Dance Faculty Biographies

A Floridian since birth, Ashley Ruth has been dancing since the age of two. She has studied a myriad of dance styles including ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, contemporary and Irish. An avid music fan, Ashley Ruth has been studying at Time to Shine in musical theater, voice, violin and guitar. One of her favorite aspects of dance is performing and she is an original member of TTS’s performance company, where she has been seen onstage throughout the greater Pensacola area, and has been cast in soloist roles including Arabian, Spanish and Clara in TTS’s Nutcracker. Ashley Ruth has received both Diamond and Outstanding Judge’s awards for her solo in competitions and earned the honor of the Terpsichore Award in 2022. The summer of 2023, she trained at the Joffrey Ballet summer intensive as well as the NYCDA summer intensive in New York City. Ashley Ruth is excited to put everything she’s got into teaching young dancers and hopes to instill a passion and love of dance into her students this year! 

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. 

Brandy has a love of dance that has carried through her whole life. She began her training as a young child in upstate New York and continued her training here in Florida after her family moved. She has trained in ballet, pointe, lyrical, modern and jazz under the tutelage of Miss Julie and Miss Christy for many years here in the Pensacola area, also being an assistant in multiple classes with them. Leaving dance for awhile to pursue a career in hair design, run her own successful business and start a family, she is ready to return to dance and share her passion and creativity with our youngest dancers. She has a special heart for the "littles" and hopes to spark their passion for dance that will continue for many years! 

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. 

Born in Ypsilanti, Michigan but mostly a Floridian since birth, Lexie began dancing at the age of 2 and has been dancing for the last 15 years. She has trained at Time To Shine from its inception and will complete her final year as a student and member of Center Dance Company before graduating in 2024. Throughout her dance career Lexie gained broad experience in ballet, pointe, lyrical, modern, contemporary, jazz, tap, hip hop and musical theatre. She also is an accomplished singer and studies piano. As a dancer, she has consistently placed in the top ten for all her dances at competitions, first in her solo category and a coveted special Judge’s Choice award, in addition to invitations to nationals. She has also been a featured soloist in Nutcracker dancing the roles of Dewdrop, Arabian and Clara. A top honor at TTS is the Terpsichore Award, which Lexie earned this past season, affording her the challenging opportunity to choreograph a group piece for 14 teacher assistants to be performed in the Grand Finale Showcase. Lexie’s compassion and love for children shines through in her teaching. She first became an assistant at the age of 11 and has since had extensive experience teaching but her particular passion is for preschool-aged children. Lexie aspires to continue dancing after college as a double major in dance and pediatric nursing.

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.

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.