Amy Gilbert – Director, Pointe of Grace, LLC

Ms. Amy Gilbert began dancing at the age of three.  She studied ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, and tumbling. She danced on a competition team with Brenda’s School of Dance, Ockerman Junior High School; and Boone County High School in Florence, KY from 1983-1991. She performed in the 1991 parade and half-time show for the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX.

Amy began teaching ballet, tap, and jazz classes at Lawrenceville School of Ballet in 1992 when she was a senior in high school. She taught and performed with Lawrenceville School of Ballet and Southern Ballet Theatre through 2009. Her performances included the story ballets “Cinderella,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Snow White,” “Coppelia,” and “Alice and Wonderland,” among others.

During Amy’s teaching career she has also trained many high school and college students in dance education and teaching classes. Some of her past students have gone on to dance with the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, on cruise ships, and at Walt Disney World in Orlando FL. In her heart, Amy believes that all children should have the opportunity to be able to express themselves through music and dance.

Amy realized her lifelong dream, and started Pointe of Grace Ballet in 2010. The studio has continued to grow in students, and opened a new studio location in Tucker in Fall 2017.

Phyllis Allen – Dance Teacher 

Phyllis Allen has been teaching ballet for over 40 years. She was the Founder of Lawrenceville School of Ballet; and Founder and Artistic Director of Southern Ballet Theatre. She began her training at the Decatur School of Ballet, becoming a Junior Director with the Decatur DeKalb Civic Ballet at age 20.

Ms. Allen was a member of the Atlanta Civic Ballet (now known as the Atlanta Ballet), under the direction of Dorothy Alexander and Robert Barnett. She performed in several sessions with Theatre Under the Stars. At age 15, she was selected to work with George Balanchine in the Young Choreographer’s Workshop. She has studied at the School of American Ballet Theatre, David Howard Dance Center, and the Royal Ballet School.

Ms. Allen has taught in numerous studios across the United States. She has choreographed for various high school and college productions, public television shows, civic theatre groups, and ballet companies across the country. She has been involved in Regional Dance America as a performer, choreographer, and artistic director. Ms. Allen’s students have gone to professional careers, including many dance teachers across the U.S., performers on Cruise Ships, Walt Disney World, New York City Ballet, and as a soloist with American Ballet Theatre. Currently, Ms. Allen is teaching at several Metro Atlanta studios. She joined Pointe of Grace in 2015.

Katehana Patton Artime – Dance Teacher

Born to parents who owned and operated numerous dance studios, Katehana has been immersed into the dance world for much of her life.  She was trained in a variety of dance types, from European ballet to Afro jazz. At 8 years old, she became a company member of Ballet Bamboose ,Youth Ballet under the artistic direction of Catherine Claereboudt of Dance West in Boulder, CO and by age 12 was assistant teaching creative movement dance camps and theater camps.

Katehana has performed in various musicals as part of the Dairy Center of the Performing Arts including Guys and Dolls, The Music Man and Fiddler on the Roof. In high school, she danced and performed for the Rocky Mountain Christmas Revels each Holiday season. Throughout and following college, she was a member of the Nicolson and Klein Contemporary Dance Company, and taught ballet, modern, jazz, Broadway and lyrical dance throughout Northern Colorado.

She recently moved to Atlanta, GA with her family, and is a Bookkeeper for Immaculate Heart of Mary School and Church. Ms. Katehana will be teaching Modern classes and our Ensemble dancers.

Jenny Baldwin – AcroDance Teacher

Ms. Jenny Baldwin began dance classes at the age of three. Throughout her years in dance, she studied ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and pointe. She danced with the Gwinnett Dance Ensemble at Lawrenceville School of Ballet under the direction of Phyllis Allen, and with the Collins Hill High School Dance Department. She also trained in gymnastics and competed on teams with Atlanta School of Gymnastics and Georgia Gymnastics Academy.

Jenny has been married since 2005, and she and her husband have three children. She has multiple years of experience coaching tumbling and gymnastics with Atlanta School of Gymnastics (Lawrenceville, GA) and Elite Gymnastics (Milledgeville, GA). Jenny joined the Pointe of Grace team in 2017.

Hannah Baldwin – Dance Teacher

Dana Dinnerman – Dance Teacher

Dana Dinnerman began her dance training at the age of 14. Dana fell in love with ballet on her very first day of class, at the Lawrenceville School of Ballet. She began studying ballet under the tutelage of Ms. Phyllis Allen, and has been an avid fan of all dance idioms since that time. Dana has had training in ballet, jazz, tap, and modern dance. During her Senior year of High School, Dana began teaching dance classes.

Dana danced with the regional company Southern Ballet Theatre (SBT), attending and performing at the SERBA dance festival for many years. During her time with SBT, Dana was a part of many great works, including Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz; and a host of other classics and newer contempory pieces. Dana also served as the Junior Director of SBT, as well as on the SBT Board of Directors.

In 2007, Dana began her next career as a pediatric nurse at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA). While Dana describes her work with CHOA as truly amazing, her love and passion for dance has brought her back to teaching with Pointe of Grace.

Melissa Johnson – Dance Teacher

Melissa began dancing at the age of 2. She studied ballet, tap, jazz, and pointe. In 1994 she became a member of the Gwinnett Dance Ensemble. During her time with the Gwinnett Dance Ensemble her performances included Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book, Snow White, and select pieces from Cats and Giselle. 

During college Melissa studied dance at Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia. She graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business and a minor in dance. Melissa currently teaches for Gwinnett County Public Schools, and also teaches ballet and tap at Pointe of Grace. Melissa enjoys sharing her love of dance, not just with her students, but with her own daughters, who are current students at Pointe of Grace.

Loren McFalls – Dance Teacher

Loren McFalls is a choreographer, performer, and teaching artist. Her dance training began in 1993 and continues indefinitely. She is most notably a former member of the Drexel Dance Ensemble, co-founder of the femme. artists’ collective, and a current board member with DanceATL.

She currently teaches at Pointe of Grace, Atlanta Ballet, and is a livestream engineer for Core Dance. Her works have been featured in Philadelphia Fringe, DanceATL’s A.M. Collaborative Program, Spring for Spring & Fall for Fall Festivals, Zoetic Dance’s MIXTAPE, Full Radius Dance’s MAD Festival, Peace One Day, and Core Dance’s REEL Arts Series.

Beth Scalzitti – Office Manager

Beth Scalzitti handles the customer service, bookkeeping, and invoicing for Pointe of Grace. Beth wears many hats and handles the advertisements, marketing, website maintenance, and other tasks as well.

Cathy Weiss – Costume Mistress/Event Coordinator

Cathy has been closely involved in Pointe of Grace since the company started. She oversees the selection of our recital costumes each year, and works tirelessly as our backstage manager at all events. With her organizational skills, attention to detail, and incredible work ethic, we could not do it without her. Cathy started as a dance mom, and with 4 daughters has spent numerous hours sewing and altering costumes for her own daughters and other ballet students.