Meet Our IDA Staff
Blayke Liechty
Blayke has been dancing for over 30 years. While growing up she attended a competition studio and trained in jazz, tap, modern, hip hop, lyrical, ballet/pointe and gymnastics. In high school she was both a member and officer on her high schools drill team and dance company. She was also thrilled to be named the Springville High School Dance Sterling Scholar her senior year. While studying a degree in Community Health at Utah Valley University, she continued her dance training in African, ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary and hip hop. While in college she was a member and officer of the UVU Ballroom Dance Company and competed in both Latin and Standard styles. By attending numerous master classes and workshops over the years, she developed a love of World Dance styles and loves to perform and teach these unique genres as much as possible. Blayke has also been a judge and choreographer for numerous drill teams, dance companies and competitions around the state. Blayke began teaching dance in 2007 and was ecstatic to join the Innovations Dance Academy faculty in 2015. She is certified by the Acro Dance Teachers Association and has established a thriving acro and tumbling program here at IDA. Blayke absolutely loves what she does and looks forward to working with her students everyday. She strives to make every class fun, interesting and educational so her students can develop a love of dance while they grow in their dancing abilities. Blayke lives in Lehi with her husband, two daughters and their dog Blue.
Kayla Mueller
Kayla has been dancing for 24 years and has been teaching at Innovations dance at Avondale Academy since 2010. She has had a wide range of training which includes Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Tap, Modern, Creative, Ballroom, Folk Dance and even Ice Dance. The majority of her training came from Artistic Dance and then she moved on to compete with the Masters Company at American Expression of Dance. She was on the Alta Dance Company for two years, both dancing and choreographing for them. Kayla had the opportunity to take master classes in New York from renowned Alvin Ailey and New York Dance Company. While attending Brigham Young University she enjoyed being on the Folk Dance Team and in Tap Company. Her goal as a dance instructor is to instill in students the values and principles she learned from dance growing up. These include self-confidence, friendship, discipline and internal beauty. Equal to that goal is helping dancers to reach their full potential in skill, creative expression and performance. She loves sharing her love of dance with all her students and hopes that they can also find the life-changing joy that dance brings. Besides her love of dance, she also enjoys traveling, the outdoors and Italian food.
Kayla Merrell
Kayla has been dancing for 25 years with experience and training in jazz, ballet, contemporary, modern, ballroom, hip hop, tap, and creative dance. She graduated from Brigham Young University with degrees in Human Development and Dance. Kayla grew up in Texas and spent most of her training in competitive and performing dance studios as well as her High School drill teams. In high school, she was Captain of her drill team which led to many performance and choreography opportunities. Kayla continued her dance training at BYU where she grew her love for contemporary dance. She danced as part of BYU DancEnsemble, Kinnect, and the Ballroom Dance Company as well as competing in Ballroom competitions with her dance partners. Kayla was thrilled to find her dance career was only beginning after graduating and began teaching, coaching, and choreographing in schools and studios. Kayla joined the Innovations Dance Academy faculty in 2015 and loves working with dancers to inspire joy, hard work, and their own creative voice through dance. Kayla is passionate about movement of any kind and loves to always keep moving, exploring, and exercising. She is a marathon runner and certified barre instructor. When she’s not dancing, Kayla loves to spend time with her supportive husband and two beautiful daughters.
Claudia Calder
Claudia began dancing at age 11 and instantly became obsessed with moving, dancing, and creating. She trained at Westside dance studio in St.George, Utah and also dancing on her high school drill team and dance company. While in St.George she danced with the St.George Ballet, Prostreet Dance Co. and Dixie State college University Dance Company. She went on to study dance at BYU, while there dancing with Contemporary dance theatre, Dance Ensemble and Ballet Showcase, and graduated with her Bachelors in Dance Performance in 2016. She was also privileged to dance with the Wasatch Contemporary Dance Company after graduation. Movement has always brought Claudia immense amounts of joy and she loves nurturing safe and loving learning environments for her students. She finished training as a yoga teacher, finishing her 200 hour RYT and her 300 hour RYT. She currently teaches at Inbalance Yoga. If Claudia is not doing yoga or dancing, you can find her playing outdoors or at home with her two cats. Teaching dance brings so much joy into her life and she never ceases to be amazed by her students.
Tiffany Johnson
Tiffany began dancing at an early age training in various dance styles including jazz, lyrical, modern, hip hop, and ballet. Tiffany attended Springville High School where she was an officer and a member of the D’velles Drill Team, as well as part of the school’s Dance Company. She has performed in Provo’s Stadium of Fire multiple times and after graduating High School assisted in teaching the Stadium of Fire dancers. Tiffany loves teaching and working with children. She was a live-in nanny on the East coast, worked in a child care facility, and now has the greatest job of being a mom to three adorable girls of her own.
Ashlie Carlile
Ashlie Carlile believes the arts are an integral part of being human. As a wife and mother, dancer, choreographer, pianist, singer, and teacher, Ashlie believes in reaching for your dreams and sharing the mess and the beauty of life through art. Ashlie is the proud mamma of 2 little boys. She graduated from Utah Valley University (UVU) with a BFA in Dance, emphasis Modern Dance. While at UVU, she had the privilege to dance with Synergy Dance Company and Contemporary Dance Ensemble (CDE). While a member of CDE she had the opportunity to perform at the Capitol Theatre with Ririe Woodbury Dance Company, under the direction of Daniel Charon. Ashlie was a member of UVU’s Choreography Club, creating and performing works in the summer. She is also a member of Kinuko Modern Dance Company. While taking a year off of school to have her first child, Ashlie performed as a choir member with A Voice For Good in productions of Lamb of God (Rob Gardner) and One Fold, One Shepherd (CJ Madsen). Before attending school at UVU, Ashlie began her bachelor’s degree at Southern Utah University (SUU), where she received her Associate of Science. While at SUU she had the opportunity to restage Murray Lewis’s Bach Suite (1956) under the direction of Kay Anderson and Alberto Del Saz. While in Southern Utah, she was featured as a solo vocalist in the Orchestra of Southern Utah and Southern Utah Chorale’s production of Handel’s Messiah. Ashlie hopes to continue to share her love for the performing arts after graduating by continuing to choreograph and perform in her own non-profit company created and designed to give space for people to dance and be a mother/father. When Ashlie is not dancing or singing, she is enjoying the outdoors with her family or found snuggled in a fuzzy blanket enjoying an adventurous novel.
Evita Johnson Walton
Evita Johnson Walton is a Utah native who passionately engages with the arts. She has been dancing for over 20 years and has trained in various styles including ballet, contemporary, modern, jazz, ballroom, hip-hop, and Latin American folk. Growing up, Evita danced at various studios where she performed and competed on their dance teams. During her sophomore year of high school, Evita was a member of American Fork High School’s Drill Team. Later she attended Lone Peak High School where she served as Vice President of the Performing Dance Company. As a member of PDC, she had the opportunity to tour to New York City and receive additional training at STEPS, the Alvin Ailey School, and take class from members of the Doug Varone Company. That same year, her ensemble was selected to perform at the closing gala of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Upon graduation from high school, Evita attended Brigham Young University where she earned her BA in Art History and minor in Contemporary Dance. During her time at BYU, she performed as a member of the Ballroom Company, Living Legends, and dancEnsemble. While a part of the Ballroom Company, she also enjoyed competing in Dancesport with her partner in both Latin and Standard ballroom. While on Living Legends, Evita toured throughout the continental US. She has also performed internationally in Peru and in China. In Peru, she performed as a member of the Peruvian Folk Dance group, Pasión por la Danza. In China, she performed multiple times: first, while studying contemporary and Chinese classical dance through BYU’s Contemporary Dance study abroad program; she then returned two years later to perform throughout Beijing and Shanghai alongside performers and artists from the Utah Valley area. Evita is constantly eager to improve her teaching abilities by expanding her education and experience. She is certified in Yoga (YTT 200), and Progressing Ballet Technique. This is Evita’s third year at Innovations Dance Academy and is excited to help her students achieve artistry and refine their technique. Apart from dancing, she enjoys practicing yoga and pilates, cooking with her husband, and hiking with her dog.
Bree Griffeth
Brianna began dancing at the age of 3. Early on, she became a member of BYU’s Creative Dance program where she trained in ballet, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, and modern dance for many years. She continued with extensive training at Jive dance studio in Orem, learning multiple unique dance styles and participated in hundreds of incredible performances at the Covey Arts Center in Provo. She has won many regional first place awards for solo performances and competitions in various styles throughout her years of dance and has been a part of many major productions including The Stadium of Fire. She has continued dancing for 20 years, and has been able to teach at multiple studios throughout Utah County while her, and her husband raise their 3 beautiful children together. She has taught private lessons, choreographed many award winning competition pieces, conducted her own productions, and brings endless ideas and creativity to anything she participates in. Brianna has a true passion for rhythm and dance, and has always found a way to incorporate dance into everything she does, including teaching full grade levels of 70+ students how to dance in elementary schools, as she earned her Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education from UVU. She loves participating in concert and competition performances, loves working with youth and children, and is so excited and grateful to continue to exercise her passion for dance at Innovations Dance Academy.
Sabrina Tice
Sabrina started dancing when she was 3 years old. She trained in the Cecchetti method of ballet for 14 years and continued her training at The Academy of Ballet Arts in California. There she performed in many shows including The Nutcracker, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, and Coppelia. She loves the technique and discipline in Ballet. In High School, Sabrina was on the dance team at school and started dancing and choreographing many genres including Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary and Hip Hop. Sabrina graduated from Utah Valley University with a degree in Deaf studies with an emphasis on Interpreting. Teaching at Innovations Dance Academy since 2018 has brought her so much joy! Sabrina loves to teach other dancers and watch them work hard and grow a love for dance just as she did.
Leslie Sticht
Leslie loves working with kids! She is currently the director for Singers Company, a singing and dancing group for girls. She also teaches art classes for children during the summer. She has taught preschool to 4 out of her 5 kids, along with other neighborhood kids. Leslie joined the Innovations Dance Academy faculty in 2019 teaching our youngest dancers and tumblers! She loves working with this age group and loves to use the skills she learned when she was competing in gymnastics. Leslie received her Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in Visual Arts. She loves drawing, painting, dancing, singing, gardening, hiking, camping, kayaking, and spending time with her family.
Raimee Conder
Raimee has danced at Innovations Dance Academy since she was 2 years old. She has trained in all dance genres IDA offers including pointe, world and acro, just to name a few! She has performed in many IDA productions and was a featured soloist as Tinkerbell in ‘Peter Pan’, Sebastian in ‘Ariels Adventures’, Simba in ‘Dancing Through Africa’ and Tightrope Performer in ‘Rewrite the Stars’. For the past few years, Raimee has been a member of IDAs Senior Performing Company and had the opportunity to be in many performances around the state, as well as at several competitions where the group won 1st place and Platinum awards. In 2019 Raimee also represented IDA in competition as a soloist and was awarded Queen in her age division. Raimee was a member of her Jr High Dance Company and had her self choreographed work be chosen two years in a row. Raimee has also been a dancer and choreographer for the CVHS dance company for the past few years. Raimee has a love for choreographing and teaching! Her favorite genre of dance is HipHop. When Raimee isn’t busy dancing at school or at IDA, she loves to spend her time snowboarding, wakesurfing, playing guitar, spending time with her family, friends and puppies.
Pamela Trujillo
Pamela Trujillo is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer from Buenos Aires, Argentina, who has been dancing for 18 years. She obtained her bachelor’s in dance with an emphasis in Performance and Choreography in 2021 from Brigham Young University-Idaho. Pamela is also a 200-hour certified yoga teacher through Yoga Alliance. While she was pursuing her bachelor, she performed with Dance Alliance, Brigham Young University Idaho’s premiere touring dance company, and the Collegiate Dance Team. Pamela directed and choreographed for collegiate dancers at BYU-I, as well as taught beginning Modern and World dance courses. She has experience in many styles such as Jazz, Hip-Hop, World Dance, Ballet, and Modern as well as improvisation, and choreographing. Pamela is passionate about dance, encourages individuality and appreciation for this art. She loves teaching and is very excited to be part of Innovations Dance Academy, and learn from her students and coworkers.
Sara Brown
Sara began dancing at the age of 3 and has been in love with it ever since! She trained for several years with IDA in many different styles including Ballet/Pointe, Modern, Contemporary, Jazz, and also had the opportunity to be a soloist in various productions. In high school Sara was a member of Westlake Dance Company where she participated in several performances, including performing during pre-game shows and a half time show for the Utah Jazz and LA Lakers. She also competed with her team in the Utah fall Shakespeare Festival at SUU where the company placed 1st and was chosen to be showcased several years in a row. As a member of Westlake Dance Company she had amazing opportunities to learn from many reputable choreographers as well as take classes at the Broadway Dance Center and Alvin Ailey in NYC. Since high school, Sara has attended BYU where she studied Exercise Physiology and Human Development, as well as continuing her study and passion of dance by taking several dance courses in Ballet/Pointe, Modern, Tap, and Contemporary. Sara has a passion for choreography and loves to watch other dancers grow and find their expression and confidence through dance. She has choreographed multiple solo pieces that have won several awards in various competitions. Sara is currently studying to become certified as a birth doula, postpartum doula, and lactation counselor, but she will never be able to let go of her need to dance. She is very excited to continue in her passion for dance at IDA where she hopes to bring joy and confidence to the dancers who she has the privilege of teaching.
Stephanie Howell
Hello, I’m Stephanie Howell and I’m so excited to be teaching tumbling at Innovations this year! I was a competitive gymnast throughout my childhood and young adult life, nearly 15 years in total. I love tumbling and the excitement that comes with learning a new skill. For the last twenty years I have worked with preschool and elementary aged children. I love teaching and have worked at Avondale Preschool for the past 10 years as a teacher, trainer and coach. I am very excited for my two passions to merge and to now teach children the tumbling skills I love! I am especially excited to teach at Innovations where my own girls have taken dance for many years. When I’m not teaching, I enjoy spending time camping, watching movies, cooking, crafting and gardening with my husband Brandon and my four kids – Chase 19, Paige 17, Sophie 15 & Bailey 14.



















