Ryann Ellis
Ryann began her young dance and gymnastic training with her mother, Linda Ray at Linda Ray’s Academy of Dance (later known as Body Mechanix). She studied ballet, tap, jazz and gymnastics for many years and competed in numerous dance competitions including Dance Masters, Dance Caravan, Star Power and Rising Star. Her teachers included Marcus Alford, Frank Hatchett, Hank Crabtree and has taken classes in NYC at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway. Ryann taught for 10 years, hand in hand with her mom Linda Ray at Body Mechanix. After Linda retired in 2004, Ryann joined Berrien Long to continue her energetic, imaginative and strong technique-based jazz, tap, and gymnastic teaching at the Dance Theatre of Dalton.
Lori Beth Eicholtz
Lori Beth graduated from Dalton High School and earned her B.S. in education from Georgia State University. She began her dance training with Berrien Long and was Dalton’s first “Clara” in the Nutcracker. She continued her dance training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in New York where she studied ballet, jazz, and modern. She was a member of the Georgia State University Dance Ensemble and has taught dance at the Studio One School of Dance in Blue Ridge. Lori Beth is also an accomplished actor and singer. She offers private acting/singing coaching from her home. She can be seen in many films including the 2010 "Get Low" starring Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray.
Ashton Wong
Ashton began her dance training at age 3 and continued throughout high school. She was a member of the Dalton Dance Company under Berrien Long from 2007 to 2013 where she practiced many styles of dance including classical ballet, jazz, tap, and hip hop. At age 5 she also began training as a gymnast and continued her gymnastics/cheerleading training until she was 18. While at Dalton High School she was a Varsity competition cheerleader for 4 years and a member of the National Art Honor Society. She is a very gifted artist and is regularly working on an assortment of art pieces and graphic design projects. In 2016, Ashton began assisting with a number of diverse classes at the Dance Theatre of Dalton and she is now an art teacher, dance instructor, graphic designer, and administrative assistant.
Hallie Roberts
Hallie is a Dalton native that enthusiastically began her dance training in 1987 at Dancer’s Workshop. At the age of 10 she began competing in dance where she fell in love with performing lyrical/modern, jazz and ballet. She began assistant teaching at the age of 15. She graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2002 with her Bachelors of Science in Business Marketing. While at college she continued dancing with Georgia Southern’s competition team “Southern Explosion” that would perform at all men’s basketball games, community and university events, and compete at the NDA Collegiate Dance Championship. While in Statesboro she studied ballet at the Statesboro Ballet Academy. She also loves to capture dance through photography. She is married to Corey Roberts and is mother to William and Andrew.
Lilly Douglas
Lilly is the office manager/owner, graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce & Business Administration with an Accounting major and as an Honor Graduate from the Culverhouse School of Accountancy. Lilly previously worked at Deloitte & Touche, LLP in Atlanta as an Audit & Enterprise Risk Services Consultant and at Industrial Developments International as a Development Accountant. A dance student of her mother, Berrien Long, for 13 years, she has also studied with Marcus Alford of Dancentre South, and Anna and Barry Van Cura of Ballet Tennessee. She studied in the summers at the Atlanta Player’s Performing Arts Camp, the International Ballet Competition workshop in Jackson, Mississippi, at the Lexington Ballet Camp in Lexington, Kentucky and the Summer Dance Intensive in Parkersburg, West Virginia. She was a member of Dalton Ballet Theatre from 1996-2002.