Radio City Rockettes, was accepted into the Joffrey Ballet Summer Intensive and spent the summer of 2022 at the North Carolina Governor’s School Dance Program.
Kate has been trained under world renowned instructions such as Mandy Moore, Dusty Button, and Broadway Production staff, to name a few. While Kate is at the forefront of an amazing career, she is an inspirational and uplifting trainer for aspiring ballerinas and dancers of all genres.
Kelly began dancing in Illinois where she trained in ballet, tap, jazz and contemporary. She joined a competitive dance company that gave her the opportunity to travel and perform in various competitions, shows and events around the Midwest. Kelly is a graduate of the University of Iowa, where she continued her dance training and spent a semester working for Walt Disney World Entertainment.
Kelly received her Master’s Degree in School Counseling from Stetson University. She has taught recreational and competitive dance in the Charlotte area for 15 years to both children and adults, and has received top awards for her choreography at NC competitions. She has also enjoyed choreographing several area school musicals.
Kelly is a certified expert yoga instructor through Yoga Allicance, certified Zumba instructor and group fitness instructor through AFAA. She owns the Balance Boutique in Southport and is excited to be part of the Seaside Dance community.
KELLY MULLER
Prior to moving to Southport in 2021, Kristin worked passionately in the fields of Special Education and Family Services. She has both classroom and large group management experience.
Kristin is currently providing in-home educational and behavioral support while connecting schools to home for families in our area. She also teaches preschool at a local preschool.
She has a strong ambition to spread Inclusion Awareness in everything she does. Kristin strongly believes in the power of music and dance as an all-inclusive way to communicate without saying a word!
KRISTIN OLIVIERI
LISA ELDELJON
With more than 25 years of experience as a dancer and gymnast, Lisa will be a great addition to our professional teaching staff for 2023 and beyond. From her early years of dance and tumbling training, to her Collegiate scholarship for studies in Dance at Old Dominion University in Norfolk Virginia, Lisa’s passion in the arts has pushed her to the pinnacle of performance excellence. Lisa competed for Yale University’s Club Gymnastics team from 2015 to 2017 and has extensive experience in ballet, contemporary, ballroom, broadway, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, modern, improve, and West African dance. She also has extensive experience teaching, choreographing and coaching gymnastics.
Lisa has persevered through a significant ankle injury in 2005 and her determination to rehabilitate herself after reconstructive surgery further demonstrates her drive to overachieve.
Lisa has an unwavering focus and respect for a dancer’s body, especially when it comes to a healthy relationship with nutrition, a clean lifestyle and proper warm-up and technique.
In addition to working at Seaside Dance, Lisa serves as a full-time priest at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in downtown Southport. As a result, you may see her in a clerical collar, especially when she’s running between the church and the dance studio.
TAMMIE FISH
We are so excited to welcome Tammie to SeaSide Dance! She has 30 years of experience teaching Tumbling/ACRO, and has choreographed many ACRO routines for competitions and won many overall awards.
She owned her own studio, called Dance and Tumble Creations in Kernersville, NC for 14 years. She is currently the Tumbling Director at Hunter’s Dance in Garner. She has been there for 14 years.