Our Faculty

nicole

Nicole Cote

At the early age of 8, Nicole Cote started dancing in a single jazz class located in Carle Place, New York. After 4 years of studying jazz she then moved to Florida where she began taking classes in Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Hip Hop, and Lyrical with Patricia's School of Dance. Throughout her dance career Nicole has received many wonderful awards and scholarships.

Nicole began competing at the age of 14 with solos, duets, and small groups and has received many first place and high score awards. Nicole performed at local exhibits such as the "Melbourne Arts Festival" and local Florida Pageants. Nicole became a teachers assistant at age 16 and was awarded a full time teaching position shortly after with Patricia's School of Dance for 3 years and for "Kim Cole's Dance Studio for 8 years. Nicole has had the privilege of working with many dancers age 2 thru adult for over 20 years. Nicole Was the first instructor at Kim Cole's Dance Studio to begin the 2 year old creative kids program.

  • Nicole Cote became the director of her own program in 2005 and continues to direct, instruct, and manage "Nicole Cote School of Dance". She continues to travel to many dance conventions and competitions throughout the state of Florida and take classes from master professionals and choreographers to further her knowledge in which she can pass down to her students for years to come. Nicole Cote is recognized for her "top scores" and "top choreography" awards. Nicole Cote became a certified dance instructor in 2006 with "Florida Dance Masters", section 2 and has received her Masters In Arts Degree in Leadership & Management, from Webster University.

katie

Katie Carinci

Katie Carinci began dancing at the early age of 5 taking classes at Kim Coles Dance Studio. She originally began taking classes to follow in her sister's footsteps of wanting to become a dancer. After her sister decided dancing wasn't for her, Katie couldn't be pulled away from it. After taking a few years of classes Katie knew that she wanted to do more than just ballet.

Throughout the years she expanded the types of styles she studied to styles such as lyrical, contemporary, hip-hop, jazz, tap, pointe, Broadway/musical theater, acro, and improv. Katie started to help in classes around age 14 helping Ms. Briana. After a year of assisting she fell in love and expanded to assisting under multiple teachers to experience different teaching styles. Ever since helping in those classes Katie knew that she wanted to be a dance instructor and was lucky enough to be giving her first class to her at the age of 16.

  • Katie also attended dance conventions during her years of dancing (and still loves to attend them today!) Thanks to the convention circuit Katie has had the opportunity to take classes from many well renowned choreographers such as Mia Michaels from So You Think You Can Dance.

    In 2006 Katie joined the first ever Nicole Cote School of Dance competition team, then she joined it again in 2007. After taking a two year break from it, she tried out again for the 2010 year making the team once again as a senior dancer. She has performed with both groups and solos throughout her competition years. During these years Katie, or the group she was in, has won awards such as gold and platinum trophies. As well as for her solo placing 6th place overall in her division as well as being an overall grand champion in her division. She now choreographs pieces for the competition team she used to dance on. Her dances have competed in both the regional and national level placing in overalls many times, even winning 1st Overall in a 2017 Nationals!

    Katie loves teaching and finds so much joy in seeing the growth in dancers of all ages! She plans to continue to grow in her knowledge of dance as well as true to explore new popular trends in the dance community.

elizabeth

Elizabeth Moran

Elizabeth started taking ballet at the age of 7 years and through high school. After high school, Elizabeth went to the University of Alabama, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, with a minor in Entrepreneurship. She was a company member for Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre (ARDT), faulty choreographed performance, and was further involved in the student’s choreography show, Dance Alabama!. At one of ARDT’s performances, she performed in an eight-minute improv work called “Baldessari” set by UA’s professor, Rebecca Salzer. UA gave her opportunities to workshop with other choreographers such as Jim Cooney, Liz Burritt, George Staib, Helanius Wikins, and James Atkinson. While in college, she was involved in National Association of Contra Dancing Society, line and square dancing, and Crimson Ballroom. In spring 2016, she worked at Walt Disney World Inc., in Orlando, FL where she took part in the Disney College Program. The summer of her return, Elizabeth began apprenticing as a modern dancer at Sanspointe Dance Company in Birmingham, AL while completing her degree. After she graduated in 2017, she moved to Florida and taught dance throughout Orange County. Elizabeth has traveled nationally for Celebration Talent Dance Competition as a tabulator, awards manager, and backstage manager. Elizabeth was ask to perform as a guest artist at Discovery Church and Faith Assembly in dances called “Healing”, “MOVE”, “Those Magic Changes”, and “SOS.” These variations include styles of: ballet, contemporary, jazz, and hip-hop. Other guest work include Dawn Branch Works, “Eden” a story ballet about the Garden of Eden, in March 2020, but was cancelled a day before the performance.

  • Elizabeth was asked to perform as a guest artist at Discovery Church and Faith Assembly in dances called “Healing”, “MOVE”, “Those Magic Changes”, and “SOS.” These variations include styles of: ballet, contemporary, jazz, and hip-hop. Other guest work include Dawn Branch Works, “Eden” a story ballet about the Garden of Eden, in March 2020, but was cancelled a day before the performance.

    Recently, Elizabeth has received her Matt Pilates certification from the Pilates Instructor Academy, and is Progressive Ballet Technique (PBT), certificated. Elizabeth also enjoys photography and videography.

    Elizabeth is Certified in
    Progressing Ballet Technique
    Progressive Ballet certification
    Click on image to view certificate

    Elizabeth is also
    Pilates Matt Exercise Certified
    Pilates certification
    Click the image to view certificate

Kendal Cote

Kendal Cote

For the last 18 years, Kendal Cote has had an inspiring amount of love for the art of dance. She started her dance journey at the young age of two years old and continued to have love and passion for dance ever since. Kendal started her training throughout the years as a recreational dancer at Nicole Cote School of Dance. At the age of seven years old she then joined the competition team at Nicole Cote School of Dance. Kendal’s few classes then turned into several hours of training, practices, competing at travel competitions, and even taking classes from professional choreographers at dance conventions helping her become the best dancer she has ever been. Kendal became apart of the NCSD family and created strong bonds with other dancers and even instructors. NSCD turned into her second home.

  • Later down the road Kendal joined the high school dance team known as the Melbourne Miracles at Melbourne High School her freshman year. On top of training and competing with Nicole Cote School of Dance she was also training and competing with the Melbourne Miracles. Being apart of the high school dance team took Kendal to amazing opportunities to show off her skills with being able to compete at Regional and National dance competitions in Florida and also had 4 years of training at summer intensive dance camps with the Universal Dance Association. At the age of 16 years old Kendal started her teaching career with Nicole Cote School of Dance. For the next four years Kendal continued to dance and teach about 6 days a week on top of being a student at Melbourne High School. Kendal’s love and passion for dance has forever been so strong.

JoAnn

JoAnn Richter

After moving to Florida from Pennsylvania in 2002, JoAnn has worked in various jobs including physical therapy and an elementary school cafeteria. She brings with her a widely varied customer service skill set. She understands both sides, as prior to her employment with Nicole Cote School of Dance, JoAnn was a dance mom for 10 years.

JoAnn is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the office and ensuring that all office procedures are followed. JoAnn is a highly organized person with wonderful interpersonal communication skills. Ms. JoAnn is a valuable asset to Nicole Cote School of Dance.

Ava

Ava Hurlbert

Ava Hurlbert began dancing in the creative kids program at Nicole Cote’s School of Dance at the young age of 2 and hasn’t stopped since. As her family always says she danced before she walked. She continued dancing throughout her childhood, taking classes from Ms. Stephanie. She attended ballet, tap, and hip hop classes, but it wasn’t until the age of 6 that she started taking jazz, acro, and lyrical classes that she truly fell in love with dancing. She now takes classes under Ms. Nicole Cote and Mr. Erik Moore.

In the fall of 2020, as a seventh grader, Ava joined the West Shore Purrfections, a nationally ranked dance team at West Shore Jr./Sr. High School in Melbourne, FL. She would then go on to make the varsity team in her 8th grade year and plans to continue with the team throughout her high school career. She has also attended professional training under the Universal Dance Association at their summer camp intensives. Ava, with the West Shore Purrfections, has won many awards at these summer intensives, including a special recognition award from her coaches and an invitation to UDA’s national competition in Orlando, FL.

  • Ava’s dance life would take a turn for the better. In 2021, at her 11th dance recital, she was awarded the Hannah Johnson Scholarship at NCSD. This scholarship gave her the wonderful opportunity to continue her dance education. This scholarship also gave her the opportunity to assist many dance classes. In the summer of 2021, she began assisting summer classes under Ms. Katie Carinci and Ms. Stephanie Vanhorn with all age groups and styles. This was when she found her true passion- teaching dance classes and sharing her love of dance with the world. She then began helping with dance classes under Ms. Elizabeth Moran, Ms. Stephanie Vanhorn, and Ms. Jessica Cheek. During this time, Ava began working on her first solo with Ms. Stephanie as a part of receiving the Hannah Johnson Scholarship.

    Ava is currently continuing to assist with dance classes under Ms. Nicole Cote and Ms. Elizabeth Moran. She is extremely grateful for every opportunity that NCSD has given to her and she can’t wait to see what the future holds for her and her dance career.

Elle

Elle Villari

Elle Villari began her dance journey in 2006 with such a passion for dance and has been dancing for 16 years. Elle was raised in the dance industry at her family’s dance studio, the American Dance Center, with two locations in the Chicago Southland area.

She has had the pleasure to dance in so many wonderful productions such as "Dance the World” in Disney World, Navy pier in Chicago, The Art Institute and Governors State Theater of performing arts and has performed with multiple Performance Teams throughout her dance career. Elle attended Lincoln Way East high school and James Madison University, graduating in 2022 with high honors and a career diploma in Child Care. She performed with LWE’s Poms team and was chosen to choreograph a routine for their half time showcase.

  • Elle started teaching dance with the American Dance Center when she was 14 years old. She went through a teacher training program and has loved teaching since. Elle has been trained in all styles of dance by many world famous dance educators. She has always has such a passion for all styles of dance but is a Hip Hop dancer at heart. Elle loves spreading her love for dance and life with all of her students! Her main philosophy is that dance is more than steps and she is excited to share her knowledge and joy for dance with all students.

Grace

Grace King

Grace started her dance journey at the age of 7, taking a jazz and pom pom class at a studio in Indiana. She took jazz and musical Theater the next year. When she was 9 years old, she started training in ballet. Soon enough, she was training in contemporary, ballet, musical theater, jazz, and hip-hop. What started as a simple hobby became something she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Grace became an assistant teacher when she was 13 years old, teaching a hip-hop class. She had an immediate connection with the children, and they with her.

  • At age 14 her life took a turn when she became ill with a mysterious illness. After being bedridden for over 5 months, she was finally able to get her back on her feet. This experience showed her that she couldn’t live without dance, not even for 5 months. She moved to Florida at the age of 15, and for the next year, she took hip-hop and tap classes with Erik Moore. She was enamored by his teaching style and his knowledge, and finally realized what she wanted to do. She wanted to teach dance! Grace became a student at Nicole Cote School of Dance in the summer of 2023. She loved the environment and the people immediately. In the upcoming season she started to train at two different studios before switching completely to Nicole Cote School of Dance.

    Grace’s ultimate goal is to teach her students that, in dance, nothing is impossible. She wants to show them how to express their emotions and creative potential through dance. It’s not about absolutely nailing every move or remembering every piece of choreography. It’s about having fun and learning your true potential. Grace wants to see everyone come into her class with a smile, and leave feeling empowered about what they can do, along with a higher self-esteem.

Hayden

Hayden Mucha

Hayden Mucha has been training pre-preprofessionally for 10 years with experience in every style of dance. He grew up training at Nicole Cote School of Dance for 4 years and Dance by Holly Rock for 6 years. He attended the School at Jacob's Pillow as part of the 2023 Contemporary Performance Ensemble and received the Jacob's Pillow Professional Advancement Award in Dance. He was also a dancer in Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's Advance Summer Intensive. He has participated in multiple ChuThis in-studio intensives, Creating Waves with Peter Shu and Jessica Hendricks, NextGeneration Ballet 3-week summer intensive, and more. He will be attending the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance as part of the class of 2024 to earn his BFA. He is excited to expand his artistic voice and further develop creative ways of expressing himself through movement with fellow dancers.

Hannah-Grace

Hannah-Grace Mucha

Hannah-Grace Mucha is a dancer born in Palm Bay, Fl. At a very young age, her parents noticed her love of dance and musicality. They took her to Nicole Cote School of Dance when she was two years old. With the encouragement of Nicole Cote, she began competing at the age of three. She trained in all styles of dance until the age of ten. She then moved to Dance by Holly Rock to continue and advance her training in all styles of dance including contemporary, ballet, hip hop, modern, tap, musical theater, and jazz.

  • Hannah-Grace has been accepted to and has received scholarships to multiple prestigious summer intensives including Hubbard Street Summer Intensive in Chicago, Perry Mansfield Summer Intensive in CO, Complexions Contemporary Ballet Summer Intensive in Los Angeles, Creating Waves Summer Intensive in Cocoa Beach, ChuThis Moves, Next Generation Ballet, Duncan Cooper, and The Art of Movement. Her most recent summer intensive was Body Traffic in LA. She has had the opportunity to receive solo and group choreography by many well-known choreographers including Maddie Hicks, Lucy Vallely, Eoghan Dillon, Jessica Hendricks, Ida Saki, and Struther White. These choreographers, along with others, continue to be mentors to her as she approaches her professional dance career.

    Hannah-Grace has competed throughout the state of Florida and beyond throughout her dance career, receiving scholarships to many conventions including Revel, Nuvo, Jump, 24seven, NYCDA, and more. She most recently won breakout Artist at Nuvo Miami in May of 2024. These scholarships allow her to not only build relationships with the dance community but allows her to continue her training affordably. She has been a teacher assistant for various age groups ranging from age 9-15 in many styles of dance, filling in to teach classes when needed since 2021. In addition, she has choreographed a duet and a small group and has assisted with choreography in multiple group dances.

    Although Hannah-Grace has a love of all dance genres, her greatest passion is contemporary. Her most recent contemporary duet with her brother, choreographed by Lucy Vallely, won first place at every convention she attended last season. Her solo, also choreographed by Lucy Vallely, most recently placed second at 24seven Orlando. Hannah-Grace believes that the biggest competition should always be with yourself, pushing yourself to be better than the time before, never losing the love and enjoyment along the way.

Tim Yuen

Tim Yuen

Tim did not actually start out as a dancer, but as a martial artist and musician. While highly successful in both, he reached a point of burnout during high-school and wanted to try something new. It was because of this that he took his understanding of movement and music, merged them, and discovered dance as the perfect bridge between the two. He taught himself simple choreographies and basic moves through YouTube for fun before quickly realizing he wanted to pursue dance professionally.

  • However, it wasn't until college that Tim's dance journey would rapidly and suddenly begin picking up momentum. He immediately immersed himself in the dance scene and worked towards a fine arts degree with a minor in dance. Before, after, and between classes, he was constantly practicing and sharpening his skill set. When he wasn’t dancing, he was researching and studying all of the ins-and-outs of dance, including technique, culture, science, as well as history. He also became the captain of the on-campus breaking crew and was heavily involved with the theater and film programs, making a name for himself in the local arts community. Since then, Tim has danced, choreographed, and instructed for multiple dance studios in Virginia, New York, and now Florida.

    While he loves the creative and performance aspects of dance, Tim's true passion lies in teaching. Some of the most influential people in his life were teachers, and he wants to mirror the same intentionality and genuineness that was shown to him growing up. Tim's goals as an educator are to guide students to authenticity in their art, dedication to their craft, and appreciation for life through movement. Outside of dance, he is still an active musician and has taken up yet another hobby in culinary arts. Tim is so excited to share his love for dance and eager to invest in each of his student’s own personal dance journey.

Jessica

Jessica Cheek

Jessica got a late start in dancing but, quickly realized she had a great passion for it. She started with one lyrical class and enjoyed it so much that the following year she signed up for six classes. She wanted to expand her knowledge and skills with lyrical, ballet, pointe, contemporary, jazz and musical theater. She joined the competition team in her third year and went to several competitions and conventions where the team placed first and second.

  • She was also a member of a group routine that placed 1st and 4th. Since then, she has self-choreographed several solos that have placed 1st at several competitions. Her self-choreographed lyrical solo received 1st place at Streetz Nationals 2021. She found her niche in choreography and looks forward to choreographing routines for students for recitals and competitions. She was a leadership team member and a teaching assistant with Stephanie for several years and values what she has learned from her. She has participated in the yearly dance recitals and other events that showcased her dance skills. She loves to attend the conventions where they get to train with many known dancers and choreographers. She is excited to teach and watch the students grow in a variety of dancing styles.

Samantha

Samantha Blanchard

Samantha Blanchard's early dance training was in Denishawn Dance and Cecchetti Ballet until she attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst as a dance major. She received a BFA in Dance in 1991. In 2014, Blanchard received her MFA in Creative Inquiry and Interdisciplinary Arts from California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.

Blanchard taught at various colleges, studios and public schools on both the east and west coasts and has twenty plus years of coordinating, teaching and choreographing for youth dance and theatre productions. While in Berkeley, Blanchard studied at Luna Dance Institute where she was one of 20 students chosen nationally to participate in their year-long dance teaching residency.

  • Blanchard performed professionally with various companies on the East and West coasts until she formed her own company; Eclipse Dance Theater. Eclipse's mission aims to collide dance and the spoken word to create cutting-edge feminine perspectives of theatrical experience, reflecting the views and experiences of modern women.

    As Artistic Director of Eclipse Dance Theater, she presented, self-produced and Blanchard performed professionally with various companies on the East and West coasts until she formed her own company; Eclipse Dance Theater. Eclipse's mission aims to collide dance and the spoken word to create cutting-edge feminine perspectives of theatrical experience, reflecting the views and experiences of modern women. As Artistic Director of Eclipse Dance Theater, she presented, self-produced and toured twelve evening-length works both nationally and internationally.

    Eclipse was the recipient of numerous awards including grants from The Zellerbach Family Fund. The company has been quoted by the San Francisco Bay Guardian for their "...simple genuineness," by the East Bay Express "...that inherited wisdom-whether folk or esoteric-can offer us direction for a more authentic future," and by the World Dance Review as "Stunning!"

Venus-Maria

Venus-Maria Mallory

Miss Venus-Maria Mallory attended the Orlando Ballet School, the only one of four professional national training academies accredited by American Ballet Theater. She continued her dance education and professional development, and has been trained with Ballet West, Joffrey Chicago, Joffrey New York and San Antonio.

Under The Orlando Ballet School Miss Mallory ended up on Top 10 for classical variation. She has also gained the bronze medal for contemporary routine at Grand Prix Competition. She received multiple awards such as the Cathy Roe ultimate title. She was awarded Miss StarQuest in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Miss Mallory was honored with IDC highest over all 2012. She was privileged to be featured in Dance Spirit Magazine as the Rising Dance Star.

  • Miss Mallory's performed as a core for several of Robert Hills Ballets such as Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Hantzel and Gretel, Vampires Ball, Nutcracker, Snow White, Coppéliaand many others. She was a soloist as "The Prayer" for Coppélia & "Arabian" for Nutcracker. She has also been a company member performing soloist and principle roles for Dance Theater of Orlando under the artist direction of Marshall Ellis. Along with performing she has taught at Orlando Ballet School South and Central Campus, Susan's DanceWorks and Marshall Ellis Dance School. Miss Mallory is also ABT certified in Ballet education.

    Eclipse was the recipient of numerous awards including grants from The Zellerbach Family Fund. The company has been quoted by the San Francisco Bay Guardian for their "...simple genuineness," by the East Bay Express "...that inherited wisdom-whether folk or esoteric-can offer us direction for a more authentic future," and by the World Dance Review as "Stunning!"