S T A F F
Kayla Ellenwood
Owner/Head Competition Instructor/Choreographer
Starting in 2015, Kayla began her journey of opening Pulse Dance and Performance Center. Her love for dance began in high school and has grown deeply over the past 15 years. She competed locally at Northrop High School on the Varsity Jazz/Lyrical team and was a student teacher for dance classes at Northrop. Throughout high school she danced at various studios around Fort Wayne and upon graduating Kayla made the dance team at the University of Saint Francis but decided she wanted to take her passion further and began working on opening her own place to share with the community of Fort Wayne. Since opening Pulse Kayla has continued her dance education at the University at Buffalo in New York during the summer by taking training courses for ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, hip hop, teaching children, musical theatre, and more. Miss Kayla is also certified with the Youth Protection Advocates in Dance and has had the pleasure in judging various competitions. Her choreography & dancers have won various awards such as; Regional Championships, National Championships, Golden Tickets to the World Dance Championship, and various choreography/judges awards. Kayla has preformed with her adult dance team for various local events as well as traveling to surrounding areas for performances. Miss Kayla has also begun mission work in Haiti and has traveled to share her love of dance by providing a dance camp to children in the village of Mizak. Come take a class with Miss Kayla today!
MICHELLE SCRIBNER
Instructor/Competition Team Assistant/choreographer
Miss Michelle also joined Pulse 7 years ago and has grown tremendously as a dancer and instructor. Michelle has competed locally and nationally with Pulse. Her training began in high school where she also took classes at Northrop High School. Upon graduating Michelle began training with Kayla at the University at Buffalo in New York during the summers to continue to grow her teaching skills at Pulse through the Dance Masters of America program. Michelle also dances weekly with the adult dance team. She loves working with younger children and loves playing fun interactive dance games with her students. She is a mother of 2 and works full time as a lead teacher at a local daycare facility. Come take a class with Miss Michelle today!
Maria Batt
Recreational & Competitive Instructor
Maria began dancing at the age of 1.5 at Dixie’s Dance Studio in Winchester, Indiana. She grew up competing with the Inspire @ DDS competition team in tap, jazz, clogging, lyrical, and musical theater. She was also a student teacher at Dixie’s Dance studio, working with the younger competition students when not in class herself. Additionally, she specialized in tap dancing, competing as a tap soloist throughout high school. With the Inspire @ DDS team, Maria won many titles including regional champion, national champion, scholarship winner, and top studio. After graduating high school, Maria attended Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee where she pursued a minor in dance. At Belmont, Maria studied tap, jazz, modern, and ballet as well as performed as part of the Belmont Dance Company. As a dance student, Maria choreographed her own solo which she performed in the Dance Composition Showcase. After graduation, Maria moved to Fort Wayne where she now works as a linguist at a remote tech company when she isn’t at the studio.
CHRIS ALBRIGHT
Breakdancing Instructor
I'm Chris Albright I'm 28 years old. I've been breaking for 14 years. I still compete to this day at battles all around the US. I've been teaching for 6 years my other hobbies include gaming and anime. I love working with my students and watching them achieve new skills in class and I’m honored to run the only breakdancing program in Fort Wayne! My goal is to continue to grow the community of breaking here and keep this unique style of dance thriving. My class is full of energy and freedom of movement while incorporating popping, breaking, and hip hop movement.
Ryan Mckendry
Competition Team Acro Instructor
My name is Ryan McKendry, I was a competitive gymnast for 12 years and competed 4 years of cheerleading at the University of Saint Francis. I have filled the role as the head coach at Summit Academy of Gymnastics and cheer captain of the cheer team at USF. Some of my achievements as a gymnast include winning All Around State in Virginia & Indiana, as well as being a 4 time all America in competitive cheer through USF. I am also a professor of anatomy at USF and plan on continuing my education to become a physician assistant. My main focus at Pulse is to teach acro and build confidence and consistency with integrating acro/tumbling skills into dance.
Betty Butler-Massey
Competition team Ballet Instructor
Betty is an iconic member of our staff at Pulse Dance and Performance Center. Her background in dance is truly remarkable. The passion she shares in the classroom is top tier and her compassion for helping build her students into strong dancers is unmatchable. We are so grateful to have her apart of our Pulse family and we can’t wait for you to take a class with her!
Training:
Ballet training:
I have studied the Royal Academy of Dance, with, Rose Aimee Butler, and then for higher level with Mr and Mrs. Tevlin at the Fort Wayne Ballet. I was in the youth company and apprentice company during that time. I have done all the levels from Pre- Primary to Elementary level. I also studied ballet in Strasbourg, France at the Conservatory for three years, under the direction of Madame Champion. During that time, I took ballet exams each year, which was judged by teachers from the Paris Opera Ballet. I also took dance classes every summer at Centre Du Marais in Paris. It is important to me that the children are taught the proper technique for ballet and enjoy learning all that ballet has to offer to further their dance skills in other forms of dance.
Tap Training:
I studied all the levels of Al Gilbert Tap when I was at the Rose Aimee Dance Academy. I also took classes at Centre Du Marais dance school in Paris, every summer from the age of 6. I have gone to many dance conventions through the years, to always stay updated. I also took tap at IPFW, as a dance minor.
Jazz Training:
Studied jazz at Rose Aimee Dance Academy, Fort Wayne Ballet, The Conservatory of Strasbourg. France. I also took many dance conventions through the years to further my jazz dance studies. I also took jazz lessons every summer at the Centre Du Marais in Paris.
