Staff Bios
Melissa McCoy
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR /BALLET DIRECTOR
Melissa grew up in sunny South Florida. She attended Palm Beach County School of the Arts for ballet and modern dance. She attended several schools including Jon Mullen’s, Florida Dance Conservatory, Boca Ballet Theater, and Klein Dance for deeper concentration in ballet and modern dance. She also had the opportunity to study the Royal Academy of Dance (R.A.D.) syllabus early in her teaching career. She danced with several companies throughout South Florida including Boca Ballet Theater, Corps Chameleon, Millennium Dance Syndicate, and performed as a guest artist with several companies as well. She was also accepted to North Carolina School of the Arts for college, but declined and continued dancing and teaching locally in South Florida.
In 2007, Melissa moved to Los Angeles to teach and continue her training. She was on scholarship with many great teachers, while continuing to teach. While training in Los Angeles, she built a ballet program and two performing ballet companies at Le Studio Dance in Pasadena. She choreographed an hour long Nutcracker and a short ballet "Alice in Wonderland", along with many other short ballets and contemporary pieces. Le Studio was later voted “Best Dance Studio” of Pasadena.
Melissa moved back to South Florida in 2011 and continues her work as an active choreographer and as the Director of Ballet for Wellington Ballet Theatre, choreographing several full-length ballets each year. She has also been teaching for Dance Arts Conservatory Center for the Performing Arts since 2011 and is now director of their ballet program as well.
Melissa has had students accepted into many programs such as American Ballet Theater (ABT), Boston Ballet trainee program, Gelsey Kirland's Academy, Julliard, Los Angeles School of the Arts, Arizona University, The Rock School, Joffrey Chicago, Orlando Ballet, BAK school of the Arts and The Colburn Pre-Professional Training Program. She is also wrapping up her Bachelor of Arts in psychology and believes these studies have been a tremendous help in understanding her students and their development. Melissa is an ABT Certified teacher who has successfully completed the ABT Teaceher Training intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5 of the ABT National Training Curriculum.
Chrissi Ardito
Born in Brooklyn, Chrissi started dancing at the age of four, and performing at the age of ten. Through the years, she studied extensively under many well-known teachers and choreographers. At the age of eighteen, she became a certified dance instructor with Dance Educators of America. Before she was teaching full-time, her many years of training led her to performance in dance companies, theme parks, around the world on cruise ships, nightclubs, and finally professional theatre, where she joined the Actors' Equity Association. As a union member, in a span of 30 years, Chrissi performed in and/or choreographed over 80 musicals. A few of her favorite roles include Anita in "West Side Story", Morales in "A Chorus Line", Peggy Sawyer in "42nd Street". Chrissi has received multiple nominations and awards for her work.
Elizabeth Gelfand
Elizabeth is a 2nd generation Florida native who grew up dancing with studios and companies in Palm Beach County. In high school, she performed regularly at local events like SunFest, the South Florida Fair, the Delray Affair, and she competed and won many awards nationally in Orlando and Los Angeles, was invited to compete internationally in Japan, performed at half-time with the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders, and was invited to perform in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. She took a break from dance while earning her BFA in Fine Arts and her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Florida and Florida Atlantic University.
No matter if she is teaching in South Florida classrooms, running children's camps, coaching swim team, or simply being a mom, Elizabeth's priority has always been to create a safe and nurturing environment where children can thrive. For the past decade, her focus has been on homeschooling her 2 children, Arik and Ariel. Now that her children are older, she is happy to have returned to the studio where she continues her own ballet studies as an adult dancer. Dance is a source of absolute joy in her life and with the advice and training of talented and inspiring teachers at Dance Arts Conservatory, Paris Ballet, Ballet Florida, Orlando Ballet and DUCON's summer ballet intensives, Elizabeth has much wisdom to share. She is excited to be joining our staff as our Primary through Level 2 Ballet instructor.
ISABELLA "IZZY" MAIN
Izzy has been dancing since she was 4 years old and a part of the DAC family for 11 years and counting. She attended BAK Middle School for the Arts for dance and is currently a student of dance at Dreyfoos School of the Arts. She has been a part of many professional trainings/performances and has had the privilege of working with such notable instructors and choreographers including John Leher, Levi Marsman, Heather Lescaille, Garry Q Lewis, Ricardo Pena, and Brandi Lewis. She was invited to and attended the highly esteemed Alvin Ailey Professional Division Summer Intensive and also the John Leher Summer Intensive. Izzy’s performance experience took shape with The Momentum Dance Company, where she danced in community performances such as nursing homes and school festivals and at venues such as City Place and the South Florida Fair. And, for the past 10 years she has also danced with Wellington Ballet Theatre and Dance Arts Conservatory performing in full length ballets with notable roles including Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Tinkerbell (Peter Pan), Gerta (Snow Queen), and Cindy Lou Who (The Grinch). Other performance opportunities she remembers fondly were dancing at the Humane Arts Society of Broward County, and with the Miami City Ballet in The Nutcracker when she was nine years old. Izzy also loves to teach and after spending many seasons with Dance Arts Conservatory assisting young performers backstage, she became a celebrated Teachers Assistant for the Children’s Primary Program, assisting classes and also helping facilitate summer camps and intensives. With such great success as a TA, this year she was invited to launch the Hip Hop program for 2024/25 and is thrilled to join the DAC Faculty, taking her passion and love of dance to share it with the next generation. She plans to continue dancing for as long as she can, and once graduated from high school she hopes to continue teaching and/or performing.
Lola Simpson-Gay
Lola has been dancing since she was 3 years old and a part of the DAC/TADA family for 12 years. She attends Wellington High School, where she is a member of the Fine Arts Academy as a dance major. She is the president of Wellington High School’s Dance Company, where she dances and choreographs for various school performances. She is also community organizer for the National Honor Society for Dance Arts. Lola has performance experience s with Wellington Ballet Theater and Momentum Dance Company, where she danced in community performances such as nursing homes and school festivals and at venues such as City Place and the South Florida Fair. Some of her favorite roles include The Gryphon (Alice in Wonderland), stepsister (Cinderella), and the solider doll(The Nutcracker ). Lola also plays the saxophone as part of Wellington High School’s Mighty Wolverine Sound and coaches cheerleading for Upward Sports. Lola loves to teach and share her passion and love of dance with the next generation.