Instructors & Staff

More About Us

Neff Fisher

Occupation: Owner, Teacher/Artistic Director

Experience:

30 Years dance experience

Winner and Finalist in national & international ballroom dance competitions.

12 years of experience as A Director for a large dance studio chain training dance instructors and creating curriculums for both students and instructors.

Lieya Hanelin (Mariano)

Occupation: Owner, Studio Manager

Briggitte Paschall

Briggitte has been a dancer for 22 years with experience in tap, jazz, ballet, contemporary, and modern. She went to the University of Kentucky where she earned her Bachelor of Science and Majored in Human Health Sciences with a minor in dance. In Kentucky, she was also a founding member of a health and fitness club that empowered college girls to stay healthy and active called CHAARG. Following this, she started volunteering with the LEAAP lab at CSUN that focused on research in dancers. In 2022, she earned her Master’s degree studying Kinesiology with a focus on dance and biomechanics. With the LA Unbound dance company, she had her first choreographic debut in June 2022 with a contemporary group piece. Her thesis research on footwear effecting dance jumps was presented at the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science conference in 2022. She also has 2 years of fitness experience in teaching cross-training and dance cardio.

Brooke Thornton

Brooke grew up dancing starting from when she was only three years old, and danced all through high school and college. Since then, she has been an educator in the artistic community for over eight years, and has always had a love for helping people young and old find their passion in the arts. She recently graduated with her Masters in Classical Acting from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and hopes to bring some of these new skills into her dance practice. Brooke has over twenty years of experience in ballet, tap, jazz, and various styles of fitness, and is very happy to be joining the Dance Masters family to expand her repertoire to the ballroom genre.

Jackie (Jacqueline) Dennis

Jackie was born and raised in Chicago and recently moved to Los Angeles. While growing up in Chicago, she danced with Visceral Studio Company, under the direction of Nick Pupillo. She was blessed to have attended two amazing schools, North Carolina School of the Arts and Point Park University, where she received her BFA in dance. From there, she performed and taught dance all over the world including Israel, Morocco, and Sri Lanka. While living in New York City, Jackie joined Ariel Rivka Dance, Emotions Physical Theatre, and Molet Contemporary Ballet. She was able to experience so many amazing choreographers and teachers including Ohad Naharin, Sidra Bell, Helen Simoneau, and Susan Jaffe. Jackie is so excited to be a part of the Dance Masters team!