Teacher Bios
Celinda is the owner of En Pointe Dance & Fitness. She began dancing at the age of three in a small town in Northern California. She danced with Ballet Repertoire Theatre throughout her high school years.
She continued to dance in college and followed her love of dance to California State University, Long Beach where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance. Celinda owned and operated a children's mobile dance company for the past ten years, bringing dance to children in preschools, elementary schools and junior high schools.
She has performed in ballets such as "The Nutcracker," "Cinderella," "Alice In Wonderland," "Hansel & Gretel," "Sleeping Beauty" and many others. Celinda is a certified Burn at the Barre instructor and is licensed to teach Zumba, Zumba Toning and Zumbatomics.
She is excited for the opportunity to bring dance and fitness to the community through En Pointe Dance & Fitness.
Liz Valdez Gilliland, a Long Beach native, has trained extensively in all genres of dance throughout the L.A. and Orange County areas. She began her training at the age of 8 years old at a local studio in Long Beach. Shortly after beginning her training she began her teaching career at the age of 12. Liz danced through high school at Wilson and received a dance scholarship to Chapman University where she continued to broaden her dance training to include Modern, Dunham African Dance, Pilates and Musical Theatre. She has performed with Van Son Entertainment in Orange County and Atlantic City as well as various venues throughout the community. Ms. Liz has taught all ages from toddlers to adults and currently teaches Creative Movement, Ballet/Tap Combo, Barre and Adult Lyrical. She believes that there is healing and joy in movement and is pursuing a degree in Dance Movement Therapy.
Olivia, a New Mexico native, has been training in ballet, contemporary, and hip-hop for 18 years. She was a soloist in the Las Cruces Chamber Ballet throughout high school - dancing as the Spanish Chocolate in the Nutcracker, the Diamond Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, and the Black Swan in Swan Lake. While attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for her bachelor's in civil engineering, Olivia joined United in Movement, a dance team focusing on hip-hop and modern dance styles. During her presidency, she and her board of directors planned a performance that showcased all 13 dance clubs on campus, which sold out the 1,300-person capacity of the Performing Arts Center. Since moving to Long Beach, Olivia is looking forward to helping people realize their passion for dance, just as she has.
Veronica Resa Leveaux, a Long Beach local has been dancing and training ever since she was 2 years old at her local dance studio. She trained in Ballet, Contemporary, Hiphop, Jazz, Tap, and more, With her passion for dance she soon joined the Wilson High School’s Dance team her freshman year, making it into 7/8. She continued to dance all four years of High school, and improved allowing her to join Advanced Dance when she was a sophomore. Now in college, Veronica continues to share her love and passion for dance by teaching at En Pointe!
Elizabeth has been training in ballet, jazz, and contemporary for over ten years. She grew up in
Fallbrook, California and studied classical ballet at Academy of Ballet Arts. She performed in
the Nutcracker, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Alice in Wonderland, and Sleeping Beauty. During
summers, she attended intensives at Ballet Arizona and State Street Ballet.
In high school, she joined the dance team where she learned jazz, tap, and hip-hop techniques.
She choreographed pieces for football games and recitals, and joined the National Honor
Society for Dance Arts. Elizabeth also became a swim instructor and discovered her love for
teaching children’s classes.
She attended San Diego State University for two years, where she had the opportunity to train
in modern, ballet, Horton, and somatic techniques. She collaborated on many choreographic
projects and performed in the University Dance Company. She was awarded a dance
scholarship from the Kiwanis Club of Downtown San Diego. Elizabeth recently transferred to
Cal State Long Beach, where she is pursuing her BA in dance. She is excited to be furthering
her education across the dance field. She is thrilled to be starting her teaching journey with En
Pointe, and looking forward to sharing her passion for dance with the Long Beach community.
Johnny was born in Montebello Ca, but quickly moved to Yuma Az, where he spent most of his childhood. Upon graduating high school, Johnny was invited to audition for a “Scooby Doo Production” and little did he know this would be the start of his dance career by getting casted as Fred for 2 out of the 3 performances. At the studio Johnny quickly started to excel as a late start and excelled in Jazz and Hip Hop, not losing sight of training in lyrical, contemporary and ballet.
After two years at the studio, Johnny was asked to Choreograph for a local high school color guard where he went from just a small piece for competition to head coach the next 5 years.
During his collegiate time in 2010 in the fall, Johnny then Auditioned for the Arizona Western College Matadors Dance team and became captain in his first year. Following that year he became head choreographer where his choreography consistently was made up of Jazz, Pom, Side Lines, Hip-Hop, and Cheer!
Throughout his career he has also been able to choreograph 20+ quinceñeras too. Johnny is super passionate, excited and humbled to be a part of En Pointe and can’t wait to work with all of you!
Ashley Temeyer, a Florida native, moved to Long Beach in 2022 to attend CSULB for her BFA in dance. Ashley grew up dancing competitively and training in contemporary, ballet, modern, tap, jazz, and lyrical techniques. She graduated from a performing arts high school and is continuing her dance education in college. She loves sharing her passion for dance and hopes to inspire the next generation of young dancers.
Melanie has been a dancer since she was old enough to walk! She has trained in all styles of dance, but her favorites are Musical Theatre and Jazz. Melanie is originally from Kentucky and moved to New York City after high school to go to a professional training program at The Institute for American Musical Theatre. While in NYC, she was a backup dancer for an indie pop artist, Shenna, she professionally choreographed Andrew Lippa’s “The Wild Party” at The Old Library Theatre in Fair Lawn, NJ, and she obtained her certificate to teach MELT Method. Life brought her over to Long Beach 3 years ago and now she cannot wait to bring her love of Musical Theatre Dance and MELT Method to En Pointe!
Morgan has been practicing ballet and dance pedagogy for many years. She danced pre-professionally with Placer Theatre Ballet and Ballet Rejoice Company in both large-scale productions and community outreach performances, appearing in roles such as Dew Drop, Spanish Chocolate, Gamzatti, and Principal Sylph. In addition to performing, Morgan has taught ballet for all ages as both an instructor and rehearsal assistant. In college, Morgan served as an education intern and instructor’s assistant at American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in NYC, which greatly informs her ballet classes. Morgan is thrilled to participate in the Long Beach dance community by taking classes and teaching at En Pointe.
John Marco first started dancing at a local studio in metro Detroit under the direction of Kathy Cooke. Over the course of his training, he had the opportunity to study with many influential teachers, including Sergey Rayevskiy, Nikoloz Makhateli, and Noonie Anderson as well as in Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's grad program. Following his initial studies, he danced with Suttle Dance in Metro Detroit under the direction of Sylvia Suttle, working with local artists and choreographers in ensemble and soloist roles. Mr. Melucci had the great opportunity to dance with Ballet Rhode Island under the direction of Kathleen Breen-Combs for their 2021-22 season as well. John Marco sees dance as a means to communicate and connect beyond words. Through the language of dance and choreography, he wishes to connect people cathartically beyond boundaries. He recently moved to Long Beach and is enjoying connecting with the dance scene in Southern California.
Chelsea Brooks is a recent transplant to Long Beach from Chicago. She graduated with honors from Columbia College Chicago with a B.A. in dance, choreographic concentration. She received extensive ballet training through high school, but fell in love with modern and contemporary dance in college. After graduation, Chelsea danced as an apprentice for Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater and company member for Noumenon Dance Ensemble, Innervation Dance Cooperative SPEAKS, Tapestry Dance Company, Project606, and a featured dancer with Core Project. Her choreography has been showcased at Going Dutch, an all female choreographers showcase in Chicago, and Delve Showcase. Her most recent passion is fitness and completed her certification in Jillian Michaels Body Shred in 2015.
Trinity is from originally from Temecula, CA and moved to Long Beach in 2022 to attend CSULB. Trinity grew up in competition dance which provided her with ample training and technique in ballet, tap, contemporary, hip hop, and lyrical. She also had the opportunity to perform in World of Dance LA 2023 exhibition with Davin Lawson. Trinity is currenty a BFA dance major, which has provided her with many amazing opportunities such as being in Azuki Umeda’s piece “How I Became Kinder & Kinder” that is going on to perform around LA, San Diego, and the Bay Area. Trinity has been dancing for over 15 years and loves to share her love of dance with others!
Destiny Santiago has been training in jazz, hip-hop, tap, lyrical/contemporary, ballet, musical theatre,ect., for 13 years. Her journey began on a competitive dance team which gave her many opportunities including, performing at the Warriors Half-Time shows for four years, obtaining the title of Dancer of the Year and National Champion several times, working with many professional choreographers, and performing on Disneyland stages, as well as dancing in the Disneyland Christmas parades.
In High School, Destiny joined and choreographed for the Cheer and POM team and for the school dance shows all four years. Once she graduated, she relocated from the Bay Area to Long Beach to further her education at Cal State University, Long Beach, where she plans to obtain a degree in psychology as well as a minor in dance. Once Destiny moved here in 2019, she joined a local hip-hop dance team known as PAC Modern. Destiny Santiago has a strong passion for dance and hopes to make an impact on future generations!