Instructors

Frank J. Valverde

Frank received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Southern California in Music Business. He has had the opportunity to perform amazing music with outstanding conductors over his career; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Victor Venor at Descanso Gardens, performed with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra at the Alex Theatre under the direction of the internationally acclaimed conductor Hilmut Rilling.

One of the highlights of his vocal career was singing at Carnegie Hall under the direction of John Rutter. His vocal talents have also taken him on a European tour where he sang in some of Europe’s finest Cathedrals, including Notre Dame in Paris, France. In addition to his classical choral experience he has been seen in musicals including Phantom, West Side Story & Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Frank has been teaching voice for more than 10 years, both privately and in the classroom. Frank is also the Co-Owner of Valverde School of Performing Arts (VSPA) with his Wife Yesenia in Rancho Cucamonga and has Produced and Directed over 20 live stage and theatrical productions including Seussical, The Wiz, Cats, Les Miserables, Disney's The Little Mermaid & Shrek The Musical.

One of his greatest joys was sharing his love of music & singing with the youths & teens of inner cities in Los Angeles.

frank@vspa.net

Yesenia D. Valverde

Yesenia D. Valverde received her Bachelor's Degree in Dance from Chapman University. She is also a member of the National Dance Education Organization. Yesenia has been teaching dance since 1992 throughout Southern California. The Valverde School of Performing Arts, which she and her husband Frank, own and operate, with the help of their daughter, Sequoia and parents, Janice and Trin, has been open since November 2005. She is also a member of the Dance Faculty at Citrus College, since August 2000. She was the resident choreographer for the nationally touring Citrus College Women’s Ensemble and the Resident Choreographer for the award winning Arcadia High School's Show Choirs for 8 years.

Yesenia has choreographed such musicals as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Aladdin, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Annie, Seussical, The Little Mermaid, Big Fish, Les Miserables, and more. She has choreographed Bye, Bye Birdie for the City of Rancho Cucamonga and was a featured choreographer for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Haugh Performing Arts Center. Yesenia has also co-choreographed several Dance Dramas (full length ballets) such as Twilight, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lore: A Tale of Enchantment and Pocahontas, which she also scripted and directed.

Yesenia has also adjudicated several dance competitions and musical theater festivals in the Inland Empire and Orange County. In addition to teaching and choreographing, she has spent most of her life performing. Yesenia has been seen in many musicals throughout Southern California such as Joseph and the Amazing... (Fullerton Civic Light Opera), Crazy For You (Downey Civic Light Opera), and The King and I (Candlelight Pavilion), and with Carlton Burnett Productions at the Orange County Performing Arts Center (now Segerstrom).

Yesenia would like to thank the dancers she instructs for keeping her young and passionate about this beautiful art form.

yesenia@vspa.net

Julia Gonzalez

Julia Gonzalez started dancing at the age of 6 at VSPA and immediately knew this was what made her happy. She then started training in a wide variety of styles such as ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical and modern at VSPA and fell in love even more. She joined Valverde’s performance troupe, Expressions, where they perform all over southern California. She has been apart of many VSPA and VSPI productions such as The Little Mermaid, My Son Piniocchio, Seussical, and Aladdin. In high school, she was apart of the varsity dance team for 4 years. She is currently attending Citrus College for Cosmetology school. Julia is so excited to be living her dream as a dance teacher at VSPA.

Matthew Phillips

2022 marks Matthew’s 27th year of private music instruction. Matthew teaches the Guitar, Bass Guitar, Piano, Ukulele and Drums.

A love for music started in elementary school when in 2nd grade everyone learned to play the recorder. That turned into the clarinet in the school band for a few years and then it was the music of Van Halen, Prince, Duran Duran that led to learning the Guitar, Bass and Piano.

Matthew studied with Joyce Shannon and Gus Gil in College and has taken lessons with various teachers on each instrument. He currently performs with the Silverados around the Inland Empire and has performed with many bands at many venues around the Inland Empire and beyond. Some of the acts he has performed with include
The Gregg Edwards Band, Resilience, Natalie Brooke Duo, Lazy Susan, State of Play, Nonsense, Jump the Shark, Stereoflux, State of Play, Reflux, Blues Buzzards and more.
You can hear Matthew’s playing on albums by the Gregg Edwards Band, Pam Scheller, as well as two Rock Instrumental releases entitled Never Far From Mind and On Second Thought by Matthew Phillips.
Teaching has been a joy and it’s great sharing my love for music and watching students develop their own skills and passion while making it fun all along the way.

Natalie Ramos

Natalie Ramos is a Rancho Cucamonga native who began attending VSPA in 2009. She took theatre, dance, piano, and voice classes and was a member of the performance troupe, E3. At an early age, she discovered a love for songwriting which inspired her to start Writers’ Nights at several local venues in 2019. A handful of writers were sought, interviewed, and invited to play their original material in front of live audiences. In addition to hosting the events, she performed in them as well.

Natalie has been heavily involved in music all of her life. She graduated from CSArts-SGV high school, was a member of the Citrus College Pop Rock vocal group, Nightshift, and will graduate with her AA in Music this June 2022. Her knowledge of music theory, coupled with her singing and songwriting experience, makes her an excellent teacher in the early stages of piano and vocal training. She is constantly looking for ways to express herself through music and would love to help others do the same.

Christel Abrenio

Christel Abrenio took her first ever dance class in kindergarten and was welcomed into the world of music and dance at Valverde School of Performing Arts at 8 years old. She trained in all the classes VSPA had to offer from ballet and hip hop to choir and private voice lessons. Christel was immersed in the performing arts and as that passion grew, she became a member of Valverde’s performing troupe, Expressions, where they performed at venues like the LA County Fair, Disneyland, and Knott’s Berry Farm. In high school, she was a member of the varsity dance team, women’s choir, and dance club. Christel’s love for the performing arts continued after high school where she trained with a few collegiate dance teams. She has taught classes, been featured in concept videos, and competed and showcased across the United States. Coming full circle, Christel is blessed to have the opportunity to share her experiences, knowledge, and love for dance with the VSPA family she grew up in.

Jessica Martin

Jessica Martin has been dancing since age 4 and competitively since age 9. After bringing home multiple national titles and awards in her youth, she branched out to the professional industry at age 18. Since high school graduation, Jessica has taught at numerous dance studios across Southern California, most notably Studio 31 Dance Center in Murrieta, CA and Millennium Dance Complex Orange County in Anaheim, CA. She has performed with professional dance companies such as Calliopus Contemporary Dance and Vixens Heels Company. She also has experience performing with local artists such as Audrey Callahan and Iman Europe. During college she was a member of The University of California, Irvine Spirit Squad for two years, where she cheered at local and championship basketball games for the University of California, Irvine basketball team. Jessica is very excited to teach at Valverde and enjoys challenging her students in both technique and artistry.

Amanda Halpern

Amanda Halpern started dancing at the age of 4 at VSPA and absolutely fell in love. She then started training in a wide variety of styles such as ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, hip hop, at VSPA and hasn’t stopped since. She also began taking musical theater and singing lessons and realized her love for the performing arts and theater. She was a part of VSPA’s performing arts group that travels all over Southern California for 8 years and has participated in many VSPA productions such as The Little Mermaid, Music Man, and Matilda since 2007. In high school she was apart of the LOHS theater program where she did many productions such as Guys and Dolls and Laughing Stock under the direction of Randy Shorts and was also apart of the technical theater class where she gained experience as a stage director and scenic painter. She is currently getting her BFA for musical theater at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy of the Arts or AMDA. Amanda is thrilled to teach the next generation of performers at VSPA where she found her passion.

Janize Ablaza

Janize Ablaza is a songwriter & multi-instrumentalist who originated from the Philippines and emigrated to the United States at the age of 10. She is an alumni of the pop music program at Citrus College. During her years as a Pop & Jazz vocalist at Citrus, Janize performed a number of live shows with their top Pop Rock ensemble as well as their Big Band Jazz ensemble. Shortly after completing her third year of vocal music study, Janize began writing her own music, formed a band, and started playing live shows all over Southern California. Wanting more music theory training and musicianship skills, Janize then pursued Jazz Guitar & Keyboard skills at Pasadena City College. This strengthened her musical knowledge and application as well as her songwriting. Today she sings, plays guitar, and writes music for a Jazz Rock quartet named ‘Xinxin’. Their music can be listened to on almost all music streaming platforms as well as radio stations like KCRW and KSPC. Aside from rocking out - Janize also teaches music privately. Through her creativity and empathy she provides a safe space for her students to be themselves which allows for a more fluid and rich learning environment.

Erin Flynn

Erin Flynn was born and raised in the Los Angeles area. She began learning the piano and voice at the age of 4, and has studied five instruments throughout her life. She went on to pursue music at CSU San Bernardino where she earned two Bachelors degrees in Vocal Performance and Musical Theatre in 2011. During her time in college, she performed in numerous operas, musicals, jazz ensembles, vocal jazz groups, chamber choirs, large ensemble choirs, theatrical plays, and dance concerts. She also sang folk, rock, pop, gospel, 20th, and 21st century compositions. She recently completed studying opera at CSU Sacramento under Professor Claudia Kitka where she finished her Masters degree in Fall of 2016. She most recently taught voice and piano at the Sacramento Piano Conservatory while completing her graduate degree. As she has enjoyed singing and performing so many different types of music throughout her career, she believes the pursuit of music to be a life-long journey.

Kairah Jibri

Kairah's love for dance began at age 3 while watching Beyonce dance on TV. At the age of 5, her mom decided to enroll her in dance, and she eventually began dancing for the city of Fontana, where she danced under 2 wonderful instructors. She started taking classes at VSPA when she was 11. She has studied all styles of dance ballet, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, jazz, modern, tap, and dance choreography but over the years she has found that her passion lies in lyrical, contemporary, jazz, and modern. She has danced competitively, as well as danced in musicals and dance dramas. She has also had the honor of being apart of VSPA's performing troupe E3 for 3 years. Kairah is currently enrolled at CSUF as a double major in public health as well as being accepted into their dance program. She plans to get her BA in dance and hopefully dance professionally in the future.
She is very happy to be teaching at VSPA and eagerly looks forward to sharing her gift, passion and love of dance with the next generation of dancers. Kairah is excited to teach and can't wait to see her students take pride in their achievements as they grow as dancers and individuals. She truly believes dance is the hidden language of the soul.

Catherine Erickson

Catherine M. Erickson received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona where she studied costume design and all around theatre practice; she appeared on stage several times during the course of her studies. Catherine then graduated with her Master of Fine Arts degree from The University of Southern California where she further refined her skills as a Costume Designer.

Since 2005, Catherine has been the Costume Shop Manger for California State University, San Bernardino and has also designed for their Main Stage. Catherine has also worked in the Inland Empire as a freelance Costume Designer since 2002 for several local companies including: Rancho Cucamonga Community Theatre, City of Fontana, Inland Valley Repertory Theater, and The Redlands Bowl.

In 2010 Catherine began working with Valverde School of Performing Arts as their resident Costume Designer. In that time she has collaborated in over 30 productions with the Valverde's and countless wonderful children.

Paulina Fernandez

Paulina Fernandez began dancing with Valverde School of Performing Arts at the age of four. She can truly say that dance is her passion. During Paulina’s fourteen years of studying dance at VSPA, she has been trained in ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and singing. She spent several years in VSPA’s performance troupe, “Expressions”, traveling and performing throughout Southern California. Paulina spent several years as a Teacher’s Assistant to Ms. Yesenia Valverde, helping her grow in classroom management confidence. Paulina is now a Dance Major, studying at Chaffey College and hopes to transfer soon. Her training continues in all genres of dance to keep her versatile and improving. Paulina is over the moon to be working in a field that she loves, enjoys performing, and is excited to teach a new generation of dancers.

Haihua Chiang

Haihua Chiang was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. She began her training in traditional Chinese dance and Chinese martial art at the Taipei Municipal Zhong-Zheng Senior High School at the age of 15. After graduating high school in Taipei, Haihua continued her dance studies at Citrus College and at California State University, Long Beach, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance. While at Citrus College, Haihua created dance works and danced the role of Clara in The Nutcracker under the direction of Jennifer Allgaier. At California State, she danced in works by Keith Johnson, Jobel Medina, Sophie Monat, Robert Moses, Doug Varone, and created and performed a solo work entitled SOUL-lo. Now based in Los Angeles, Haihua is a freelance dancer performing with Keith Johnson/Dancers, Rebecca Lemme’s Acts of Matter, and The Assembly. Haihua recently performed in Leonard Bernstein's Mass at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and Lincoln Center.

Annie Lee

Annie Lee started dancing at the age of 12, under the direction of Ashley Perry. Trained extensively in jazz, lyrical, and contemporary for 6 years, Annie then continued her dance journey to San Diego State University. Under Jess Humphrey, Leslie Seiters, and Joe Alter, Annie trained in modern, contemporary modern, and post modern for the next 4 years, as well as, working closely with Jess Humphrey and Leslie Seiters. In 2017, Annie graduated from SDSU School of Music and Dance with a BFA in dance performance. Last summer, she trained with James Sutton, Joy Davis, Kira Blazek Ziaii, and Jesse Zaritt at the American Dance Festival and debuted her original piece “Oh!”. Annie is currently a freelance artist who has worked with Caroline Beach, Sulamita Panduro, Megan McBrian, and more. Annie is excited to join the Valverde family!

Jaclyn Murphy

Jaclyn began dancing at the age of 5 in the cafeteria of a high school in the Fontana/Rancho Cucamonga area and quickly fell for the art form. From there she attended Valverde School of Performing Arts at age 6 where she was given so many opportunities that enabled her to grow as a dancer. The studio trained her in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, and hip hop. She also took choir for a while when she was a part of VSPA's performing troupe, E3. Jaclyn first found a love for teaching when she began to assist in pee wee classes at VSPA at the age of 9. She helped in a variety of classes such as pee wee ballet/tap 1-4, pee wee jazz, pee wee hip hop, and pee wee musical theater. Through assisting she gained the confidence to audition for, and participate in, many shows at VSPA. Some of these include musicals such as "Seussical" and "Beauty and the Beast", where she played ensemble roles, and dance dramas like "Pocahontas", where she played a settler, and "Alice Through the Looking Glass", where she played Alice. Through all of these experiences she not only developed a love for the stage but also a passion to teach all that she has learned to the next generation of young performers.

Aroldo Rios

Aroldo Rios graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from CSUSB in 2014 with an emphasis in Music Theory. Mr. Aroldo teaches guitar, bass, ukulele, piano, violin, viola, and composition. He has been on staff with VSPA since the Fall session of 2013.

Megan Warden

Megan Sexton Warden joined our staff in the beginning of 2005 and has enjoyed teaching various acting methods to the drama students and creative dances for her dance students. She started singing and dancing at the age of five and never stopped. She participated in LA's Performing Arts Magnet Programs starting in junior high where she got to sing for the first lady, Hillary Clinton, and graduated from Hollywood High Schools Performing Arts Program. She was also apart of a YMCA Performing Arts program where she met Yesenia and Frank and toured in Hawaii in the summer of 2000. After High School she joined the Citrus Singers at Citrus College for three years where she had the privilege to tour South America and the Hawaiian Islands. She graduated with high honors from Citrus College with a Music Degree in 2005 and went on to California State Fullerton to finish her Bachelors degree where she graduated in May 2007 with high honors in Theatre Arts. Megan has been a valued staff member for over ten years here at VSPA and is still continuing her education to become a better teacher to future students.

Larissa Holguin

Larissa's love for the arts began at age 9 when she took her first hip hop class at VSPA. She then started to train in many different styles of dance including jazz, tap, ballet, lyrical, and modern. She eventually joined VSPA's traveling dance troupe, Expressions, and was in the group up until high school. Around that time she also began to assist ballet and tap classes at VSPA. Assisting in classes, she discovered her love of teaching. In addition to teaching classes at VSPA, she has also choegraphed for VSPA's E3 performing groups, Encore and Expressions.
She has also been involved in multiple VSPA productions including Twilight: A Dance Drama, Cats, Alice in Wonderland, Pocahontas, Lore, and Alice through the Looking Glass. These experiences gave her the passion and confidence to become a teacher. Larissa hopes to continue sharing her love of dance with the students at VSPA for a long time.

Gary Roberts

Gary Roberts has performed on stages such as the Ford Amphitheater in LA to the MIM Music Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona where he recently danced to celebrate the opening of the Smithsonian Institution’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture. Gary has shared the stage with legendary performers such as Chester A. Whitmore, The Opus One Big Band Orchestra, Norma Miller, Skip Cunningham and James Janisse.

He has had the honor of working with tap greats such as Channing Cook Holmes, Joy Hewitt, Hiroshi Hamanishi, and also with Christy Hernandez and Leah Silva as a member of Encore Tap Ensemble. Gary also recently performed at the Hollywood Fringe Festival to rave reviews in the award winning original production Office Beat, with the all-star tap company, Tap Overload under the direction of Gabe and Mindy Copeland. He has performed in live musicals and has many regional theatre credits under his belt. Favorite Credits include: Diesel (West Side Story, Taylor PAC), Johnny/Ensemble (Funny Girl, IVRT), Atlas/Ensemble (Mary Poppins, Performance Riverside), Humpty Dumpty/Ensemble (Shrek, Performance Riverside), and Waiter/Ensemble (Hello Dolly, Haugh PAC).

Gary also originated the role of Harry the Hoofer in the world premier of Temptation!, a new musical based on Arthur Miller’s play, "The Creation of the World and Other Business” in which his featured solo was praised as “a terrific tap dance” by the LA Times. He has also danced as a swing dancer in Swing into Spring! - A Big Band Musical Revue at the Encore Dinner Theatre in Tustin, CA. In addition to performing, Gary teaches and choreographs for schools, theaters and studios throughout Southern California including Orange County School of the Arts, West Coast School of the Arts, and PAVE School of the Arts. He is also a resident teacher for TAP-a-holics at Evolution Studios in North Hollywood and has taught at Millennium Dance Complex, and Debbie Allen Dance Academy in LA.

Mark Pacificar

http://www.markpacificar.com

Lexie Draper

Lexie Draper has been dancing since 2009. She started dancing at Valverde School of Performing Arts in 2009 and has now worked as an instructor at VSPA since 2015. When she first started dancing she was a part of VSPA’s Performance troupes Expressions and Encore. She has been a part of many VSPA musicals such as Cats, School House Rock, and Seussical. She has also been a part of VSPA’s Dance Dramas such as Pocahontas and Lore. In high school, Lexie was a part of their JV Dance team for one year and the school’s Varsity Song & Cheer team for two years. She has also assisted “Gotta Dance” Dance Studio with choreography videos for the dancers to watch and helped with their summer showcase. She is now attending Azusa Pacific University studying Psychology. She was also a part of the APU Cheer Team for one year. Lexie is currently teaching Jazz, Lyrical, Tap, and Ballet at Valverde School of Performing Arts.

Kendall Kushin

Kendall Kushin began dancing at the early age of 2 1/2. At the age of 6, Kendall became a part of the competition team at Dance Terrific where she actively practiced and competed in: Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Musical Theater, and Tumbling. Once Valverde School Of Performing Arts opened their doors in 2005, Kendall began to shift her dance technique from competitive to focusing on the performing arts. It was at VSPA where Kendall furthered her dance training and began taking acting classes, singing lessons, and joined the performance troupe Expressions and Encore. She also began assisting PeeWee Ballet and Tap classes at VSPA, where she was able to share her love for dance every week. Kendall has performed in numerous VSPA productions such as “Just Like Us” and “Peter Pan: A Dance Drama” where she played Tinker Bell. All the skills Kendall obtained from VSPA allowed her to be a part of the Los Osos High School Dance program for 4 years, where she later become Varsity Dance Captain her senior year. The dance program allowed Kendall to choreograph numerous routines for rallies, shows, and special events which furthered her knowledge and skill set for teaching dance.
She is honored to be sharing her knowledge and love for the arts at the studio she grew up in Valverde School Of Performing Arts.

Sophie Rae Gonzalez

Sophie Gonzalez is a pop & jazz vocalist who grew up in Southern California. She is an alumni of the pop music program at Citrus College, and received her Bachelor’s in music from Cal Poly Pomona. Besides teaching at Valverde, Sophie works for various production companies and sings at many corporate and private events. She also has experience singing background vocals for singer songwriters in the surrounding areas. Sophie also spends a lot of time singing in the studio where she provides lead vocals for songwriters looking to demo their music to major labels. With her experience in school and songwriting, she also has a very strong foundation in music theory and can provide beginning level piano players the structure and knowledge to begin learning their instrument.

Robert Normandie

Robert "RJ" Normandie graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor of Music in Composition and from CSU Northridge with a Master of Music in Composition. Robert also is working on his Ph.D. in Musicology at Claremont Graduate University. Robert loves to share music with others and has taught since 2008. He is an adjunct faculty member at Life Pacific University where he teaches a number of music courses, including Music Fundamentals, Music Theory, Guitar, Songwriting, Composing and Arranging, and Logic Pro. He is married to Heather Normandie and has two daughters, with a 3rd girl on the way. Robert volunteers at his church, Hillside Community Church, to run sound at their Rancho Cucamonga Fontana campuses. He has done Kenpo Karate since 1995, is currently a 5th degree black belt, and teaches out of his garage, which he converted into a martial arts studio. Robert also enjoys watching old movies, reading, and going to Knott’s Berry Farm with his family.

Matthew Smith

I LOVE THE PIANO and have been passionate about making music on one for 30 years! Raised in a musical family, my first piano teacher was my mom, I later studied at The Claremont Community School of Music, Citrus College and Chapman University. Personally, playing the piano daily brings great peace and balance to my life as well as provide an outlet for artistic expression.

Out in the world I play for church services, choirs, retirement homes, coach vocalists and instigate sing-offs with friends and family! I love music with “taste”, specifically soundtracks, musical theater and ,of course, classical.

I have taught piano for 5 years and am thrilled to now be with VSPA! LET’S MAKE MUSIC!!!