About the Instructors

Mimi Jones began her formal training under Miki Casalino and later with Willam F. Christensen, Bené Arnold,  Barbara Hamblin and Bruce Caldwell. She received her BFA in Ballet with a teaching emphasis from the University of Utah, where she performed with the Utah Opera Company and Utah Ballet. Later, she danced in leading roles such as the Sugar Plumb Fairy and the Snow Queen with the Monterey Ballet Company.  To this day, Mimi continues her personal training at Ballet West Academy under Tyler Gum, Liz Weldon, and Adrian Fry.  Mimi  has taught advanced technique, ballet, and pointe classes at different studios in California and Utah for 30 years. She currently offers a variety of classes for children ages three to nine. Mimi's mission is to teach correct ballet training in a creative, imaginative way for children.  She wants to preserve the beauty and magic of classical ballet in a world that moves faster than ever. Her mission is to preserve children and keep them young and imaginative as long as possible while implementing a strong ballet and classical foundation. 

Madeline is the youngest of Mimi’s three daughters and just like her sisters, began dancing as soon as she could walk! Her initial desires to perform began as she trained in ballet and later as a competition dancer. After her classical childhood training with Mrs. Mimi, she became a member of a performing group at The Dance Company. For several years, she participated in conventions and competitions and traveled to New York City to learn from professional instructors from all over the world. Madeline is currently studying at BYU in their MDT (Music Dance theater) program, and is a member of the BYU Young Ambassador performing group. She has also recently been in shows at The Ruth and Nathan Hale theater including Seussical, Cinderella and An American in Paris. She is thrilled to be pursuing her dreams as a performer. She has taught and assisted Mrs. Mimi for the last 6 years, and at neighboring studios as well. She can’t wait to create and work with your children this year!

Annie Leymaster began dancing at the age of three and hasn’t stopped since. As a child and teenager, she studied at Salt Lake Dance Center and spent many summers traveling around the country (New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco) to train with professional dance companies. As a child, she was privileged to be Clara in Ballet West’s "Nutcracker" as well as performing many years in other roles. She also had many opportunities to dance in leading roles such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and 12 Dancing Princesses, as a teenager. She began teaching dance as a young adult and has continued for twenty years. Because her husband’s job has placed her in many cities around the country, she’s had the opportunity to run her own small dance studio. She also led close to one hundred dancers in a Christmas production for several years. Annie is excited to return to Utah and be a part of Mimi & Me Dance Academy!

Liz has danced since she was very young. She studied ballet at the William Christensen Academy and Ballet West for eight years with Mr. Christensen as her instructor. She has danced in many different ballets, including six times in Ballet West's production of The Nutcracker. She also performed in Ballet West's The Firebird and the Utah Opera Company's Aida. She attended Highland High School, where she was a member of the dance club for four years and president her senior year. Liz studied ballet and jazz at the University of Utah for four years and danced in several college dance competitions. She has choreographed dances for The Sleeping Beauty and Saturday's Warrior.   Liz has taught dance, with an emphasis in ballet, for over 20 years. She has also taught kickboxing and step aerobics classes. She is an avid cyclist having completed six Logan to Jackson (LOTOJA) 200 -mile (in one day) road races. Liz is a wife and mother of five children.  Liz brings her wealth of broad experience to the ballet studio. She loves teaching young girls to be graceful, and to feel that they are beautiful and strong, She especially enjoys teaching girls about classical ballet and to appreciate the music that contributes to its beauty.

Jessica has grown up dancing in the Salt Lake area and has loved every minute of it!  She studied many kinds of dance including ballet, jazz, tap and modern. At Olympus High School, Jessica danced on the Dance Company and Drill Team as Dance Captain and made the All-Region Team. She continued her training at the University of Utah graduating with a bachelor's degree in modern dance, studying both modern and ballet and was awarded a full tuition department scholarship. She continued her education and received her Utah Teaching License from Utah Valley University and was on the Dean's List. Finally, she went on to receive her master's degree from the University of Utah in Art of Teaching- Fine Arts, She was awarded fellowships for research assistance with the Associate Dean of College of Dance and the Arts Bridge Scholar Project. She has  been teaching dance for the past 14 years and it is her passion.  She has taught in both the private studios and public-schools, teaching preschool through seniors in high school.  She has a 2-year-old girl named Elena and a baby boy on the way! She is so excited to be teaching at Mimi and Me Dance Acadamy!

Eliza was raised in a home filled with dance. Under the direction of her mother, Ms. Mimi, she grew to love movement and immersed herself in dance training at a young age. She participated in her mother’s classes from ages three to eleven. In addition to taking at Mimi & Me Dance Academy, Eliza danced at Janet Grey, Virginia Tanner  Dance & performed with  Children's Dance Theater. At age twelve, she furthered her dance education at The Dance Company in Salt Lake where she took a lead role as a ballet soloist in West Side Story. She continued her dance training at Brigham Young University in ballet, jazz, and ballroom. Eliza received  Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Early Childhood Education at BYU. She has been assisting and teaching for Mimi & Me Dance Academy for 15 years, as well as conducting private dance lessons to various students for six years. Eliza truly has a gift teaching children! This past summer, Eliza moved to Houston with her 1 year old baby Ray and Husband Jaren. While in Houston, Eliza will continue to  help at Mimi and Me Dance Academy with administrative duties and summer camps.  

Clara began dancing 14 years ago at Mimi and Me Dance Academy. She continues her training at Performing Dance Center where she has trained and competed in ballet, pointe, contemporary, jazz, tap, ballroom, lyrical, and acro. She has performed the role of “Clara” and “Flower Demi-Soloist” in The Nutcracker, “Genie” in Aladdin, and “Stepsister” in Cinderella. For the last four years, Clara has also been a part of Olympus Dance Company where she has choreographed four dances for concert and currently serves as the Company Relations Officer. 

She has loved teaching with Ms. Mimi for the last five years, and would like to thank Mimi for the training and amazing opportunity. Spending time with aspiring dancers is a dream come true. 

Sawyer has been dancing since she was three years old. She trained at Mimi and Me Dance Academy for 6 years and  went on to dance at a competition studio where she won national awards.  In 8th grade Sawyer danced with Junction Dance Studios on their Pre-professional team and performed in 4 professional shows. She then went on to join the Cottonwood High School drill team and is now currently the team's President. Sawyer started teacher assisting at Mimi and Me Dance Academy in 6th grade with summer camps where she helped with crafts, dance, music and story time.  She now assists 1st and 3rd grade ballet classes. The students love Sawyer as she assists in correcting technique and helping with choreography.   Sawyers favorite part about teaching is seeing a dancer make mistakes and then get so excited when they finally master the choreography.  She hopes to help dancers learn and grow new skills throughout the year and to learn to love dance!