Heather Stevens
Owner/Director
Heather Stevens is the owner and director of Spotlight Dance & Performing Arts Center. She grew up dancing at the dance studio since she was five years old. Heather was one of the first four dancers on the competition team "Dance Maine-ia" that traveled throughout the United States. She had the honor of singing the National Anthem for many National competitions, and in 2002 she was the fourth runner up for the Dance of the Year Award at the ADA National Compeition. She grew up falling in love with tap and musical theater and has performed in local community theaters. Her favorite role was Peggy Sawyer from 42nd Street in 2018. Her goal is to help her students discover their love for dance at any age
Maegan Laplante
Teacher
Maegan Laplante has been a member of the studio for over 30 years. She started dancing at the age of three and was choreographing by the age of 15. Maegan was named "Young Choreographer of the Year" at the regional level for her tap number, and placed second at the ADA National Championship. She has a broad base of performance experience including community theater productions of "Anything Goes" "Footloose" and "Annie" Maegan has also performed in the Best of Broadway, Perform for a cure, and many Lyric Theater open houses. She strives to establish relationships with her students and to be a positive support and role model to all that she teaches.
Ina Leddy
Ballet Teacher
Ina Leddy is a graduate of George Mason University with a BFA in dance in 2008. She attended school with a full scholarship and finished Magna Cum Laude. While there, she studied under the watchful eyes of Susan Shields, formerly of the White Oak Dance Project, as well as, the great ballet legend, Mimi Paul. She was a member of the GMU dance Company and was selected to perform at the regional American college dance festival in Columbus, Ohio in 2006. She has performed the choreography of many well known artists, such as Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris, Kate Skarpetowska, Paul Taylor, Patrick Corbin, and Eliot Feld. Her passion for dance has lead her to teach at several Maine schools including USM, UNE, and Thornton Academy
Megan Buttarazzi
Teacher
Megan began dancing when she was 4 years old. She first started at the dance Connection in Fairfield and then enrolled in Bossov Ballet Theatre. While at Bossov, she danced in numerous productions such as Cinderella, The Nutcracker, and Scheherazade. Her freshman year of high school she transferred to Studio One with Scott Stevens, where she finished out her high school dancing career. Megan then went onto the University of Maine at Orono where she received a degree in Kinesiology and a minor in dance. She danced in the president of the American College Dance Festival group while there. She was a member of the UMaine Dance team for 3 years. She has instructed at Next Generation Dance Studio and Top Hat !! in Holden. Being a dance teacher has brought Megan such joy. She loves working with children and watching the grow into such creative individuals through the movement of dance.
Rachel Schuster
Teacher
Rachel lives in South Portland with her husband and two boys. She grew up dancing and performing around Portland. She competed at numberous dance competitions and was a part of many shows at local theaters. She attended the conservatory program at The University of Miami studying Musical Theater.
She soon found a love for teaching dance and theater after college and is so excited to be joining Spotlight Dance Studio.
Kristin Goodwin Sutton
Hip Hop Teacher
Kristin Sutton had performed and taught dance in the Portland area for over 25 years. She was a member of Rhythm and Sole Tap Company as well as Rhythm Factor, a Hip-Hop company based at Casco Bay Movers Dance Studio. Kristin founded Avant Dance in 2011 and started G-Tric Dance Crew, a hip-hop company that performed all over the state. Kristin is also the creator of the annual Thriller Throwdown, a zombie-inspired flash mob that takes place in Portland every October. Kristin is trained in tap, jazz, hip-hop and ballroom.
