About the Instructors
Director - Mimi Jones
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.
Instructor - Madeline Jones Clifford
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, An American in Paris and will be playing the leading role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz Spring 2026. She is thrilled to be pursuing her dreams as a performer. She has taught and assisted Mrs. Mimi for the last 7 years, and at neighboring studios as well. She can’t wait to create and work with your children this year!
Instructor - Annie Leymaster
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!
Instructor - Jessica Allegretti
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!
Instructor - Eliza J. English
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.
Teacher Assistant- Sawyer Larsen
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!
Teacher - Adrianne Jenkins
Adrianne studied Biology at the University of Utah. Prior to teaching ballet she worked in the organ and tissue recovery field as the Quality Assurance Director at US Tissue and Cell in Research Park. She graduated from East High where she choreographed for their cheer and pep clubs both as a student and Alumnus. She began her ballet training at the age of three with Jillana Hess Webb of Salt Lake Dance Center. There she performed lead roles in ballets such as Sleeping Beauty, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and Cinderella. She was also part of their competitive ballet, contemporary, and jazz teams. She enjoyed performing in Ballet West’s Nutcracker for several years. Adrianne attended advanced Ballet Intensives at Brigham Young University, and enjoyed taking ballet classes at the University of Utah while she was a student. She has taught ballet and pointe locally for 16 years. Ten years at Salt Lake Dance Center, and is currently at Creative Arts Academy, where she has been for 6 years. In 2017 she became an ABT Certified Teacher, and successfully completed the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT National Training Curriculum. In 2018 she certified in Progressing Ballet Technique, an innovative body strengthening and conditioning program to enhance ballet technique. Adrianne is the happy mother of 5 children ages 10-21. She has enjoyed being part of her own children’s dance journey, and loves helping other dancers find joy in an art that has blessed her life!
Teacher - Abby Diederich
Abby grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and began dancing at age 2 at Virginia Tanner Creative Dance. In second grade, she joined the Children's Dance Theater (CDT) Performing Company and was selected to perform in collaborative works with Repertory Dance Theater and Ririe Woodbury Dance Company.
She continued her dance training at The Dance Company in Salt Lake City, gaining extensive technique in ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, and hip hop. She attended Brigham Young University to pursue a degree in Mathematics, during which she participated in "Kinnect," a contemporary dance company focused on teaching elementary-aged children. She expressed excitement to teach at Mimi & Me and get to know all the students and their families
Teacher - Alexa Jones
Alexa started dancing at the age of seven with C&C Ballet Academy. She has trained in almost all styles of dance, including Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Tap, Hip Hop, Competition Team, and Ballroom.
She has had the opportunity to dance with South Pointe Ballet in several of their productions, including The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Coppélia, and Sleeping Beauty. She has continued her training outside of C&C and has trained with Junction Dance Company.
Alexa continued her dance training after graduating high school at Utah Valley University, where she graduated with a minor in Dance. After graduating high school, she had the opportunity to teach at C&C in their Ballet and Jazz programs.
She has also been able to travel to other states to train with professional companies and studios. She had the opportunity to travel to Idaho and train with the San Francisco Ballet Company, as well as travel to New York and take classes at Broadway Dance Center.
She is very excited to be teaching at Mimi and Me Dance Academy!
Teacher Assistant- Lizzie Jenkins
Lizzie has been dancing since she could walk, and started training at the age of 3. She trained competitively at Salt Lake Dance Center in ballet, contemporary, jazz, and hip hop for 10 years. She danced with the National touring team at Creative Arts Academy for 4 years. During her time there she added training in tap and ballroom. She performed in Ballet West's Nutcracker for 4 years, was part of the BW nutcracker film that runs annually, and danced in principal roles for numerous ballet productions at her studio en pointe. While dancing at these studios, she attended national dance conventions, earned several full tuition scholarships, placed top ten in contemporary at YAGP, won several overall division awards, and worked with many choreographers. Throughout high school, she was a part of Olympus High School's Dance Company and Varsity Cheer team as a choreographer. While with Dance Company, she choreographed for concerts and solos. Lizzie is currently attending BYU in hopes of applying to their nursing school in a year. She wants to keep dancing and has loved working with Ms. Mimi at camps and classes for the past 2 years! She is excited to continue working for Ms. Mimi and is excited to teach the passion she shares with these wonderful students!
Teacher Assistant- Annie Wheeler
Annie began dancing at the age of three and spent five years at Mimi & Me Academy, where she developed strong technique and skills while discovering her love of dance in such a warm and welcoming environment.
After graduating from Mimi & Me, Annie continued her training at Salt Lake Dance Center, where she has competed on the ballet, hip-hop, jazz, contemporary, and production teams. This year marks her fifth year as a soloist in their Night Before Christmas production.
Annie danced on the Olympus Junior High dance team for two years and is now beginning her second year as a member of the Olympus High School Dance Company. She is currently a junior at Olympus High School.