Erin McKeever – Owner/Director
Born and raised in Humboldt County, Erin has been trained in various dance styles ranging from ballet, tap, and jazz, to modern and Latin dance. In 2006 she founded Dance Class with Erin Fernandez, now Trillium Dance Studios, which has grown to include more than 200 students, nine teachers, a 3-studio location off the plaza and two performing companies. Over the past 12 years, Erin has created and produced 24 large-scale studio productions and loved every minute of it. She has taught and performed abroad in Spain with the Estada Internacional de Danza, and has earned Dance Teacher Magazine’s certification for dance educators. Erin has a degree in Elementary Education from HSU and has enjoyed seven years teaching ballet and jazz on faculty with Humboldt State University’s Department of Theater, Film & Dance. She loves nature and chocolate, and when she’s not in rehearsal or hot-glueing headpieces, Erin can be found on adventures with her husband Nate, and son Orion.
Allie Phinney – Senior Teacher, Studio Manager
Allie, a San Diego native began dancing at the age of six where she found her love of music, movement and friendship! Growing up she danced and assisted at Carlsbad Dance Centre and Carlsbad High School; where she studied several forms of dance including ballet, jazz, modern and hiphop. Allie studied Communication and Dance at Humboldt State University where she refined her technique and studied other world dance styles. In March 2015 she was recognized by the Department of Interdisciplinary Dance studies for excellence as a performer and her outstanding contributions to the program. Allie has had the opportunity to learn from artists such as Pilabolous, Mark Morris, Trey McIntire and Lines Ballet, among others. In 2011 she joined the teaching staff at Trillium Dance Studios and the only thing she loves more than dance is our Trillium Family!
Kyleigh Carlson – Ballet, Pointe, Contemporary & Ensemble
Kyleigh P. Carlson is originally from Sacramento California, where she trained extensively in Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Modern, Pointe, Contemporary, Hip hop and Musical Theater. She has performed with The Sacramento Ballet, and danced professionally with CORE Contemporary Dance and comedian Hannibal Buress. Kyleigh received a BFA in dance from the University of California, Santa Barbara. During her time at the University she served as an intern for Dr. Carol Press, History of Dance Professor. She was awarded the Dance Education Laboratory Scholarship, which extended her education and training in New York (2013), the Patricia Sparrow Scholarship to further her dance studies in New York (2014), A scholarship to the Joe Goode Workshop in San Francisco (2014), and the Emerging Choreographer Award (2015) presented by Professor Mira Kingsley. Kyleigh’s choreographic work has been awarded on the National level as well as commissioned for shows such as, Teen Dance Star (2017). Currently, she enjoys sharing her love of dance at studios in Humboldt County as well as being on Faculty at Humboldt State University. She would like to thank her family, friends, and students for supporting her and inspiring her, she knows she would not be here dancing without them.
Haylee Wolff – Ballet, Pointe
Dance is one of Haylee’s true loves. She has had formal ballet lessons since she was 3 ½ years old and has been with Trillium Studios since spring of 2013. All the while enjoying the love and encouragement our studio has to offer. Haylee appeared in multiple performances of The Nutcracker with North Coast Dance and was many roles including Clara. She has performed the soloists Iciquelle, Tinselina, and Gingersnap in Trillium’s past ‘Twas productions as well as Athena in our Olympus show, the Jaguar in The Best of Trillium, and the Little Swans Variation from Swan Lake in Encore. In the summer of 2014 she attended Sacramento Ballet’s teen intensive where she improved her knowledge of ballet and in summer 2016 she went to ODC’s Contemporary teen intensive. This is Haylee’s third year teaching and she loves sharing her talent and love for dance with the kids at Trillium.
Kara Ajetunmobi – Ballet, Modern, Contemporary & Latin Dance
Kara Ajetunmobi first began her dance training at the Professional School of the Arts in Torrance California. In those first few classes she knew she had found her passion! Kara has had the opportunity to take classes from various dance professionals such as Travis Wall (choreographer on SYTYCD), Christopher K. Morgan and Artists, Pilobolus and Hubbard Street Dance. Since graduating from Humboldt State University with a degree in Dance, she has been doing what she loves teaching different styles of dance to all age groups, performing and touring with the music and dance collective OLIO and is excited to be a part of the Trillium dance community!
Chloe Schmidt – Ballet
A 5678 Dance Company. She took classes in ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, tumbling, modern, and was also on the studio’s competition team where they performed across the country. She was on her high school’s hip hop team for three years and part of a competitive hiphop crew, Rooks. After graduating high school in 2014, she continued her education and love for dance at Humboldt State University where she will graduate in May of 2018 with degrees in Dance and Criminal Justice Studies. She had the opportunity to teach at her old studio for a year and is now part of Trillium Dance and couldn’t be more excited. 
Kelby Cooper is a native of Humboldt County, where he found his love for movement through the ever-adapting elements of dance. He started his training with No Limits Tap and Jazz Studio & Trillium Dance Studios in Arcata, CA and received the title of Mr. Dance America in 2007 in Las Vegas, NV. He received a dance scholarship to attend Brigham Young University of Idaho under the Dance Major Program where he perfected his training and was selected as a principal member of the Polynesian Cultural Dance Association in 2008. He was then chosen as a principal member of The Dance Collaborative, a ballet/modern/contemporary non-profit professional dance company founded by Nicole Klingler and Amanda McGavin in 2009 in Idaho Falls, ID. During his second season he was selected for the Trey Mcintyre Project performance in 2010 during which he also had the privilege of being selected as the guest choreographer for the College of Southern Idaho’s Dance/Cheer program. He eventually moved on to become the Artistic Director of Dance Tech Academy of Idaho in 2010, where he instructed multiple competitive dance team champions and became the Associate Artistic Director of Blank Canvas Jr. Dance company. Kelby has always drawn inspiration and motivation from his connection to the world and the ability to embody each element of dance as his foundation for movement.
