Erika

Instructor, Office Manager/Registrar

Erika began dancing at the young age of 3 and danced through her college years. She has performed countless recitals, competitions, and conventions. Erika danced en pointe in The Nutcracker for several years with the Mid-Columbia Ballet. She was a member of Eastern Washington University’s dance team. While Erika has trained in Jazz, Hip Hop, & Modern, Classical & Cecchetti methods of ballet, it is Tap she loves most. Erika has been with Moonstar Dance Studio for almost 7 years and introduced our Acro program. She is a member of the Acro Dance Teachers Association. She loves instructing our youngest dancers and enjoys watching her students grow as dancers, artists, and people. Erika believes that when you dance with your heart, you will always have fun.

Brooke Wolf

Portland, Oregon

Brooke started her dancing career at the age of 8 and quickly dove into multiple styles of dance. Her favorite styles, from the beginning, were hip hop and Jazz, under the direction of the owner, Shadowmoon Wolf.

In high school, she continued her training at Moonstar Dance Studio and went on to make the varsity team as a sophomore. At the Thunderbird Dance and Drill convention, Brooke went on to achieve multiple awards for talent and personality, three years in a row. She was then selected to be a captain of the varsity squad her senior year.

Also, during her senior year, she was selected for the OSAA All State Dance Team, out of over two hundred applicants. She then continued her dance career into college.

After graduation, Brooke is now an elementary school teacher in the area. Brooke is committed to creating a fun, safe learning environment for all students/dancers. Self-confidence, self-esteem, and body positivity/awareness are key factors in her classes. She is thrilled to share her passion for dance and teaching with the community that has given her so much. She is beyond excited to rejoin her Moonstar family this season and many more to come.

Olivia

Olivia Ontkean moved to Portland at the age of five where she began training as a ballet dancer and competitive figure skater. During her ten years of competitive skating, she also trained in aerial acrobatics and competitive Irish Dance.

In high school, she was recruited to try out for the Sunset Sunflares varsity dance team and began dancing competitively in jazz, hip hop, contemporary, lyrical, and musical theater. She went on to become team captain and later join the coaching staff from 2010-2019 (Varsity and JV state champions 2014, JV state champions 2018). In December 2010, just after graduating high school, she had the opportunity to dance in an opening group number for the Radio City Rockettes on their tour stop at the Moda Center.

In college she continued to train in Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop, and Acro. In spring of 2017, Olivia choreographed musical numbers for Liberty High School’s production of “Heathers 101: The Musical”. Olivia joined the Moonstar family in fall 2017 after substituting in the summer and has absolutely loved every moment she gets to spend with her students.

Ansa Capizzi

Former principal dancer, Oregon Ballet Theatre

Ansa Capizzi was born in Nagoya, Japan. She started ballet at the age of 5 at Step Works Ballet. She competed in several national competitions and took home many medals.

She has danced around the world including Washington DC, Palm Springs, South Korea and Japan. She attended the San Francisco ballet school and has had leading roles in several world class choreographer’s repertoires including William Forsythe, Nacho Duato, Jiri Kylian, Nicolo Fonte, Christopher Wheeldon, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.
She joined OBT as an apprentice in 2003 and was later promoted to soloist and then a principal dancer in 2018.

Her final bow was as Aurora in OBT’s Sleeping Beauty which took the stage in 2020. She enjoys all types of ballet from classical to modern. Ansa is excited to join our Moonstar family and share her love of dance with others.

Ashley

Ashley grew up in Columbia, Maryland and studied Ballet, Tap and Jazz. She continued her education at Towson University and received her BFA in Dance Performance. As a Towson University Dance Company member she performed works by Kiki Lucas, Juan Carlos Rincones, Geoffrey Holder, Gisele Mason, Stephanie Powell, Vincent Thomas and Susan Mann.

After graduation, Ashley moved to New York to pursue her career. She was part of the Work Study program at Steps on Broadway and studied with Joe Lanteri, David Howard, Germaine Goodson, Milton Myers, Debbie Roshe, Lonne Moretton, Alex Tressor and Jana Hicks. Ashley appeared in Donn Arden’s Jubilee! in Las Vegas, Norwegian Cruise Line representing the Jean Ann Ryan Company and La Comedia Dinner Theatre in their Christmas Spectacular. Ashley spent two years in Brisbane, Australia where she was seen with Blue Fish Theatrical in The Producers and CHICAGO (Hunyack). While in Brisbane, she studied with Wendy Wallace, John Sandurski, and Meg Cooper. Ashley moved to Houston in 2013 and performed Dolce Far Niente as part of the artist in residence program at Suchu Dance and Rob Ashford’s Carousel at Houston Grand Opera. While teaching Ballet at Houston Performing Arts Center, Ashley led a group of students to New York for their Broadway Debut at an autism benefit concert at the Gershwin Theatre.

Ashley is currently part of the Outreach program with Northwest Children’s Theatre and is very excited to be teaching with the Moonstar family this Fall.

Alexia

HIP-HOP INSTUCTOR

Alexia started her dance career at age 5 following in her aunts footsteps. She started training in ballet but really fell in love with dance when she started taking Hip Hop classes at age 10. She continued to dance throughout middle school and high school, and was part of the competition team at her studio. She’s been continuing her training in Hip-Hop since she graduated high school. Her goal as a Hip-Hop instructor is to pass on knowledge of Hip-Hop dance and music that she has learned through her teachers. She aspires to be a role model that younger kids can look up to. Alexia is thrilled to begin in her journey as the newest member of the Moonstar staff!

Baylee White

Southridge Dance Team
Head Coach

Baylee joined the Moonstar family in 2013. Her training began at age 3 and went competitive by age 6! She trained at a local studio for 10 years before moving on to a competitive hip hop team, then danced for her high school dance team for four years. Baylee went on to dance/cheer at Oregon State University and was captain her final year, Go Beavs! After college Baylee moved back to the Portland area and have since been dancing for the Portland Winterhawks WHL team- The Rosebuds, where she dances on the ice! She has stuck to her roots and is back coaching for her high school team, as well! When she’s not dancing, you can find her spending time with friends and family, loving on her one-year-old bernedoodle, Lucky, and working in TV Advertising for KOIN6 news!

Kelis

Kelis began her journey at Moonstar in 2012. She later went on to join our Premier Company competition team where she received numerous individual and group awards in multiple genera’s. Since graduating in 2022 Kelis has joined the LA Dance Magic Senior Company. She has spent the last year traveling to conventions across the country assisting and performing under the direction of Jackie Sleight and David Carter. Kelis is currently attending Portland Community College and is studying Exercise Science to become a personal trainer and group fitness instructor. She is very excited to be teaching at Moonstar, and loves to inspire young dancers of all ages!

Allyson

Allyson is very enthusiastic to share her love of dance with you all! She began dancing at the young age of 2 and fell in love immediately. She began her dance career as a professional dancer at the age of 17, where she landed a dream roll as a dancer for Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. She then took on many auditions where she got to perform all over the United States in many varies dance gigs. She began to teach dance at the age of 17 as an assistant teacher, then began to teach her own classes at the age of 18. She has taught at many studios over her career that led her and inspired her to continue her growth and love for dance. Her main background in dance includes Ballet, Lyrical, Musical Theatre and Jazz. She has also studied other styles for many years, including Tap, Modern, Hip Hop, and Acro (Tumbling). She Moved to north Georgia in 2016 and took on a new chapter of owning a dance studio for a few years, before life led her back to her home to central Florida. Currently Allyson is a High School Dance team coach, teaches Master classes and does competition choreography for many studios, judges and works for dance competitions. She is certified in PBT and is YPAD certified. Allyson also has a master’s degree in special Needs Education and works as a Speech Therapist part time. Life is now leading her to move to Oregon to follow her heart to be with her long-distance boyfriend, so they can curate a fulfilling life together. She is excited to start this new journey and see where life leads her next.

Caitlynn

Theatre, Tap, Lyrical, Contemporary, Pom, Acro, and other styles. Caitlynn was a member of Kansas State University’s dance team and Dance Conservatory where she received her degree in Business Management, Dance and a Certificate in Sports Marketing. Ms. Noltie is a Collegiate NDA National Champion and has had the pleasure of dancing at a Collegiate Football Bowl Game- the Cactus Bowl, March Madnesses Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight and other basketball and football games with attendance of over 50,000+ people. She has danced professionally on various dance teams and companies for the past five years which include the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves dance team, WHL Portland Winterhawks dance team and is currently on the NBA Portland Trailblazers dance team. She has also had many opportunities to dance in professional music videos and events. She plans to keep pursuing her professional dance career while teaching at MDS.

Caitlynn has been teaching for the past ten years in various styles such as Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, HipHop, Tap, and Acro and loves that she’s able to teach others what she’s so passionate about.
Some fun facts about Caitlynn are: She has two dogs named Dwight and Angela, both named after characters from “The Office”. She loves to travel and hopes to make it to all 50 states one day.
Caitlynn is very excited to be at MDS and can’t wait to see all that her students do!

David Norwood

David Norwood is a choreographer and educator and the CEO of NYH MEDIA LLC.

Considered a “renegade artist”, Mr. Norwood’s work can be seen across all medium: stage, screen, television and streaming. Born and raised in Palos Verdes, a middle class of Los Angeles. David was a jazz and soul growing up in a rock-dominated beach scene. The dichotomy and the clash of the wo cultures would serve him well as he has become an artist of blending different approaches to a project and making a whole new idea and a unique creation.

David’s formal training started at the age of 15 through a series of serendipitous events that landed him at the Ailey School for his first summer of dance. Back in LA he set out to train with the best in the entertainment business and also studying art which would inevitably lead him to choreography and teaching. Mr. Norwood has a degree in, Musical Theatre Dance from USIU in San Diego California While working at Edge PAC in Hollywood as one of the original teaching staff, David was immersed day in and day out in pursuit of pushing the envelope in what was possible in dance and entertainment.

He go on to work commercially choreographing for Pepsi, The Mickey Mouse Club, Circus of the Stars and traveling internationally to Japan and all of Europe Moving on to co-directing a broadway show: Odyssey in Illusion then a ABC movie of the week starring Nicolette Sheridan.
His credits — include working with such brands as: Nike, Reebok, Apple, Banana Republic and Disney. Also working with such iconic artists such as Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, The Talking Heads and Shanice Wilson and recently FX | HULU English Teacher.

When David moved to Atlanta, he worked with Atlanta Ballet as a teacher / choreographer. This is when he took the leap into creating new works in a commercial/ contemporary vein. One of David’s drivers is creating new ideas and concepts and seeing them come to fruition. Not satisfied with the status quo , David is always finding ways to push the envelope in the idea department and remixing not only the music but the production itself. Much sought after for his ideation and branding campaigns, David now is Artistic Director of BL3ND dance theater and CEO of his own production company NYH media. His goal is to create a multi-media platform that pushes the art of dance performance and education to the next level and contribute to the next evolution of performance and training.