Michelle Coomer

Director & Instructor

MICHELLE COOMER was born in Southern California. She started dancing at the age of 3. She trained in jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, and gymnastics. She enjoyed performing and competing in many dance competitions. In 1998, she won the title of Junior Miss Dance of Southern California at the Dance Masters of American Competition for her classical ballet technique. Soon after, she attended the summer programs of The School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and The Houston Ballet Academy.

At the age of sixteen, Michelle was asked to join the Houston Ballet Academy’s prestigious year-round training program on full scholarship and stipend. During that time, Michelle represented the Houston Ballet Academy in The USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. There she was a finalist and received the Heinz-Bosl Foundation Scholarship award.

In 2002, Michelle joined the Houston Ballet. In 2007, she was promoted to Demi-Soloist. After 9 years of dancing with the Houston Ballet, Michelle retired to focus on starting her family. She and her husband, former Houston Ballet first soloist and Ballet Master, Christopher Coomer, have 3 beautiful children. She has taught around the Pearland and Houston Area for the past several years. Michelle is thrilled to be able to share her knowledge and love for dance with young dancers in the area.

Kelly Robles

Business Manager & Owner

Bio Coming Soon

Christopher Coomer

Director & Instructor

CHRISTOPHER COOMER was born in Birkenhead, England, and received his training at Wallasey School of Ballet and Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy. He joined Houston Ballet in 2004 and was promoted to first-soloist in October of 2018. After 18 years dancing with Houston Ballet, Chris retired.

Chris is currently an Pre-Professional instructor at Houston Ballet Academy.

Chris and his wife, Michelle Coomer, have 3 children. He is excited to share his love and knowledge with his students.

Steven Carmona

Elite Competition Director & Instructor

STEVEN CARMONA began his dance training at the age of five. He has trained in all genres of dance including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary, and Hip Hop. He was a member of Kennedy Dance Theatre’s Ballet Jetè Pre-Professional Ballet Company under the direction of Milena Leben where he performed at The Houston Hobby Center and Wortham Theater for Dance Houston Contemporary Dance Festivals, and competed in the ‘Youth America Grand Prix’ ballet competition. 

He was also a member of TNT Tap Company performing in the Space City Tap Festival’s Showcase alongside renowned tap dancers including Jason Samuel Smith, Chloe Arnold, Acia Gray, and Derek Grant.

Steven began choreographing at the age of 14 when he was given the privilege to choreograph solos, duets, and group dances in various styles of dance for several studio and drill team dancers. Specializing in Contemporary, Jazz, and Tap.

Steven is happy to be our Competition Team Director where he gets to be more creatively involved and lead the next generation of dancers at competition!

Aimee Kilgore

Pre-Professional Director, Adaptive Program Director, & Instructor

Aimee Kilgore (she/her), Pre-Professional Division Director, is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer currently based in Houston, TX. She grew up in the Houston area training under Sharon Teague and Lauren Anderson, performing lead roles such as the Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy in Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker, Odette (Swan Lake), Paquita from Petipa’s Paquita, the Sylphide (La Sylphide), and many more. She supplemented her classical ballet training at HSPVA under Janie Carothers and Courtney D. Jones, where she graduated as dance major. Aimee spent summers studying at prestigious schools such as Ballet West, LINES, Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet, SALT, and Batsheva Dance Company. She went on to graduate summa cum laude from the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program in San Francisco in 2021, where she had the opportunity to perform around the Bay Area in residencies and with choreographers such as FLOCK, Maurya Kerr, Liv Schaffer, Dexandro Montalvo, and more. Since moving back to Houston, Aimee has been a teaching artist with Houston Ballet’s Education and Community Engagement program since 2022, where she travels to various schools and hospitals teaching adapted dance to students with Autism, Down Syndrome, and children diagnosed with cancer. Outside of dancing and choreographing, Aimee is working towards her Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a specialization in Dance/Movement Therapy. Aimee is elated to have the privilege to share her knowledge with a broad range of dancers and movers. 

Lauren Anderson

Office Manager & Instructor

LAUREN ANDERSON began dancing at the age of three at Backstage Dance Studio in Austin, Texas. She began teaching dance at sixteen, and she was Captain of her high school drill team. Lauren is a graduate of Sam Houston State University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance, working with several choreographers such as Dr. Cindy Gratz, Kista Tucker, and Melissa Wynn. She has also been associated with the Kista Tucker Dance Company and the Rednerrus Feil Dance Company since 2006. After college, Lauren was named Drill Team Director at Huntsville High School, and she has taught at Lone Star Jazz in The Woodlands and Divine Dance Academy in Pearland. Lauren specializes in Jazz, Contemporary, Tap, Ballet, and Hip-Hop.

Lauren has lived in Pearland since 2009, and is a dedicated and loving wife and mother. She has always been passionate about dance, and she is delighted to share her knowledge and experience with her students.

Jeremy Carmona

Instructor

JEREMY CARMONA began dancing at Kennedy Dance Theatre at the age of five. He has studied many genres including Tap, Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop and Contemporary. He participated in the Space City Tap Fest with World-renowned choreographers Jason Samuel Smith, Chloe and Maude Arnold, Derek Grant and Acia Gray. Jeremy also danced with Kennedy Dance Theatre’s Ballet Jete Pre-Professional Company under the direction of Ms. Milena Leban. He was a member of Ballet Jete for six years and competed in the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) in Dallas and Houston. He performed at The Houston Hobby Center and Wortham Theater. Jeremy had lead roles in The Nutcracker Ballet and many Tap productions.

Jennifer Godinez

Instructor

Bio coming soon…

Laura Hilley

Instructor

LAURA CATHERINE HILLEY began training at Mobile Ballet at age three. As her passion for the art grew and her performance opportunities increased—under the artistic direction of Winthrop Corey—she became singularly focused on dance.

After multiple summer intensives in New York City, first with American Ballet Theatre and then with The School of American Ballet, Ms. Hilley relocated to Houston to train full-time with Houston Ballet Academy on merit scholarship. While there, she had numerous opportunities to perform works by Stanton Welch and Ben Stevenson O.B.E. with Houston Ballet.

Ms. Hilley then became a member of Cincinnati Ballet, where she worked with choreographer Adam Hougland and toured with the company to The Kennedy Center. Some of her favorite reps include Val Caniparoli’s Lady of the Camellias, Victoria Morgan’s Cinderella, and Septime Webre’s Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.

With her love of teaching and performing, she is sought as a guest performer and master instructor throughout the Houston community and region.

Khila Lyons

Instructor

KHILA LYONS was born and raised in the Houston area, and now lives in Pearland, Texas. She fell in love with dance at an early age and started training briefly before joining the Pearland High School Prancers in 2016 as a freshman. Fast forward to junior and senior year, she was a part of the military officer line as a Junior Lieutenant and during her senior year she was Co-Colonel with Laci Cannon. After high school, she chose to continue dancing at Stephen F. Austin State University as a member of the SFA Dance Team and was offered an amazing position at Ascension Dance Co. as a part of their Dance Staff. After two years with SFADT and a National Championship later, she decided to end her competitive dance career and started to do more choreography and technique lessons to high school dance teams and students of all ages around the Houston area.

Adrian Masvidal

Instructor

ADRIAN MASVIDAL was born in Ciudad de La Habana Cuba. His studies in Classical Ballet started at the age of 9 when a friend of the family suggested that the National Ballet School was an excellent place to get an education and have strict discipline.

His academic and ballet studies continued for eight more years, progressing through the upper level of ballet education, the National School of Arts, with the highest overall grade in the male category of dancers of both sides, academic and dance while participating in international competitions and such events. Afterward, Adrian was admitted to the Cuban National Ballet under the directive of Alicia Alonso 2009, one of the essential ballet icons and one of the first principal dancers at the American Ballet; rising through the ranks in 2016, he reached the status of First Soloist. During this time, he had the opportunity to do many roles as a soloist in classics like Giselle, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, and contemporaries, with Swan Lake marking his debut as the main protagonist in a major classical piece with Siegfried.

After careful consideration, he moved to the U.S., searching for new opportunities in 2016, where he taught in various schools and academies. In 2017, he finally joined Houston Ballet and remained a dancer until 2020. In 2020 a new shift in his career happened, where Adrian decided to stop dancing and retook studies and teaching once again, working at the Coomer Ballet Conservatory as a classical ballet teacher and trainer, along with studying the academic front, specializations as a Personal Trainer, and other projects related with the fitness environment and bringing ballet to all.