Instructors
Rachel Vaughan-Estes
Owner & Artistic Director
Rachel began her love for dance just before the age of two. During her adolescent years, Rachel studied ballet, tap, lyrical, jazz, hip-hop and baton from several studios in the surrounding tri-city area. She has attended numerous dance conventions and competitions. She has studied dance under some of the best teachers in the country at institutions like Dance Alliance, Dance Educators of America, Show Stoppers, Dance Caravan and I Love Dance at the student and teacher level. She won her first choreography award at I Love dance and was chosen to be 1 of only 3 “Junior Sweethearts” to represent Richmond, Virginia, only 150 chosen to perform at the national level in New York City; Rachel danced in numerous productions choregraphed by top artists at this event. Rachel is a graduate of Richard Bland College; she was named Who’s Who among Junior College students while attending RBC. Rachel was also a member of the Richard Bland College Dance Team from 2006-2008 and served as Captain during her 2007/2008 school year. The team competed and performed at The Virginia Dance Festival, Kings Dominion, as well as other community events in the area. Rachel coached the Matoaca Middle School dance team from 2007 to 2009 and won “Best Performing Group” while attending Universal Dance Association. Rachel holds a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. She danced on the VCU “Gold Rush” Dance Team for 2 years performing for the Men’s and Women’s basketball teams and other VCU community events. While on the dance team, she and her teammates were given the opportunity to dance at the Half-Time Show for the Washington Football Team in the 2008-2009 football season. Rachel was a dance choreographer for the Prince George High School “Royalettes” Dance Team in the 2011/2012 school year. Rachel continues to train and study dance in New York City at Broadway Dance Center. She was a student teacher in good standing with Taylor Dance Academy and has worked the last 15 years for Gotta DANCE! School of the Performing Arts under the direction of Tara Peyton-Burgess. She has received numerous judge’s awards and top overall scores. Throughout her time teaching dance, she has also been working in daycares, caring for children of the age range from 2-12 years of age. Rachel’s goal throughout her teaching career has always been to instill focus, determination, and good sportsmanship into the younger generation by the art of rhythm and dance. Rachel now resides here in Prince George County with her husband, Bryan, and her two children, Logan and Natalie.
Haleigh Brown
Haleigh began dancing at the young age of two, training at local studios in Colonial Heights, Virginia. The next fifteen years of Haleigh’s life were immersed in a wide variety of styles including ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, contemporary, modern, and hip-hop. Early on, Haleigh recognized her passion for dance and began competing at various competitions all along the east coast including Dance Caravan, Dance Makers Inc., and Showstoppers. At the age of thirteen, Haleigh was selected to enter Thomas Dale High School’s Specialty Center for the Visual and Performing Arts where she trained in modern and contemporary dance under the direction of Denise Purvis. In 2011 and 2012, Haleigh performed as entertainment for the Miss Virginia Pageant. Haleigh has been teaching and choreographing at various studios in the tri-cities area since the age of sixteen. Haleigh has also traveled up and down the east coast teaching workshops and competing with Carolina Shag dance, eventually helping to found and become a board member for the Central Virginia Junior Shaggers, Inc. Upon graduation from high school, Haleigh continued to pursue her love of dance through the Conservatory at Shenandoah University where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance. While studying at Shenandoah, Haleigh was given the opportunity to travel to Paris, Greece, and Barcelona performing and taking classes with Maurice Fraga and Dorcas Román. Haleigh taught summer intensives, classes, and helped with the competition team at Gotta DANCE! School of Performing Arts for two years starting in 2016. In that time, Haleigh was also certified in and taught Aerial Yoga and was a substitute teacher in Chesterfield County. Haleigh recently obtained her Doctorate in Occupational Therapy from Mary Baldwin University in May 2021. Now residing in Prince George, VA, Haleigh is excited to be helping others achieve their goals in the rehabilitation setting as well as continuing her love of dance with Art of Rhythm Dance Company.
Erin Ingles
Erin M. Ingles has been involved in dance since she was 2 years old, studying ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, baton, and acro. Erin joined the Prince George High School majorettes her freshman year of high school and served as head majorette her senior year. During that time, Erin performed in many competitions, parades, and football games. Erin began teaching baton after high school with Gotta Dance! School of Performing Arts in 2004 and was blessed to be with the studio for 17 years. Erin volunteers her time to work with the Prince George High School marching band and has helped as a majorette judge and choreographer.
Erin is a Social Studies teacher and works virtually with students in grades 6-12 all over the country. She resides in Henrico County with her husband and two children; Heidi (who is also a dancer) and Forrest (who plays soccer). When she is not teaching or driving her children to their practices and rehearsals, she enjoys running and relaxing at the beach. Erin is so excited to continue to share her love of baton with a new generation of students and help form a close dance family who support each other and grow together.
Rebekah Vaughan Pilout
Rebekah has danced in the tri-cities area for over 20+ years, studying jazz, hip hop, tap, modern, lyrical and ballet. Over the years, she has competed in numerous regional and national dance competitions up and down the east coast. She has attended various master workshops and conventions with several well-known artists such as Twitch, Darrin Henson, Mary Anne Lamb, Dena Rizzo, and Geo! Rebekah has also made several trips to New York City to take classes at Broadway Dance Center. She has had the opportunity to mentor students in the performing arts at several studios in the local area. Rebekah is also a part of the ARDC Performance Company where she has choreographed dances for competitions that received high scores as well as Judge's choreography awards!
Rebekah is a graduate from Richard Bland College with an Associate Degree in Science. Currently, Rebekah is a teller for Bank of Southside Virginia. When Rebekah is not busy with the studio or at the bank, you can find her spending the rest her time with her two children; Buxton and Brystol, and chasing her crazy GSP pup and kitty cat around.
Raena Gradford
Raena started dancing at age 4. She trained in various subjects of dance including modern, lyrical, jazz, and hip hop all throughout her adolescence. Raena found her passion within jazz and hip hop mainly. Despite constantly moving due to her parents' military careers, Raena always joined the competition team at every studio she attended and discovered she had a passion for choreography. In her late teens, she would enter in the self-choreography categories of dance competitions such as Southeast Showdown and Encore. In 2015, as only a junior in high school, Raena earned a platinum ranking for self-choreographed hip-hop solo and high score of the day for the same solo at Encore dance competition. Raena earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Old Dominion University in 2020 while dancing and choreographing for a hip hop performance team called Motion Madness throughout her college career.
Raena is currently in the Master’s program at Virginia Commonwealth University for Social Work. Raena aspires to be a Social Worker serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. When she’s not working, or dancing Raena enjoys spending time with her niece and nephew or dog Marley. Raena is excited to share her passion for dance with the studio.
Taneya Cleveland
Taneya Cleveland was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and was raised in Prince George, Virginia. She has studied dance since she was 10 years old at Gotta Dance School of Performing Arts, a local studio. After deciding she wanted a career in the arts, she later attended The Richmond Ballet School and Appomattox Regional Governor's School for the Arts and Technology, where she studied various dance styles.
In pursuit of more performing arts experience post-graduation, she attended The American Musical Dramatic Academy in New York and Los Angeles, where she graduated with her BFA in Dance Theater. She intends to pursue contemporary-based company work and commercial work, including tours, music videos, and award shows. Outside of dance, she enjoys going to the beach, cooking, family time, and spending time with her dog. It is evident when she walks into a room people gravitate toward her warm, smiley, and spunky personality.