Our Staff

Taami Bash, Artistic Director/Owner

Taami has a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a Minor in Dance from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Taami’s theatrical experience includes technical production, directing, playwriting, Shakespearean performance, performance literature, and theatre development. Her dance training encompasses tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, modern, lyrical, creative movement, and African.  Taami received a theatre and dance scholarship in Los Angeles, where she was a featured extra in the movie Samantha. She was a member of the Harambee African Dance Group at CU Boulder, which included performances for President Clinton and the Colorado Arts Festival. Taami started instructing children’s classes in dance and theatre during college.

Recently, her choreography has won numerous awards at local and national dance competitions, including International Dance Challenge, Dance Rave, Spotlight, Star Power, Dance Champs, and the International Dance Olympics. Taami co-choreographed a Holocaust remembrance dance that won several outstanding awards, highest number of points at competitions, most powerful performance and was asked to perform during Holocaust week at CU Boulder.  Taami judges numerous dance events around the U.S. including, the Dance Champs Competition Tour in Kansas City and numerous local dance and cheerleading auditions.

Taami is a certified in Zumba, Zumba Fitness, Zumba Toning and Zumbatomic  as an instructor. She strives to educate students, both children and adults on the importance of health.  Taami filmed a Qwest testimonial commercial about Centerstage Starz.  Years of training in directing, acting, and dancing helped her realize the dream of owning a well-rounded performing arts studio. Taami founded Centerstage Starz in 1996 for this purpose and under her direction, the studio has developed from a single room into a 12,000 sq. foot facility with over 140 classes a week, award-winning theatre and dance companies, and a first class faculty. Taami is also the proud mother of triplet girls; Mia, Arielle and Tahli.

Tracy Jones-  Born in Cork, Ireland, Tracy started dancing at the age of 5 with Ballet Theatre Ireland.  At the age of 11, she moved to London to train at The Royal Ballet School where she graduated from with a Trinity Diploma (BA) in 2007. During her final 2 years at school, Tracy performed with the Royal Ballet and joined them on their 2007 International tour to Mexico and the U.S.A. Upon graduating, Tracy started her professional career with the English National Ballet as an artist, performing various ballets from their repertoire around the UK and toured to Beijing, China. The following season, Tracy joined the Barcelona Ballet (formerly Corella Ballet) under the direction of Angel Corella where she danced for 5 years touring many renowned theaters throughout Spain as well as internationally.In 2013, Tracy joined the Colorado Ballet under the direction of Gil Boggs and was promoted to Soloist in 2017.Tracy has been a faculty member at Centerstage Starz and Colorado Ballet Academy since 2014. She has taught at various Summer Intensive programs and Masterclasses throughout Colorado and in Hawaii. Tracy has coached a number of students as they prepare for major dance competitions including Youth America Grand Prix as well as Ballet Guild, Denver. Her privately coached students have gone on to win various dance competitions and have been accepted into renowned pre-professional divisions and summer intensive programs at major ballet schools.

Whitney Gustafson-  Whitney was born and raised in Colorado. She currently lives in Highlands Ranch with her husband Matt and her two beautiful sons, Noah and Christian. Whitney started dancing at the age of 4 years old and started teaching dance at the age of 18. Whitney is a classically trained ballerina with a passion for lyrical, jazz, and contemporary. Whitney spent three years as captain and member of the Denver Broncos Cheerleaders and two years as a Denver Nuggets Dancer. For five years, she worked for the Universal Dance Association, traveling the nation to teach and direct high school and collegiate dance camps and judge regional and national competitions. Whitney’s most memorable performances were USO Tours with the Denver Broncos Cheerleaders. Whitney was the lead singer and danced in performances across the globe for our United States Military Troops. Her choreography has won numerous awards from Dance Champs, Dance Rave, Showbiz, Nextstar, Spotlight and Starpower. Most recently, Whitney’s small character group “Honey Bun” won first place at Kar Nationals in 2017. Whitney earned her degree in Communications and Psychology from the University of Colorado and currently works as the General Manager and Yoga Instructor for CorePower Yoga South Denver studios. Whitney is also a professional photographer and enjoys creating art with her camera. Whitney has been teaching for Centerstage Starz since 1999.

Dana Garrett-  Dana graduated from the University of Denver with a Bachelor of Arts for children’s education. Since age three, Dana has trained in tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, pointe, hip hop, and modern, in addition to theatre and choir experience. She danced with a West Metro area studio and performing company through high school. As a member of the University of Denver Dance Collective, she contributed choreography and acted as President and producer. Her choreography has won recognition from multiple regional and national competitions.Dana has worked with the Green Mountain High School Tap and the Douglas County High School Dance Team. She has completed the nationally recognized Continuing Education Program through the Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop. Dana has been teaching dance and theatre since 1992 and at Centerstage Starz since 1999 and is the proud mom to her son Jake.

Adrienne Brooks Sells-  A Louisiana native, Adrienne Brooks received her classical ballet training under the direction of Marion Mills and the auspices of the Theater School of Dance. She is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance. For a decade beginning in 1989, Miss Brooks performed with the Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet, the last eight years as a principal dancer. She served for many years as a dance instructor with the Theater School of Dance and as Rehearsal Director for the Junior Company of the Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet during the 1999-2000 seasons. She also served as Co-Artistic Director for the Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet from 1999-2006. Miss Brooks co-owned and operated Shreveport Metropolitan Dance Academy from 1999-2006. Adrienne was a classical ballet instructor at Centenary College and was a company dancer with Ballet Austin in 1996-97, and company member of LAJAZ DANZ in 2003-2005. Throughout her career, Miss Brooks has been involved in numerous community events and productions. She has co-created two full-length world premier ballets “Snow White” and “The Wizard of OZ”. Adrienne was nominated for a Memory Lee Award for her choreography in the 2003 Peter Pan Players’ production of “Mary Poppins”. Adrienne has dedicated her life to the art of dance and teaching dance.

Mallory Weeman- Mallory Weeman has been working in the dance industry as a teacher and choreographer for over 10 years, sharing her passion by training dancers for both the stage and for life. Striving to never stop learning, Mallory became IDTS certified (International Dance Teaching Standards) in 2018, holds a personal training certification with NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine), and is a certified Barre Instructor through American Barre Technique.Mallory has lived and taught in many places including California, Arizona, Maine, and most recently Colorado, joining Centerstage Starz as one of their Company Directors in 2015.  Though she teaches a variety of classes, her favorite styles to teach are contemporary, jazz, and improvisation.Throughout the years Mallory’s choreography has won numerous top awards at many regional and national competitions, including the honor of Elite Grand National Champions and Choreographer of the Year at KAR Nationals in Las Vegas, NV.  In 2009, Mallory was invited to perform at Carnival: The Choreographer’s Ball in Los Angeles, CA, one of the biggest international choreographer showcases. Mallory prides herself on helping all of her students grow into both passionate dancers and confident young adults.

Tiffany Lopo-  Tiffany was born in Colorado but grew up in Arizona where she trained with one of the top ranked competitive dance studios in the Phoenix Metro Area.  She spent spring break and summers in LA studying with the top LA choreographers and won scholarships to attend classes at Edge Performing Arts Center.  Tiffany performed professionally around Arizona as a back up dancer to an Elvis impersonator and was part of a professional dance company called Sophistakit. As a member of Sophistakit, she performed at industrials and events around the Phoenix area.  She attended the University of Arizona and majored in dance.  After college, Tiffany moved to Colorado to be close to her parents.  The 2017-2018 season will be her 10th year teaching for Centerstage Starz. She loves teaching and loves all of the kids at Centerstage. She has been married for 17 years and has 3 sons, Ben-14, Sam-11 and Joe-2.

Denver Schantz-  Denver Schantz, at 25 years old he has accomplished many things over his dance career. He began dancing at the age of 13 in Aurora, CO and quickly grew to love hip hop as well as the musicality and athleticism that came with it. Denver trained in all different styles of dance as a teen but connected most with Hip Hop and pushed to teach dance classes by the age of 16. After joining a professional dance team in high school, Denver traveled the country to compete at competitions like World of dance in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, and LA.  As well as many other events and competitions. Now director of the colorado-based team “ThaHomies”, Denver strives to shares his passion and love for dance with those around him and eventually spread that out to the world.

David Lee Hernandez-  David, aka BBoy Vanity or Vanity for short, was born and raised in Aurora, Colorado with a burning passion for HipHop dancing. 13 years of dance experience with 3 years of teaching and 10 years of competitive dancing in Cyphers/Street Battles in Colorado, California and Las Vegas. Primary focuses are: Classic Popping, Locking and Hitting incorporated with modern day dance styles.With a minor emphasis in breaking. “Born from a boom box” began dancing at a young age, self taught with a thirst for knowledge into the various genres of dance and unique styles across the globe. Ready to rejuvenate the minds and hearts of upcoming dancers and even well experienced dancers to grow even further into the future of dance.

Tate Lee-  Tate Lee was born in Illinois and raised in Mission Viejo, California. He trained primarily with Dmitri Kulev and Jennifer Langenstein Kulev at the Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet Academy in Laguna Hills, California. He has received scholarships and attended numerous summer programs including American Ballet Theater, Boston Ballet School and School of American Ballet where he received the Jerome Robbins’ Award of Merit. Tate was recognized as a prize winner for classical dance by the prestigious Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards and in 2016, he was selected to travel to Lausanne, Switzerland for the Prix de Lausanne. Tate began his career with Colorado Ballet during the 2017-2018 season as a member of the Studio Company and was promoted to Apprentice in the Company in 2018.

Katherine Boden-  Katherine Boden began her dance training at the age of seven, at Miller’s Dance in Parker, CO. She went to high school at Denver School of the Arts, where her passion for contemporary dance was fostered. Katherine has taken classes with the Colorado Ballet and Classical Ballet of Colorado. After high school, Katherine continued her dance training at Denver Ballet Theatre, while teaching at Miller’s, Inspirations, DBT, and Center Stage Starz, while attending online college courses toward a degree in Early Childhood Education and a certification in Barre Fitness. Katherine continued to diversify, performing jazz and hip-hop with the performance group HER. Her professional accomplishments include choreography and performing pas de deux. She is very excited about her opportunity to work with Ballet Ariel.