Meet Our Staff
Debra Baile Becerra
Debra Baile Becerra began dancing at the age of 3 and has been a part of DTOJ since it's opening in 1987. She started dancing competitively at the age of 6, studying ballet, tap, jazz, clogging and lyrical. Debra trained under Desiree LeFebvre, Bridgett Stone, Erin Warpole, Larry Payne and, of course,Debbie T Baile, her mother and owner of DTOJ. She started assisting dance classes at the age of 13 and began teaching her own classes when she was 18. Debra is the Director of Dance at DTOJ, as well as the director of the competitive companies at the studio. She is also the Executive Director and Artistic Director for the DTOJ Ballet Company. Under her direction and training, Debra's students have won regional and national awards, as well as scholarships. Debra has had the honor of training several DTOJ alumni who have gone on to dance at a college and professional level. She continues to educate herself in all dance styles as well as contribute her talents to her community with events like Dancing Stars of Onslow County. Debra is a head competition judge for Imagine Dance Challenge and travels all over the country critiquing and advising competitive dancers.
Julie Barnes
Julie Barnes started ballet at 5 years of age at Bucks County Dance Center in Bensalem, PA under the direction of Rex Henriques and Lorelei Leigh. Her dance education continued at the studio for 10 years where she trained in ballet, jazz and tap. During that time, Julie also trained at the Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia for 2 years to enhance her technique and musicality. After her family moved to Florida, she found Boca Ballet Theater and trained primarily in the art of ballet under the direction of Dan Guin and Jane Tyree. While with Boca Ballet Theater she performed full-length ballets including The Nutcracker, Giselle, and the first Act in Paquita, as well as showcase performances. When Julie started college she attended one year at Florida International University as a dance major and performed multiple showcases with them. Unfortunately, she had to stop her dance major due to injury but continued with her education. Despite the setback in her degree Julie continued taking classes and later joined a local organization called Illusions Dance Company which comprised of individuals of varying ages performing different styles of dance at events and a yearly full show. In addition to her formal ballet training, Julie Barnes also performed as the lead dancer in the color guard community in South Florida including Alliance of Miami Winterguard and Magic of Orlando Drum and Bugle Corps.
Julie has recently moved to Jacksonville with her Marine husband and 2 children and is excited to teach the students at Dance Theatre of Jacksonville and share her knowledge of dance technique with all her students.
Katrina Moore
Katrina Moore began dancing at age 5 in Columbus, GA, where she trained in ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop. After graduating high school, she attended Auburn University. There she became a member of the University's dance team, the Tiger Paws. It is on that team where she found her love for teaching and began choreographing for the team. Katrina began teaching at Rising Starz Performing Arts Centre in 2012 in Auburn, Alabama. The following year she became the associate director of the competition team and became the sole director in 2014. Since marrying her husband in 2016, Katrina has been traveling around the U.S. spreading her love for dance. She has recently relocated to Jacksonville, NC with her marine husband and two dogs. She feels blessed to able to share her passion with the students of DTOJ.
Natalie Oldani
Natalie Oldani began dancing at age 3 at DTOJ and started dancing competitively at age 8. Natalie trained in styles such as contemporary, jazz, ballet, musical theater, and hip hop under Debra Baile Becerra, Ashleigh Hunter Avery, and more. When she was 17, Natalie began choreographing hip hop for DTOJ and returned to the studio every summer setting competition choreography.
After graduating from high school, Natalie went on to receive her bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW). She was able to continue her hip hop dance training by joining UNCW’s hip hop dance crew Physical Graffeeti. She served as community outreach chair and co-president for the team, traveling to perform alongside other collegiate dance crews in multiple showcases on the east coast. She was also able to train under well-known choreographers including Candace Brown, Bo Park, Keenan Cooks, and more attending workshops and professional classes in and out of state. After graduating from UNCW, she received her master’s degree in Interactive Media at Elon University. Natalie now lives in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and is so excited to be back teaching at DTOJ full-time!
Sophie Van Meerten
Sophie Van Meerten is originally from Southern California. She started attending multi-genre dance lessons in her hometown at the age of three years old. At nine years old, she saw Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” for the first time. This ignited her passion for ballet. She then went on to complete her student years of ballet training in a diverse variety of studios and disciplines. This included Classical (Russian), Royal Academy (English), Balanchine (American), and Contemporary. In 2016, she successfully graduated from Los Angeles Ballet School, under the direction of Colleen Neary and Thordal-Christensen.
Sophie then joined the professional track program at State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara, CA. With SSB, she performed corps de ballet roles in several company productions and had the honor of choreographing a piece for the Studio Showcase in 2017. After completing the pro-track program, she moved to sunny San Diego, CA, and began a trainee position with City Ballet. With City Ballet, she danced in many company productions such as “Swan Lake”, “Serenade”, “Carmina Burana” world premiere by Jeff Gonzales, “The Nutcracker” and “Alice in Wonderland”. After three years in San Diego, Sophie accepted a company position with the United States International Ballet. This brought her all the way to Wilmington, NC in September of 2020. At USIB, she recently performed in a production of “The Little Mermaid”.
Sophie has left USIB and is now teaching ballet full-time. Although teaching is not new to her, she began assistant teaching at a young age. Sophie was a beloved TA for pre-ballet through level 2 children’s division students in CA, as well as a yearly performance teacher for the Ventura Montessori School dancers’ “Christmas Showcase”. She was a substitute dance teacher while living in San Diego and had her first full-time teaching position at Notion Dance Concepts in Carlsbad, CA. There she taught ballet, contemporary, and jazz to all students, advanced through adults.
Sophie is thrilled to be teaching again in North Carolina and she is eager to share her knowledge and love of dance with all her students.
Heather Stanley
Heather Stanley was born and raised in Northern NJ. She began dancing at the age of 5 and knew someday she would be a dance teacher. Heather graduated from East Stroudsburg University, where she earned her B.A. in Dance/Theater Arts. She decided to stay in the Poconos, where she owned and operated her own dance studio. Heather also spent five years coaching the local high school’s dance and color guard team. After getting married and starting her family, she returned to NJ and continued teaching for several studios!
Heather was a tap instructor for Macy’s Tap-O-Mania for 5 years and also participated in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City.
Heather moved to Jacksonville in 2019 with her husband and her three children. She believes dance is a gift and is so happy to be a part of DTOJ to continue sharing her love of dance!
Monica Rumpf
Monica Rumpf has been dancing since the age of 6. She grew up dancing in Michigan, then in NC, competing in all styles of dance. At the age of 17, she began traveling with Star Systems Talent competition as an assistant, then began dancing professionally. Monica has appeared in movies such as Black Knight with Martin Lawrence and Paula Abdul and Jacobs's Sound for Showtime. She also appeared on several TV shows including Dawsons Creek, One Tree Hill, and Surface.
Monica had also appeared on the stage in many theater pieces and as a volunteer dancer for many charities, including Save the Animals featuring Rupaul. Monica has been teaching for 22 years and is well-versed in Jazz, Lyrical, Acrobatics, and preschool-age Ballet and Tap. Monica is Acrobatic Arts certified, a former pre-school teacher and is CPR certified.
Monica got her start in teaching in NC and has been a part of the amazing DTOJ staff once before! She also has taught in NY, and most recently Southern California for Murrieta Dance Project. She has been very fortunate to have worked in some amazing studios with amazing students/staff who have competed on all levels as well as running her own competitive team and her own acrobatics program. Monica moved back to NC in August of 2022 with her two children to be closer to family. Dance and teaching has always been her passion and it has been amazing to be back at DTOJ - to be back with what is truly an amazing dance family.
Maggie Allen
Maggie Allen was born in Northern California and moved to Jacksonville, NC at the age of 1 when the Marine Corps stationed her dad here. At the age of 3, she began her dance journey in a Tap/Ballet class at Dance Theatre of Jacksonville. Shortly after her first dance recital, her family was stationed to California, where from the ages of 5-8 she studied hip hop, song & dance and tap, at what is now known as South Coast Conservatory. From the ages of 8-11, she studied hip hop, tap, jazz, lyrical, and ABT ballet at San Clemente Dance and Performing Arts Center. During her time at SCDPAC, she fell in love with dance on a new level and competed on multiple jazz and hip hop teams. At the age of 11, Maggie’s family relocated back to North Carolina, where she was able to come full circle to finish out her pre-professional dance journey. While at DTOJ, she added contemporary, lyrical, musical theater and tap to her repertoire. While her competitive journey is almost finished, Maggie is very excited to still be able to watch both of her brothers compete with DTOJ and continue her Hip Hop duet with her Mama.
Maggie has been an assistant for multiple styles of dance at both SCDPAC and DTOJ for the last 9 years, as well as being able to be a substitute at DTOJ. Currently she is a part of the nursing program at Coastal Carolina Community College and hopes to one day work at Walt Disney World as a performer.
Maggie is very grateful to be able to share her love for dance with the future generations and hopes to be as inspirational as so many of the teachers here at DTOJ!