OLIVIA
MAY
DANCE INSTRUCTOR
Olivia grew up in Sharpsburg, Georgia and began dancing at the young age of 3. She began her pre professional career as a dancer at The Studio - Home of The Georgia Youth Ballet in 2002 under the direction of Magdalena Murry and Jonsie Pollock. Here she studied ballet, pointe, jazz, and modern/contemporary work. Olivia regularly attended Regional Dance America’s southeast festival SERBA, summer intensives such as The Rock School and Fort Wayne Ballet, and performed ballet such as, The Nutcracker, Paquita, Swan Lake, and many more.
After high school, Olivia studied at Kennesaw State University in the beginning stages of their dance department. Here she discovered her true love of modern dance and began studying Limon, Graham, and Gaga Technique.
In 2014, Olivia moved to Houston, TX to dance for the Ad Deum II Dance Company. During her three years with the company, Olivia earned the title of Associate Director, performed works by Randall Flinn, Shizu Yasuda, Steve Rooks, and many more, traveled the world on mission trips, choreographed, and led the SERVE Ministries East Coast Tour in 2017. After her time with Ad Deum, Olivia spent her last year in Houston with Open Sky Arts Collective, directed by Janna Vance, before moving back to her hometown and dancing for Refuge Dance Company in 2019.
Throughout her years of studying dance, Olivia quickly discovered her passion of teaching and choreographing on the next generation of dancers. While her main focus is Modern, Ballet, and Pointe, Olivia also greatly enjoys teaching classes such as Jazz, Contemporary, and Musical Theater. Lastly, she greatly enjoys educating and setting classical and original works on students. Learning classical works from history creates a further understanding on how far dance has come throughout time while creating new works for dancers sets a new mark in this generation of dance.
Olivia strives to keep a light and fun atmosphere while teaching technique classes. She focuses on proper placement, muscle structure, self-awareness of body, and a positive mindset on individual growth. Olivia strongly believes each dancer should work to progress, not to make something perfect. She is incredibly passionate about merging the lines between technical excellence and worship/spiritual warfare through a professional outlook in the studio.