Our Faculty

At Academy of Ballet in Peachtree Corners we take great pride in our talented and esteemed faculty. We know it takes extraordinary teachers to create extraordinary dancers. Check out our amazing faculty and their awesome accomplishments and credentials in the bios below! 

Our Director

Cathleen Cronin-Dunlap – Director/Teacher/choreographer/owner
B.S. in Education, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA;
Dance Major, Virginia Intermont College, Bristol, VA.

Cathleen has been a dance educator since 1981. She is a native of Georgia and began her dance training at the Decatur School of Ballet under the direction of Marie Ellen Roberts. She later trained at The Atlanta Ballet under Merilee Smith and Robert Barnett. She continued her studies training with David Howard, Robert Joffery, Ruth Mitchell, Stanley Zompokas, Terrell Paulk, Melissa Hayden, just to name a few.
She received her jazz training at Dan & Company studios under the direction of Dan and Rhonda Youmans.

Her teaching experience: Decatur School of Ballet, The Atlanta Ballet, Tri-Cities area of Virginia/Tennessee, New York’s American Academy of Ballet, and Gwinnett School of Ballet.
Throughout the years she has set many productions for the Academy of Ballet: Cinderella, Coppelia, Swan Lake, and Wizard of Oz, Beauty meets Beast, Sleeping Beauty, and The Children’s Nutcracker.

Cathleen’s great love for dance and interest in passing her knowledge onto students prompted her to open the Academy of Ballet in 1994 and became known as “Miss Cathy” by her students. In 1997, Miss Cathy developed the Academy Performing Ensemble, offering advanced students an even higher level of training.

As Director/Owner of Academy of Ballet, Miss Cathy has successfully organized an excellent staff, loving learning environment, with exception dance training for all levels.

Kimberly Linenkohl

Ballet Mistress of Academy Performing Ensemble. Kim received her early training at the Joni Messler Studio of Dance and Dance Theatre of Santa Fe in Gainesville, Florida. She later studied at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School with David Holladay and the Joffrey Ballet School with Francesca Corkel and Dorothy Lister. After graduating from Santa Fe Community College, Kim danced with the Georgia Ballet for seven years where she was featured in Balanchine’s Allegro Brilliante, Serenade, and Iris Henley’s Nutcracker performing lead roles such as Spanish, Dewdrop and many more.

Since her arrival at the Academy of Ballet in August 2000, Kimberly has choreographed several works that have been performed at the Festival of Trees and Balletfest. She has also contributed many dances for The Children’s Nutcracker. In 2003 she was featured at Princess Aurora in Academy of Ballet’s production of The Sleeping Beauty and has had the recent honor of performing in pieces by Lonnie Davis, Sarah Boies, David Norwood, Emily Vanderkley, and Tianna Sykes. She is grateful to work alongside Miss Cathy and pass on her love of dance to the students at the Academy of Ballet.

Angela Harris

Angela B.A. Mercyhurst College and City College of New York/ Graduate of The Baltimore School for the Arts/founder and director of Dance Canvas. Angela received her dance training at Dance Theater of Harlem, School of the Hartford Ballet, and The Eglevsky Ballet.  While in college she was on full ballet scholarship at Steps on Broadway.  Angela danced professionally with The Georgia Ballet, Columbia City Ballet, and Urban Ballet Theater in NYC. Angela’s has performed leading roles with Atlanta Theater productions as well a principal in Jasmine Guy’s production of Daughters of Alpha, in New Orleans, and as a soloist dancer in the national tour of The Thorn, choreographed by Deanna McBrearty of New York City Ballet. Her choreography has been performed by Academy of Ballet, Dekalb School of the Arts, The Georgia Ballet, Steps on Broadway Ensemble, Ballet Lubbock, Savannah Arts Academy,  as well as other companies and schools across the country.   

In addition to teaching and choreographing for Academy of Ballet she is currently on faculty at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, and has been a master class instructor at colleges & universities across the country.

Angela  was awarded  the 2012-13  Emerging  Artist Award in Dance  from The City of Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs  and received  a proclamation from the Atlanta  City Council. She received the 2011 Emerging Leader Award from Americans for the Arts and American Express, and was selected to be in the 2014 class of Arts Leaders of Metro Atlanta (ALMA).  Angela served on the national Emerging Leaders Council for Americans for the Arts from 2011 – 2014, and is a member of Dance USA.

Angela was selected as one of five Inaugural National Visiting Fellows at the School of American Ballet in NYC. Most recently, Angela received an SDCF Observership and worked with Susan Stroman on the new musical, Little Dancer, during its Development Lab for Broadway.

Angela has been teaching for Academy of Ballet for many years and her love for dance is felt by all of her students.

Alison Molinet

Ms. Alison began dancing at the age of 4 in Norcross, GA.  She trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical and Acrobatics.  She competed in numerous local and National Dance Competitions in Solo, Duets, and Group routines.  Alison began assisting teaching when she was 15 years old and discovered her love for teaching.  She performed for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics when they were Atlanta in 1996.   Alison has performed and taught with the Barbara Bramble Dancenter and the Lawrenceville School of Ballet.  For over 10 years, in addition to teaching dance, she has taught Aerobic classes at Bally’s Total Fitness as well as preschool gym classes at Peachtree Park Prep.  Alison was the Artistic Director for Priceless Performers for 12 years.  Alison brings over 20 years of teaching experience to Academy of Ballet.  She currently is teaching Pre-School and Early Elementary Combo classes as well as directing the Jazz & Tap Ensemble.  She loves taking her Jazz & Tap Ensemble group to community events to perform.  They have performed for Assisted Living Groups and at local festivals.  She believes in developing a well-rounded dancer who will always have a love of movement and dance.  Alison currently lives in Duluth with her husband and her 2 kids.

Lorell Creswell

Lorrell, our director of Acrobatics and Dance  has been teaching successfully for many years. In addition to teaching her classes she also  trains and choreographs for our Competition Team. She studied Physical Health and Education at Georgia State University. Her teaching degree is from the British Association for Teachers of Dance (B.A.T.D). She moved from Canada to Atlanta in 1992. She is the former owner and director of Dance Mania in Roswell, Ga.  She is one of our most popular teachers the students love her never ending energy and expertise.

Dana Woodruff

Dana, originally from Norwich, VT , began her dance training with Joseph and Victoria DeChiazza, professors of Dance at Dartmouth College. After eleven years of studying Ballet (French Technique), Modern (Limon Based) and Jazz (Jack Cole Based), Dana went on to Adelphi University to receive her B.F. A. in Dance. She trained with Norman Walker, Carmen de Lavallade, Loren Hightower, Rochelle Zide-Booth and Regina Larkin. After graduation, she attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts to earn an M.F.A. in Dance. She performed works by Gus Solomons Jr., Mark Morris, and Ann Carlson and trained with Jenny Way (Twyla Tharp), Gwen Welliver (Doug Varone), Jim Martin, Phyllis Lamhut (Nikolais), Mark Haim, Jackie Villamil, Deborah Jowitt and Kaye Cummings. During her second year at NYU, Dana joined the Joyce Trisler Danscompany, performing Trisler works in NYC and multiple venues in the Northeast. After graduating, she performed with Cherylyn Lavagnino, Imago Dance Theatre, and formed her own collaborative company called Ground Floor Dance.

Since moving to Atlanta, Dana has taught Ballet and Modern technique to dancers of all ages. She has taught at the Georgia Academy of Dance, , The Studio Atlanta Dance, Academy of Ballet in Norcross and Bravo Dance Centre and has been a part time professor of dance at Kennesaw State University since 2011. Dana serves as Professional Development Manager for Dance Canvas, an Atlanta based company that promotes and produces choreographers. During Dance Canvas’ Summer Intensive, Dana teaches Ballet and Modern technique and Choreography. She has produced her own choreography in the Atlanta area since 2003

Nicole Campbell

Nicole Campbell is a professional dancer, choreographer and instructor currently based in Atlanta. Hailing from metro Detroit, she received her B.S. in Dance from Wayne State University after her childhood training at Robert Lee School of Dance and Churchill High School’s Creative and Performing Arts program. Performance credits include Hannibal Buress, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, JTDance, Gotta Dance Contemporary, Flash Mob America, Melodic Nocturne Dance Tribe and halftime shows for the Detroit Lions and Detroit Pistons. Nicole’s choreographic works have been presented in concerts for artLabJ and MoreDances Contemporary Dance Company in addition to receiving frequent top honors in competitions. As a result of Nicole’s emphasis on energy and emotional execution in her classes, many of her students have received scholarships, special awards, high scores and professional jobs. Several alumni are now pursuing their own higher education in dance and dance careers. Nicole is also on panel as a judge and master teacher with several competitions including Groove, Applause Talent, 8 National Talent and Impact Dance Ajudicators.

Erin Burch

Erin discovered her love for dance in high school after joining the dance department at Peachtree Ridge High School. By her senior year, she had decided to take the leap and pursue dance as a career. Since then she has trained tenaciously in Jazz, Ballet, Pointe, Hip Hop, Modern, and Contemporary and has been  a company member to companies such as Southern Ballet Theatre, Advocate Arts Contemporary, and Gotta Dance Contemporary and Raiin Dance Theatre. Aside from performing in the musical Angels In Training, she has had the privilege of working with musical artists such as PRISCA, Najasism, Goldberg, Misti Rose, Red Lettaz and B Suave for various stage performances and music videos, and she has had the privilege to perform with the organization Art With A Heartbeat. Setting movement on fellow dancers is also a passion of Erin’s and she has choreographed work for Peachtree Ridge High School, Grayson High School, Southern Performing Arts Academy, solos for Youth America Grand Prix, Universal Ballet Competition,  and has had work selected for the 2017 Regional Dance Association National Festival in Phoenix, Arizona (performed by Southern Ballet Theatre). Sharing movement has always been a passion for Erin and she plans to continue doing just that in the years to come.