Taylor Kokenes (Hill) comes from the competition realm of dance.  She moved to the Atlanta area at the age of 14, where she trained at CK Danceworks.  While there, she attended up to four competitions a year as a member of their DancElite Company.  During that time, she also attended numerous dance conventions, including Tremaine, Pulse, and Hollywood Vibe.  Post high school, Taylor went on to receive her B.A. in Dance with a concentration in Modern from Kennesaw State University.  She was a member of their company for four years and worked closely with notable choreographers from the Atlanta area including:  Lauri Stallings, George Staib, and Stevan Novakovich.  She traveled around the world, performing with Staibdance in Sorrento, Italy and with the KSU Dance Company at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.  Taylor is a versatile teacher that has instructed ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, and hip hop to dancers of all ages for the ten years before realizing her dream and opening Duet Dance Academy. As well as being one of our owners, Taylor serves as our Artistic Director, Company Director, and A Chance to Dance Director. She now finds her passion specializing in teaching jazz and contemporary to our company along with leading all of our special needs classes!

Owning a dance studio has been Taylor's dream ever since she was a child, and by opening Duet Dance Academy she's proving to her students that dreams can come true.  She promises that DDA with operate with the highest standards, providing a challenging and safe environment where her students can grow technically and artistically.

Taylor now resides in Holly Springs, GA with her husband Paul and her two dogs Clementine and Griffith. She spends her days off working out, drinking loads of coffee, and watching horror films!

Dawn Hathcock is from the corporate world and her love of dance comes from watching her daughter dance for more than 7 years.  Dawn has over twenty years of experience in global project, operations, and business management. She has a wealth of expertise in resource planning, risk identification, optimization management, efficiency analytics, finance and budget management, vendor relationships, and customer service.  She earned a B.S. degree in Decision Science with a concentration in Business Administration from Berry College.  Dawn left the corporate world eight years ago to focus on her family.  Her friendship with and confidence in Taylor led her to partner with Taylor to make this studio a reality.  As the mom of a dancer, Dawn brings a customer’s perspective along with her many business management skills to our team.  

Andrée has been dancing for over 18 years, beginning with training at The Academy of Dance Arts. Dance has always been a passion of which she plans on making a career. She earned her B.A. from Kennesaw State University as a dance major with a concentration in ballet, and she is pursuing a career in dance education and arts administration. Andrée has performed with the KSU Dance Company, and she has also been the assistant stage manager for KSU Dance Company productions. As a result of growing up with great role models who helped to build her love of dance, Andrée wishes to pass on her knowledge and passion of dance to other young, aspiring dancers as well.

A Nashville native, Jessica Baldwin began her dance journey at the age of 3, and hasn't stopped. Jessica received her professional ballet training under Katy Poulton with the Cechiettee Council of America, and as an active member of the School of Nashville Ballet. While receiving her professional training with the Nashville Ballet under artistic director Paul Vasterling, Jessica was in numerous ballets and performances, including her favorite, The Nutcracker. Jessica grew up under several other master instructors for jazz, tap, and modern while at the Metro Parks in Nashville. Jessica has taken part in many other dance studies including The Broadway Dance Center in New York City, Virginia School of the Arts, and The Rocketts in Las Vegas. 

Jessica received her degree in Childhood Psychology with an emphasis in dance therapy from Western Kentucky and Volunteer State College. While balancing school and her professional dancing career, Jessica started her teaching certification with the Cechiette Council of America. Upon passing all 6 levels Jessica felt it was time to embark on a new adventure in 2003 and became the proud owner of Mount Juliet Dance Studio. "I never new what hard work was until I had my own business!" Jessica says with a laugh. During the duration of being the artistic director/owner of MJDS Jessica became a certified licensed Scott Pilates instructor." This enabled me to fully understand how to teach effectively and recognize movement on all body types."  

In 2008, Jessica sold MJDS and moved to Columbus, GA where she became the Executive Director of the Columbus Ballet with Columbus State University. As Executive Director, she worked with principal dancers from Atlanta Ballet and Montgomery Ballet. Choreographed performances include The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Swan Lake act II. While in Columbus, she also worked in the physical therapy department of Huston Medical Clinic as a pilates instructor. 

In 2010 Jessica moved to Canton, GA where she and her husband, John Baldwin, started a family and have two wonderful children, Adaline and William. In 2011 Jessica earned her personal training certification from the American Council of Exercise. She was the Ballet Mistress at Fusion Dance Company in Cumming from 2013 to 2019 and in 2018 became the Ballet Mistress for Duet Dance Company. 

Dani Mullan (she/her) is a contemporary/commercial artist and choreographer based in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her BFA in Dance Performance and BA in Educational Studies from Chapman University in Orange, CA. She has worked with choreographers/artists such as Azuki Umeda, Will Johnston, Mo Goodfellow, Julianne O’Brien, Michael Getman, etc. She has also worked within the dance collective, Au.thenticity Dance Co, founded by Azuki Umeda. She has performed at events such as Palm Desert Choreography Festival, Somatics Dance Conference and Performance Festival, Reconstruct Exhibition, Mashup International Women’s Day Festival, IAF Choreography Exhibition, Voices Showcase: Stomping Ground LA, and more. She is currently a company member of RISK Dance Company.

She has also studied under the Launch Program in Brea, CA, with the mentorship of Krista Miller. Her education/training has consisted of dance performance, techniques of various genres (contemporary, jazz, ballet, modern, heels, etc.), concept creation, choreography, and more.

She has choreographed in concert, commercial, and competition settings.

She finds much joy and growth throughout every artistic experience, whether on stage, on screen, or within the process. Dani values artistic expression as well as cultivating strong and compassionate dance spaces. As an educator, she is passionate about the mental health of her students and aims to create positive learning environments for young artists.

Xavier Lewis, aka Xay Zoleil, is an American dancer, musician, writer, comedian, and DJ. Xavier has been teaching and performing in the Atlanta area for over 10 years. Xavier is currently the Dance Director for Grayson High School and teaches at many studios in and around the metro-Atlanta area. Xavier has also been a background dancer for musical artists, such as B.O.B. Xavier has received multiple awards for choreography. Xavier directs and produces two dance concerts a year. Xavier recently signed a contract to be a part of the traveling dance intensive, Elevate Dance Workshop. He also tours annually with the dance competition KAR (Kids Artistic Revue).

Emily Barton is a sophomore at KSU with a double major in dance with a modern concentration as well as a Psychology major. She is from Newnan, Georgia, danced for Carrollton Academy of Dance, and was a member of Parker Dance Company as well as being on the KSU dance company for all semesters of college thus far. She has danced for 15 years and was a competitive dancer for 13 years, receiving countless accolades throughout the years. Teaching has always been a passion of hers that she is so happy to finally be able to pursue! She has a desire to learn, is eager to explore the endless possibilities of artistic expression through dance, and hopes to pass her love for dance onto her students. She feels as though dance is her safe place and it has shaped her into who she is today so she looks forward to creating that environment in her classes too. Her ultimate goal is to one day fulfill her lifelong dream of owning a dance studio of her own and this opportunity is a huge stepping stone in her career as a dance instructor. She is honored to have been chosen to be on Duet Dance Academy staff for the first year and is so excited to begin this journey!

Riley is a student at Kennesaw State University pursuing a BA in Business Management as well as a minor in dance. Riley grew up as a competitive dancer at On Stage School of Dance, where she trained in all styles and truly found her passion and love for the art. Dance helped shape the person Riley is today and taught her her most valuable live lessons.  In high school Riley became a part of Grayson High School’s dance program where she choreographed for seasonal shows as well as assisted in the classroom. She is currently furthering her studies in Modern, Ballet, and Contemporary through the KSU Dance Department. Riley is very excited and honored to start her journey with Duet and continue her dance career.

Sherry Proctor was introduced to the world of dance by her mom, Lynn Schaffer, who owned a dance studio in their small town. While dancing there, she quickly realized her passion for ballet. At the age of 10, she began a more rigorous ballet program at Terpsichore, under the direction of Patricia Bromley. She continued her years of professional training at the prestigious Harid Conservatory, in Boca Raton, Florida, and The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School.

Over her years of training, Sherry received many full scholarships to attend summer ballet intensives, including, The School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Houston Ballet, and Joffrey Ballet. At the age of 14, she was selected by Robert Barnett, former artistic director of The Atlanta Ballet, to perform with the corps de ballet in The Nutcracker. She was also chosen to dance professional roles with The Sarasota Ballet in Giselle, and with The Pittsburgh Ballet in The Nutcracker, Giselle, and The Great Gatsby.

Sherry’s love of ballet transitioned into a desire to teach at the early age of 19. Her passion for providing a quality dance education has only continued to blossom over the past 20+ years. Currently, Sherry resides in the Atlanta area with her husband, Andy, and their six children. Having a big family was always a dream of hers and having the ability to balance family life while continuing to educate in the world of dance has been such a blessing.

Cyndi Garguilo, better known as "Ms. G" in  the dance/tumbling world, has been teaching for 3+ decades. She has owned two dance studios, in Florida & Georgia, respectively. She was the Dance  Director in 2 private schools for 12 years in Florida. There she taught over 500 students weekly.  Ms. G is an FSU graduate and former dancer/gymnast. She coached Competitive Artistic Gymnastics for 2 decades & has developed her own Acro-Tumbling curriculum for dance studios.   Ms. G is very proud of her former students who have succeeded in the Dance Industry. They have been hired on Cruise Ships, The Amazing Race, Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders, Broadway (Mamma Mia & more) , Music videos,  won scholarships , NCAA Cheerleaders.   One of Ms. G's favorite memories is teaching at the "Abby Lee Dance Studio" (ALDC) in 2013 in Pittsburgh, PA. All the original "Dance Moms" stars took her Master classes.    Ms. G currently teaches Master Clinics for students in ballet, jazz technique, "leaps, tricks & turns", Beginner to Extreme  flexibility, & Acro-tumbling. She also travels & teaches her "Acro-Tumbling" Curriculum to dance studios.

Monica Gardner has been teaching dance in Georgia for over 20 years. She has taught all levels and ages at various dance studios across the state. She specializes in tap but has training in other styles as well. Monica’s tap choreography has been awarded at dance competitions, and her students regularly achieve high scores, often additionally receiving special tap technique and performance awards. Monica’s tap classes stand apart from others because in addition to providing solid technique, she creates well-rounded tap dancers by educating her students on tap history, culture, and music theory in relation to tap dance. She approaches tap dance with a zealousness that can’t help but inspire an appreciation for the art form in all her students.

Monica danced professionally as a member of the tap company “Atlanta Tap Project”. She also performed with “ViZion Dance Company” as their featured tap dancer at many events including televised Gospel Superfest 2013. Her pre-professional performances include Jazz on Tap, Ballet Fest, Atlanta Hawks halftime shows, the Carnival Cruise Line, several lead roles in Studio 1 Ballet Productions, and 10 years of regional and national dance competitions. Although Monica enjoyed performing, her greatest passion has always been for teaching.

Giselle Sachse, is an Atlanta-based dancer; dancing for 14 years. Nine of those years training at Steppin’ Out Performing Arts Center. She now is a part of the collegiate competitive dance team (Talon Tribe) for Kennesaw State University. She is also a KSU dance minor.

Kiana Bennett has been privileged to dance with duet for about 6 years now. Beginning with the Recreational Program, then working her way into the Company after her first year of being a Duet Crew member. She was born in Savannah, Georgia then moved Roswell, Georgia, where she grew up. In Roswell, she was introduced to dance at 4-years-old. Since then, she has been dancing for a total of 10 years and competing for 4 years. Kiana is currently a member of Duet’s Prima company and RISK Dance Company. As a new addition to the Duet Faculty, she hopes to share her passion and love for dance with her students, and act as someone her students can look up to as she grows alongside them in the dance world.

Jamila (Jah-MEE-lah) Turner is a writer, singer, dancer, director and professional actor residing in Atlanta, GA. She is a proud graduate of the HBCU Tuskegee University where she was a Marching Crimson Piperette in the band and has a BA in English and also holds her MFA in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University. She has taught acting , stage directing and Theatre dance I and II at Columbus State University (CSU) in Columbus, GA. She has been the life of the party all her life, but as a Zumba Instructor since March 2013, working at several gyms and studios across the Auburn/Opelika, Alabama area and Columbus, Georgia. She is ready to shake, rattle, and roll with you to the Zumba beat! Dale!