Monica Barnett Smith - Owner/Artistic Director Exclusively Ballet & Dance
A graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance and English. Monica began her formal training in 1970 under the direction of Stevan and Melanie Grebel at The University of Alabama Birmingham.  Monica was named principal dancer at Ballet UAB from 1971-1981 while pursuing her degree. Monica began teaching ballet at the age of 17, where she taught at UAB in the community school located at the University. Monica’s professional career as a principal dancer with The Alabama Ballet began in 1981 under the direction of Sonia Arova and Thor Sutowski she performed leading roles such as the “Sugar Plum Fairy” from the “Nutcracker”, the “Swan Queen” in “Swan Lake,”  “Juliet” in “Romeo and Juliet,’ and “Cinderella” in “Cinderella”.  She has performed throughout Europe and studied in Cannes, France at the Centre de Dance International with Rosella Hightower, Jose Ferrand, Elena Tchernichova and Patricia Neary.  Summer studies were spent in New York with Robert Denvers, Melissa Hayden and David Howard.Monica has sat on the Board of Trustees at The Alabama Ballet where she was an active supporter and continues to support the current Artistic Director and her staff.

Monica has been a guest teacher for company class at The Alabama Ballet and is recognized as one of the best fundamentals ballet teachers in our area. Professional dancers from American Ballet Theatre, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Boston Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet of Russia and many other companies have and continue to come through her school, where they take class and teach on a regular basis. Exclusively Ballet & Dance currently has students working for and dancing with The Alabama Ballet. Exclusively Ballet & Dance students have traveled to London and participated in summer studies at the International Ballet Academy with world famous teachers such as Lynn Seymour and Madame Messerer.  Monica’s students have been accepted for summer studies with some of the best programs throughout the United States, such as American Ballet Theatre, The Joffrey Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, University of South Carolina and many more.  Monica often takes a group of students to spend 2 weeks in New York taking classes at Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Centre.

Monica was 4th runner up to “Miss Alabama 1976” and won the Diane Waite Talent Scholarship Award.  Monica coached and choreographed for Heather Whitestone for three years leading up to her performance of “Via Dolorosa” in the 1995 “Miss America Pageant”, where Heather was crowned “Miss America”.  Exclusively Ballet & Dance students were featured with “Miss America 1995” on the nationally televised “Kathie Lee Gilford Christmas Special” and “20/20 with Barbara Walters”.  Monica Choreographed the “Miss Alabama” Production from 1983-88 and coached “Miss Alabama 1985” Angela Tower in the “Miss America Pageant”, where Miss Tower finished as 4th runner up and talent winner. “Miss Alabama 1995” Ashley Halfman was an Exclusively Ballet & Dance student and was featured in the 1998 production of “A Christmas Ballet on Ice” with Danny Tate as her partner.  Other former students that have brought recognition to Exclusively Ballet & Dance are Julie Oliver, MTV’s Original Real World “Julie” and Becky King, a Radio City Music Hall Rockette. Monica coached "Miss Alabama 2005" Alexa Jones to Miss America where she was 2nd Runner Up to Miss America. Alexa is now the CBS Morning News Anchor here in Birmingham Alabama. Liz Cochran, a long time student of Exclusively Ballet became "Miss Alabama 2009". Liz is now pursuing Pre Med at Birmingham Southern College after her year of service.  Evan Volgas, a former student currently lives in Washington, D.C. and is a graduate of Rhodes College. Evan is pursuing his MBA in Finance at NYC Leonard Stern School of Business.After spending two and a half years working with non-profits on homelessness and housing, Evan has accepted a job as a Data Analyst with Capital One. With his MBA Evan will focus on non-profits, social enterprises, and entrepreneurship.

Monica has won numerous choreography awards. She won the prestigious “Choreographers Award” at Panoply for Ballet in 1996 and 2003.  She has been recognized in Dance Magazine and other publications such as Birmingham News and other local papers for her work in the community and the excellent program she offers.  Monica and her students travel to local schools and perform lecture demonstrations, in order to make the children of the community aware of the Arts and Dance in particular.  She believes in building a great self-esteem in her students and is very active in helping her students move on in life in whatever direction they choose.  She stresses education and hard work and has seen many students go on to successful careers.  Many return on a regular basis to take class or just to thank her for being an inspiration in their lives.

Monica‘s community service includes Co-Chairing the Gene Stallings Retirement Party with proceeds going to the RISE Center for young children with disabilities and the Alabama Ballet.  Exclusively Ballet, Heather Whitestone and United Way partnered together to raise much-needed funds for the Hurricane Disaster Relief Fund of 2004. Christmas 2005 raised much-needed funds for Childhood Cancer at Children’s Hospital here in Birmingham.
Exclusively Ballet’s current location in Greystone offers the community state of the art dance floors and the highest quality of dance-educated teachers. The studio offers 7200 square feet of studio space and has a current enrollment of 300 students.

Katie Esser Hammock has been dancing since she was 3 years old.  In 1996, when she moved to Birmingham with her family, she began her training at Exclusively Ballet.  Katie was a founding member of the Exclusively Ballet Junior Company in 1997 and was a member of the Senior Performing Company for 5 years where she was involved in performances at:  Panoply Festival of Arts in Huntsville, Christmas Ballet on Ice, Dance Showcase, Festival of the Trees, MedWise and numerous others.  Some of her favorite memories include winning the choreography award at Panoply for Goodnight Saigon (1999) and Mozart Morning (2003) and dancing the pas de deux from Le Corsaire with Patrick Badua of the Alabama Ballet.  In 2000, Katie began student teaching with preschool classes at Exclusively Ballet.  The next year, she was given her own classes to teach and has been teaching ever since.  When she graduated from Auburn University in 2007 with her BS in Finance, she moved back to Birmingham to work full time and teach dance in the evenings.  Since 2007, Katie has gotten married to her husband Thomas and taken on many new roles at Exclusively Ballet.  She has worked with the Junior and Senior Performing Companies, assisted in the office and been given the opportunity to help with the production of several performances, including:  The Wonderful World of Disney, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Sleeping Beauty and FAME. Teaching young ladies the art of ballet is truly one of Katie’s passions in life and she is so pleased to be able to do this at Exclusively Ballet!

Jaclyn Horsley began her study of dance at the age of three with Joy’s Dance in Alabaster; she also trained with Draper Dance in Pelham for 5 years.  Jaclyn has been a student at Exclusively Ballet & Dance for the past 7 years, and was a member of the Performing Company for 6 years, where she was involved in performances at Panoply Festival of Arts in Huntsville, Showcase, Christmas Ballet on Ice, Festival of Trees and dance competitions at Tremaine, NYCDA, LA Dance Magic and Co Dance where she was awarded a leadership award.  She also studied at the South Carolina Summer Dance Conservatory.  Performance roles include Dew Drop Fairy/Nutcracker, Syrobi/LionKing, T-bird/Grease, Dawn/Copelia, Wendy/Peter Pan, and Queen of Hearts/Alice in Wonderland. Jaclyn attended Samford University her Freshmen and Sophomore years of college.  While at Samford she continued working at Exclusively Ballet and Dance and was given the opportunity to assist in directing the Lion King, as well as the Junior and Teen Performing Companies. Also, during Jaclyn’s time at Samford she choreographed and directed the 2005 Miss Samford pageant.  After two years at Samford Jaclyn pursued her dream of a degree in dance and transferred to Birmingham-Southern College.  She was immediately accepted into the upper level dance classes and awarded an academic scholarship.  While at BSC she studied strict Russian Vaganova technique as well as jazz, lyrical, modern, hip-hop, flamenco, and musical theatre.  Jaclyn’s performances at BSC include: Christmas Student Choreography Workshop, Guest Choreographer Spring Performance, and Student Choreography Intensive/ Performance.  In February 2008, Jaclyn completed her Performing Arts degree and in January of 2009 she completed her Business Administration degree.

Angela Palmer started dancing at the age of 5.  She has Dance/Baton experience including 20 years at Southern Starlet Baton/Dance Corp, 5 years Prodance Camp (Las Vegas), Broadway Dance Center (NYC), 4 years UAB Feature Twirler, 2 years UAB Theater Productions, 7 years Birmingham Steeldogs Arena Football, Centerstage Productions.  Angela was the choreographer for World, State, and Regional Dance Competitions, Primary, Junior, and Senior Southern Starlet Dance Corps, Heart of Dixie, and Alabama Sports Festival.  She has been involved in various training camps throughout Alabama and America’s Youth on Parade! Angela has worked as the choreographer for the past 5 years for the UAB Blazerettes Dance team and is starting her 7th year teaching Jazz and Hip Hop at Exclusively Ballet & Dance.

Jamie Zarrilli Grimes , who started her dancing at the age of three, has been teaching for eight years in Alabama and is a member of the Alabama Dance Council.  In August 2004, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Dance and a minor in Theatre from the University of Alabama.  She has been involved in Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre and Dance Alabama, scholarships for the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensives, the SFA Dance/Theatre Gift Scholarship, and the Dancer Award for excellence.  A guest artist at the "Sharing the Legacy" concert held at Hunter College in New York City, she has performed and choreographed with CenterStage Productions, dancing the lead role in 42nd Street, and the Panoply Choreography Competition finals.   Jamie is currently the Director of Dance for Shades Valley Theatre Academy.  More than anything, Jamie loves sharing the art of dance with her students, and is thrilled to be a part of the Exclusively Ballet and Dance family.

Whitney Mayfield received her early training from Monica Barnett Smith along with other notable teachers.  While she was in school she attended several summer intensives, including the prestigious American Ballet Theatre's program.  After graduating high school, Ms. Mayfield spent one year at Butler University in Indianapolis. After her freshman year, she transferred to Birmingham-Southern College where she completed her degree on a merit awarded dance scholarship. While at BSC, Ms. Mayfield had the honor of studying under Mira Popovich and Teri Weksler. During her time at the college, she performed in several shows and had the opportunity to present four separate pieces of her own choreography in pointe, modern, jazz, and contemporary styles. Her senior year she was awarded the Fine Arts Society Award for Excellence in Dance as well as the Edward Chase Tolman Award for Integrating Psychology into Another Field.  After graduating with honors Ms. Mayfield began her professional career as a company member of Atlanta Festival Ballet, under the direction of Nicolas Pacana. She recently got engaged and moved back to Birmingham to be with her fiancé. She is still dancing professionally and is delighted to return to Exclusively Ballet as a teacher.  This will be her fifth year instructing dance.

Sara Childers a graduate of Birmingham Southern College with a Degree in Dance and English. Sara’s early training began with Frances Armstrong in Bluff Park. She was awarded a Dance Scholarship from Dance Educators of America to Steps in New York. Sara participated in the Competition Company and received numerous 1st Place Awards. Competitions include: DEA, Stars of Tomorrow, and State Dance Championships. Sara’s choreography received 2nd Place Overall in 2002 from Stars of Tomorrow Dance Competition and again in 2003. Her students won 1st Place Overall at State Dance Championships in 2007. Sara joined the Exclusively Ballet & Dance Family in 2008.

Sheena Yenchak started gymnastics at the age of 3 and dance at the age of 14. She has a MAE in Special Education from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She was in charge of the gymnastics program at West Main Studios for 9 years and also taught jazz and tap. Sheena received a dance team scholarship to UAB for four years. She was elected co-chorographer and co-captain for two years. In her second year she received an Outstanding Choreography award for the UAB dance line. During this time she also became a member of the Birmingham Steeldogs “Showsteelers,” and danced for them for five years. She has had the opportunity to choreograph recital routines, company, and pageant routines for the past eleven years. Sheena has performed with Center Stage Productions, UAB and Birmingham Southern Theater Productions, Relay for Life, and City Stages. Sheena’s experience also includes Dance Masters of America Chapter 33, Prodance Camp, and Co. Dance. Sheena taught “Dance for Fitness,” at Lakeshore Foundation and creative movement to exceptional populations.

Grace Murphree, Teaching Assistant

Mary Katherine Parker, Teaching Assistant

Carolyn Esser, Secretary