XSCAPE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
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Meet Our Teachers


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Meet Miss Nelly, the director/founder of Xscape!
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Beg./Int Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop/Flip-Flop,Jazz 2/4, Int. Tumbling, Little Dancer, Int./Adv Tap and Stretch & Conditioning Teacher.


Miss Nelly Reynolds started dancing at just 3 years old.  She has been trained in ballet, jazz, tap, tumbling, hip-hop, contemporary, and lyrical.  She danced competitively until she was 18; Winning many scholarships and awards. Miss Nelly is a grade 7 certified Cecchetti ballet dancer. After high school, she took her dancing professionally in Los Angeles, California.  Here she worked in many music videos, productions, and TV shows, as well as in a dance company called "Xamino."  After working in the dance business in LA, she found that her true passion of dance was choreographing and teaching.  Nelly has been teaching for over the last fifteen years.  She taught at numerous studios in Reno/ Sparks and Los Angeles.  She is currently the director/owner here at Xscape Performing Arts Center!  She also teaches classes at Truckee Dance Factory in Truckee .  She hopes to create a fun, loving, inspiring place for students of any age.​


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Meet Karenza Strode
Technique and Contemporary teacher


Hi, I am Karenza Strode. I have been dancing since I was seven years old. I danced competitively from age 8 to 17. While competing I won title of Miss. Star of Hope from Starbound Nationals in Lake Tahoe as well has Jr. and Sr. Sweetheart at I Love Dance, Dance competitions in Sacramento. While growing up in arts I also performed in The Nutcracker, jazzed up like the dickens, as well as Scrooge. I performed various roles such as Clara and Snow Queen in Nutcracker and Tiny Tina (instead of tiny Tim) in Scrooge. When I graduated high school I went on to perform in a tribute show called Red Hot Superstars at the Grand Sierra. While doing so I continued to take classes and keep up on my training. Now I am college student, I also work at Starbucks as a shift supervisor and teach dance here at Xscape along with amazing and talented teachers.

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Miss Jessica Shull
Ballet 1/2/3 and Jazz 3 Teacher


Growing up as competitive dancer in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Jessica began her career as professional dancer performing with several companies such as the Main Event, Sierra Nevada Ballet Company, and as a vocalist/performer for the Western Nevada Theatre Company. Casted in Once Upon A Mattress, Beauty and the Beast, Crazy for you, Wizard of Oz, Greece, and many more. Quickly advancing as a professional, she became a choreographer and educator for the Theatre of Arts Discipline, Sierra Nevada Opera Company, and several competitive dance studios in Lake Tahoe, Nevada and Los Angeles, California. As a young performer and choreographer, she relocated to Los Angeles, becoming a member of the contemporary company known as Emerge.  Soon after, Jessica starred as one of the top six in Laurianne Gibson's TV show: BORN TO DANCE. Exposing her to later be casted be in several music videos for various artists, booking for TV Shows such as Glee, NCIS, The Monique Show, performing along side Shakira in the Latin Grammys and many others. As well as working as assistant choreographer/dancer in Nick Cassavettes movie “Yellow”.  Adventuring out of the commercial world, Jessica then traveled out of the United States becoming an aerialist, magician’s assistant and lead performer for Norwegian cruise line and Bahamas Paradise. Touring Western Europe, the coast of Florida and the Bahamas. Jessica then relocated to New Orleans to continue her work as a choreographer positioning herself to become an adjudicator for the competition circuit. As a professional performer, she has continued to be casted in the commercial field, casted in the latest commercial for Baby Bottle Pop, Cuba Gooding Jr.’s recent movie Bayou Caviar, Girls Trip and performing for several production companies such as Paperdoll Promotions, Elite Casino Marketing, Trixie Minx Productions and many more. Choreographing and performing for several companies, she's created her own production company based out of New Orleans, Louisiana producing and directing several shows. Most recently relocating from Houston, TX she is excited to be apart of our team here at Xcape Performing Arts. 


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Miss Haley Blakeman
Competition Choreogragher



Haley Blakeman is 18 years-old and has been training for 12 years. Within these 12 years she has trained in hip-hop, ballet, tap, contemporary, jazz, and more recently, heels. In 2017 Haley was awarded a full paid scholarship to Relativity Dance’s three week musical theatre intensive where she had the opportunity to build her singing and acting portfolio. Over the past five years she has traveled to conventions and has been hand selected galas, along with scholarships for further convention training. The past year she choreographer her first competition group piece that placed first overall at a local competitions; Starbound and Spotlight. She has found a love for creating and connecting with people, and hopes to inspire the students at Xscape to find that same love.




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Mr. Lucas Dalton
Adv. Tumbling Coach


 Coming from the martial arts, skiing, and gymnastics world, he has over two decades of experience with kicking, flipping, and combination movements. He is currently using these skills to teach our advanced tumbling class, where students will learn everything from backflips, adv. tumbling Skills and breakdance to incorporate into their dancing abilities. Teaching is a passion of his, and he is excited to be a part of the Xscape family! 

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Miss Sierra Taylor-Cline
Adv. Hip-Hop/Heels Teacher



Sierra Taylor-Cline is a 25 year old dancer and choreographer from Las Vegas, Nevada. She has been teaching in Reno/Sparks for 7 years and is currently pursuing her dreams as a versatile and well-known choreographer. She is trained in contemporary, lyrical, jazz/jazz funk, hip hop, and heels. Not only does she love teaching, but she has a strong passion for inspiring young adults to be the greatest versions of themselves. In addition to teaching, Sierra is also in the works of getting her life-coaching certification. Her aspiration in life is to become not only a dance teacher, but someone who successfully helps others achieve their goals. 
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Miss Nina Carpenter
Technique 1/ Beg. tap Teacher
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Hi! My name is Nina Carpenter and I am 24 years old! I have now lived in Reno for what just came up on two years! Coming from the East Coast a Massachusetts lady! While living in Massachusetts I danced for about 14 years, in which about almost all of them were competitively. Training in range of styles from pointe, ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, modern. Once I graduated High School, I continued to go back to the studio to brush up on my dance skill but I also started a year or two of cheerleading in college, with dance being my first love. For over the past 7 years I’ve work with children not only at the dance studio but in my daily life. I worked at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts for about 5 years at the Child Development Center, and I currently work at Aleph Academy for over two years now here in Reno! I’m so grateful for this opportunity here at Xscape with my love for teaching and dancing!

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Miss Patricia Fahey
Our Jazz 1 / Beg. Tumbling Teacher
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Patricia Fahey has grown up at Xscape taking classes and participating in the competitive dance team with Nelly Reynolds for 5 years. Prior to dancing at Xscape she had extensive trampoline and tumbling training and was a member of Gym Nevada and Legacy T&T’s competitive teams. She qualified and participated in Nationals several times, and was a 3 time state champion. In her free time Patricia is a member of the Health Science Academy and the GATE Institute and Hug High School, and is currently aiming for a AP Capstone and CTE diploma with honors. In school she also extends her love for music and the arts by being the principal cellist for the concert orchestra. And of course, she has a great love for children which makes teaching dance and tumbling at Xscape such an amazing opportunity! 

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Miss Eryn Naylor
(bio coming soon)

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  • Home
  • Class Schedule
  • Class Descriptions
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