FIRST STEPS DANCE WORKSHOP

Our Staff

Ava Karas (Founder): 

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       Ava Karas is currently a junior at Woodland Hills High School. She has danced with Wexford Dance Academy for twelve years, and has attended numerous dance summer programs around the United States including Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive, Miami City Ballet, and Chautauqua Dance Institute, as well as summer theatre programs at Syracuse University and Boston Conservatory. Ava has also spent her summers at Duke, Georgetown, and Brown Universities studying Creative Writing and Biology. Having been a Creative Movement student herself, Ava began First Steps Dance Workshop in an attempt to introduce disadvantaged youth to the same joy that the arts provided for her at the age of four. She hopes to spark imagination as well as creativity in a safe, constructive environment for each and every one of her students.  

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Annie Medich:

            Annie Medich is currently a junior. Quaker Valley High School. She has danced with Wexford Dance Academy for twelve years, and has attended notable summer programs around the United States, including Houston Ballet, Vail Valley Dance Intensive, Chautauqua Dance Institute, and Texas Ballet Theatre, where she was featured as a soloist in their final production of Paquita. In addition to dancing 20 hours a week as a pre-professional student, Annie has volunteered her time to assist young dancers at her studio. She hopes to share her love of dance wither students with a direct and nurturing approach. 

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Jordan Labuda: 

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Jordan Labuda is a junior at Pine Richland High School. She has danced pre-professionally at Wexford Dance Academy for ten years. Jordan has attended multiple prestigious summer dance programs including The School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Nashville Ballet. In addition to excelling in her craft, Jordan thrives academically and is a member of the National Honors Society. This past summer, she attended a Computer Science Program at Yale University. Jordan hopes to cultivate a passion for movement and arts appreciation with a patient and straightforward approach. 

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Grace Connors: 

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Grace Connors is a junior at Seneca Valley High School. She has danced pre-professionally with Wexford Dance Academy for ten years, and has attended summer dance programs at Point Park University. Grace excels musically with the oboe, is a proud member of her marching band, and has been selected for District Band multiple times. She hopes to foster a love of the arts through musicality and movement. 

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Elizabeth Mackin Karas: 

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Elizabeth Mackin Karas is a Pittsburgh native who began her Ballet training under Mansur Kamaletdinov, former director of the Bolshoi Ballet. She continued her training during the summers at the School of American Ballet in New York City. Her senior year of high school she was given a full scholarship apprentice position with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre under the guidance of Patricia Wilde. In 1987, she joined the Cleveland/San Jose Ballet and toured Europe with Rudolph Nureyev highlighting Scotland's Edinburgh Festival. Elizabeth represented the United States in the Jackson International Ballet Competition. Capezio, impressed by her technical proficiency, approached her to lead a campaign endorsing their products in Dance magazine. In 1991, she joined the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and had her roles reviewed by such prominent publications as The Washington Post, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Dance Magazine, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and The San Jose Mercury News. In her eight years with the company, she performed various soloist and principal roles and toured throughout the United States, Europe, and the Far East. She was fortunate to come under the guidance of Janek Schergen, former ballet master of the Royal Swedish Ballet, Washington Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and current artistic director of Singapore Dance Theatre, who inspired Elizabeth as she transitioned from her career as a performer to her current passion of giving the art of Dance to her students. Elizabeth has taught all ages and ability levels since retiring and has opened Wexford Dance Academy in 2003. 

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Beth Robertshaw:

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​Beth Robertshaw began her Dance training in Tulsa, Oklahoma at The Peggy Lanik Dance School. After leaving Oklahoma, she trained under various professional Tap and Jazz artists, such as Brenda Buffalino of The American Tap Dance Orchestra, Chet Walker, Buster Brown, and Savion Glover. Her choreography has received multiple regional and several national awards and she has been praised as a teacher of the highest caliber. Her gift as a teacher allows her to give her Tap and Jazz students exceptional training in a challenging and enjoyable class. As an instructor, she has developed, initiated, and taught several creative movement and pre-school dance programs. Her abilities create an immediate joy of movement and appreciation of music in the very young dancer.

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