Debbie Pierce, Studio Owner & Artistic Director
Born in Seattle, Washington. Debbie started dance classes at the age of five. She took tap, jazz and ballet but quickly became aware that ballet would become her main focus. She went on to study at the prestigious Cornish School of the Arts. Her father's employment was transferred to Portland, Oregon and this is where she continued intensive study under Jacqueline Shumacher at Portland Ballet School. Debbie later became a member of the cities first company, the Portland Ballet Company. During her dance career she also studied under Robert Joffrey, The San Francisco Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. She went on to instruct classical ballet to the youth in our great community and share with them her passion and comittment to excellence. She owned and operated Mt. Hood Ballet Academy for 23 years in which time she created the first East County presentation of The Nutcracker. Countless young dancers have been given the opportunity to dance lead roles in this ageless classic during her time at Mt. Hood Ballet. She also produced numerous full length classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Coppélia, Les Sylphides, Jewels and Goldberg Variations to name a few. In 2008 Debbie sold her studio. Two years later, she missed teaching and went back to work for Mt. Hood Dance Academy. During that time it became evident that her passion for offering excellence not only in ballet, but in other genres of dance could only be realized by opening her own business once again. It is with great excitement that this dream will be realized! Debbie looks forward to sharing her expertise and serving our local community once again!
Clarissa Espino
Clarissa graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Cum Laude at Cornish College of the Arts in 2007. Some of Clarissa's additional dance education includes: The Alonzo King Lines Pre-Professional program in 2003, and the American Ballet Theatre teaching program in 2006. She is certified through level 3 of the ABT National Training program. Clarissa taught at the France Academy of Dance in Arizona, and guest taught with the Polaris Dance Theater in 2010. She was the artistic director of Alloy Dance Project until 2012 where she then went on to coach, choreograph, and teach with Spotlight Performing Arts from 2012 - 2016. More recently Clarissa taught with Lake Oswego Academy of Dance, and helped choreograph and produce their Nutcracker holiday performance. Clarissa co-founded and remains active with Bridge City Dance in Portland, Oregon. Last but not least, Clarissa is here at Inspire Dance Centre teaching full time in ballet, pointe, contemporary ballet, choreographing pieces in The Nutcracker ballet, and is one of the IDC Company team coaches.
Dawn Griffith
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Dawn began dancing at a very young age with Mt. Hood Ballet Academy under Debbie Pierce who nurtured her passion for the art of dance. Dawn has always had a deep passion for teaching and has been teaching in studios for the last seventeen years. Upon Graduating from High School she moved to Seattle to attend the highly prestigious Cornish College of the Arts seeking her BFA in Dance. After performing in pieces with the Cornish Dance theatre choreographed by Wade Madsen and Deborah Wolf, she was also chosen for a restaging of the world renowned “Choreographic Offering” by Jose Limon and ultimately graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in May of 2005 Magna Cum Laude. After Graduation, she relocated to Southern California teaching at Focus Dance Center in Irvine, CA, learning, choreographing, and teaching amongst many world-renowned choreographers and teachers. She then returned to the Northwest to continue choreographing and teaching at local studios in the Seattle area and was Co-Artistic Director of Camille’s Dance Edge for 6 years. Dawn has received numerous Choreography awards both regionally and nationally with group routines scoring in the top 5 at nationals 7 years in a row and many soloists with both regional and national titles as well. Many of Dawn’s students have continued on to have very successful journeys in dance, both in college and professionally. Her students have moved on to dancing in College dance programs, touring on Cruise Ships, touring with Dance Conventions, dancing with major Dance Companies, and most recently one of her students, Casey Askew, was in the top 6 on the renowned hit TV Show, “So You Think You Can Dance”. She has always felt very passionate about sharing her love for this amazing art form with others, believing that sharing how she fell in love with this beautiful outlet of expression will help to ensure that dance will live on and grow in her students for years to come. Dawn is very excited to be back in Oregon teaching and spreading her knowledge and love for dance.
Kirsten Hill
Kirsten began her dance training at the age of three in Denver, Colorado. By the age of seven, Kirsten’s family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where she began her dance training with Nevada Ballet Theatre. With an emphasis on ballet, Kirsten was able to receive training in Vaganova Ballet, the Russian method that would allow her to train from some of the most respected ballet dancers from around the world. At the age of 13, Kirsten began trainee work with the Nevada Ballet Theatre Company where she performed various company performances as a corps de ballet member. Kirsten performed in The Nutcracker for 11 years with roles ranging from Gingersnap at the age of 7, to a Snowflake and Flower at the age of 18. She was also lucky enough to be a Dryad in Don Quixote, a Peasant in Coppelia, and a Willi in Giselle. Kirsten’s ballet training included attending summer intensive programs at Long Beach Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Boston Ballet and the American Ballet Theater. She has taken master classes from Cynthia Gregory, Fernando Bujones, Gelsey Kirkland, Ben Vereen, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Along with ballet, Kirsten pursued her passion for tap, jazz and musical theater and she performed in community theater productions such as Oklahoma, Cinderella and Seussical the Musical. Kirsten began her teaching career at the age of 18 in Eugene, Oregon. Kirsten taught for five years at Ballet North West Academy. At BNWA, Kirsten taught Vaganova ballet and also founded the musical theater program. She was able to gain the rights to the musicals Wicked, The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, and The Music Man. She then reworked the productions for the children’s musical theater program. Kirsten moved to Gresham in 2011, where she began teaching at Stites Performing Arts, and currently still teaches ballet at Stites. Kirsten is thrilled to be joining the Inspire family, and bring her knowledge and love for dance to the Inspire students.
Cassandra Jusino
Cassandra Jusino had a long career as a competitive gymnast at both level 10 as well as the elite level in the Pacific Northwest. This included success an athletic member at the Multnomah Athletic Club through high school where at the Junior Olympic Nationals she became the National Vault Champion of 2002. She then received a full athletic scholarship to Arizona State University where she competed in the all-around in all 4 of her competitive years.
Her years as a gymnast have assisted her in choreographing top rated routines for optional athletes since returning to Oregon after her collegiate career. This became a big part of her role in her 5 years of coaching at the MAC and have continued for the past 2 years at Rigert Elite Gymnastics. Cassandra has helped with recreational classes as well as being an assistant team coach with the Optional girls’ team. In this position, she supports the program by working with the top competitive athletes.
Cassandra’s commitment to gymnastics lead her to complete both the W300 and W400 training courses through the USAG certification classes, which makes her among the top qualified coaches in the country. She is excited to bring her years of experience as a gymnastics coach to the world of Dance here at Inspire within the stretch and tumble classes.
When Cassandra isn’t working in the gym, her favorite thing to do is spend time with her son, Gavin. Gavin is a 12-year-old athlete himself and loves baseball.
Her years as a gymnast have assisted her in choreographing top rated routines for optional athletes since returning to Oregon after her collegiate career. This became a big part of her role in her 5 years of coaching at the MAC and have continued for the past 2 years at Rigert Elite Gymnastics. Cassandra has helped with recreational classes as well as being an assistant team coach with the Optional girls’ team. In this position, she supports the program by working with the top competitive athletes.
Cassandra’s commitment to gymnastics lead her to complete both the W300 and W400 training courses through the USAG certification classes, which makes her among the top qualified coaches in the country. She is excited to bring her years of experience as a gymnastics coach to the world of Dance here at Inspire within the stretch and tumble classes.
When Cassandra isn’t working in the gym, her favorite thing to do is spend time with her son, Gavin. Gavin is a 12-year-old athlete himself and loves baseball.
Mackenzie Isaacson
Born and raised in Fairview, Oregon, Mackenzie began dancing at Mt. Hood Ballet Academy at the early age of 3 under the direction of Debbie Pierce. She performed in her first Nutcracker as a mouse at age 6 and continued on to different roles through the many years of performing with Dew Drop being a highlight. After establishing a strong foundation in ballet Mackenzie learned several genres of dance, including jazz, hip hop, lyrical, contemporary and tap.
Mackenzie followed Debbie Pierce when she opened Inspire Dance Centre and as she continued to grow in each genre she began to excel in tap under the direction of Danielle Jackson and more recent April Robinson. She has taken dance intensives with SDL at Whitman College, PDX Tap Alliance and trained with artists such as Casey Askew, Lauren Reins, Maud Arnold, Sam Weber and many others. Mackenzie enjoyed her time on the competition team and competed with several tap solos winning many scholarships and awards at various competitions and conventions. While training at Inspire Mackenzie grew a passion for teaching and has spent several years working with Debbie Pierce, Jane Kelly and April Robinson learning how to teach different ages and styles of dance. Mackenzie is excited to be joining Inspire Dance Centre as a staff member as she starts college to bring her love of teaching into a reality.
Mackenzie followed Debbie Pierce when she opened Inspire Dance Centre and as she continued to grow in each genre she began to excel in tap under the direction of Danielle Jackson and more recent April Robinson. She has taken dance intensives with SDL at Whitman College, PDX Tap Alliance and trained with artists such as Casey Askew, Lauren Reins, Maud Arnold, Sam Weber and many others. Mackenzie enjoyed her time on the competition team and competed with several tap solos winning many scholarships and awards at various competitions and conventions. While training at Inspire Mackenzie grew a passion for teaching and has spent several years working with Debbie Pierce, Jane Kelly and April Robinson learning how to teach different ages and styles of dance. Mackenzie is excited to be joining Inspire Dance Centre as a staff member as she starts college to bring her love of teaching into a reality.
Ellie Sheldon
Ellie grew up in the Chicagoland suburbs where she began dancing at the age of 2. She graduated from Grand Canyon University with her Bachelor of Arts in Dance in 2021 where she was an active member of the Ethington Dance Ensemble performing in works created by Alicia Nascimento-Castro, Susannah Keita, Miguel Perez, and Halley Willcox. In addition she served on the leadership board of the Student Dance Organization as Public Relations Officer and Historian Officer and was a member of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts. Her choreographic work has been selected to represent her university at the Herberger Festival for the Arts and the American College Dance Association Western Conference. She has continued training with intensives such as the Water Street Dance Festival and Space Camp with Open Space Dance Company. Her teaching career began with the Universal Dance Association in 2017 where she worked with numerous dance teams refining their technique, camaraderie and dance team etiquette. She has since continued her teaching career with studios in the Chicagoland area where she believes in promoting a fun, challenging, and encouraging class environment. Ellie is very excited to be joining the Inspire Dance Centre family!
Natalia Thoben
Natalia was born and raised in Mar del Plata, Argentina. She started taking ballet lessons at the age of seven in her hometown with Marilyn Monaco (Colón Theater) and Susy Alvarez (Universite Paris VIII). Throughout the years she assisted workshops and summer intensives with renowned principal dancers and ballet masters such as Cecilia Kerche (Theater of Rio de Janeiro), Hector Zaraspe (Julliard School), Carlos Gacio (Vienna State Opera), Raul Candal (Colón Theater), and Toshie Kobayashi (Royal Academy). In 2009, she performed in a local production of “Giselle” as a soloist, working along with principal dancers and choreographers from Colón Theater. She assisted competitions in Argentina and Brazil, obtaining third place for her “Dulcinea” variation in 2012 and first place for her soloist role on “Medora’s Entrance” scene of “Le Corsaire” in 2013. In 2015 she graduated from Escuela Municipal de Danzas Norma Fontenla obtaining her degree Professor in Classical Dance. Since then she has been working with dancers of all ages and levels and hopes to bring her passion for ballet, knowledge and experience to Inspire Dance Centre.
Jason Wickett - Bio Coming Soon
Josh Murry-Hawkins
Josh studied at Milwaukee Ballet and Joffrey Ballet School on full scholarship. He joined BodyVox and danced with their company for 6 years touring the country and Europe. He was a founding member of Éowyn Emerald & Dancers and toured to Scotland dancing in The Fringe Festival. He has been a guest artist with several high profile ballet schools including The Portland Ballet, Portland Festival Ballet, and Columbia Dance. Currently, Josh is the Dance Director of Riverside Performing Arts and Artistic Director of his professional dance company, Washington Dance Creative.
We are currently implementing an exciting growth and expansion program. We would love for you to be a part of our growing team!
Please contact us if you'd like more information on our current studio employment opportunities. We are always looking to add opportunities for qualified teaching artists to offer Master Classes with us or to join our substitute teacher list.
Please contact us if you'd like more information on our current studio employment opportunities. We are always looking to add opportunities for qualified teaching artists to offer Master Classes with us or to join our substitute teacher list.