Ms. Amy Kotara - Owner and Artistic Director

Miss Julie has been dancing since the age of three. She has been trained in ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, pointe, and hip hop. Julie was a four year member of the Abilene High School Gold Rush Drill Team, where she served as Captain during her senior year, and is currently a part of the Hardin-Simmons University Spurs Dance Team. Throughout her years of dance, she has had the opportunity to work with many notable figures such as Michael Dameski, Terrill Mitchell, Alex Wong, Teddy Forance, and many more.  Miss Julie teaches all things jazz and contemporary, as well as trains our competitive dancers. Julie loves working with our families at TPDA and is so excited to share her love of dance with her students!

Ms. Rachel began dancing at the age of 5 and has been with Turning Pointe since 2005. She joined the teaching staff in 2008. Her primary discipline is ballet, but she also has experience in modern, contemporary, lyrical, and tap. She enjoys helping students strengthen their technique in our leveled ballet program and working with the TPDA performing companies. Rachel specializes in early childhood dance and holds a certification in Toddler and Preschool Dance Education. She loves working with our littlest dancers and teaching dance concepts through imaginative play. When not at dance, Rachel teaches at Cisco College with most of her courses focusing on anatomy and physiology, making her well versed in the development of the body.

Originally from Winter Park, FL, Emily Sutherland Cordell grew up dancing with Ballet Orlando at The Royal School of Dance. As a youth, she performed throughout Central Florida with local entertainment companies. Her dancing continued at Valencia College, University of South Florida and Jacksonville University where she received a B.F.A. in Dance Performance with minors in Theatre and Humanities. Her performance career continued after graduation as a member of Nao Dance Collective. She has been a dance educator throughout the U.S. for more than 20 years in dance studios, performing arts magnet schools Dr. Phillips High School and Millennium Middle School, and as an Adjunct Professor at Valencia College and Dean College. Teaching Ballet, Pointe, Modern, Jazz, Contemporary and Tap, she is also an Acrobatic Arts Certified Teacher. Emily is an award-winning choreographer who has been able to create works in Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Wyoming and Germany. She has been a judge with NexStar and SDA since 2017. As a proud military wife, Emily travels the world as an adjudicator, teacher and choreographer. She continues to advocate for the struggles of military families connected to dance and the performing arts.

Kaylee began her dance training at the age of 4 at Dance Warehouse Studios. She has been trained in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, musical theater, hip hop, breakdance, and pointe. She has performed as a recreational dance student and performed with Dance Warehouse Studies Company Werhre W, where her teams received many overall scores as group hip hop dances.Kaylee has taught several classes such as hip hop , jazz , ballet , and tap . Kaylee has auditioned for many different dance opportunities including the outdoor musical TEXAS and pom, where she experienced and learned important life lessons that have given her a foundation to build on to become a better dancer and teacher. Kaylee has performed with her High School team in many competitions and recitals . She is a self taught choreographer. She has choreographed several solos that she has performed and competed with,winning high ratings and has received two division one ratings as a soloist. Kaylee will be major in Pre-Physical Therapy then on to her doctorate of Physical Therapy. 

Miss Lexi began teaching at Turning Pointe Dance Academy in 2012 and has been dancing since the age of 3. Lexi specializes in lyrical and tap, and has years of experience in ballet, jazz, and other modern styles. Miss Lexi has taken part in many projects outside of the studio as well, including The Moscow Ballet’s Abilene performance of The Nutcracker in 2009 and HSU’s operatic rendition of Orpheus and Eurydice in 2010. Lexi is currently finishing her MA in Communication, and holds a BBA in Marketing from ACU.

TPDA will always be home for Miss Lexi, and she wants anyone who joins the TPDA family to feel like it’s their home too. 

Ms. Season grew up in the Austin, TX area where she trained and danced competitively for 8 years. She worked closely with Kelly Yankle, Brie Underwood, and Kori Moore at her home studio. Additionally, she has had the opportunity to work with very well acclaimed mentors in the dance industry such as Erica Sobol, Lucy Vallely, Ali Pfleger, and Jordan Harris. She has trained in many styles such as Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Contemporary, Tap, Hip Hop, Acro, and Lyrical during her training. Over the years, she has been awarded many scholarships and accolades from numerous dance conventions and competitions across the country such as 24/7, Jump, Dance Makers, Streetz, Tremaine, and others. Season is continuing her dance career as a choreographer and dance teacher, having choreographed for local studios from her home town, who have received awards with her choreography. Season is excited to continue to spread the love and knowledge of dance with her new dance family at TPDA!

Miss Becca has been since the age of 4 and has taught on and off at TPDA since she was 17 years old. Her speciality is tap, but she also has years of experience in ballet and lyrical. Miss Becca is so excited to be joining the TPDA family again for the 23-24 dance season!