Meet your 2019 Summer Dance Camp Counselors!

 MacKenzie Aurin (Head Counselor, Divas) is 14 years old and a rising sophomore at Oak Ridge High School. She has been dancing for 12 years. She is excited to be attending her 11th Summer Dance Camp. This is is her first year being a Counselor. She has been dancing with ORCBA for 9 seasons. Some of her favorite parts with ORCBA are Meadow Fairy in "Peter and the Wolf", Town Maiden in "Into the Woods", Wolf Cub in "Beauty and the Beast", Maid and Petite Mirliton in "The Nutcracker". 

MacKenzie Aurin

Josie Braun

Josie Braun enjoys dancing, playing clarinet, and Girl Scouts. She is 13 years old and will be in 8th grade at Farragut Middle School. She has danced for 8 years at Angela Floyd (Jazz, Hip hop, and Ballet) and has been dancing with ORCBA for 5 years.  She loves dancing with ORCBA. Her favorite parts have been Mother Ginger and Spanish Corphee in “The Nutcracker.” Josie has been a student teacher at her studio for the past two years.  She has attended the ORCBA summer dance camp since 2015 and this will be her first year as a counselor. She is very excited to see you at camp this summer. 

Elaina Conger is thirteen years old and enjoys playing the French Horn, writing, and most of all, dancing. She has danced since age four, including nine shows with ORCBA. Her favorite roles include dancing as a Bluejay in Peter and the Wolf and Town Maiden from Into the Woods. Elaina’s favorite style of dance is ballet, and she also takes jazz, modern and flamenco at the Tennessee Conservatory of Fine Arts. A rising 8th grader at Farragut Middle School, Elaina loves to learn and teach new things, whether she is at school or dancing. This is her first year as a junior counselor, and she can’t wait!

Elaina Conger

Elaina Cordray

Elaina Cordray is 13 years old and a student at Tennessee Conservatory of Fine Arts, where she studies ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, and flamenco. She has been dancing with ORCBA for 6 years and has performed in many productions including, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Ugly Duckling, Beauty and the Beast and Into the Woods. Some of her favorite parts have been the roles of Petite Mirliton and Maid in The Nutcracker. She recently enjoyed dancing in the Corps of Swan Lake and as a Meadow Fairy in Peter and the Wolf. Elaina has been a camper at Summer Dance Camp for many years and is excited to work with the kids as a Junior Counselor this year.

Lydia Croley  is 15 years old and is a rising  10th grader at Webb School of Knoxville. Lydia has been formally training in ballet for 12 years and has been dancing with ORCBA for five years. She’s had the honor of dancing at several prestigious intensives including American Ballet Theatre in New York City and Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts in Connecticut. Lydia has enjoyed her time dancing with ORCBA. Some of her favorite roles she has performed are the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Masquerade Doll, and Clara in the Nutcracker. Lydia also recently enjoyed dancing as Odette with Murillo Barbosa (of the Georgia Ballet) as Prince Siegfried in ORCBA’s Swan Lake. Lydia has a strong passion for ballet and can’t wait to share her experience and love of dance with the campers.

Lydia Croley

Lily McDonnell

Lily McDonnell is thirteen years old and enjoys everything ballet. She first took a Mommy and Me ballet class when she was fifteen months old at her Aunt’s studio in Pittsburgh and hasn’t stopped since. She is going into eighth grade and has danced in two ballets with ORCBA, which are The Nutcracker and Peter and the Wolf/Swan Lake. Some of her favorite parts in the two shows include the Petite Mirliton, Swan Corps, and Bluejay. When she’s not taking dance classes or twirling around the house, you can find Lily writing novels with her best friend and practicing her clarinet. Lily is very excited to help with the ORCBA Dance Camp!

Allison Myers (Head Counselor, Team Awesome) is 15 and has been dancing for 12 years now and is a upcoming sophomore at Oak Ridge High School. Her first ever performance was in the ORCBA show the nutcracker and she has done it ever since. Some of her favorite roles in ORCBA performances include; Wolf in Beauty and the Beast, Doll, and Little Red Riding Hood. Allison takes hip-hop, jazz, ballet, musical theater, lyrical, tap, and is on the senior competition team. Allison is so excited to be a counselor again for the 2019 ORCBA summer dance camp! 

Allison Myers

Trevor Myers

Trevor Myers is 14 years old and is looking forward to being in the 8th grade next year at Cedar Bluff Middle School. Trevor has 7 years training in dance: ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical/contemporary 6 years, Hip-hop 7 yrs, and Bollywood 5yrs., and is currently a company member at Fusion Dance Project. This was his first year being a dancer with ORCBA, but it was an amazing experience and he looks forward to many more seasons of dancing with ORCBA. His favorite role this year was The Mouse King, but he also enjoyed all of his other roles. He looks forward to meeting new friends this year at camp. 

Caroline Peplow (Head Counselor, Rockstars) is a 15 year old and an upcoming sophomore. She is coming up on her ninth season of Orcba. She has danced at Creative Edge Studio for 11 years. She dances ballet, jazz, lyrical, and tap. Caroline also teaches a few classes. She is beyond excited to be a counselor for Orcba dance camp. Some of her favorite rolls in Orcba productions include butterfly from “Peter and the wolf,” and Mother ginger from “The Nutcracker.”

Caroline Peplow

Grace Powers

Grace Powers (Camp Lead; Head Counselor, Dancing Queens) is a 2019 Graduate of Grace Christian Academy and will be an Elementary Education major at Pellissippi State and Tennessee Tech. She studies ballet, lyrical and jazz at The Dance Centre and has taught young dancers at ORCBA’s Summer Dance Camp the past three years. Grace performed the role of Clara in ORCBA’s Nutcracker and Rapunzel in Into The Woods . Most recently she danced the role of a Big Swan in Swan Lake and the Bluebird in Peter and the Wolf. She was selected for the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts in Dance. Grace has an interest in photography and has won several local and state awards for her works, many of which have a ballet theme. Her photograph, “Pointe Shoes” was the winner of MTSU’s Blue Spark Award, Tennessee’s only statewide award dedicated to high school media arts.

Bethany Quillen is 15 years old and is going into the 10th grade. She been dancing for 12 years and currently dances at the Dance Centre of Oak Ridge. Some of her favorite roles with ORCBA have been the Spanish Corps and Chinese. Bethany is so excited for camp and can’t wait to help out with all the young dancers there! ​

Bethany Quillen

Leah Shaw

Leah Shaw (Camp Lead; Head Counselor, Dancing Princesses) is a rising junior at First Baptist Academy Independent Study program. She has been dancing for 13 years and currently studies ballet, tap, lyrical, jazz, and contemporary at The Dance Centre of Oak Ridge. Some of her favorite ORCBA roles have been the Duck in “Peter and the Wolf”, Spanish Soloist in “The Nutcracker”, Red Riding in “Into the Woods”, and many more! She enjoys reading and playing with her pets in her free time. This is Leahʼs second year as a Dance Camp counselor and she is so excited to share her love of dance with all of the other campers!

Amelia  Thomson is 15 years old and will be an upcoming sophomore at Oak Ridge High school. She has been dancing for 9 years and has participated in The Nutcracker for 5 years. She currently enjoys tap, jazz and lyrical. Outside of dance, Amelia is involved in robotics, band, and Interact club. She is beyond excited to work with such an amazing group of dancers!

Amelia Thomson