Faculty
SOMMER and JASON BOWDRE, Owners/Directors of the Metropolitan Academy of Dance, have backgrounds in education and collectively have over three decades of instructional experience as public school teachers in the Cherry Creek and Douglas County School Districts. They each have earned Masters degrees in education, Jason's area of focus in Curriculum and Instruction and Sommer's focus in Special Education. Careers in education, parents of two dancers and being the son and daughter-in-law to Georgia Bowdre, founder of Metropolitan Academy of Dance, have provided Jason and Sommer with unique perspectives as owners. They understand the importance of quality instruction by highly trained teachers. They know that parents want their children to be involved in activities that are engaging, challenging, and of interest to them. They value a nurturing environment that makes the parent and student feel safe and cared for. They want their own children and the students of MAD to have positive social experiences that foster friendship development and teamwork through opportunities to work with others toward a common goal. They want to embed principles of healthy habits and the importance of staying physically fit in the minds of MAD students. It is the above core ideals that have made Metropolitan Academy of Dance successful for the past 37 years. It is Jason and Sommer's goal to preserve these ideals in order to continue to deliver quality dance instruction to all students at MAD.
GEORGIA LYN BOWDRE, Founder and Artistic Consultant of the Metropolitan Academy of Dance is a certified member of Dance Educators of America. Ballet is her passion, and she studied the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet extensively with Lalla Bauman (on scholarship), Larry Boyette, and others. Before founding the academy in 1986, she spent many years as a performer on television and stage with the Lalla Bauman Dancers. Georgia made several appearances at the Municipal Opera of St. Louis, the 12,000 seat premier outdoor theatre of the midwest. Other performance venues include Kiel Auditorium, Fort Leonard Wood, Boettcher Concert Hall, and the Admiral entertainment ship. She also performed with stars Dorothy Collins, Margaret Hamilton, and prima ballerina Patricia Bowman. Georgia taught ballet/pointe, jazz, and tap for more than thirty-two years, and she has choreographed numerous award-winning pieces performed by the Company. Many of MAD's students have gone on to pursue dance in college and to dance professionally. In addition, several students have been accepted to nationally known summer programs. Georgia is married, and she is the proud mother of three grown sons. She has three wonderful daughters-in-law, and she is thrilled to have seven grandchildren.
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Faith Markovetz is a dancer and educator originally from Aurora, Colorado. Her training began at Encore Dance Studio until she went on to earn her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Arizona State University. She has studied Contemporary, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Ballet, and Hip-Hop, though her current movement practice is rooted in Contemporary forms. She has attended American Dance Festival, NobleMotion Dance’s Summer and Winter Intensives, and Red Rocks Dance Festival. Faith has danced for CONDER/dance, an Arizona based contemporary company and has performed works choreographed by Carley Conder, Mary Fitzgerald, Nicole Bradley-Browning, Liliana Gomez, Adam McKinney, and Roni Koresh. Most recently she worked under the choreographic direction of Kimberly Bartosik for the 2022 Footprints at American Dance Festival. As an educator, Faith has taught at many studios in the Denver and Phoenix Metro areas, with a strong focus on early childhood movement education. Faith believes that dance creates room for challenge and fulfillment and she is always seeking the opportunity to guide her students to uncover their own power and awareness of their body.
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Rebecca Allen, a New York City native, started dancing at the age of 4. She grew up dancing in two different dance environments - a ballet studio and a competition dance studio. Becky is a graduate of LaGuardia H.S. (The "Fame" School) and the Dance Conservatory at SUNY Purchase. During her college years she performed works by Doug Varone, Ori Flomin, Mark Morris, and John Heginbotham. She also studied in Perth, Australia at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, focusing on contemporary dance and aerial circus silks. Becky has danced with AMS Project and was a guest artist in Doug Varone's Choreographic Intensive where she had the opportunity to dance with Dance Householder, MATYCHAK, and Sum Bones Co. She has been a long time company member of CoreDance Contemporary, SynthesisDance, and Copy That Dance in NYC. She recently started her own dance company, Animus Movement, in February 2021. Rebecca has been teaching dance for eight years at several dance studios in both NY and NJ. She has taught classes in acrobatics, ballet & pointe, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, musical theater, cardio/stretch and technique to students of all ages & levels. Becky is excited to continue dancing and teaching in her new home in Colorado.
ANTOINETTE DEGEORGE has extensive training in Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Lyrical and Breaking. She began dancing professionally in 2006 as a member of the MLS Colorado Rapids Cheerleaders and then with the Denver Nuggets Mob Squad Hip Hop and Breaking team from 2007-2009. In 2007, Antoinette was a dance instructor for the Universal Dance Association where she taught high school and college Level dance camps in Colorado and nation-wide. In 2008, Antoinette helped launch Dance2Live, Inc., a non-profit organization focused on utilizing dance as a medium to lead a positive and healthy lifestyle, which she still proudly leads today. Throughout her career, she has performed with such artists as Coolio, Digital Underground, Tone Loc, The Sugar Hill Gang, DJ Vajra, Montel Jordan and Vanilla Ice. Antoinette has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Colorado at Denver.
AMY MACKALL started dancing at the age of 4 with Aurora Dance Arts and by the age of 8 she was part of their performing company, JAMM. She competed in many competitions such as; Showstoppers, Footloose, Starlight, Showbiz and Jump. She also performed at Nursing homes, malls and shopping centers throughout the community. She made the switch to Metropolitan Academy of Dance at the age of 12 and fell in love with it. She was part of our Performing Company which lead to numerous performances and competitions. She performed around the country at the Atlanta Olympics, the Orange Bowl Halftime show, Disney World and the Carnival Cruise Ship The Ecstasy. She won a scholarship to be a Caravan Kid Dancer and a partial scholarship to the New York City Dance Alliance. She also played many parts in the Nutcracker including; Gingersnap, Clara's party guest, Flowers and Snow Queen. Amy started teaching here at MAD when she was 16 years old and continues to share her love of dance with our students. She is very versatile and teaches all genres of dance from our very young beginners to our advanced Company members. She also designs curriculum and instructs our summer camps. Amy considers teaching our children to be her greatest accomplishment in dance.
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Larah PAMPLIN recently moved to Denver from NYC after dancing and teaching for 11+ years there. Since graduating from Pace University with a BFA in commercial dance, she has danced with companies such as SynthesisDANCE and CoreDance Contemporary to name a few. You might have seen her in the award winning documentary “Amy’s Victory Dance” on AppleTV and is currently the assistant director for Animus Movement. Larah has assisted choreographers such as Rhonda Miller at dance conventions and has worked with Michael Rooney and Jackie Sleight in LA. Some of Larah’s performance experience includes, the New York Film Academy, Rising Stars at the Joyce Theatre and Synergy at New York Live Arts.
Lizzie Yacovetta was born and raised in Colorado and began dancing at the age of 4. She has had extensive training in ballet, pointe, jazz, leaps and turns technique, contemporary, musical theater, and tap. She danced competitively and traveled frequently to Los Angeles and New York City to train with the industry’s best teachers and most renown choreographers. Some of her favorite performances include “Clara” in the Nutcracker and featured dancer in the Tanzsommer
dance festival in Austria. Lizzie was accepted as a Performing Arts Scholarship recipient to Colorado State University. She obtained her degree in Human Development and Family Studies as an honors graduate in 2009 and enjoys teaching students of all ages. In addition to her performance and teaching experience, Lizzie has dance pedagogy training with an emphasis on terminology, choreography composition, flexibility and stretching, dance history, and is certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. She has been the recipient of excellence in choreography awards at numerous competitive events in the last several years and is thrilled to continue sharing her love of dance with the students of MAD.
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Nick Bloxsom-Carter is a Los Angeles native and has been dancing and teaching for over 17 years. He graduated from Utah Valley University with a bachelor's in business and dance, and has been in countless dance and theater shows. He has been featured on many commercial TV shows such as Dancing With The Stars, has been a finals contestant on Live To Dance, and has made the top 20 on So You Think You Can Dance Season 9. He has also performed with many dance companies such as The Vibe Touring Company and Utah Metropolitan Ballet. His dance schooling has involved extensive training in Ballroom, Ballet, Musical Theatre, Contemporary, Jazz, Lyrical, Modern, and Hip Hop and he has worked with many top choreographers in these fields, such as Jason Gilkison, Mia Michaels, Nappy Tabs, and Adam Shankman to name a few. Nick has also trained in acting and singing and has competed and won several theater and singing competitions. He has also been in several short films, commercials, and movies. In his free time Nick enjoys hiking, playing sports, and spending time with his wonderful girlfriend and loving dogs.
Brandyn “Boog” Harris
Originally From North Philadelphia Pa,
Brandyn “Boog” Harris has been engulfed in “Hip Hop” Dance culture since a very young age due to his father, World Renowned Dancer & Choreographer,
Dr. Lorenzo “Rennie” Harris.
In both the Underground and commercial worlds, Boog has been blessed with opportunities of touring through Dance and has done so not only on his own accord in more recent years but also during his tenure with The first and longest running Street Dance Theatre Company in RHPM, which is based out of Philadelphia, Pa. From 2007-2017.
Now a Local resident of Denver Co, Brandyn continues to carve a lane for himself within the community by Teaching at a few local Dance studios and Universities through out Denver Metro. Most weekends you can find Brandyn engaging in cypher circles at local dance or music events while occasionally entering dance contests in order to showcase his love and knowledge of specific dance styles within the street dance umbrella.
Adrienne McDowell started dancing at the age of 3 at Metropolitan Academy of Dance. She was trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical and Pointe. She joined company at the age of 7 and continued her training until she graduated at the age of 18. During her time at MAD, she performed various roles in the Nutcracker such as soldier, flower, and mouse. She also had the opportunity to perform at the London Olympics and at Disneyland. She began working as a teacher assistant with Ms. Amy at the age of 10 and assisted her through her senior year. She graduated in May 2021 with a Bachelor of Journalism in Sports Media and Communication from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She began her first season of teaching upon returning to Denver last year. Adrienne has instructed both Beginning Ballet and tap combination classes and Beginning hip Hop. Adrienne is excited to be back at the place where she grew up dancing and to teach all of the children she works with to love dance as much as she does.
Jordan Venhaus started dancing at the age of 3 . She studied ballet, tap, and jazz and began teaching at 12. By the age of 14 she began dancing with Irina Beacher and her son Misha Gabriel. While dancing at Soul Motion she also trained under Katrina Lairsmith and worked with her preforming company, the Damsles. At the age of 15 she began to work with the hip hop studio, Motion Underground in Boulder. At that time she continued teaching ballet, jazz, lyrical, breaking, hip hop and contemporary. From 17-21 Jordan worked with these companies and Pro Entertainment preforming and choreographing. In 2013, Jordan obtained a Bachelors Degree in Special Education and has been teaching in schools for 13 years. Jordan's vast knowledge of dance combined with her knowledge of childhood development has brought her to teaching academics during the day and inspiring young dancers in the evening.
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Amber Hartigan is a dancer and award winning choreographer from Sacramento, California. She was on her college dance company, Mosaic Dance Company of Folsom Lake College, before perusing her education in mathematics at San Francisco State University. Through college, she was a dance instructor for Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, and Hip Hop, and she performed in shows such a as "The Doorway" by Kelli Leighton, and "The Polar Express" at the Sacramento Rail Road Museum. She had the honor of performing Jason Janas' tap choreography at the Capezio Ace awards two years in a row - with Janas' choreography being the first tap group to perform at the awards. In addition to her love of dance, she is a financial analyst by day, and an aspiring yogi when not dancing at night. She is ecstatic to join MAD in the 2023 season!