faculty
Don Francis
Founder & CEO
Write a bio for each team member. Make it short and informative to keep your visitors engaged.
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Katie Li
Owner
Katie Li is a professional choreographer and educator based in her hometown of Niceville, Florida.
She started dancing at Niceville High School at the age of 14, and by her senior year she was named captain. During her time in high school, she trained in a local studio, and choreographed competitive solos for her peers. Shortly after graduation in 2007, she became the assistant coach and choreographer for multiple middle schools and high schools in Okaloosa County.
Katie on a dance line scholarship, under Joe Taylor at Northwest Florida State College was captain of the dance line and choreographed a piece for the Dance Facets in 2009.
Nationally, Katie is an award winning choreographer and has presented her work throughout Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi where her choreography receives critical acclaim.
She is a 5 time nominee for the People’s Choice Award at Kids Artistic Revue for the Industry Dance Awards.
The Verve, in its inaugural year the team has proved her choreography to again, be award winning. Both team ensembles as well as soloists, have competed and performed in many venues in the southeast winning high scores, high point and scholarships to conventions. She has been invited as a master teacher/ choreographer to various venues including schools as well as many private studios along the southeast coast.
Katie's class style is an an eclectic mix of pure athleticism and sheer technique with an emphasis on dynamics, musicality, emotion and performance. She specializes in contemporary, lyrical, jazz funk and stretch/strength training. Katie believes that instilling proper muscle memory is crucial for technical growth and teaching progressive methods are key to a dancers success!
Mary Frances Broughman
Mary Frances Broughman is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.
Born and raised in Southwest Virginia, Mary Frances started dancing at the age of 2. Growing up, she studied ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, pointe, modern, character, hip hop, liturgical and heels. She danced with numerous studios over the years including Floyd Ward School of Dance, Roanoke Ballet Theatre and Southwest Virginia Ballet. As a competitive dancer, Mary Frances won numerous awards at both Regional and National levels as well as numerous accolades including various scholarships, an invitation to Richmond Ballet’s apprenticeship program and her selection as a summer resident at Virginia’s Governor School of the Arts. While attending she was able to train with many world renowned instructors and learn from industry leading choreographers allowing her to sharpen her prowess of the arts.
She continued her ballet education as a company member and principal dancer with Roanoke Ballet Theatre, training extensively with Michelle Goucher, Janelle Tatum, Jennifer Davies, Frano Jelincic, Dagmar Kessler and countless guest artists, choreographers and master instructors from Moscow ballet, Alvin Ailey and other prestigious companies.
Mary Frances’s teaching career began at age 16 with Roanoke Ballet Theatre. From there she went on to direct the ballet program at Floyd Ward School of Dance. As the director she dedicated several years to groom dancers in proper ballet and pointe; simultaneously choreographing numerous award winning competitive pieces. Mary Frances transitioned from Floyd Ward to Blue Ridge Performing Arts Academy continuing to share her knowledge and love of ballet, pointe and conditioning with numerous dancers.
When she married her husband, Michael, and added their daughter, KK, Mary Frances stepped back from teaching for a bit but continued to train and take classes as she firmly believes that you can never stop learning or know enough.
While teaching at A Time To Dance in Navarre, FL, Mary Frances was inspired to expand her knowledge and skill set even further; becoming certified in Progressing Ballet Technique and receiving her ACE certification as a personal trainer. This focus on efficient and proper training methods ultimately assists her students to train intelligently, preventing injury and extending the longevity of their performing arts careers.
Mary Frances continues to cultivate the next generation of artist by sharing her passion and knowledge of the fine arts as a gateway to inspire students to broaden their skills as an artist, to do their best, and always strive to reach their goals!
student teachers
Hannah Jones
Kylee Ausdran
Kylee Ausdran grew up in the Atlanta Metropolitan area of Georgia where she trained at a competitive dance studio for 8 years. At the age of 15, she moved to the Florida Panhandle and became a member of Verve Dance company where she was mentored by choreographer, Katie Li. Kylee started attending many known conventions and competitions, earning a wide variety of scholarships from them over the years. During this time, she began teaching classes several times a week at Verve Dance Company. In 2022, Kylee graduated Cum Laude from Niceville High School. Soon after, she started focusing solely on her teaching career of dance and the industry itself. Kylee has worked many assistant choreography jobs as well as choreographing several competitive routines of her own. She is still currently located in the Panhandle of Florida, teaching full time at Verve Dance Company.