Staff

Kathy Walker Owner and Director of Elevate is from Staten Island, New York where she began dancing at the age of 5. She competed in numerous competitions and conventions in New York City and taught at several studios in Brooklyn and Staten Island. After moving to Virginia Beach Kathy continued to teach dance at local studios and opened Elevate Performing Arts Center in 2014. Kathy holds a B.A. in English from Wagner College and is a certified member of Dance Masters of America and The Dance Association of Virginia. She teaches tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical and musical theater to various ages and levels. Her students and choreography have won overall high scores and choreography awards both at multiple dance competitions both on the region and national level. Kathy believes that whether a student wants a career in dance or dances for fun, dance builds self-confidence, a sense of accomplishment and friendships that will last a lifetime.

Katie Flint, a native of Virginia Beach, Virginia, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in
Dance with a Minor in Exercise Science from George Mason University, where
she also earned her Virginia teaching license in Dance Arts PreK–12. During her time at GMU, she performed and choreographed for the esteemed GMU Dance Company. Katie has an extensive teaching background, working with private dance studios across Northern Virginia and the Tidewater area, and served as an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College, where she taught ballet, modern, and jazz. Her leadership in dance education includes directing the dance department at Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences in Fairfax, VA.

Currently, Katie is the Dance Strand Lead at the Visual and Performing Arts
Academy at Salem High School in Virginia Beach. She has been an integral part
of the Academy Curriculum Committee since 2015, contributing to program
growth and excellence.

As a dedicated member of Dance Masters of America (DMA), Katie has earned
certifications in ballet, jazz, and modern dance, demonstrating her commitment to professional development and artistry. She is also a member of the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO). Her career reflects a passion for fostering creativity and technical excellence in young dancers.

Kathryn Munk (ACSM EP-C, USAW) began formally training in Omaha, Nebraska at Kitty Lee Dance Studio, under the direction of Diane Hansen. She graduated with honors from South Dakota State University with a B.S. in Exercise Science with dance and German minors. Thanks to the guidance of Dr. Melissa Hauschild-Mork, Kathryn took on numerous dance opportunities and was inducted to the National Honor Society for Dance Arts, supported by NDEO. Kathryn developed and piloted the strength and conditioning program for the university’s dance team and continues to research and create effective cross-training programs for dancers. Kathryn earned her M.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Bedfordshire, under the direction of Dr. Tamara Ashley. She performed original works by Gaby Agis and Luke Jessop across Great Britain and Malta. Supervised by Dr. Jane Carr, her dissertation explored identity formulation through individual dance practice and performance, specifically within ballet. Kathryn was the artistic director of the Apprentice Company, as well as the ballet mistress, at DanceFX in Charleston, South Carolina. A proud Navy spouse, she recently relocated to Chesapeake and enjoys exploring all parts of the Hampton Roads dance community.

Hannah is from Virginia Beach, VA and began dancing at the age of three. In April of 2022, she graduated from Point Park University in Pittsburgh PA with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. She has had the pleasure of performing in various works by Crystal Frazier and Danny Herman during her time at Point Park. Hannah is a 2018 graduate of The Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, VA. She has had the opportunity to perform with The Royal Birmingham Ballet in the Virginia Arts Festival with The Governor’s School. She has attended the Rockette Summer Intensive multiple times as well where she trained directly with The Radio City Rockettes. She enjoys teaching Jazz, Contemporary, Ballet, and Advanced Tap as well as choreographing for our award winning competition team. Hannah has won multiple awards for her choreography and looks forward to working with her students and seeing them thrive on stage and in the classroom.

Maria is from Virginia Beach and a 2019 graduate of the Visual and Performing Arts Academy at Salem High School.  Maria has 7 years of all-star cheering experience and hip hop.  She has taught at several cheer gyms in the area.  Maria is currently attending Christopher Newport University and is majoring in Musical Theater with a minor in Dance.

Tomomi Brown began teaching in 2005.  She taught at Virginia Ballet Theatre, Ballet Virginia International and Nice School of Dance. Tomomi has taught dancers from the ages of three to adults.  She trained and earned her degree in Musical Theater in Japan. Tomomi performed with a drama company that toured of the country, amusement parks and theaters in Japan.  Also Tomomi took summer intensives at School of the Hartford Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, San Diego Ballet and Boston Ballet.

Chelsea is a native of New Jersey and began dancing at the age of three. She competed in various local competitions growing up in the South Jersey region & throughout the Miss America Organization. Winning awards for various styles of dance, tap has always been her style of choice. Chelsea has been teaching at Elevate since 2017 and enjoys playing with multiple styles of tap. She believes that tap is an important part of learning musicality and challenges students to hear and create different sounds within the music.

Mackenzie Broccolo was born and raised in Westerly, Rhode Island and began dancing at the age of 3 at Jeannes Dance and Gymnastics Center where she trained in Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Tap, and Gymnastics. Mackenzie frequently traveled to NYC to take classes at institutions such as Broadway Dance Center and Steps. She has also traveled all over the US to compete and participate in conventions. Knowing she wanted to further her career in dance, Mackenzie received her BA in Dance during her 4 years at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts where she also minored in Psychology. She trained under Jill Silverman, Gregory King, Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp, Todd Shanks, Laura Young and many other well established names in the community. Mackenzie also had the pleasure of traveling with William Evans Modern Company for 2 years. Mackenzie has had great opportunities teaching and choreographing for over 10 years throughout New England and is expanding her craft in the South as well.

Amber Romano, native of Rhode Island, received her early training at classical ballet schools in her home state, including Festival Ballet. She spent summers training at prestigious schools such as Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet; and she spent her final years of high school training with internationally renowned teachers Trinidad Vives and Parren Ballard. Upon high school graduation, she began her professional career with the Nashville Ballet in Tennessee. For four years, she performed in countless productions, her favorites including George Balanchine’s Serenade and a demi-soloist role in The Nutcracker. In 2016, Amber joined the Todd Rosenlieb Dance and Virginia Ballet Theatre companies in Norfolk, VA. She performed principal roles with both companies for four years, as well as directing the Virginia Ballet Theatre Ensemble. Amber first began teaching ballet in Nashville and has found a passion in sharing her experience and love of dance with students of all ages. She has won multiple awards for choreography, and she is currently on faculty at the Governor’s School of the Arts teaching ballet & pointe in the Dance and Musical Theatre departments.

Emily started dancing at the age of 6 at Ballet Conservatory in Lewisville, Texas. She competed in numerous dance competitions around the DFW area with her company. She has had the opportunity to learn from several professionals’ dancers over the years while at Ballet Conservatory, including Josh Bergasse, Tyler Hanes, Todd Shanks, and Bill Hotaling. This is where her love of jazz and musical theatre originated. She auditioned for her high school drill team and was awarded a leadership position her junior year as Lieutenant and then continued her leadership role senior year as Captain, where she found her love for teaching and mentoring. She moved to Virginia Beach in 2018 and continued her education at ODU, where she received her BA in dance. Since then, she has enjoyed teaching around the Hampton Roads area. She is a passionate and dedicated dance teacher and award-winning choreographer with experience instructing students off all ages and skill levels. She is committed to fostering the love of dance while developing technical proficiency, artistic expression and performance skills. She loves any opportunity to inspire and guide students in dynamic and nurturing learning environment.

Anthony Fulk was born in Norfolk, Virginia but was brought up in Naples, Italy and further raised on the tiny island of Okinawa, Japan. He started learning hip hop fundamentals starting at age 11. At age 12, he joined Footloose Dance Studio Okinawa’s company team where alongside the continued pursuit of hip hop, he was trained in contemporary, jazz, tap, and ballet. Basic hip hop fundamentals were trained upon including genres of house, popping, locking, and choreography conditioning. At 15, he moved to Yokosuka, Japan and independently practiced hip hop and performed self choreographies at high school shows. At 19, he joined the chain ETC Dance School where his skills in hip hop grew astronomically, as choreographers and teachers from all over the Kanto Plain were available for classes multiple times a week, rigorously training in hip hop choreography and freestyle. Anthony joined the ETC Yokosuka Project team “sophians” where he was able to perform alongside some of the best Japanese hip hop at various events in Kanagawa and Tokyo. He then moved to Virginia Beach and pursued the continued practice of freestyle and developed competence in creating fun and unique hip hop choreographies in both the slower, smoother style of R&B hip hop and the exhilarating and intense hard-hitting style of GoriGori (ゴリゴリ) hip hop.

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