We offer an exciting opportunity to connect and inspire your child today! Under the direction of Shadowmoon Wolf, the studio is designed to present dance with an emphasis on technique and professionalism. We offer a variety of classes and styles to meet every dancer’s desire — whether they are recreational or looking for a more competitive environment, we have what you are looking for. By placing students at their appropriate level, each dancer is challenged and has the opportunity for individual improvement. In addition to classes, students have performance opportunities throughout the year.
Shadowmoon Wolf began her dance journey at the age of 4 training in ballet and tap. To advance her training, she later joined a competitive dance team with the Portland Dance Company. In high school, she was captain and head choreographer of the Forest Grove High School dance team. She later returned to her alma mater as head coach of the team and carried them to 2nd place in the OSAA State Championships in 2006.
Shadowmoon also grew up figure skating, modeling and acting in and around Portland. She was crowned Miss Jr. Oregon in 1993 — and if you look closely you can spot her on the back of both Teddy Ruxpin and Mickey Mouse Christmas edition toy boxes.
She has a background in group fitness and spent time teaching at gyms and other local dance studios before launching her own program in 2007. Shadowmoon started out with 21 students and has since grown to over 365. She currently leads four company teams and has received countless awards for her choreography and the technical proficiency of her students at both regional and national competitions.
Her favorite style of dance is Lyrical, but she holds a soft spot for Musical Theatre due to her many performances as a child in local shows — one all-time favorite role was Cha Cha in Grease. In 2000, Shadowmoon was selected as an All Star Member of the Thunderbird Dance Camp and later returned to instruct summer camps for high school students across Oregon.
Now with over 20 years of teaching experience, Shadowmoon continues to bring her love of dance and fitness to Moonstar. She enjoys working with children and women of all ages to help them reach their personal goals, and feels grateful for the opportunity to serve young dancers across our community.
Erika began dancing at the young age of 3 and danced through her college years. She has performed countless recitals, competitions, and conventions. Erika danced en pointe in The Nutcracker for several years with the Mid-Columbia Ballet. She was a member of Eastern Washington University’s dance team. While Erika has trained in Jazz, Hip Hop, & Modern, Classical & Cecchetti methods of ballet, it is Tap she loves most. Erika has been with Moonstar Dance Studio for almost 7 years and introduced our Acro program. She is a member of the Acro Dance Teachers Association. She loves instructing our youngest dancers and enjoys watching her students grow as dancers, artists, and people. Erika believes that when you dance with your heart, you will always have fun.
Olivia Ontkean moved to Portland at the age of five where she began training as a ballet dancer and competitive figure skater. During her ten years of competitive skating, she also trained in aerial acrobatics and competitive Irish Dance.
In high school, she was recruited to try out for the Sunset Sunflares varsity dance team and began dancing competitively in jazz, hip hop, contemporary, lyrical, and musical theater. She went on to become team captain and later join the coaching staff from 2010–2019 (Varsity and JV state champions 2014, JV state champions 2018). In December 2010, just after graduating high school, she had the opportunity to dance in an opening group number for the Radio City Rockettes on their tour stop at the Moda Center.
In college she continued to train in Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop, and Acro. In spring of 2017, Olivia choreographed musical numbers for Liberty High School’s production of “Heathers 101: The Musical”. Olivia joined the Moonstar family in fall 2017 after substituting in the summer and has absolutely loved every moment she gets to spend with her students.
Ansa Capizzi was born in Nagoya, Japan. She started ballet at the age of 5 at Step Works Ballet. She competed in several national competitions and took home many medals.
She has danced around the world including Washington DC, Palm Springs, South Korea and Japan. She attended the San Francisco ballet school and has had leading roles in several world class choreographers’ repertoires including William Forsythe, Nacho Duato, Jiri Kylian, Nicolo Fonte, Christopher Wheeldon, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. She joined OBT as an apprentice in 2003 and was later promoted to soloist and then a principal dancer in 2018.
Her final bow was as Aurora in OBT’s Sleeping Beauty which took the stage in 2020. She enjoys all types of ballet from classical to modern. Ansa is excited to join our Moonstar family and share her love of dance with others.
Ashley grew up in Columbia, Maryland and studied Ballet, Tap and Jazz. She continued her education at Towson University and received her BFA in Dance Performance. As a Towson University Dance Company member she performed works by Kiki Lucas, Juan Carlos Rincones, Geoffrey Holder, Gisele Mason, Stephanie Powell, Vincent Thomas and Susan Mann.
After graduation, Ashley moved to New York to pursue her career. She was part of the Work Study program at Steps on Broadway and studied with Joe Lanteri, David Howard, Germaine Goodson, Milton Myers, Debbie Roshe, Lonne Moretton, Alex Tressor and Jana Hicks. Ashley appeared in Donn Arden’s Jubilee! in Las Vegas, Norwegian Cruise Line representing the Jean Ann Ryan Company and La Comedia Dinner Theatre in their Christmas Spectacular. Ashley spent two years in Brisbane, Australia where she was seen with Blue Fish Theatrical in The Producers and CHICAGO (Hunyack). Ashley moved to Houston in 2013 and performed Dolce Far Niente as part of the artist in residence program at Suchu Dance and Rob Ashford’s Carousel at Houston Grand Opera. While teaching Ballet at Houston Performing Arts Center, Ashley led a group of students to New York for their Broadway Debut at an autism benefit concert at the Gershwin Theatre.
Ashley is currently part of the Outreach program with Northwest Children’s Theatre and is very excited to be teaching with the Moonstar family.
Alexia started her dance career at age 5 following in her aunt’s footsteps. She started training in ballet but really fell in love with dance when she started taking Hip Hop classes at age 10. She continued to dance throughout middle school and high school, and was part of the competition team at her studio. She’s been continuing her training in Hip-Hop since she graduated high school. Her goal as a Hip-Hop instructor is to pass on knowledge of Hip-Hop dance and music that she has learned through her teachers. She aspires to be a role model that younger kids can look up to.
Baylee joined the Moonstar family in 2013. Her training began at age 3 and went competitive by age 6! She trained at a local studio for 10 years before moving on to a competitive hip hop team, then danced for her high school dance team for four years. Baylee went on to dance/cheer at Oregon State University and was captain her final year — Go Beavs! After college Baylee moved back to the Portland area and has since been dancing for the Portland Winterhawks WHL team, The Rosebuds, where she dances on the ice! She has stuck to her roots and is back coaching for her high school team as well. When she’s not dancing, you can find her spending time with friends and family, loving on her bernedoodle, Lucky, and working in TV advertising for KOIN6 News.
Kelis began her journey at Moonstar in 2012. She later went on to join our Premier Company competition team where she received numerous individual and group awards in multiple genres. Since graduating in 2022 Kelis has joined the LA Dance Magic Senior Company. She has spent the last year traveling to conventions across the country assisting and performing under the direction of Jackie Sleight and David Carter. Kelis is currently attending Portland Community College and is studying Exercise Science to become a personal trainer and group fitness instructor. She is very excited to be teaching at Moonstar, and loves to inspire young dancers of all ages!
David Norwood is a choreographer and educator and the CEO of NYH MEDIA LLC. Considered a “renegade artist”, Mr. Norwood’s work can be seen across all mediums: stage, screen, television and streaming. David’s formal training started at the age of 15 at the Ailey School. He holds a degree in Musical Theatre Dance from USIU in San Diego and was one of the original teaching staff at Edge PAC in Hollywood.
He went on to work commercially, choreographing for Pepsi, The Mickey Mouse Club and Circus of the Stars, traveling internationally to Japan and Europe, co-directing the Broadway show Odyssey in Illusion and an ABC movie of the week. His credits include brands like Nike, Reebok, Apple, Banana Republic and Disney, and iconic artists such as Michael Jackson, Tina Turner and The Talking Heads — and recently FX/HULU’s English Teacher.
After working with Atlanta Ballet as a teacher and choreographer, David is now Artistic Director of BL3ND dance theater and CEO of NYH Media. His goal is to create a multi-media platform that pushes the art of dance performance and education to the next level.
Sophie has been a part of the Moonstar family for 16 years! She started her journey when she was just 4 years old and has worked from Tiny Toes to now instructing! Along with her copious amounts of training through Moonstar, where she received various individual and group awards, Sophie also trained with Rhythmic Souls Tap Company, a pre-professional training program for young tap dancers. She has done every style of dance under the sun, but enjoys tap the most. Sophie has had her hand in a lot here at Moonstar: Nutcracker, recital, competition dance and coaching — you can name it all! Her absolute favorite is teaching our youngest dancers, so you will catch her mostly chillin’ with our tiny tots. When she is not at the studio, Sophie works as a preschool teacher and owns her own pottery studio.
Alicía Pagan is a dance educator, choreographer, and licensed physical therapist assistant with over 30 years of dance experience — including 17+ years of teaching and 5 years of professional performance. A New Jersey native, she studied Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Modern, Pointe, Acrobatics, and Musical Theatre, and was a member of a nationally ranked competitive dance team.
She studied at the prestigious José Limón Institute in New York City, earned a certification in José Limón Modern Technique, and performed in original works with Lustig Dance Theatre and Solo Danza Company. Her choreographic work spans over a decade and has earned national titles, choreography awards, and Top 10 placements, including a bid to the World Dance Championship.
Now based in Oregon, Alicía blends her extensive dance background with her clinical knowledge as a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant at Prime Performance. She is certified in Acrobatic Arts and CPR/BLS, specializing in dance rehabilitation and 1-on-1 acro training. Her teaching philosophy centers around empowering dancers to become strong, expressive storytellers through solid technique, safe progression, and a deeper understanding of the body in motion.
Although retired from performing, Hailey has spent the past 24 years dancing with various organizations. Initially a successful competitive studio dancer, Hailey branched into dance team at Syracuse University. As a student athlete, she got to perform at amazing venues with crowds of 80k+ (shout out MetLife) as well as compete at UDA Nationals.
After finishing her senior year as captain, Hailey made her way back to Oregon and joined the Rosebuds Dance Team, where her Prince Charming proposed on ice during one of their games. Now Hailey is a wife and new mom to her first baby girl — and excited to join our team!
Known for her creativity, leadership, and unwavering work ethic, Sam is a Los Angeles–based artist building a career rooted in intention. Sam’s dance roots trace back to a competitive upbringing at Moonstar, where she trained in both regional and national circuits. She furthered her technical foundation with institutions like Steps on Broadway, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and the Joffrey Ballet School. At just 17, she signed with The Option Agency and is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, certified in personal training, nutrition, and flexibility science.
As an educator, Sam values strength, athleticism, individuality, and artistry. Her teaching style is high-energy, hands-on, and detail-driven, fostering a safe, empowering environment. Sam aims to build not only strong, versatile dancers — but relentless, driven individuals who thrive both on and off the stage.
Gianna Belsito is a passionate dance teacher and choreographer who loves inspiring dancers of all ages to grow in both skill and confidence. Trained in ballet, jazz, acro, modern, lyrical, hip-hop, tap, and contemporary, she has performed with the Nashville Symphony, Disney, and in music videos, while also learning from some of today’s top choreographers. With a heart for teaching and a love for creativity, Gianna brings energy, encouragement, and artistry to every class she teaches.
Tessa grew up in Hillsboro and trained at a competitive studio before earning her Dance BFA from Brigham Young University! She’s danced on a ballroom team, multiple contemporary companies and is currently on a hip hop crew. She loves all styles of dance and wants to help her students find joy in learning and growing! Tessa is so excited to be a part of the Moonstar team!
Fall Session runs September 14 – December 13. Classes fill quickly — save your dancer's spot today.
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