Meet Our Faculty

Ms. Ali is the founder of LA AcroDancers. She has been training in dance and gymnastics for 30 years, specializing in modern technique, contemporary, dance acrobatics and contortion. She graduated from Wesley Institute in Sydney, Australia with a BFA in Dance Performance, specializing in Performance. Ms. Ali has danced, choreographed and taught internationally in the U.S., Mexico, Argentina, Belize and Australia. She has 20 years teaching experience, including training nationally competitive dance acrobatic teams in Sydney, Australia. Upon returning to the U.S. Ms. Ali retired from the professional dance world and began working in education as a teacher for Gabriella Charter Schools, while teaching with Everybody Dance! in Los Angeles. She went on to work as the Dance Education Coordinator for United Children’s Learning Academy and Center for Autism and Related Services and later became the school’s Preschool Director.

Avery Potemri is a Rhode Island native, late competition dancer who started training in dance and acrobatics. She has diligent training in Jazz, Contemporary, Ballet, Hip Hop, and Tap, which she uses to teach around Los Angeles. She graduated from Hussain College In Studio Los Angeles with a BFA in Commercial Dance. With educators in her family, Avery was always inspired to share education, now specializing in child development, acrobatics, and dance. Teaching and choreographing since 2017, Avery creates a rigorous but playful environment for her dancers to share community together, as well as work hard as a team.

Zenmarah Duruisseau, a Los Angeles native, is a professional dancer, choreographer, and educator with over 15 years of comprehensive training in ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, Horton, Dunham, and West African dance. Her formal training includes Lula Washington Dance Theater, Elisa Monte Dance, San Pedro Ballet School, and the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, where she developed a strong technical foundation and a deep appreciation for culturally rooted movement traditions. She is a former Company Apprentice with Lula Washington Dance Theater and has performed locally, nationally, and internationally at renowned venues including The Music Center, Walt Disney Hall, and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Throughout her training and professional career, she has worked with and trained under legendary artists including Lula Washington, Anthony Burrell, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, and Trina Parks, experiences that have profoundly shaped her artistry and discipline. Zenmarah has also participated in and performed at the International Association of Blacks in Dance on numerous occasions, engaging in master classes, scholarship intensives, and national and international performances that further expanded her professional experience. She is currently completing her Bachelor of Science in Human Biology with an emphasis in Applied Physiology at the University of Southern California, graduating in December 2026, and integrates her understanding of biomechanics, injury prevention, and human performance directly into her teaching style. In addition to her performance career, Zenmarah has established herself as a choreographer, creating original contemporary works for Harvard-Westlake and USC’s Expressions Dance Company that blend technical precision with meaningful storytelling. She was honored with Best Talent in the Alpha Phi Alpha Scholarship Pageant and is a multi-year national NAACP ACT-SO gold and bronze medalist for her self-choreographed contemporary pieces. Zenmarah believes dance is a powerful form of storytelling and a means of becoming a voice for the unheard, using movement to communicate emotion, history, and lived experience. As an educator, she blends her knowledge of the human body with her technical background as a dancer to promote safe training practices, enhance performance longevity, and help students move with both strength and intention. She is deeply committed to cultivating disciplined, confident, and artistically expressive dancers. She has taught ballet to young students throughout Los Angeles and previously served as an Advanced Dance Teacher Assistant at Harvard-Westlake, bringing a mentorship-centered approach to her instruction. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes strong technical foundations, intentional artistry, and empowering each dancer to discover and refine their individual voice through movement.

Aneska França is a Brazilian dancer, choreographer, educator, and cultural producer whose vibrant career unites the precision of science with the soul of art. With over two decades of experience in both performance and education, she is a recognized authority in Brazilian Zouk, and a passionate advocate for the preservation and reinvention of Brazilian folkloric dances on international stages.She has also competed in and won awards at national and international Brazilian Zouk competitions, further refining her skills as a performer and mentor for aspiring professionals. Now based in Los Angeles, Aneska is the founder and artistic director of the Aneska Dance Company, where she develops multicultural performances blending Brazilian identity, ballet foundations, and modern creative expression.She teaches in the Los Angeles Unified School District through the Conga Kids program, using dance as a tool for connection, learning, and empowerment.

Gloria Martinez was born in Sinaloa, Mexico and grew up in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from the dance program at Alexander Hamilton High School mainly specializing in ballet and modern dance. She is an alumni from Los Angeles Acro Dance Academy and studied contortion, acrobatics and danced with the company. Gloria will be continuing her dance studies at University of California Los Angeles.

Mrs. Miracle Blakenship has 20 years of dance and acrobatics training and has 10 years of teaching/choreographing both dance and acro. She's taught many genres of dance (i.e. ballet, modern, jazz, jazz funk, contemporary, lyrical, hip hop, pom-cheer dance, heels, and dancehall/soca) and many genres of acrobatics (i.e. gymnastics, controtion, lyra, acro-dance, circus standing acrobatics, and cheer stunting). She also obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree at SDSU in 2021, and a Master of Science Degree at USC in 2023. From 2019 to 2022 Mrs. Miracle was the director and choreographer of her own dance company. Currently, she is a company dancer at Pacific Ballet Dance Theatre, and she is a dance instructor and gymnastics coach at many local studios in Los Angeles, CA.

Elizabeth Rodriguez, is a native Angelina who has worked with youth since age 12, earning the 2012 Kohl’s Regional Volunteer of the Year Award. Elizabeth was exposed to Hip Hop in high school and focused all of her efforts on teaching dance at non-profits such as Inner-City Arts, the Crown Jewel Club, and J.U.I.C.E. Elizabeth subsequently graduated from UCLA with a double major in Dance and Spanish. Her main styles include Breakin’, Hip Hop, House, experience in other styles under the Hip Hop umbrella, as well as experience in various Latin dance forms. Elizabeth has had the opportunity to study and perform with Open House, Versa-Style Next Generation, Physical Poets, Inner-City Arts Repertory Dance Co. and Contra-Tiempo Futuro. Elizabeth truly believes that everybody can dance and continues to give back to her community, hoping to inspire youth through Hip Hop.

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!