Mary Katherine Atnip: Director of NADC - joined the NADC staff in 2003 and has served as both Associate and Assistant Director in the past. Mrs. Atnip is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of UAHuntsville with a BA in Communication Arts and a minor in Management and Leadership. She is certified to teach by written, oral and demonstrative testing through Dance Masters of America. Mary Katherine is a former Radio City Rockette and performed in New York City at Radio City Music Hall for 3 seasons and at Nashville’s Grand ‘Ol Opry for a fourth season. As a Rockette, Mary Katherine has appeared on NBC’s TODAY show, ABC’s Rachel Ray, Food Network’s Ace of Cakes, and NBC’s and PBS’s Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She is a former Miss Dance title holder for Dance Masters Chapter #33 and was a National Finalist in DMA’s National Miss Dance Competition in 2007. She loves to give back to the community sharing her talents. She has choreographed for First Baptist Huntsville's Living Christmas Tree and multiple times for UAH's theater department. Her pieces regularly take top honors at Regional Competitions. Locally, Mary Katherine has performed as “Annie” in 42nd Street, as “Patty” in Grease and as “Dorothy” in the Wizard of Oz. 

Kaitlyn Gokee Atnip : Assistant Director of NADC– joined the NADC staff in 2010. Mrs. Atnip serves as NADC Office Manager/Recital Coordinator as well as teaching all disciplines of dance. She is certified to teach by written, oral and demonstrative testing through Dance Masters of America. Kaitlyn holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Minor in Dance and Culture from the University of Alabama and a Masters in English Education from Alabama A&M. While attending the University she auditioned and was chosen to be on the University of Alabama’s official dance team “The Crimson Cabaret “ from Aug. ’06-May ’09 and did choreography for the team in ’07, 08, and ‘09. In ’06 the Universal Dance Association selected Kaitlyn as 1 of 15 instructors out of 250 in the southeast division of regional dance all-stars. She traveled the country teaching week-long dance camps for children 4th–12th grade. During her 4 years in college, Kaitlyn served as a full-time dance instructor and choreographer at several of the high schools in the Tuscaloosa area and also taught ballet, jazz, and hip hop for area dance studios. Upon her college graduation, Kaitlyn taught English at Buckhorn High School for 10 years as well as serving as the Dance Team Coach. In 2023 she stepped away from teaching in the school system to follow her first love of dance full-time.

Candace Fanning - Candace joined the NADC Staff as a full-time instructor in 2012. She is certified to teach by written, oral and demonstrative testing through Dance Masters of America. Candace is trained in and excels in all disciplines of dance. Candace Graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Alabama Huntsville with a B.S. in Kinesiology which greatly aides her as a dance instructor.  Candace has a wonderful teaching background including teaching for The Universal Dance Association (UDA) where she traveled from California to Florida teaching week-long dance camps for children 4th to 12th grades. In 2014, Candace appeared in Mercy Me’s music video “Shake.” In the summer of 2012, Candace traveled to NYC to attend the Radio City Rockette Summer Intensive after auditioning in Nashville 6 months earlier and being accepted into the highly competitive program. Candace served as the Westminster Christian Academy Dance Team coach for 5 seasons leading the Wildcats in Hip Hop, Jazz and Pom training. Her choreography consistently wins top honors at regional competitions.

Rebecca Stell - Rebecca joined the NADC staff in the  Fall in 2019. Rebecca has risen as a leader out of our student demonstrator program where she has served for six seasons. She also served as substitute teacher for seasons 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. Rebecca is continually supplementing with Master classes and workshops including: University of Alabama Dance  Fest, Troy University Dance Workshop, and Merrimack Hall Guest teacher workshops. Rebecca has many dance awards including a full scholarship to DC Tap fest awarded by Chloe and Maude Arnold, UDA All-American with Sparkman High School, and NRG Senior Scholarship Finalist. Rebecca also demonstrates her leadership skills with her recent work with the Junior Civitan organization where she served as North Alabama Public Relations coordinator (Harding University) and with the Civitan International Conference (Washington D.C.) where she was elected Governor for the District of North Alabama. Rebecca loves performing and will pour that into her students. Along with her many NADC performances Rebecca has danced in The Living Christmas Tree and in SHS’s performance of “Singing in the Rain.” She is currently working towards a degree at UAH.

Chloe McAlpin -  Chloe joined the NADC faculty in 2016, after assistant teaching since 2012. She has been a part of the NADC family since 2003, and is trained in and excels in all disciplines of dance. Chloe graduated from the University of Alabama in Huntsville with a major in Kinesiology. Chloe graduated Magna Cum Laude from Calhoun Community College in 2019, where she was a top ten student and gave the commencement speech for her 2019 graduation. Chloe has taken master classes from renowned dancers such as Allison Holker, Alex Wong, Brian Friedman, and many others. She was also selected to attend master classes with the traveling cast of Broadway’s Anything Goes. Chloe has also been awarded the Open Call Improv Scholarship award and 24/7’s Non-Stop Dancer Scholarship award. In 2018, Chloe worked with physical therapists to create an injury prevention course for dancers and taught the course to NADC dancers. She is a certified Pilates instructor and teaches all levels of Pilates Mat classes to all ages.Starting in 2020, Chloe served as the Varsity Dance Team Coach for Westminster Christian Academy for 3 seasons.  Holly has extensive training and teacching experience but is our first Nurse Practitioner on staff!  She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama Capstone of Nursing.  She obtained her master's degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and is a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner and 3 days a week works at a family medical practice.  Holly's dance training was with Dale Serrano's Studio of Professional Arts in Birmingham, Al.  She studied 13 years of ballet, tap and jazz.  Holly was a faculty member at 5678 Dance and More for four years where she taught all disciplines to ages two through adult.  Although being a wife and mom is her most important job, Holly is thrilled too once again be teaching and to be a part of the NADC  family.  Our NADC family already knew Holly, even before she joined our staff, because she has been our guest vocalist at our annual recital for multiple seasons.

Holly Adams -Holly has extensive training and teaching experience but is our first Nurse Practitioner on staff!  She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama Capstone of Nursing.  She obtained her master's degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and is a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner and 3 days a week works at a family medical practice.  Holly's dance training was with Dale Serrano's Studio of Professional Arts in Birmingham, Al.  She studied 13 years of ballet, tap and jazz.  Holly was a faculty member at 5678 Dance and More for four years where she taught all disciplines to ages two through adult.  Although being a wife and mom is her most important job, Holly is thrilled to once again be teaching dance and to be a part of the NADC  family.  Our NADC family already knew Holly, even before she joined our staff, because she has been our guest vocalist at our annual recital for multiple seasons.

Barbara Ellen Smartt -   Mrs. Smartt founded NADC in 1983.  She is a Magna Cum Laude graduate from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She is certified to teach dance through Dance Masters of America where she has twice served on the Board of Directors where she served as Performing Arts Chairmen for more than 6 years.  Mrs. Smartt has served on the Board of Directors for Westminster Christian Academy and taught 5th and 6th grade Sunday school for her church for more than 30 years. She has also served as Programming Chairman for Panoply of the Arts and has choreographed for Huntsville Community Chorus and the Huntsville Chamber Orchestra. She has won the Panoply Choreography Competition in all 4 categories of Ballet, Modern, Jazz and Tap. She was nominated in 4 consecutive years for the Wings Awards for her work with Pointe Station’s “Noah” and “Alabama Jubilee.” Mrs. Smartt serves as staff choreographer for NADC and as Office Staff as well. She truly enjoys the creative side of costume design and set and prop design.  Her greatest compliment is to see former students at the recital each year coming back to find that NADC’s high standards, skill and creativity are still going strong! 

Kaye Gokee - Office Staff- Mrs. Gokee, known to NADC students as “Miss Kaye”, joined the NADC staff in 2000. Kaye has 20 years experience in office management. For 5 years, she taught computer skills at Monrovia Elementary School. She has been involved in all aspects of dance for the past 29 years. She twice served on the Executive Board of Pointe Station and as Costume Mistress for the ballet production of “NOAH”. Mrs. Gokee’s goal is to help run the office in the most efficient manner possible through constant consideration of the teachers, dancers and parents needs. NADC is also blessed to have Mrs. Kaye supervise our custom made costumes. Because she is an accomplished seamstress herself, she oversees the selection of fabrics and costume design and execution. She also regularly uses her creative skills in building props and scenery for NADC annual recital production each May.