About Ozark Dance Academy Staff

Julia Alderman began her dance training at the age of seven in Westerville, Ohio.  By the age of ten, she was dancing as a scholarship student through he Ford Foundation, a national program to assist gifted young dancers.  This gave her the opportunity to train with Tatjana Akinfieva-Smith and to dance with Ballet Met, a professional company in Columbus, Ohio.  In addition, she studiied with the Dayton Ballet, in Dayton Ohio and at the Scool of American Ballet in New York City.  in 1987 she moved to Las Vegas weher she trained with tehe Nevada Dance Theater and traveled with them to Moscow, Russia.  After moving to Memphis, TN she performed witht he Md-South Dance Theatre.  in 1991, she moved to Springfield, MO and began teaching ballet for Springfield Ballet while she completed a degree in Business Administration from Drury University.  In 1994, she founded Ozark Dance Academy where she continues to teach.  Known by Ms. Julie by all her ODA students and those taught during her years as an adjunct teacher in the Theater and Dance Department at Missouri State University (2003-2017) she has shared her passion for ballet and trained many dancers who have gone on to be teacher, perform professionally and those who have just taken their dance training into their life beyond dance. When not teaching class at ODA or Phenix Hot Yoga she loves spending time with her husband Jeff and on being on the beach.  

Alisha Clifton walked into her first dance class at the tender age of 2 in Lebanon, Mo where her love of dance was born.  She began her competitive dance journey at the age of 6 and was youngest dancer allowed on her studios competition team. While Alisha’s passion is Ballet and Dance History, she is also trained in Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, and Modern Dance. During High School, Alisha joined the Nixa High Dance Team where she studied Poms and Hip Hop  aand her team took home State Titles each year. At 14, Alisha began instructing ballet locally to 2  & 3 year olds and it was then her desire to promote the benefits of dance, the joy of dance and its history was planted. After High School Graduation she attended Missouri State University where she was a double major in Dance Performance and French with a History minor.  During her college studies Alisha’s passion for Dance History grew and she was fortunate to receive scholarships towards her degree and towards numerous Summer intensives to study and purse Dance History Education. Alisha‘s love of learning is evident and she has attended many intensive dance training close to home  with dance companies such as;  Momix, Parsons Dance Company, Alvin Ailey II, Steve Rooks and  across the country with the New York Baroque Dance Company. Alisha has extensive training in Early Childhood Development, snd Certifications in  Preschool Dance Education through CLI, Acrobatic Arts, Music History for Dancers through Harvard and is certified to instruct through Ready Set Dance.  Alisha has been a part of Ozark Dance Academy since 2004, as a student, part of the spring performance backs tage team and after Earning her Bachelors Degree as an ODA faculty member.  You will find her researching, teaching a variety of performance and competition classes at ODA, handling our day to day office and social media task and planning numerous events and fundraisers for our studio dancers and competition team ODACo.  When not on the dance floor teaching or working behind the scenes for ODA, Alisha loves to spend time with her Husband David, son Grayson and their Goldendoodle MIlo.

Laura is a 2017 graduate of Ozark High School where she performed with the Dance Team for two years and won the Dance Talent Contest her Junior and Senior years.  She formally trained in ballet, jazz, modern  at ODA and found her passion to be Hip Hop. In regional competition, she has choreographed and performed winning Hip-Hop solos. When not teaching Laura loves to work with her church or perform with Motion Playlist a local Hip Hop group. We are so glad she is able to join us for another season and spread her love of dance and hip hop with our students. 

 Kaci Parker began dancing at the age of six at Ozark Dance Academy. When Petra School of the Arts opened their doors to older students in 2016, Kaci began training with them under the tutelage of  Petra Ballet Company Director Kim Raymond.  At the age of 16, Kaci joined Petra Ballet’s professional company and toured nationwide with them until she left the company in 2021. Kaci has received extensive training in ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, and Irish dancing.  During her time with Petra, Kaci completed multiple levels of Chechetti examinations, receiving excellent scores with each exam. Kaci began teaching at Ozark Dance Academy in 2020, and that is where she found her passion for educating the next generation of dancers. Kaci is currently pursuing a degree in educational and childhood psychology. Kaci teaches both recreational and competition dancers, and has experience teaching ages 3-18. In 2021, she began directing and choreographing for the Junior Elite and Senior competition teams at Ozark Dance Academy and has choreographed many award winning solos, group routines, and productions.

Carolien Wolfe started her training at the age of 4 with Showtime Productions.  When she was 10, she continued her dance training at Ozark Dance Academy until she graduated from high school.   Throughout her time at ODA she trained in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, Contemporary, Hip Hop and Modern dance.  While at ODA she was a memver fot he competition team earning cholarships from many of the competitions including DanceMakers, Hollywood Dance Jaz and Talent on Parade.  She performed and competed with the Ozark High School Dance Team and ulitmately palcing 2nd in state for heir kick routine.  For the past 2 summers Caroline has traveled all across the country as an instructor for Universal Dance Association (UDA) instructing High School Dance team students.  When ski s not in the studio, Caroline is training at Missouri State University and earning her Bachelors Degree in Dace.  She is excited to be teaching at ODA for her second year.