Ashley O'Quinn
Owner/Artistic Director
Ms. Ashley began her early dance training in her hometown of New Bern, NC, but in her years later received most of her training in Wilmington, NC when her family moved there. She performed in the Nutcracker with roles as the Arabian. At that time, she also began to evolve into the competitive world of dance and began taking master classes, intensives, and began auditioning and competing with her routines, earning her numerous regional and national scholarships and titles. In addition to her scholarships, she also received multiple awards for Highest Scoring Soloist of the Day, Highest Scoring Routine of the Weekend, and other top ranking titles. A routine she performed in was also featured on ESPN2 from their live competition broadcast. She was a scholarship recipient from Dance Spirit Magazine where she was featured in their October 2002 edition. Ashley has over 20 years of dance training, over 16 years of experience as a teaching professional, and has also been a guest artist and choreographer for studios and companies up and down the east coast. Her specialties include ballet, pointe, acro (acrobatics), lyrical, contemporary, and jazz.
Many of her students have won many high-ranking awards, Overall High Score dance awards and prestigious scholarships at state, regional, and national dance competitions across the country, been accepted to such prestigious programs at the Harid Conservatory, the Joffrey Ballet, University of NC School of the Arts, and have gone on to dance professionally on stage and the big screen. Ms. Ashley has won multiple Judges’ Choice/Entertainment Awards and countless regional and national Best Choreography Awards year after year. Not only does she serve as a top and innovative choreographer for many studios and companies throughout the southeastern U.S., but she also serves as a dance judge for several regional and national dance competitions.
She is a certified teaching professional through Dance Masters of America and Carolina Dance Masters, Inc. in Ballet and Acrobatics. Additionally, Ashley is certified and attends continued education and annual recertification through Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) as well as certified as a teaching aerial artist. Outside of dance training and certifications, Ashley earned her B.A. Degree in Spanish from the University of NC at Wilmington.
Her love of dance was the driving force behind her decision to become a teacher, hoping to inspire other hearts to love dance as she has. She continues to push and encourage kids to be their absolute best always because as she says, “If you know better, do better” and it is important to her that children know the power they have not just as artists, but as people who can change the world.
Mikayla Moore
Ballet, Lyrical, Contemporary, Jazz, Acro, & Hip Hop
Mikayla has been dancing for 11 years and has trained under Ashley O'Quinn for the majority of those years. She is a DADC member, a TA, as well as a full time instructor at Dance Ascension. Mikayla has won numerous overall scores and special awards over the years as a competitor. She also has experience in choreographing her solos and was a featured dancer for Dance Ascension's Saturday Night Student Spotlight. Mikayla has been accepted into a variety of dance programs including, but not limited to, UNCSA and Joffrey Ballet School. While teaching, she plans to continue training and growing her artistry to pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer and choreographer.
Maggie-Kate Howard
Ballet & Pointe
Maggie-Kate Howard began training at age 4. She attended Booker T. Washington Highschool for the Performing and Visual Arts and graduated with the Kevin Brown Award for Outstanding Performance in Ballet. She has attended ABT, PNB, and Carolina Ballet summer-intensive programs. In 2021, Maggie-Kate joined the School of Carolina Ballet as a full scholarship pre-professional student.
Sabrina Reeves
Administrator
Sabrina Reeves began her dance career at the age of 5 and studied tap, jazz, ballet, & pointe over the years. Tap is her specialty and is near and dear to her heart. She has done choreography part-time for numerous tap routines for pageant contestants and various dance routines for competition teams. She also served as the Clinton High School Dance Team instructor for three years and coached High School Cheerleading for nine years. Mrs. Sabrina competed in numerous pageants, winning her high school title, and placing as runners-up in Miss America/North Carolina Preliminary Pageants. She served on the Board of the Miss Spivey's Corner Scholarship Pageant for 19 years from 2000 to 2019. During that time, Mrs. Sabrina served as Production Coordinator, Contestant Coordinator, Business Manager, and Executive Director. She also does pageant coaching/consulting, interview prep, and hair/make-up for pageant contestants. She has also done hair & make-up for wedding parties. Mrs. Sabrina has worked with girls who have competed in high school pageants, community pageants, and state pageants. Mrs. Sabrina served as the choreographer for the Sampson County Christmas Show in 2019. She & her husband, Robert, reside in Clinton, and have three children, Kyle, Tyler, & Mady, and their dog, Tucker. Mady, has been a competitive dancer for the past 7 years and has won numerous awards in the advanced categories. Mrs. Sabrina is a member of Grove Park Baptist Church, where she teaches Sunday School for 4th - 5th Grade and is a member of the Praise Team. She is also a high school Math teacher at Clinton High School, where she is the Miss Clinton High School Pageant Director, Clinton High School Prom Co-Chair, and serves on the CHS Leadership Team and Department Representative for Math for the Clinton City School District.
Lanna Gimenez
Ballet, Tap, & Jazz
Bio available soon!
Olivia Palacios
Ballet, Tap, & Jazz
Olivia is a local to our area. She trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary and Hip Hop for 17 years. She began her competitive dance training at the age of 11 competing in many styles including tap, ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip hop and pom. Her two favorite styles are tap and pom! While attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, she was on a college dance team, the Spartan G’s! She currently teaches dance at Corinth Holders High School in addition to teaching at Dance Ascension.
Olivia is a certified aerial instructor and attends continued education courses annually to ensure our students receive the best training she can provide.