Our Instructors

Sarah Woerner
Owner/Director
Sarah has danced at Dimensions Studio since the age of 5 when Dimensions opened its doors in 1997. Sarah danced competitively and won several high awards for her performances over the years. She continued with her dance training through college and into adulthood. While in college, she performed with the Bailey Mountain Cloggers Dance Team in Mars Hill and the Catawba College Dance Ensemble in Salisbury, NC. At a young age, Sarah performed on Off-Broadway in New York City after receiving extensive training from many distinguished instructors and choreographers, including attending Beginnings Workshop under the direction of Petr Sklar. For a short time, Sarah also trained under ballet master, Wayne Burritt at Dimensions Studio in Mars Hill. Sarah is a registered member of Acrobatique and is in the process of receiving her Jr Acrobatics certification. She has acted as a guest judge and master instructor at several studios around the Western North Carolina area. Sarah was an instructor with Betsy’s School of Dance in Franklin, NC and Tiger, GA from 2014-2018. She has led dance teams from both studios to winning high awards at regional dance competitions. With more than 15 years of teaching experience, Sarah became the owner of Dimensions Studio in Mars Hill in 2018 and Weaverville in 2021. Sarah serves as the artistic director and head choreographer of the All-Star Performance Team and acts as an instructor at both locations. Sarah attends several dance conferences each year to extend her dance, instruction, and business knowledge. Sarah thrives on sharing the love of dance with her community, she is inspired to instill confidence and positive dance experiences in young dancers. It was always a dream of hers to become the owner of Dimensions, her home studio which has a special place in her heart.
Sarah is married to the love of her life, Allen. Together they have 3 sons- Oaklee, and twin boys Archer & Woodson!

Abria Pelka
Mars Hill Dance Instructor

Caitlin Wilde
Weaverville Dance Instructor
Miss Caitlin grew up in Weaverville and went to school in the North Buncombe district. She previously taught at Weaverville Dance Academy for four years, 2016-2020, teaching beginner hip hop and lyrical. She took dance for 13 years at Weaverville Dance Academy before attending college. Miss Caitlin went to Mars Hill University and graduated in 2018 with a degree in Middle Grades education with concentrations in English/Language Arts and Social Studies. She currently teaches fifth grade at Enka Intermediate School. She is married to her high school sweetheart. They now live in Marshall with their two cats. We are so excited to have her on staff at Dimensions!

Candice Howard
Mars Hill Dance Instructor
Bio Coming Soon!

Charlotte Hovey
Mars Hill Dance Instructor

Elaine Gonzalez
Weaverville Office Manager
Over the past 15 years, Elaine served as Director of Operations at Legal Club – a nationwide legal referral service headquartered in south Florida. There, she successfully managed and optimized company wide operations, supervised the functions of all internal departments, and analyzed and effectively mitigated risks. Elaine’s career path also includes experience in marketing, customer service, and administration where she displayed her capacity to multi-task and empathize, promoting a team spirit among associates. After raising her family in south Florida, Elaine and her husband decided to retire from full-time work in 2020, and build a new home in Weaverville, North Carolina. She is looking forward to becoming involved in giving back to her community, drawing from her extensive experience and skills. Dimension’s ethos to achieving a healthy, active lifestyle fits right in with Elaine’s life philosophy of mindful living. It is with these mutual goals, that Elaine is eager to assist the Dimensions team to achieve their goals!

Emily Bassinger
Mars Hill Dance Instructor

Gina Elrod
Tots Instructor
Gina Elrod believes in keeping the fun in fitness! Gina understands how early beginnings in movement can lead to lifelong healthy habits. Her goals are to “encourage wellness, community, and good fun.” She is an A.F.A.A. (Aerobics and Fitness Association of America) Certified Personal Fitness Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor (since 2004) and is dedicated to encouraging functional
movement improvement for all ages. Gina is dedicated to encouraging those new to fitness with easy to follow workouts and practical tips. She also offers variety to those already making the consistent movement commitment. As one of Gina’s long-time fitness class participants said “Gina is warm and welcoming. She works hard at making sure everyone, of all ages and fitness levels, gets a good workout. She is committed to continuing education in fitness and regularly brings new ideas to the workouts”

Halea Baker
Mars Hill Clogging Instructor
Meet Ms. Halea! She has been dancing for almost 19 years! Growing up, she studied many different styles of dance, but clogging has always been her true passion. She has taught many different camps, classes, and even traveled internationally multiple times with the motivation to share all of her knowledge about the rich history that clogging holds. Ms. Halea has won many different awards through clogging, including being inducted into the ACHF clogging hall of fame in 2015, 2017, and Team of the Decade in 2020. She is currently a rising senior at Mars Hill University studying Integrated Health Science with a concentration in Occupational Therapy. She is a member of the Bailey Mountain Cloggers and the MHU Dance Team!

Julie Worley
Mars Hill Office Assistant
Julie joined our office staff team in 2019. Before becoming a stay at home mom, she worked for 10 years for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Her two daughters, Jaycee and Jade, both dance at Dimensions. Julie loves to spend her time helping the studio any way she can. She is a vital part of our staff and we are thrilled to have her at Dimensions!

Leanne Gompers
Weaverville Dance Instructor
Miss Leanne is a teacher of ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical and theater, and has been teaching for over 30 years! She received her BFA in Dance from the Boston Conservatory in 1986. After graduating, Leanne taught dance classes, choreographed, and performed in studios and Community Theaters in the NJ areas where she grew up.
In 1990, she opened a dance studio in Wilmington, NC to be near Carolco Film Studios. During her 7 years there, Leanne had the privilege of choreographing for the television series “Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”, and performed in the movie: “Radio Land Murders” as a Featured Dancer. She married the love of her life, Brian, and continued teaching while raising their sons.
Leanne and her family moved to Asheville in 2006. She performed in the Asheville Ballet Nutcracker; choreographed numerous Musical Theater productions for local schools that her sons attended; and was a Ballet Instructor for 12 years at Weaverville Dance academy in Weaverville.
Dimensions is so excited to have her on staff this coming season!

LINDSEY GUILLIAMS
Weaverville Dance Instructor
Miss Lindsey began dancing at age 4 right here in the Dimensions Weaverville studio- formerly Weaverville Dance Academy (WDA). She was trained in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical and hip hop. After being there 14 years she continued dancing in college as a member of Appalachian State University’s Entropy Dance Crew, as well as post-grad in Wilmington, NC as a member of Physical Graffeeti. Lindsey loves to share her love of dance wherever she can and has most recently taught jazz, tap and hip hop classes at Creative Republic Dance Academy in Franklin, NC and led movement groups to clients at an addiction treatment center in Asheville, NC. Lindsey was also a dance instructor at WDA student in 2014, and again during WDA’s 2019-20 season. Currently, Lindsey works for an optometry practice in South Asheville and is thrilled to have Dimensions as her newest dance home!

Marta Cano
Zumba Instructor
Bio Coming Soon!

Maya Harrell
Mars Hill Dance Instructor
Meet Ms. Maya! She has danced at Dimensions for 10 years, taking acro classes her entire career. She has been an assistant Acro instructor for 5 of those years. Ms. Maya’s favorite dance styles have always been Contemporary and Acro. She is currently a student at Madison High School, and plans to attend UNC Chapel Hill to study forensic psychiatry or law.

Ruth Van Sickle
Mars Hill Yoga Instructor

Samantha Morgan
Mars Hill Dance Instructor

Sheena East
Studio Fit Personal Trainer

Taylor LotTeS
Mars Hill Dance Instructor
Miss Taylor grew up in WNC and studied dance from the age of 5 years old at Betsy’s School of Dance in Franklin NC. Taylor took a variety of dance styles with Ballet and Jazz being her favorites. Taylor spent her senior year of high school as a boarding student at the the NC School of the Arts in Winston Salem NC, with a focus on Drama and Musical Theater. Taylor has spent the last 10 years in Asheville teaching part time as a Zumba instructor and substitute for multiple dance classes. You can find Taylor enjoying live music venues, dancing to the beat of her own drum and spending quality time with her little family. Taylor has two daughters who will be starting at classes at Dimensions Dance Studio this year, and are all anxiously awaiting for classes to start