Locally Owned for All Ages

History The ballet studio has a long history as a dance studio in Park Hill and changed names and owners a few times since the 1970’s. The studio was purchased in July 2014 by Karlyn Griswold and became Park Hill Dance Academy. Karlyn excited to share her love of dance with the Park Hill community. She is very excited to bring her vision and dreams to life as a teacher and choreographer in Park Hill.
Meet Our Staff

Karlyn Griswold
Karlyn Griswold is the owner and artistic director of Park Hill Dance Academy. She started dancing at the age of 21/2 and has not stopped. She began her pre-professional dance training at The Arvada Center for Arts and Humanities under the instruction of Christina Noel Adcock until leaving Colorado at the age of 15 to attend Interlochen Arts Academy as a dance major. She went on to dance professionally at the San Diego City Ballet in San Diego, CA and the Charleston Ballet Theatre in Charleston, SC where she performed various roles in Don Quixote, Peter Pan, Carnival of the Animals, Rite of Spring, and Nutcracker as well as other classical and contemporary works. Currently Karlyn is a company member of In the Wings Dance Company and Park Hill Dance Collective. Both companies combine dance and aerial arts and perform multiple times a year.
Karlyn also knew that she wanted to teach. Teaching came naturally to her because she always wanted to share her love for dance with the world. She began teaching ballet at the San Diego City Ballet in 2000. She started teaching at The Dancer’s Advantage 2011 and various studios in Denver including Cleo Parker Robinson and The Arvada Center for Arts and Humanities. She fell in love with the Park Hill Community and purchased the business in July 2014. Karlyn’s vision for Park Hill Dance Academy is to bring dance into the lives of everyone who walks through her door. She loves to teach all ages and all abilities and brings her passion for dance to the studio every day.
When Karlyn is not teaching, she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, and believe it or not dancing.

Madison Oleson

Christopher Page-Sanders
Originally from St. Louis, Mr. Page-Sanders received his formal dance training from the Center Of Creative Arts (COCA) and the University of Missouri- Kansas City: Conservatory of Music and Dance. He is the CO-FoundingArtistic Director of NU-World Contemporary Danse Theatre, which he founded with his husband, Bashir Page. As a performing artist, Christopher is grateful to have danced as a member of many notable companies such as the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Hannah Kahn Dance Company, OwenCox Dance Group, Wylliams-Henry Contemporary Dance Company and the Leah Glenn Dance Theatre just to name a few. As a choreographer and teacher, he has created concert dance work for companies such as Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Davis Contemporary Dance Company, Deeply Rooted’s ECS, COCADance, as well as teaching and choreographing at the Denver School for the Arts, Dwana Smallwood Performing Arts Center, William & Mary College and the Central Visual & Performing Arts High School. He is currently the Modern Dance Director for Park Hill Dance Academy. Along with concert dance work, Christopher has choreographed for such theatre companies as: Fly North Theatricals, The Rep’s Imaginary Theatre Company, Town Hall Arts Center and Vintage Theatre Productions, to name a few. He has been blessed to serve a thirteen year tenure at East Central College as their choreographer in residence for the theatre department, as well as a fifteen year tenure as the choreographer for the COCA Summer Musicals. His choreography has been presented on a national level twice at the International Association of Blacks In Dance Conference. In 2013, he was recognized and given the Leni Wylliams Award for choreography and innovation from Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. In 2020, he was nominated as Best Choreographer for the Colorado Henry Awards for his choreography for the Regional Premiere of a the musical “The Scottsboro Boys”, produced by Vintage Theatre Productions. To his ancestors and mentors on your shoulders I dance! Peace and Blessings; Love, Light and Art!

Sarah Wright
Sarah’s love for dancing and teaching started in Loveland where she danced competitively and taught young dancers for Broadway Bound Dance Academy. In addition, Sarah danced for her high school’s dance team and then danced in college at the University of Northern Colorado. She has experience in all styles of dance and enjoys ballet and jazz. Sarah’s teaching background also includes being an elementary and preschool teacher prior to having her two boys. Teaching the little ballerinas is her passion and she has taught pre-ballet.

Laura Whitby

Emily Anderson
Emily Rosee Anderson grew up training at the Arvada Center and was an apprentice teacher under Christina Noel for 4 years. During this time, Emily also was a member of the Arvada Center Dance Theatre and choreographed for the Academy and Company. Besides teaching at Park Hill Dance Academy, she also teaches at the Arvada Center and performs with Park Hill Dance Collective. She is a up-and-coming photography artist specializing in dance and events, slowly creating her own photography business, ‘Rosee Photography.’

Casey Pottle
Casey is a lover of movement with a passion for sharing it with others. She has over a decade of dance training and experience in ballet, Irish step, and contemporary dance. After graduating from college in 2012 having studied dance abroad in London, Casey discovered her love for teaching dance, and has taught ballet to a variety of ages including kids, teens, and adults. Upon moving to Denver in 2017, Casey taught ballet for adults for several years at Broche Ballet, where she discovered her passion for sharing her love for ballet with the adult dance community. Casey also teaches aerial dance, and loves to combine her love of ballet with aerial arts. She has performed in multiple aerial and dance shows around Denver. Casey currently dances professionally with Park Hill Dance Collective and In The Wings.

Emily Hoch
EMILY HOCH-WINDUS, M.A., a Colorado native, began her dance training at age three and now holds her Masters in Dance Education from the University of Northern Colorado. She has diverse dance training working with artists from professional and collegiate levels in jazz, modern, tap, ballet, hip-hop, musical theater, West African dance, as well as Capoeira. Emily is dance artist, educator, advocate, and adjudicator for dance schools throughout Colorado. Emily is a full time dance educator who designs arts integrated lessons, and curriculum for grades K–10 at Doral Academy. She serves as an Ambassador and Stage Manager for Presenting Denver, and helps fulfill their mission to support the art of dance through increased public exposure and appreciation of movement as an innovative art form. Emily is also on the board for CoDEO (Colorado Dance Educators Organization) which helps to support and promote dance arts and arts performances through education, communication and advocacy. She has been teaching jazz and modern classes for dancers at the Arvada Center for 10 years, and is a resident choreographer for the Arvada Center Dance Theater Company. Emily is eager to be back at Park Hill Dance teaching jazz and working again with the Park Hill Dance Collective dancing alongside some of her favorite dancers!

Morganne Markowski
Morganne Markowski has been dancing for 17 years. She started with The Dance Center at the age of 4 until she graduated with dance honors from CIVA Charter High School for the Performing Arts. Morganne has danced in many genres with an emphasis on jazz, hip hop, and lyrical. She attends Pikes Peak Community College majoring in dance where she performed with the High Altitude Dance Ensemble for three semesters, and will attain her Associate of Arts degree in Dance in December, 2020. Upon graduation from PPCC, Morganne plans to attend the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) dance program at UCCS starting in the Fall of 2021. She is also currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Colorado Technical University. Morganne currently teaches jazz and hip hop classes for Park Hill Dance Academy in Denver and The Peak School of Dance in Colorado Springs. She hopes to further her career as a dance teacher as well as a dancer in musical theater where she enjoys telling her story through movement and expression.
Inspire Growth and Confidence
Both In Studio and On The Stage