Dance Instructors

Mrs.Thereza DeFelice Bryce-Cotes, Dance Instructor

Mrs.Thereza DeFelice Bryce-Cotes began dancing at age 9 and was soloist with the Lake Charles Civic Ballet under the direction of Lady Leah LaFargue.  At age 16 she received a full scholarship to study dance at SMU with Nakita Talin.  Thereza attended LSU from 1972-1974 and was principal soloist with the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre under Elissa Fuchs(formerly with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo), and performed roles in Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Giselle, and Capriccio Italian. 

Thereza danced with the National Ballet of Lima, Peru South America in 1975.  She then moved to Tyler in 1977, established the Dance Factory with Pamela Erwin, and taught dance together for 23 years, until 2000. Thereza taught college credit dance classes at TJC for 2 semesters in 1983/1984.   She choreographed the ballet "Pointe Piece" for Tyler Civic Ballet--then, under Paula Sansom.  She studied and trained during the summer months with the San Francisco Dance Center under Kahz Zmuda from 1983-2008. 

Karla Harmdierks, Dance Instructor

Karla began her dance training at the Delta Fern-Wisdom School of Classical Ballet in 1984.  In 1989 she became an instructor at the school and in 1994 became the director of the school as well.  She directs, choreographs, and performs in the yearly ballet school performances.

Ms. Harmdierks is currently teaching preschool at Woodvale Preschool in Big Sandy.  She is also pursuing a writing career in children’s literature and hopes to be published soon.

Ashlee Persing, Ballet Master

Ashlee Persing began, and has continued, her dance education under the direction of Marlene Dickson, the founder and director of Arts With A Mission in Lindale, Texas and later attended the School of Performing Arts also under the direction of Mrs. Dickson.  At the age of seventeen Ashlee began directing a dance ministry for junior and senior high schoolers that included community performances as well as two Christmas productions and an Easter production “Above All.”

In 2003 she joined Regen Productions, a multi-media performing arts company that toured the United States where she performed with them for two and a half years as an actor and dancer.  She completed multiple East and West coast tours performing in 21 different states and in cities such as New York City, LA, San Diego, and Houston. While with the company she performed various roles such as a choreographer, film manager, and production manager for their productions of “Fossick Café,” “De l’Amour,” and “Life.”

In 2006 she continued her dance training when she was accepted to the Belhaven College Certificate of Dance program in Jackson, Mississippi, a one-year program that focused on the technical and artistic development of the dancer in ballet and modern dance.  While at Belhaven she received instruction from Betsy McMillan, Britta Wynne, Ravenna Tucker, Cynthia Newland, and Krista Bower.  After completing the Certificate Program Mrs. Persing returned to East Texas and attended TJC and the college dance program under the direction of Jennifer Bailey, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and received her Associate in Arts degree in Dance in December of 2008.  For the past two years she has been teaching and choreographing for the Beginner and Beginner/Intermediate levels of Modern dance at Arts With a Mission in Lindale and has previously taught multiple levels of classical ballet at TJC.  This past spring she came back to TJC as a guest choreographer for the college modern dance class preparing them for their spring performance.  For the past two years has participated in the “Nutcracker,” first as a rehearsal assistant and then performing in 2008, with other performances including “Le Corsaire” and “Giselle” and creating choreography for “Sleeping Beauty,” the Student/Faculty Recital, and Dancefest.

Brooke Price, Dance Instructor

Brooke Price began her training with Patti Patterson and later with Inge Frank and Kym Lanier.   She has spent summers studying with Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet, Ballet Hawaii and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. 

Brooke joined Tyler Civic Ballet/Ballet Tyler as a senior company member in 2002; advancing to soloist in 2006.  Her performance credits include roles in Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Nutcracker, Cinderella and Coppelia to name a few.  

She has danced in classical productions with the Tyler Symphony Orchestra and the Honolulu Symphony and performed alongside professional dancers from San Francisco Ballet, Orlando Ballet, and Houston Ballet.  Brooke has won top awards in regional competitions for both classical and contemporary styles.  

She has taught all levels of ballet, starting as a teacher’s apprentice in 2005 and becoming a teacher in 2007 at the School of Ballet Tyler.  She has choreographed individual competition pieces and larger production roles.  Brooke’s gift of providing technical training and love of dance will inspire your dancer to become a Prima Ballerina.

Allyson Samford, Dance Instructor

Allyson Samford is currently a biology major at UT Tyler. Dancing is her passion and has been enjoying it for 18 years. Miss Samford started her dancing career at Candy Crocker School of Dance where she attended for 13 years. She was a cheerleader in high school and also danced at Spirit of Tyler where Miss Samford was the Dance captain for two years. She has trained in hip-hop, jazz, ballet, tap and lyrical, as well as many different technique classes. While being on the Spirit of Tyler dance team Miss Samford won many different national championships. After 9 years on the team, she School of Ballet, and have truly enjoyed working with the students. Miss Samford loves teaching dance to all ages and hope to help anyone who is interested in any style.

Mrs. Shurrell Smith Wiebe, Dance Instructor

Mrs. Shurrell Smith Wiebe has 35 years of dance experience, including 18 years as a

performer, teacher, and choreographer. She studied internsively under the direction of Pam Erwin and Thereza Bryce-Cotes. She performed in the Dance Factory's top perfoming group, performing concerts locally and others around east Texas. She also attended three years of summer intensives at Texas Christian University, two years at Alvin Ailey in New York, and one year in Los Angeles with Doug Cauldwell.

In 1987 she trained with Dallas Black Dance theatre in Dallas where she later then went on to perform with the company. Shurrell recieved a full dance scholarship to Oklahoma University in 1989. She chose to move to California where she continued training and had small dance roles in the t.v. series Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and various commercials. In 1991 she went to Kilgore College on a dance scholarship and gaduated with a dance degree. Shurrell auditioned for John Robert Powers Talent division and performed for the International Modeling and Talent

Association in Los Angeles.  She was on the North Texas Dance Team in 1992. She recieved a Bachelors Degree in 1995 from UTTyler. One year later she added a degree in Education and taught for Tyler ISD as well as taught evening dance classes for Pam Erwin.  She was 1999 Teacher of the Year at Plyler. 

Shurrell also taught for Star Dance Productions, School of Ballet Tyler, and worked and choreographed pieces for company members of Ballet Tyler. Shurrell continued her training as a dancer and teacher attending wokshops at TWU, Alvin Ailey, Planet Funk, L.A. Dance Force, Joe Tremaine. Susan Douglas Roberts, Finus Yung, Gelsey Kirkland, and recently attended a workshop at Julliard in New York.

Shurrell has choreographed many productions such as : Trail of Tears, Dance Around The World, American Portraits-Schools, Fame, Dance School Musical, Cats, Africa, the opening for

Miss Tyler pageant in 2005, Just Say No for TISD students and many other individual pieces for YAGP. She has trained dancers that have gone on to recieve dance scholarships and company positions. Shurrell has a passion for the art of dance and hopes to pass this appreciation on to others.