Our Team
Rhonda Mann
Owner/Instructor
Rhonda has been involved in the art of dance since the age of three. She studied tap, jazz, ballet, voice and acrobatics with well known educators such as Sylvia Grey, Patsy Swayze, Maxine Asbury, Al Gilbert, the highly acclaimed Bo Wagner, and Vladimir Marek among many others. Before moving to Fredericksburg 31 years ago, she served as principal instructor, choreographer, and performer with the Southwest Jazz Ballet Company in Houston, Texas. She also owned and operated her own very successful studio with over 800 students in Houston for 15 years. Her students then and now attain top honors and awards in regional as well as national competitions and conventions! In addition to teaching at Ms. Rhonda's School of Dance in Fredericksburg, Rhonda also teaches tap and choreographs for studios all over Texas and the surrounding areas. Her love of dance transfers into theatre as well. She has loved working closely with the Fredericksburg Theatre Company, choreographing numbers in numerous shows including Peter Pan, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Annie Get Your Gun, Fiddler On The Roof, Beauty and The Beast, The Music Man, Christmas At the Theatre among many
others. Ms. Rhonda feels so very lucky to wake up everyday and spend time doing what she loves, sharing the joy of dance with such wonderful students and parents. She feels truly blessed to be a part of this very talented community with such amazing people.
Regan Mann
Director/Instructor
Regan has been in the studio since she was born and has continued studying dance and choreography throughout her life. She was brought up taking dance from a number of nationally recognized teachers and choreographers in her mother's studio in Houston, Texas. After moving to Fredericksburg, her passion for dance led her to enter the fine arts program for boarding students at St. Stephens High School in Austin. Regan continued dancing in college with The University of Texas, Tapestry, and a number of other organizations before graduating from St. Edward's University in 2005. Shortly after, Regan began working for Showstopper National Dance Competition, along with teaching for several studios in Austin, Tx including the highly acclaimed Tapestry. Several years later, she made the move back home to teach full time for Ms. Rhonda's School of Dance. She has had the opportunity to study closely with amazing companies, teachers, and choreographers throughout her years such as Al Gilbert, Bill DeRicco, Bo Wagner, Sam Fiorello, Patsy Swayze, Ray
Hesselink, Randy Skinner, Derick Grant, Mike Minery, Deirdre Strand, Acia Gray, Gregg Russell, Avi Miller & Ofer Ben, TOKYO, and Anthony Morigerato. Regan's choreography and students continue to win top honors and scholarships in regional and national competitions each year. In addition to being a director of Fredericksburg Dance Company and Ms. Rhonda's School of Dance, Regan also choreographs for other successful competitive Texas dance studios and has traveled nationwide as a regional and national judge for Starpower National Dance Competition, Imagine Dance Challenge and BravO! National Dance Competition.
Gretel Neff
Ballet
Gretel Wohlbier-Neff was Born in Houston Texas started dance at the age of 5 to help correct very bad feet. She studied the Royal Academy of Dance ballet syllabus and completed exams Grade 2 through Elementary. She was a member of The Allegro
Ballet Company under the direction of Eugene Collins and Andrea Vodehnal. As a young teenager, Gretel moved to East Grinstead England were she attended Bush Davies School of Theatre Arts. She also studied with The Munich Opera Ballet where
she was offered an apprenticeship. She has performed with the Houston Grand Opera, studied and performed with The
Houston Ballet under the instructions of Nina Papova James Clouser and Ben Stevenson and has also performed with The American Ballet Theatre in Rudolf Nureyev’s production of Raymonda. Gretel spent many years teaching beginner to advanced students in the Houston area for numerous studios before settling in Fredericksburg.
Ruth Arensdorf
Ballet
Ruth began her classical ballet training at the age of four in Mandeville, Louisiana, with Kelly and Constantin Apetrei - Constantin having been trained at the Bolshoi Academy in Moscow, Russia. Moving to the Houston area at the age of nine, Ruth continued her Russian training with Karyn Simon-Poland of The Woodlands Civic Ballet, in The Woodlands, Texas. At age 13, she joined Houston Dance Theatre to continue her classical Vaganova training under the tutelage of Angela Jackson and Barbara Legault. During her three years with Houston Dance Theatre, Ruth participated in several Regional Dance America festivals, as well as numerous summer intensives, including two Vaganova Academy International Intensive programs featuring world-renowned Russian master teachers. During this time, she also began training in modern and pilates under award-winning choreographer and modern teacher Julie Berg. In the summer of 2002, Ruth attended the International Ballet School in Jackson, Mississippi, in conjunction with the USA International Ballet Competition. She was one of only four dancers chosen to receive full scholarships to dance programs throughout the country and the only dancer to receive a full scholarship
to Joffrey Ballet School in New York City the following summer. In 2003, Ruth joined Jim and Bridget Payne, both formerly of Houston Ballet and Ballet West in Utah, to dance and train with Woodlands Ballet Theatre and Payne Academy of Dance. During this time she continued her modern and pilates training with Julie Berg and served as assistant rehearsal mistress for Woodlands Ballet Theatre. In 2006, Ruth joined Ballet Excelsior of Houston as a trainee, under the direction of Sonja Staines and Liza Pollok. For two summers, between 2006 and 2007, she traveled with the company on tours to Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, and Greece to support The Messiah Project. During her tenure at Ballet Excelsior of Houston, Ruth discovered her love of teaching ballet, a passion she continued to pursue with Progressions Performing Arts of Houston, Christian Youth Theater, and ImagiNation Theater in the years to come. Along with her extensive modern and ballet training, Ruth’s dance experience also includes lyrical, jazz, and tap. Ruth has had the privilege and extreme honor to train under the following teachers during her classical training and many ballet intensives. She attributes much of her dancing ability to the passion, demanding standards, and influence of these teachers. Madame Alla Osipenko of Kirov Ballet; Madame Tatiana Legat of Kirov Ballet; Laura Alonso of Ballet National de Cuba; Rhodie Jorgenson of School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theatre; Bernara Karieva, Prima Ballerina of Bolshoi Ballet; Natalie Ianomis of Maly Theatre Lexingraf, St. Petersburg Conservatory, and Vaganova Academy; Khazmin Adol, principal at Maly Opera and Ballet Theatre; Anna Marie Holmes, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The Royal Ballet, et al; Julie Berg, award-winning choreographer and modern teacher; Mark Goldweber, Ballet Master of Joffrey Ballet in Chicago; Durinne Alanova, Prima Ballerina of Boston Ballet; as well as many guest teachers from Houston Ballet, Joffrey Chicago, and American Ballet Theatre.
Savannah Stahl
Acro Director
