The Academy of Performing Arts strives to provide a warm and motivating environment for children to experience dance.
Our teachers work together to create a dance and movement syllabus with a coordinated developmental program which improves physical skills and builds a sense of self esteem and confidence.
Classes are combined with performance opportunities to provide a well rounded dance experience. Limitations on class size allow teachers to nurture and to give personal attention to the children, helping them grow until they are ready for more advanced classes.
The Academy of Performing Arts focuses on the belief that all people, young and old, benefit from having quality dance in their lives.
Meet the Team
Beth Mayo
Owner and Primary Instructor of Jazz,
Tap, Ballroom and Preschool
Beth Mayo, owner and primary instructor of Academy of Performing Arts brings a long resume of experience, talent and enthusiasm to her classes. She performed in Cats for 2 years where she met her husband John Mayo. She has done several Broadway national and international tours, as well as performing at Radio City Music Hall and the White House.
For 5 years she performed at Universal Studios and worked as a choreographer and actor in TV shows such as: Diagnosis Murder with Dick Van Dyke, Father Dowling, Reading Rainbow, and America's Funniest People.
Beth has three children and feels that her experience as a mother has helped her more than anything to be a creative and motivating teacher. The Academy of Performing Arts is a noncompetitive studio. We dance for our love of the arts and our love for the children.
Tara Warrick
Hip Hop, Tap, Jazz
Miss Tara began her movement journey at age 3 through gymnastics and then cheerleading. She loved cheering as captain at Crest High and performing in the Walt Disney World Thanksgiving Day Parade as a UCA All-Star. She joined APA her Junior Year in High School. From that moment, a lifelong passion was ignited. Miss Tara continued to dance in college with the UNC Star Heels Dance. She trained at national conventions and continued to take classes while she worked with competitive and non-competitive students as an instructor at To the Pointe Dance & Arts Academy in Hillsborough, NC during graduate school. Upon moving back to Shelby, she was eager to return “home” to APA and has been teaching at APA since 2010. Miss Tara has been the primary instructor for the Hip Hop program but has taught Jazz, Tap, and Gymnastics and has assisted/subbed for Preschool classes and ballet as needed.
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"I especially enjoy that I now get to dance with all three of my children! We get to have a special experience together. I am eternally grateful to my husband who has been the best dance spouse, dance dad, prop builder, music editor, administrative assistant, haywagon driver, and friend I could ever ask for!
I love the staff at APA and consider them to be family! Miss Beth has been the most wonderful teacher, mentor, boss, friend, and second mom to me!"
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Natalie Mayo
Tap
Natalie Mayo, the daughter of Beth Mayo, grew up dancing at the studio. She began teaching adult tap at the studio in 2021.
Kelli started dancing at the age of three and competed in jazz, lyrical and acrobatics from the age of 6 until she graduated high school. Kelli went on to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and a minor in Business. While attending UNCC, she was a member of the nationally ranked Gold Duster Dance Team for four years. Through these experiences, Kelli has been trained in ballet, modern, jazz, lyrical and acrobatics. Kelli joined the team at APA as our ballet instructor in September of 2011.
“I love teaching dance at APA! The staff and students are like a second family. I love the environment Mrs. Beth has cultivated over the years; keeping dance fun and relaxed, while still challenging each dancer to grow and develop."
Kelli Steele
Ballet
Karen Jones
Gymnastics
