Piedmont School of Music & Dance’s highly regarded permanent faculty is renowned nationwide. They come from many professional dance backgrounds and have performed for such companies as American Ballet Theatre, Hungarian National Ballet Academy, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Ballet Pacifica, Louisville Ballet, Ballet Met, Zurich Ballet, Radio City Rockettes, and various Broadway productions. In addition to their performance experience, our instructors have had a wealth of experience in teaching positions throughout the nation in association with institutions such as American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company, North Carolina School of the Arts, Ballet Pacifica, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Ballet Theatre of New Mexico, Cardinal Ballet, Tucson Regional Ballet, Duke University and other privately owned dance studios. Our school’s incomparable faculty have been joined by the ranks of guest teachers from the likes of Juilliard, major metropolitan dance theatre groups and the Broadway production Phantom of the Opera. As a group, PSM&D’s faculty members adhere to the School syllabus, while bringing their unique background to the studio, giving students as young as three to our pre-professionals, a broad background to meet the demands of the ever changing dance community.
Rebecca Massey Wiley
Founder and Director of Piedmont School of Music & Dance (PSM&D), received her training on full scholarship at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, NC, School of American Ballet in New York, NY and the Hungarian National Ballet Academy, Budapest, Hungary. In 1992, Ms. Massey Wiley became a full time company member of the American Ballet Theatre, New York, NY. During her eight years with the company, she performed throughout the world and was featured as a soloist dancer in ballets such as: Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, La Bayadere, Othello, Fall River Legend, Rodeo, Fancy Free, Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes, and Leaves are Fading. While in New York, she also appeared with The Stars of New York Ballet. Ms. Massey Wiley has served as a Master Teacher for Wake Forest University, North Carolina Dance Theatre, and Dance Educators of America in New York, NY and Costa Rica. During the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons, Ms. Massey Wiley served as company teacher and coach for the North Carolina Dance Theatre (NCDT) and assisted in the staging of The Nutcracker for the 2001 and 2002 productions. She also served as Ballet Mistress for NCDT’s second company. During the spring of 2004, Ms. Massey Wiley was invited to serve as guest teacher for the American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company and has served on faculty and continues to serve as a guest teacher at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA), Winston-Salem, NC. In addition to her role as Director of PSM&D, Ms. Massey Wiley also serves as Artistic Director of Piedmont Dance Theatre (PDT), offering her students many production opportunities. During her six year career as Artistic Director of PDT, she has choreographed several full length versions of The Nutcracker, created an original full length ballet entitled Pirates, and prepared several educational outreach programs including Peter and the Wolf. Most recently, Ms. Massey Wiley was granted the right from the George Balanchine Trust to stage Serenade and Who Cares?. Under her leadership, the students of PSM&D along with the ensemble cast of PDT, have had the opportunity to work with artists from renowned international dance companies including Ballet Frankfurt, Cullberg Ballet, and José Limón, to name a few.
Daniel Wiley
Began his dance training at the Florida Ballet Training Center. At the age of 14, he continued his training at the esteemed HARID Conservatory in Boca Raton, FL. While attending HARID, he performed lead roles in The Nutcracker, La Bayadere, Raymonda, Flower Festival and Paquita. In addition to his experience at HARID, Mr. Wiley furthered his studies on scholarship at American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, and Pittsburgh Ballet. Upon graduation from HARID, Mr. Wiley began his studies in New York, NY at the prestigious The Juilliard School, under the direction of the late Benjamin Harkarvy. While attending Juilliard School, he worked with world famous contemporary choreographers, such as Hans van Manen, Lar Lubovitch, Jirí Kylián, Paul Taylor and Igal Perry. Mr. Wiley spent his final year at Juilliard under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes, receiving his BFA in May of 2003. Upon graduation, Mr. Wiley joined the North Carolina Dance Theatre (NCDT) where he served as principal artist for three seasons (2003-2006). While at NCDT, Mr. Wiley performed works by George Balanchine, Alvin Ailey, Alonzo King, Nicolo Fonte, Uri Sands, Mark Godden, and Dwight Rhoden among others. In 2004, The Charlotte Observer named Mr. Wiley “Artist to Watch”, and in 2005 he was honored with the “Best Male Dancer” award in Charlotte Magazine’s “Best of the Best” edition. Most recently he served on the faculty of UNCSA, and continues to serve as guest teacher, while also performing as a free lance artist.
Sheri Giller
Danced professionally with Ballet Pacifica, Irvine, CA. Upon the retirement of her professional dancing career, Ms. Giller held the positions of Ballet Mistress and Principal Faculty Member of Ballet Pacifica’s company and conservatory. During that time, she choreographed her own version of The Princess and the Frog for the Ballet for Children Series. Ms. Giller has also served as a guest teacher for Ballet Theatre of New Mexico and the Cardinal Ballet in San Mateo. Before joining PSM&D, she was Co-Artistic Director of Tucson Regional Ballet, while also serving in an instructional capacity.
Ashlyn Sumner
Received a BFA in Dance, graduating Magna Cum Laude, from The University of North Carolina, Greensboro. As a professional dancer, she performed with Louisville Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, NC Savoyards Opera and 15/501 Ballet Company. Ms. Sumner has a wide array of teaching experience. She has served as a teacher for Duke University, NCDT, The Cannon School, and the Durham and Cabarrus County Public Schools.
Cheryl Klaft
Received her BFA in Dance from Ohio State University. Upon graduation, Ms. Klaft began her professional dance career at DANCECENTRAL, a modern dance based company. While there she served as guest artist for The Columbus Ballet Association, now known as Ballet Met. Ms. Klaft later moved to New York, NY, where she performed in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Chicago.
Pam Janas
Co-Founder and Director of “Hoofin Ground”, has danced professionally with The Radio City Rockettes and Gene Kelly. After her professional career, Ms. Janas owned and operated her own studio in New Jersey for 10 years.
Alyssa Cromer
Recently graduated in 2008 with a BFA in Dance Performance from East Carolina University (ECU) where she studied with renowned teachers and received extensive training in jazz and modern technique. While attending ECU, she performed and choreographed numerous pieces which were selected for performance at the American College Dance Festivals each year. Alyssa has been teaching since the age of 15 and enjoys all forms of dance from Hip-Hop to Ballet.
Brittany Wise
Received an Associate’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, as well as completed Bachelor Studies for Elementary Education at Pfeiffer University. From 2003 to 2007, Mrs. Wise owned and operated Carolina Dance and After School Care, Inc., which she started from its beginning. Prior to Carolina Dance, she was a dance instructor for seven years at The Studio in Concord, NC where she specialized in ballet, tap and jazz, as well as creating The Studio's first competition team. While employed at The Studio, Wise also served as the lead teacher for Piedmont Primary Academy located in Concord, NC.
Jessica Murray
Received her BA in dance on merit scholarships at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC.) While training at UNCC’s department of dance, she was chosen to perform in faculty and student pieces as well as having her choreography showcased. Jesi also served four years as a member of UNCC’s dance team, the Golddusters, which was consistently in the top three of the Division 1 national rankings. Following fourteen years of competitive dancing, Jesi danced professionally with the East Coast Hockey League’s Charlotte Checkers (Checkmates) and NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats (Ladycats). When not teaching at PSM&D, Jesi choreographs for the Speed Girls who perform at NASCAR Races nationwide and on the SPEED Channel’s television show, My Race Day.
Mia Cunningham
Received her training at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, N.C. She danced professionally with San Antonio Ballet, Zurich Ballet, Kathryn Posin Dance, Connecticut Ballet Theater and The Stars of the Soviet Ballet. She also danced for seventeen years with The North Carolina Dance Theatre under the direction of Salvatore Aiello and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux. Miss Cunningham had the honor of performing principal roles in ballets choreographed by: Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, Nacho Duato, Agnes deMille, Paul Taylor, William Forsythe, Jaquelin Buglisi and Donlin Foreman.
Samantha Bost
PSM&D’s Administrative Assistant, assists the Schol's families with billing, questions and Dance Boutique sizing and sales.