Faculty
KAITLYN JENKINS/Owner and Artistic Director
Kaitlyn began her early dance training at the age of three in the Southern California area. She studied various forms of dance, including ballet with mother Kathleen Jenkins. As her love for ballet grew she chose to pursue her training in a pre-professional environment at Anaheim Ballet under the direction of Lawrence and Sarma Rosenberg. While with Anaheim Ballet she performed multiple roles in “The Nutcracker,” “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Hans Christian Anderson,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “Serenade.” Kaitlyn also participated in the Anaheim Ballet School’s outreach program having multiple opportunities to perform at such venues as Segerstrom Center and at The Dorothy Chandler Pavillon where she represented the school performing a children’s role in “Sleeping Beauty” with the Kirov Ballet. During her training years she studied with many notable teachers including Franco DeVita, Charles Maple, Mark Anthony Lopez, Steven Hyde, Jillana, Lisa Johnson, Evelyn Cisneros and Marat Daukayev. Kaitlyn has attended multiple ballet summer intensive training programs including The Jillana School, Kaatsbaan, American Ballet Theatre in New York City and on scholarship with Boston Ballet School. In 2010 Kaitlyn competed in Youth America Grand Prix and placed in the top 12 in both classical and contemporary categories. Kaitlyn is a 2010 Music and Theatre graduate of The Orange County School of the Arts where she enjoyed pursuing her passion for acting and voice. Since that time Kaitlyn has appeared in over 100 film and television projects including the series regular role of ‘Boo Jordan’ on the ABC Family drama “Bunheads.” As a result of her unique character in that show she was featured on the cover of Pointe Magazine. Kaitlyn began her teaching career in 2012 and while on faculty at Onstage Dance Center she worked with her mother creating ODC Classical, a prominent youth ballet program. She has received multiple top honors at competitions for her original pieces. Her notable choreographic achievements have been choreographing adapted versions of the full length ballets “Cinderella,” “Esmerelda," “Nutcracker, a Journey to Candy Land," and most recently "Alice in Wonderland." In addition to her dance and teaching passions, Kaitlyn continues to pursue a career in acting, singing and writing.
KATHLEEN JENKINS/Administrative Director/Faculty Instructor
Kathleen is a native Californian and began her dance training at the age of five. Although she studied multiple genres of dance, her first love was always ballet. As a student she attended summer intensives with the San Francisco Ballet, danced with the Ballet Theatre of North Hollywood under the direction of Andreì Tremaine, and won the title of Dance Masters “Miss Dance Southern California” going on to be crowned 1st runner up to Miss Dance America. Kathleen was awarded full scholarships to The Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Harkness Ballet. In 1977, she joined “Pacific Northwest Ballet” under the directorship of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell where she danced corps and soloist roles. Kathleen later went on to join “The Los Angeles Ballet” as a soloist under the direction of John Clifford. Her professional repertoire includes Nutcracker, Coppelia, Cinderella, Carmen, The Four Temperaments, Serenade, Concerto Barocco, Filling Station, Mobile, and other original works. In recent years Kathleen was invited to perform with the “Anaheim Ballet” where she has enjoyed dancing various character roles in the Nutcracker, Hans Christian Andersen, Graduation Ball, and most notably creating the “Queen of Hearts” in Alice in Wonderland. Kathleen recently celebrated her forty second year of teaching, having had the privilege of teaching at many private studios and public high schools in the Southern California area. In 2011, she became a proud faculty member at the prestigious Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana, Ca where she taught in the Ballet/Contemporary Department until her retirement in 2022. In 2016, Kathleen was honored to receive the OCSA Artist Teacher Fellowship Award which provided a grant enabling her to become certified in the American Ballet Theater National Training Curriculum. Kathleen has also served on faculty at Anaheim Ballet and spent twenty years as ballet director at Onstage Dance Center where in 2013, she and her daughter Kaitlyn created ODC Classical, a flourishing youth ballet program. Over the years, many of Kathleen's students have gone on to pursue professional careers in the dance field as performers and studio owners.
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Jessica Dunn/Faculty Instructor
Jessica Dunn comes to us with a vast resume of performing and teaching experience. She holds a BFA degree in dance from CSU Long Beach where she graduated maga cum laude. Currently, Jessica is performing with the Vertigo Dance Theater, a contemporary driven company where she developed the work “Formulae and Fairy Tales” for tour. She has studied under many esteemed professionals including Lorin and Lisa Johnson, Larry and Sarma Rosenburg, Sophie Monat, Alexander Greschenko, Keith Johnson, and Jennifer Backhaus to name a few. Her additional performing experience includes Anaheim Ballet, Kybele Dance Theater and Transversal Theater. She is a sought after master teacher in the Southern California region. IAA is proud to have her on faculty!
NICOLE FRIAS/Faculty Instructor
Nicole began dancing at the age of 5 and studied multiple genres of dance including ballet under the direction of Kathleen Jenkins. As her love for classical ballet grew, Ms. Jenkins encouraged her to expand her studies and from 2015-2016 Nicole studied at the American Ballet Theater William Gillespie School under the direction of Alaine Haubert. In 2016, with a desire to further escalate her classical and contemporary dance training, she auditioned and was accepted into the prestigious Orange County School of the Arts under the direction of Steven Hyde. Nicole spent six years at OCSA and graduated with high honors, had multiple soloist and principal roles to her credit and gained the honor of being a nominee for the “Orange County Register Artist of the Year.” Her other schools of classical dance training have been with Southland Ballet Academy under the direction of Salwa Rizkalla. Nicole has also attended summer intensive training programs including American Ballet Theatre in New York City, San Francisco Ballet, Maple Conservatory of Dance, and the young dancer program at the School of American Ballet. Nicole has performed with the American Ballet Theatre, Festival Ballet Theatre, and Orange County School of the Arts.
In 2018, Nicole placed in the top 24 at the Youth America Grand Prix in the Classical Category. Nicole is currently attending the University of California Irvine (UCI) where she spent a year in the classical dance program and is now pursuing a criminal law degree.