Dance Faculty Biographies

Miss Jessica began her dance training when she was three in Stafford, Virginia. She spent her first 15 years dancing and competing in multiple styles. She attended local and national dance competitions where she earned numerous awards, scholarships and titles. Miss Jessica’s love for dance continued as she pursued a B.F.A in dance from Point Park University in Pittsburgh with a concentration in ballet. After graduation, Miss Jessica had the amazing opportunity to dance with Cirque du Soleil for a fundraising gala in Washington, D.C. She also performed professionally for Princess Cruises onboard the Sun Princess. Since living in Pensacola for the past 15 years, Miss Jessica has continued sharing her love and passion for dance by continuing to teach around the area. Her choreography has been showcased at many local performances and dance competitions. Miss Jessica is looking forward to passing on her knowledge and love for dance to the Time To Shine students!

Miss Julie began her dance career when she was three in St. Louis, Missouri. Her love of the art continued throughout her life, culminating in her decision to pursue a B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Wyoming. Julie has danced in many venues across the country, including Chicago and New York, and with many legendary dancers and dance companies including Peter Pucci, Jay Franke, the Martha Graham Dancers and the American Repertory Dance Company. In addition to her professional dance career, Julie has choreographed The Unsinkable Molly Brownand A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, among others. She was voted best choreographer by students and faculty alike in her senior year at the University of Wyoming, as well as best dancer. Additionally, Julie was a cheerleader/dance squad member all through junior high, high school and college. Julie was chosen to represent the U.S. on the Superstar Performance Team, traveling to Ireland. Her goal is to bring her variety of knowledge and joy of dance into their lives so they may experience a well-rounded fine arts education. 

Miss Liz began her dance training at age 3. She has spent 20 years in the dance world training in multiple styles. She spent the first few of those years on competition teams, attending multiple competitions and conventions including Showstopper, I Love Dance, Tremaine, and Dancemakers. At age 8, her family moved to the Pensacola area and she spent several years at Northwest Florida Ballet. While there she performed in several productions including the Nutcracker and Cinderella. Later she went back to competing and spent a year on the Pensacola Junior College (now PSC) dance team, although ballet remains her favorite discipline. Miss loves being a part of the Time to Shine family.

Gracie Kimmons was born and raised in Pace, Florida. She started her dance training at Time to Shine Center for Performing Arts at 7 years old. She performed as a company dancer for many years and took the stage at Disney Springs twice, multiple competitions, arts festivals and nursing homes. She joined the Pace High School Color Guard program in 2021, where she was a featured soloist, earning second place at Winter Guard International Gulfport Regional and first place at Gulf Coast Color Guard and Percussion competitions. She is currently the Assistant Guard Director at Pensacola High School teaching dance and flag. Her strongest passion is in the theatrical arts, extending from her participation with the Pace High Drama Program where she served in officer positions. Her greatest achievement was directing a documentary-theatre play, “Trap” by Steven Gregg and playing a dancing nun in “Sister Act” by Alan Menken. She attended and competed in Florida State Thespian Festivals, earning Superior and Excellent scores on Technical and Performative events. She is now currently attending Pensacola State College to pursue her A.A. degree in Theatre. Her goal in life is to teach the joy and love of theatre to others. 

Katie Rosenau began her training at the American Academy of Ballet, under Maris Battaglia, in Buffalo, New York. In 2005, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.F.A. in Dance from SUNY Brockport. She’s since performed and toured with Pick of the Crop Modern Dance Company, Present Tense Dance, Drumcliffe Irish Arts, Kista Tucker Insights as well as performing her own work in NYC and around the Washington D.C. area including the Kennedy Center. Katie has been teaching for the past twenty years in New York, Maryland, and now in Florida where she is very excited to be a part of the faculty at Time to Shine. 

Miss Christy has extensive professional ballet and modern performing and teaching experience.
She is originally from Oak Harbor, Washington but her professional career was centered in the Midwest. She has trained with internationally renowned teachers and choreographers from Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Alwin Nikolais companies, among many others. She has danced with Grand Rapids Ballet, Aerial Dance Theatre, Detroit Dance Collective, Contemporary Motions and the University of Iowa’s professional touring company. She holds a B.A. in Dance from Hope College in Holland, Michigan and an M.F.A. in Dance Performance from the University of Iowa. Her choreography was showcased at the Mid-States Regional Ballet Festival and the American College Dance Festival and she was given Hope College’s Florence Cavanaugh Award for Outstanding Dance Student. Her passion for teaching comes from cultivating the individual potential in each student while helping them understand the rich tradition and history of dance that has come before them.

Miss Amy comes to us with a wealth of teaching experience behind her. Originally from Central Florida, she began teaching at the age of 16 and owned studios in both Florida and Georgia for a combined 25 years. She has regularly attended Dance Educators of America and Rhee Gold workshops among others to further her own training. While she has taught the full spectrum of styles and has had numerous students perform and win top awards at competitions with her choreography, she has a special passion for the “littles,” the preschool- and kindergarten-aged dancers. She is a proud grandmother to two grandbabies and enjoys sharing her time with them and looks forward to continuing to share her love of dance with the students at Time to Shine. 

Rosemary grew up in Pensacola and started dancing at the age of 5. She has spent 13 years training in multiple styles, specializing in tap and hip hop. Her teen years saw her performing in various festivals and exhibition shows in Escambia County. She stepped away from the dance world to go to college to obtain her degree in Environmental Science from the University of Alabama. Rosemary is very excited to give back to the dance world by sharing her love and passion for the art of dance.