Artistic Directors
Terry Lehman, Artistic Director & Choreographer
Terry Lehman was born “on the road”…and stayed there. Her father, John R. Lehman, was the founder & artistic director of the first state-chartered ballet company in the US – North Carolina State Ballet. She began training with dad at age 4, and he was her mentor and artistic guide until his death. She received her B.F.A. at the University of Utah in SLC, where she created the teaching program – a ballet degree with a teaching emphasis – which still serves as their program basis today. Her teachers there included Yurek Lazowski, Ramon Segarra, Bene Arnold, Mattlyn Gavers, Gordon Paxmon, P.W. Manchester, Rowland Butler,Toni Lander. Terry spent 15 years as a judge and master teacher for children’s arts festivals throughout the former Soviet Union and Russia. She has had the distinction of studying with Asaf Messerer, Konstantin Sergeyev, Natalia Dudinskaya, Oleg Ignatiev, and members of the Moiseyev Folk Dance Ensemble. In her 35 years of working professionally, “Miss Terry” has worn the hats of teacher, coach, choreographer, artistic director, and business owner. At this point, her and husband reside in Louisburg, where she looks forward to returning to her roots: teaching, training and developing young dancers. DDI is delighted to have her wealth of experience and knowledge!
Erika Marschke, Assistant Artistic Director & Coach
Erika Marschke graduated with her BA in Dance from Stephen F. Austin State University, where she was a member of the SFA Repertory Dance Company. Through being a part of the company, Erika had the opportunity to work with many master teachers and guest choreographers along with participating each year at the American College Dance Festival. Since graduating in 2013, Erika has taught dance in Texas and also had the opportunity to travel and teach in Southeast Asia. Destiny Dance Institute has been fortunate to have Erika on the DDI team since 2016. She has been teaching dancers of all ages and skill level since 2012. In 2021, she was given the role of Assistant Artistic Director of the ballet company, Wake Forest Youth Ballet. Erika loves the little ones and has always found a way to work with them outside of teaching dance! She taught preschool in Asia for a year and loved it so much that when she came to NC she decided to continue that as well. Erika started as an assistant teacher at Construction Kids preschool in 2018 and advanced to lead teacher the next year. Erika is excited to be a part of the I Can Club, DDI’s new preschool program!
Coaches
Mariya Dashkina Maddux
Mariya “Masha” Dashkina Maddux is a professional concert dance performer and a dance educator. A native of Kiev, Ukraine she was first introduced to dance through the classical Vaganova ballet technique. After moving to the United States she studied under the direction of Ruth Weisen at the Thomas Armour Youth Ballet of Miami, FL and ultimately graduated summa cum laude with her BFA from New World School of the Arts under the directorship of Daniel Lewis. Ms. Dashkina Maddux joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 2007 and rose to the rank of principal dancer, performing major roles in classical Graham repertoire along with works created by some of the most influential contemporary choreographers. She has been featured in Dance Magazine’s “Dancer’s Choice”, and also appeared in projects including Martha Graham Dance Technique DVD, directed by Miki Orihara and Susan Kikuchi, and in a feature film Fall to Rise, written and directed by Jayce Bartok. In addition to performing, Ms. Dashkina Maddux has collaborated with photographers to capture the art of dance. Most recently her image was selected for the cover of the Dior Magazine issue #26 and The Art of Movement, a highly acclaimed book conceived and created by the founders of NYC Dance Project, Ken Browar and Deborah Ory. Ms. Dashkina Maddux is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Wake Forest Dance Festival, a free and open to the public day of dance, based in Wake Forest, NC. She is one of the founding members of Movement Migration, a dance collective of seasoned artists based in Charlotte, NC and is an ambassador for the Dancing Angels Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships to help passionate and committed young dancers fulfill their dreams. In the summer of 2018, Ms. Dashkina Maddux received the Alto Jonio Best Dancer Award in Calabria, Italy
Alyssa Pilger, Coach & Choreograper
Alyssa Pilger is currently a principal ballerina with the Carolina ballet. She began her training at age 2, as a jazz dancer. At age 15 she went on to receive her formal ballet training at Timothy M. Draper Center for Dance Education. While attending, she competed at Youth America Grand Prix, (YAGP) Rhode Island, winning 1st place gold in the senior women classical category and bronze in the contemporary category. Later she went on to compete in the New York City finals, where she was invited to perform in the Miami International Ballet Festival, entitled “Stars of Tomorrow”. Ms. Pilger completed her training at The School of American Ballet under the direction of Kay Mazzo. She has trained with renowned teachers Olga Kostritzky, Damian Woetzel and Jean-Pierre Bonneforx.
Nicholas Fokine, Coach & Choreographer
Nicholas Fokine is currently in the Corps de Ballet with the Carolina Ballet. He began his ballet training with the renowned Olga Kostritzky at the School of American Ballet. Mr. Fokine also studied at the Miami City Ballet School. He is the great-grandson of the choreographer Michel Fokine. He was interviewed by ABC news magazine 20/20 and by The New York Times. He has had the opportunity to perform with American Ballet Theater in Petrouchka, one of his great-grandfather’s most famous works.
Tama Guerra, Coach & Choreographer
Tama Guerra began her ballet training in Brazil with Mrs. Aracy Evans, who is best known in Brazil as the teacher of the teachers. Mrs. Tama received a scholarship to the Escuela Nacional de Ballet de Cuba when she was 15, and at 18 she was graduated as a Classical Dancer and Ballet Teacher. Tama toured through Europe and danced in Germany. After her return to Brazil, Mrs. Tama danced at the Ballet Stagium in São Paulo and began teaching. In 2010, Mrs. Tama served as a Ballet Master in a company in São Paulo, Brazil. For 13 years, Mrs. Tama has taught ballet for the beginner to advanced levels and prepared students for the exams at the Royal Academy of Dance (London) and ENBC (Cuba).
Guest Coaches
Elizabeth Ousley Muñoz, Guest Coach
Elizabeth Ousley Muñoz (Corps de Ballet) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and moved to Carlisle to train at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. In 2009, she joined Carolina Ballet as a trainee and was promoted to the Corps de Ballet the following season. She has also been a member of The Suzanne Farrell Ballet since 2014. Her repertoire includes featured roles in Robert Weiss’s Danse Real, The Four Seasons, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker; George Balanchine’s Dances Concertantes, Raymonda Variations, Who Cares?, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s Carolina Jamboree, Love Speaks, and Dracula. She currently teaches ballet at several schools in the Raleigh area and tutors middle and high school students in a variety of academic subjects.
Manuel Barriga, Guest Coach
Born in Holland and raised in Madrid (Spain), Manuel Barriga studied ballet with Victor Ullate Ballet Academy and Carmina Ocaña School of Ballet. He started his professional career with Ballet San Jose (San Jose, California) then moved to New York City to dance with New York Theatre Ballet while occasionally performing with Barcelona Ballet (known formerly as Corella Ballet) in Natalya Makarova’s La Bayadere and the Paris Opera Ballet in Maurice Bejart’s Bolero for the Lincoln Center Festival. In the meantime Mr. Barriga started teaching ballet to students of all ages in several schools. In August 2012 Mr. Barriga joined Carolina Ballet for their 15th season and continued to perform with them for five more seasons. In May 2017, Mr. Barriga retired from the stage to continue teaching ballet and became a Certified Gyrotonic® Apprentice trainer and joined Wake Tech Community College to study Therapeutic Massage as a full time student. Mr. Barriga has been involved with Destiny Dance Institute since 2013 both as a ballet teacher and as a principal guest artist performing in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Giselle and The Firebird.
Pablo Javier-Perez, Guest Coach
Pablo Javier Perez, born in Uruguay, graduated with the highest honors from the National School of Dance. In 1994 he won a silver medal at an international dance competition in Brazil. Mr. Perez has also danced with The Teatro de Colon de Buenos Aires. Mr. Perez joined Carolina Ballet in its first season. His roles include Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet, Puck and Oberon in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hilarion in Giselle, Renfield in Dracula, and principal roles in the Balanchine ballets Tarantella, Square Dance, Four Temperaments, Fancy Free, Steadfast Tin Soldier, Rubies, Valse Fantaisie. He has had several principal roles choreographed on him, including Weiss’ Adagio, Joker in Masque of the Red Death, Peter in Peter & the Wolf. In 2001, he was invited by the First Lady of Uruguay to participate in a national tour of Uruguay.