Contact Us (775)622-5730
Come dance with us and meet the talented team of instructors at Xscape Performing Arts Center. Focusing on teaching exceptional techniques and creating unforgettable experiences, we are committed to our dancers’ satisfaction and success. Continue browsing our staff profiles below to learn more.
Nelly Reynolds
Owner
Miss Nelly Reynolds
Founder & Director, Xscape Performing Arts Center
Miss Nelly Reynolds began her dance journey at just three years old, training extensively in ballet, jazz, tap, tumbling, hip-hop, contemporary, and lyrical. She danced competitively through her youth, earning numerous scholarships and awards along the way. Nelly is a certified Grade 7 Cecchetti ballet dancer.
After high school, she took her passion to a professional level in Los Angeles, where she performed in music videos, television productions, and live shows. She was also a member of the renowned dance company, Xamino.
While working professionally in the L.A. dance industry, Nelly discovered her true calling—teaching and choreographing. With over twenty years of teaching experience, she has worked at multiple studios across both the Reno/Sparks area and Southern California.
Now as the Founder and Director of Xscape Performing Arts Center, Miss Nelly brings her vision to life—creating a fun, loving, and inspiring space for students of all ages to express themselves and “Xscape” from the everyday through dance.
Marie Sperber
Studio Director
Meet Ms. ​Marie Sperber
Marie has been dancing since she was three, with twenty years of experience training dancers. She is truly versatile having studied ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, tap, modern, hip hop and musical theater. In 2003, she moved to Los Angeles performing with choreographers such as Malaya and Ryan Heffington. She has performed for industrial productions Il' Circo and Extreme Show. She trained at Edge Performing Arts Center, Millenium Dance Complex, and Debbie Reynolds. Marie honed her skills dancing with Chris Dupre, Christina Woodward, Malaya, Ryan Heffington, Havic, Scott Hislop, Terri Best, Denise Leitner, Dante7, Kitty McNamee, Eddie Garcia, Mandy Moore and Jayson Wright. For the past 17 years, Marie has taught at numerous studios in the Los Angeles area for both recreational and competitive programs. Marie is the co-founder of Peninsula School of Performing Arts Dance Company in Palos Verdes California. Under her direction, the team quickly grew from seven to 53 competitive dancers. Receiving many top awards and scholarships, many members have gone on to professional careers. She can also be seen in Sugar a music video by Connie Lim. Marie is a Module 1 certified Acrobatic Arts Instructor. She is known as an excellent technician and has the ability to bring the best out in all dancers from beginning to advanced pre-professionals. Marie teaches tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, acro, hip-hip, ballet, pre-ballet and combo classes.
Andie Murray
Instructor
Andie grew up in a small town just south of Reno and first began taking gymnastics classes at a young age. After many years of gymnastics, Andie decided to transition into dance at the age of eight. She started her training at All About Dance studio and became passionate for all genres, quickly joining their competition team and competing for many years. At the age of twelve she won the title of Spotlight Dance Cup’s teen national soloist in 2017. In 2020, she began instruction, training, and joined the competition team at Western Nevada Performing Art Center under the guidance of Gina Davis. During this time, she received the Honored Dancer Nominee scholarship from Revive dance competition and auditioned in San Diego, California for a chance to win the Honored Dancer title. In her last season with WNPAC she also began teaching classes at Xscape Performing Arts Center. This fall she will be performing in the show “The Game” premiering at We The Theater in Reno.
Mariah Wildman
Instructor
Mrs. Mariah Wilderman
Mariah has loved to dance since she began at age three! She trained in ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, hip hop, contemporary and musical theatre. She competed with her studio, Dance Unlimited in Boise, Idaho for 11 years. She was also a member of her high school dance team; where she won multiple state and national awards as a soloist including: Miss Idaho State Invitational, Queen of Western States Competition and 1st Runner up to Miss Dance Drill USA. In college, Mariah was an Aggiette dancer on the Utah State University Spirit Squad. She had the opportunity to perform and cheer at all the University athletic events and many events throughout the community. She will be a forever Aggie fan! She graduated in 2020 with her Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics. Mariah began teaching dance at the age of 16 at her home studio in Idaho. She continued teaching in Logan, Utah at Dance Illusion. She taught competition teams, ballet classes, jazz technique classes, progressive ballet technique classes and preschool classes during her four years there. Mariah has had the opportunity to choreograph for high school teams, studio competition teams, college teams and soloists and has won various awards for her choreography. Mariah loves teaching and is so excited to continue in Nevada! She loves her students and hopes to instill the excitement and passion she has for dance in these amazing young students!
Mr.Eric Ventura
Instructor
With decades of training, complemented by professional experience performing pieces in high-level productions, Eric’s skills and background have prepared him to excel in all things dance and fitness.
Having been trained at Dance Attack Ca, Millennium LA, The Edge PAC, and numerous dance conventions since the age of 12, Eric has acquired the technical aptitude and the rigorous training required to thrive as a professional dancer/instructor while also learning the intricacies of telling stories and showing emotion through choreographed body movements.
He’s performed in productions for NFL halftime shows, Pitbull performance at the Zumba International Convention, assisted in choreography music videos with Vanilla Ice, and many more.
With confidence, physical capacities, and exhaustive classical training, Eric is prepared to significantly contribute to Xscape Performing Arts Center.
Highlights of my experience include...
25 years in the Fitness field
25 years as a dance instructor
15 years as a fitness instructor
5 years as a personal trainer
Former signed dance talent with MSA Talent West Coast
Fitness presenter at National and International Fitness Conferences (IDEA,
IHRSA, Empower, SCW, CanFit Pro)
3 years as a dance & fitness instructor at University of Nevada Reno
Former artistic director and co-owner:
Light Vibe Performing Arts Center and Cottonwood Dance & Fitness
Sierra Taylor-Cline
Instructor
Meet Miss Sierra Taylor-Cline
Sierra Taylor-Cline is a 30-year-old dancer and choreographer from Las Vegas. She has been teaching in Reno & Sparks for twelve 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.
Andrea Young
Dance Instructor
Andrea Young has been dancing since she was 5 and danced competitively until she was 18 years old with Castro Valley Performing Arts in the Bay Area, CA. Andrea earned her BA in Dance from San Jose State University. She has training in ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, modern, lyrical, swing, dance improv, and musical theatre. She helped start a children's musical theatre company in the Bay Area before moving to San Diego to pursue performing. She performed in and helped choreograph many musical theatre shows with Turning Tydes, Coronado Playhouse, and Pickwick Players. Andrea then began teaching and choreographing shows with Center Stage Productions, a youth theatre program. She recently moved to the Reno/Sparks area and is very excited to be teaching in the studio again!
Miss KT
Instructor
Ms. KT began her dance journey at the age of seven with classical ballet and has since cultivated a diverse performance background that includes jazz, modern dance, fire dancing, and musical theatre. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee before relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006. There, she performed with a wide range of companies and created original works for modern dance concerts, vaudeville shows, and fire performance events.
As her career evolved, Ms. KT discovered a deep passion for teaching. With over 25 years of experience and certification in early childhood education, she specializes in working with young children, offering instruction in a wide array of dance disciplines. Her classes are known for being structured, engaging, inclusive, and full of FUN!
Ms. KT is committed to nurturing the next generation of dancers and movers, helping them develop confidence, creativity, and compassion—both on and off the stage. She is thrilled to be in Nevada and looks forward to the exciting dance adventures ahead.
Kelly August
Ballet, Modern, Jazz and Hip-Hop Instructor
Born in Las Vegas, NV Kelly has been a member of the dance community since the age of 2. Starting with ballet, she continued her formal training with the Nevada Ballet Theater while competing alongside Center Stage Dance Academy. Furthering her academic training in dance, she studied at the Las Vegas Academy for Performing arts before moving to Reno, NV to attend University of Nevada, Reno for Geology, Hydro-geology, and Dance. Kelly has a large range of performance experience in academic commercial settings. Her expertise is highlighted by her back of house, production, and planning for large scale performances, such as Hip Hop International and International Aerobic Championship. She teaches a range of styles including Jazz, Ballet, Hip Hop, Heels, Contemporary, Latin, Modern, Technique/ Foundations, and Burlesque. You can find her staged works at national dance competitions and dance festivals. In 2023, Kelly founded ConfiDance, a training program in various styles to help grow and educate the dance community in technique. You can find her work at Xscape P.A.C., Ethaerial Studios and in various works. Kelly is also the Director of Revelation, a local Cha-Cha Company. Passionate and driven, she draws inspiration from all movement and art.
Aliza Davis
Hip-Hop, Ballet, Jazz Teacher
​
Aliza Davis is a dancer and scholar with a B.A. in Sociology and Dance from Loyola Marymount University, emphasizing dance pedagogy, storytelling, and cultural retention. While at LMU, she served as President of Radix Dance Crew for two years and conducted research on dance as it informs knowledge of the self, community, and spirituality.
As a Reno native, she trained at Nevada Dance Academy under Diane Guest Hoff and Ava Kerr, and has performed in The Nutcracker with San Diego Ballet, MTV’s Club Quarantine, and the AMDA Summer Conservatory. Aliza blends academic insight with artistic expression to create meaningful, culturally-rooted work.
Holli Charm
Instructor
Miss Holli started dancing at seven years old, training in ballet, jazz, tap, acro, hip-hop, musical theater, and lyrical. She danced competitively until she was 15. During that time, she performed with her dance studio at Disney Magic Music Days and on Carnival Cruise Lines, was a guest performer for the Miss Washington pageant, and performed at the pre-game show for a Seattle Sonics vs LA Lakers game. At 15, Miss Holli moved from Washington state to southern Arizona and continued dancing with other dance studios in Arizona before graduating high school. Miss Holli received dance training at SLCC, CSN, and UNLV while she pursued her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology and eventually got her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of St. Augustine School of Health Sciences in San Marcos, CA. Miss Holli is currently working full-time as a pediatric physical therapist while teaching at Xscape Performing Arts.