2022-23 Points
Carolyn Wells
Carolyn Wells grew up as a competitive dancer in all styles of dance. She is an alumni of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy NYC as a Dance Theatre Major. From there, she worked professionally in National Tours such as Super Why Live (Alpha Pig) , Sesame Street Live (Chamki, Oscar, Zoe, Elmo, Abby, Ernie, Baby Bear, Rosita, and the Live Character Riley), Sid the Science Kid Live (May/ Sid) , and Fisher Price Live (Koby.) Her other credits include, RWS Entertainment as Jesse Flynt in Wild Jack’s Last Stand and Brittany in Rockin on Route 66, Product modeling for Amazon, entertainment companies such as Dragonfly Entertainment and Stage Stars Productions, off off Broadway musicals, concert dancer for Glen Burtnik, model for Bettie’s Bombshells, and more. She is also a Nationwide choreographer and a competitive dance teacher. Break a leg, Dancers!
Kristal Tan
Kristal Tan is a dancer and choreographer based in Austin, Texas. After completing her freshman year at Pace University's Commercial Dance Program she moved back to Texas, where she graduated from Texas State University with her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography. After graduating she moved to NYC to study at Broadway Dance Center for a semester before moving to LA where she is currently signed with Luxe Talent Agency. She has worked on set for companies such as Dreamworks, Apple, and Dance Spirit Magazine, and international music artists Pedro Reis, JOKA, Megan Tibbits, INAS X, Arman Hovhannisyan and Chris Perez. Additionally she is a huge fan of theater and has performed in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Psycho Beach Party in local theaters. She has continued to train under the direction of MaryAnn Chavez and Mobile Felice Smith in Lume Dance Collective, as well as Robin Antin and Kenny Wormald as a work study at PlaygroundLA.
As a dance educator and choreographer she has traveled to guest-teach and choreograph in over 20 cities around Texas, Hawaii, Florida, California, Nevada, Minnesota, and internationally in Mexico, Thailand and Malaysia.
Payton Steffensen
Payton Steffensen is a dancer/singer/choreographer/actor trained and based in New York City. Growing up in South Dakota, she competed in gymnastics, dance, cheer, show choir, and singing contests, while finding a love for stage performing, pageants, public service, and choreography. She took a leap of faith, quite literally, and studied at the height of the pandemic at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan, experiencing wild class training and watching her favorite city come back to life. (One of her favorite memories is having the honor of being in the first audience to attend a Broadway preview opening, being “Passover,” after the theaters going dark in 2020!) Payton booked her first professional performance job with Carnival Cruise Lines just two weeks after graduation from AMDA, and has been a Playlist Performer Dancer/Singer on the Carnival Legend! Traveling, trying new foods, learning about other cultures, and meeting friends from around the world while getting the opportunity to perform for hundreds of guests a night are highlights of the cruise life for her! Payton is thrilled to be involved with Baby I’m A Star, helping cultivate other young performers, and inspire to a flourishing career in the entertainment industry! To learn more and contact Payton for choreography, master classes, bookings, etc., her Instagram is @paytonsteffensen, email ispaytonsteffensencc@gmail.com, and website ispaytonsteffensen.com!--
Charli Michelé
Charli, originally from the bay, has been dancing since the age of 4. She trained at Debbie Allen Dance Academy learning different styles, however Charli has excelled in tap and hip hop. She has been teaching since the age of 16 and is currently the head hip hop coach at Calabasas High School. She has built the tap and hip hop programs at Elite Dance Center as well as competitively taught for the past 8 seasons winning at various competitions such as Jump, Velocity, Spotlight, and Kar. Since graduating from CHAMPS high school in 2012 she has been apart of multiple dance productions, music videos and danced for artists such as Lizzo. She has also gotten her certificate to teach preschool and kindergarten with an emphasis in special needs movement. Currently Charli can be seen in commercials such as Old Navy and Total Wireless, HERS, and Fitbit! She is a representative for the Plus Size dance and modeling community!
Jennifer Chestnut
My name is Jennifer Chesnut and I am the Tumbling Coordinator for Arrow Athletics in Jackson, TN. I’m originally from Southeastern Kentucky. I am married, with 3 kids, a cat named KitKat, and a dog named Loki. I have taught tumbling classes since 2006, Volunteer Cheer Coached since 2010. I became Head Cheer coach in 2015 at elementary level. I moved to middle school level in 2020. I’m super excited to expand my knowledge of cheer and dance so I became at Cheer/Dance Judge. I’m member with several Cheer Organizations and hold the expected credentials! I’m looking forward to seeing teams compete and put their heart on the floor!
Kelsey Harkness
I have trained in ballet, lyrical, pointe, jazz, tap, and hip hop as well as competed in lyrical and jazz since the age of 12. While competing, I won several high point and awards of recognition for performance. Upon high school graduation, I attended and graduated from The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio with a Bachelor’s degree in Dance and a minor in Business. I have always been passionate about sharing my knowledge of dance with others so while attending college, I opened a competitive dance studio of my own. Currently, I continue to teach classes and run my competitive team where I have received many choreography awards and my students have won high point and stand out awards for technique and performance.
More Coming!
We are currently hiring Judges & Event production staff. If interested please email: emily@babyimastar.org