Cooke County Ballet Academy was founded in 1992, and is the oldest dance studio in Cooke County.

Director

     Stephanie Stoffels began dancing at the age of 8, in Phoenix, AZ. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Texas Christian University, majoring in Ballet.

     After college she toured Europe, dancing with Extraordinary Students of America / Youth in Action. Stephanie has danced with Ballet West, Mesa Civic Ballet, Denton Civic Ballet, and Festival Ballet of North Central Texas. She was Assistant Artistic Director for Denton Civic Ballet for the 1992 - 93 season. She has also choreographed for many of Gainesville’s Butterfield Stage and NCTC's  musicals.

     Stephanie has been teaching dance since 1984, and founded Cooke County Ballet Academy in 1992.  She has attended the Houston Ballet's Teachers Convention (2001), American Dance Master Teacher 2008 Summer Workshop at Oklahoma City University, and Dance Revolution's 2010 Refine Leadership Conference.

Stephanie is also a licensed Zumba Instructor and a member of the Zumba Instructor Network since February 2011. She is currently teaching Zumba in the Circuit at the Curves in Gainesville.

Faculty

     Annjeanette Martin is a graduate of Gainesville High School, where she was a proud member of the Electric Red Dance Team and danced in the Orange Bowl Halftime Show.

Annjeanette trained in the genres of jazz, modern and hip-hop at NCTC where she graduated from in 2001 with Associate of Science & Associate of Arts degrees.  She also a 2004 graduate of UNT, with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing.

Annjeanette currently works for NCTC, where she has also been very fortunate to be an active part of NCTC's performing arts.  She has danced in several performances with the NCTC Dance Program and the annual NCTC Black History Program, as well as multiple theater productions with NCTC and Butterfield Stage including:  Peter Pan, Cinderella, Dracula, The Rocky Horror Show, High School Non-Musical, RENT!,  and Cats. Annjeanette has choreographed for Aladddin Jr, and The Rocky Horror Show as well as competition pieces for GISD's Electric Red Dance Team.

     Sabrina Stoffels began her dance training at CCBA at the age of 3. She has continued to study ballet, tap, jazz, and modern. Sabrina has danced with Festival Ballet of Denton, in their Nutcracker Ballet for many years, and has performed in many of shows at Butterfield Stage.