Inspire Movement, Embrace Creativity

I began dance at 21 months old and studied ballet, tap, jazz and acrobatics from Virgie Lee Emmons. In my mind I wanted to be a ballerina, so when I was 11, I began studying ballet with Edna Herzog.

When I was 12, I auditioned for Houston Youth Symphony & Ballet Co., a non-profit civic organization, and was accepted into their “D” company for young children, a non-performing group of about twenty children from the greater Houston area. Because of my potential, I was also accepted into “C” company which was a performing group. Good training and hard work paid off when only two years later in a master class of serious ballet students from five states I was personally invited by the guest instructor, Robert Joffrey, to take summer classes at his school in NYC. God had a better plan, as that was the only summer in at least twenty years that my teacher, Edna Herzog, didn’t take students to NYC for classes; she was building a new studio. A year later I was performing with Houston Ballet, then a fledgling company, having been one of twenty-six dancers who passed a two-day audition that included hundreds of hopeful ballerinas from the greater Houston area. We performed Gisellewith leads from Europe, soloists from American Ballet Theatre in NYC; and after the performances, I was invited to become a full member of Houston Ballet. God had a better plan, as I was too scared to tell my mother. Another professional ballet opportunity was missed. I believe God was saving my dance for Himself. When I finally surrendered to Jesus in 1981, it was the beginning of the end of my dance world. I was professionally in corporate America, first as a secretary then working my way up to Manager of Accounting & Administration of a small brokerage firm in the Galleria area responsible for all accounting and financial reporting to shareholders and regulatory agencies. My daughter was busy with school activities, and I didn’t have time to teach a few evening classes weekly; so, I quit.

In 1989 I began attending The Encourager Church in west Houston, and they had a praise dance team. The desire to dance had never left, so I began training again.  In the fall of 1990, I was a staff member of Christian Dance Academy, and began performing with their company “HIS Company” and Dance Ad Deum. I taught until 2009 when I finally closed my studio in Richmond.

God had a better plan. In January 2022, I became dance director for the dance program at a children’s sports center in Willis. In early 2026 the dance program was cancelled, so the dance school was moved to Grace Family Fellowship in May of 2026, under its new name Mission Performing Arts Company.