Monica Galindo Thompson

Monica Galindo Thompson

Director

Monica was born and raised in Oxnard where she began her training with the Channel Islands Ballet Academy. At age 17, Monica accepted a full scholarship and stipend with the San Francisco Ballet School. Monica continued dancing with the San Francisco Ballet Company for three consecutive years, performing classics such as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and many neoclassical works. Monica performed many leading roles as a guest artist with regional and national companies. Monica also directed her sold out production of “Toxique… a love fever” a cabaret that ran for 3 consecutive weekends in Santa Barbara.

Due to her knowledge of dance, knack with children and bilingual skill, Monica has taught creative movement classes to nearly every public school in Ventura County. Thus, Mrs. Thompson was an El Concilio Latino Leadership Honoree for Cultural Arts in 1998. El Concilio stated “She is an excellent role model for our children, a wonderful mentor…In her presentations she builds self-esteem and the importance of hard work, commitment and staying in school”.

For over 20 years Monica has been a well-respected instructor and choreographer in Ventura County. Premier Dance Studio has been voted among the “Best of” Ventura County for best dance studio and dance instructor since 2008.

Monica combines her business savvy with her natural talent as a dance educator and owner of Premier Dance Studio. She feels fortunate to share her passion and professional dance experiences with her Premier students and most importantly giving back to her community.

 

Gianna Thompson

Gianna Thompson

Miss Gianna has been dancing with Premier since she was 2 years old.  Gianna has studied Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop and Contemporary.  Over the years she competed in dance and participated twice in the Disneyland Parade. Her passion for teaching was confirmed when she attended the Dance Teacher Web Conference in Vegas where she took class with the most respected master teachers in the industry.  Gianna enjoys sharing her passion for dance with her students.  Miss Gianna also flexes her leadership skills often with assisting at our recitals and events.
    Marni King

    Marni King

    Marni King began her career as a dancer winning multiple scholarships in ballet, jazz and modern from Ballet Arts, Professional Dancers Society, Stanley Holden’s, Debbie Reynolds , and the Ka Ron Brown Dancers company. Her credits as a dancer includes; Debbie Reynolds celebrity benefits, Stevie Wonder’s “Black Arts Festival” at the Rose Bowl, ” 14th Annual NAACP Image Awards”, opened for a Richard Pryor movie premier, a tribute to Foster Johnson hosted by the Nicholas Brothers, P.D.S. Tribute to Johny Carson, performed with the ” Dottie Starr Tap Dancers”, on a “Different Strokes” episode, the NBC Affiliates Awards Show and many more. She has taught and choreographed in the Ventura and L.A. County area for over 20 years.

    In addition to yearly spring performances, she choreographed; Nutcracker; advanced tap for Academy of Dance Tap Team winning multiple awards and invitations to nationals from Starbound, Kar, Tremaines, Dance Rave and Headliners; also a ballet duet that won the highest score in their group size for Starbound. Recently she’s won High Gold with Premier’s Tap Team as well with the intermediate and advanced tappers. Also, Marni acted as head choreographer and judge for the Ventura County “Festival of Talent” directed by Brian Macdonald artistic director of the Rubicon Theatre. She loves to share her passion for dance with her students!

    Mia Montalvo

    Mia Montalvo

    Miss Mia has been dancing since she was 3 years old. Mia has studied Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary and has competed in Highland for many years.  Currently Mia is attending Moorpark City College where she is majoring in dance and kinesiology.  Mia has assisted dance classes for years and is pleased to be teaching at Premier.
    Samantha Ruberti

    Samantha Ruberti

    Samantha Ruberti Is a Classical Ballet, Pointe, and Contemporary teacher from Southern California. She grew up in a strict Russian Vagonova technique ballet school where she honed her skills under Clarissa Boeriu and Monica Thompson, who first put her en pointe almost 20 years ago. She developed her Contemporary passion while training under Jason Coosner and Krenley Guzman at Ventura College and continued training at Rock School for Dance Education and Joffrey Ballet New York. She then moved to Italy with her husband and directed the Aviano Air Force military base’s Dance Program. She then went on to teach at two competitive dance studios in Florida where she received high marks for choreography and teaching technique. Returning to Italy in 2019, Sam went back to the classroom to study under Ballet mistress Gabriella Arnoldi and eventually started to teach her peers in Italy as well. In 2020 the Pandemic hit and Sam with her husband and two children made the decision to return to California to be with family and now is incredibly excited to join the Premier Dance Studio! Sam’s passion for teaching started when she was young and has continued to grow. Her philosophy in training elite dancers involves hands on learning and primarily dancing alongside the students. She loves to teach in her pointe shoes to help students connect with what they are feeling and how it should look. Sam is a fun energetic teacher who prides herself on being able to connect with the student on a personal level so that they may be open to constructive criticism in a way that will help them accomplish their dance goals and continuously blossom into dancers and wonderful people they are destined to be.

    Caitlin Griffith "Ms. Katt"

    Caitlin Griffith "Ms. Katt"

    Katt was born and raised in Simi Valley. At the age of 3, she started dancing in Ballet and Tap with Patsy Swayze. Then she discovered Irish Dancingand fell in love! She competed in Irish Dance for 14 years and has accomplished high titles and a tour in South America with the company Celtic Fusion under the direction of Liam Harney. At the age of 8, she stared back up with ballet, tap and jazz under the teaching of Marla Bingham. From there she has been with the Joffrey School of Ballet in New York and has studied under famous choreographers such as Mandy Moore, Nichelle Bane, Mia Michaels, Malaya and many more at The Edge Performing Arts Center. She started teaching at the age of 15 and hasn’t looked back since. She loves teaching and showing the love of dance to all her students!

     

    Hernan Montenegro

    Hernan Montenegro

    Hernan Montenegro was born and raised in Santiago, Chile where he graduated from the Escuela de Ballet del Teatro Municipal de Santiago. At the age of 16, he won the silver medal at the Lima International Ballet Competition and a contract with Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida where he spent five years as a principal dancer. In 2016, Hernan joined Ballet de Santiago. In 2020, he moved to the United States as a principal guest artist and teacher with Southwest Virginia Ballet, Utah Metropolitan Ballet, Virginia National Ballet, and Star City School of Ballet. Most recently he danced with American Repertory Ballet under the direction of Ethan Stiefel. Hernan has also attended multiple festivals and toured throughout Peru, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, and Poland. He is currently dancing with State Street Ballet. Hernan has had years of teaching experience.

     

    Hallie Rumsey

    Hallie Rumsey

    Hallie Rumsey began her dance training at the age of 13 in Media, Pennsylvania under the direction of Anastasia Babayeva and Denis Gronostayskiy. She competed as a finalist in Youth America Grand Prix and attended Summer Intensives at the Kirov Academy of Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet School, and Ballet X. She was an apprentice with International Ballet Classique for three years before joining Ballet Theatre of Maryland. In 2018 she joined American Repertory Ballet where she danced for five seasons performing leading roles in Giselle, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, and Paquita. Hallie currently dances with State Street Ballet. Hallie has been teaching ballet, jazz contemporary and acrobatics off and on since 2012. 

     

     

    Jason Young

    Jason Young

    Jason Young has over 25 years’ experience in the entertainment industry. From a very young age, he has been both creator and performer, and as such, has developed a deeply passionate and unique approach to creating. Young’s extreme versatility and experience as a Creative Director, Choreographer and Performer has afforded him opportunities to work on World Tours, Broadway, Television and Film. Young creative directed and choreographed Ricky Martin’s 2018 Latin Billboards opening performance and was the Supervising Choreographer on 3 of Madonna’s World Tours. He has also worked with Britney Spears, Usher, Chris Brown, and Missy Elliot. Young has proven time and time again that his professionalism and experience always add a high level of excellence to every project, keeping him a sought-after talent for years.

     

    Madeline Stiner

    Madeline Stiner

    Madeline grew up in Orange County, where she began her formal dance training at the American Ballet Theatre Gillespie School under the direction of Alaine Haubert. She has attended summer intensives with companies such as American Ballet Theatre (ABT), Bolshoi Ballet, Boston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and many more. She received private training from former principal dancer Stella Abrera, the current director of ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. While completing her B.A. in Political Science at the University of California, Irvine, she received a two-year contract to train with American Repertory Ballet, where she danced roles in ballets including The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Cinderella, and Giselle. Madeline is currently a  State Street Ballet trainee.