Matthew Zimmerman

Owner/Director

Matthew absolutely loves the art of dance. After growing up in the country and trying a free ballet class at the age of eight, he knew this was going to be his life.  Matthew was dancing professionally in companies right out of high school and enjoyed every step of it, but always found himself teaching along the way and finding more joy out of teaching than preforming. During the 2020 Pandemic, Matthew had time to think about which way he wanted to go on his dance journey. It didn’t take him long to decide that teaching was what he wanted to do. Since then Matthew has been dedicating his time even more to his students to give them what they need to make it to the next level.

Matthew’s teaching style revolves around keeping the love of dance alive. He believes there is a way to push any level dancer in a positive and beneficial way. Anytime you are in class with him you can expect to learn something new but also leave the room smiling.  Every class starts with a workout to keep the dancers in shape for the physically demanding art of dance. After having the core muscles groups warmed, class will go into technique then end with choreography. Every class will be geared toward the level of dancers in the room.

Matthew trained at the Horizons Dance Conservatory for six years and previously with Melanie Wright School of Dance and Berks Ballet Theatre. He is trained in all genres of dance, but his passion is in ballet and contemporary. Matthew attended the Pennsylvania Regional Ballet and the Joffrey New York City Jazz & Contemporary Intensives on scholarships. He was a company member with West Chester’s Brandywine Ballet for three seasons and performed with Sharp Dance Company, Brandywine Contemporary, Ballet 180, and Nova Dance Company. Matthew has also performed a solo he choreographed “Head vs Heart” at Kun-Yang Lin’s Inhale performance (2018) which was a standout and was labeled “a Dancer on the Rise”.  His Duet “Cellophane” , performed with Emily Young at Koresh Artist Showcase (2021), came with great reviews.  Matthew’s competition pieces consistently place in the overalls and have received numerous judges’, costume, technique, and choreography awards. His Mini group “Rule The World” won 1st and American Dance Champions at Showstoppers Northeastern Finals (2022).

Matthew is always working on choreography and thinking of new things to try so he can give it to his dancers. His pieces always highlight the strength and athleticism in dance but also the soft and fluid parts too. With most of his background in ballet, his dancers can expect a technically challenging and physically demanding piece. Even though his imagination is always going he makes sure to set the choreography on the type of dancers he has in front of him. Matthew’s number one goal is to make sure the dancer feels confident in the choreography but that it pushes them just enough so that they can achieve it and become even better dancers at the end.

Sophia Yocum

Sophia is a trained dancer with 15+ years of experience. She grew up dancing in Hershey but has also taken classes at Broadway Dance Center, Steps , The Peabody Institute, Open Door Studios in North Carolina , and at Slippery Rock University.  She also trained at FireWALL Dance Theater in Pittsburgh for two years. Sophia received scholarships two years in a row from the Open Door Dance Foundation to attend summer intensives, including the Koresh summer intensive. She also was a member of National Honor Society for Dance Arts during her time at Slippery Rock University.  Sophia has been teaching and choreographing for the past three years for dance schools and competition teams.

Meg Eberly

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Meg Eberly trained at the high school dance program of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts under such distinguished instructors as Melissa Hayden, Warren Conover and Nina Danilova.  She attended summer intensive programs at the School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theatre in New York City and alsothe Hungarian National Ballet School in Budapest, Hungary.  Meg went on to dance for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and as a guest artist for North Carolina Dance Theatre, performing classical and contemporary ballets.  Some of her favorite roles were in Kent Stowell’s Carmina Burana, George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial and the holiday favorite, The Nutcracker.

After retiring from professional ballet, Meg enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in accounting. She then joined the faculty of a local studio as Ballet Mistress, giving class and creating choreography on her students. She also started a pre-professional program for the studio dancers. Meg then started the Bluffton Academy for the Arts to offer young performing artists a flexible schooling option as they pursued their own dreams in the arts world. She currently teaches and choreographs at home on Hilton Head and across the country.

Meg is proud of her over 14 years of experience in ballet instruction. She has completed both the celebrated CPYB Teachers Workshop and Finis Jhung’s Teacher Workshop and is also certified to teach Progressing Ballet Technique. She has written extensive curriculum for training dancers in ballet and pointe work from the beginner to the pre-professional level, focusing on building a thorough knowledge of ballet terminology and class etiquette with safe progression to allow for longevity and flexibility in today’s dance world. Meg is so excited to pass on her love for ballet and the process of training and working in the professional dance world with all of her students.

Madyson Keister

Madyson has earned her Bachelors of Arts Degree in Dance Choreography and Pedagogy at Seton Hill University. She is a member of the National Dance Honor Society for Dance Arts and loves collaborating with others by integrating other art forms. Throughout her career as a dancer, she has focused on all areas of dance, including ballet, pointe, modern, tap, jazz, contemporary, and hip hop. She has trained with Vanessa Haidar, Gerard Holt, Katherine Rotz, Kim Clay, Lindsey McGivern, Austin Taylor, Rosemary Battista, Nichole Waugaman Slavin, Aubrey Worek, and many more.