Our Team
We are proud to have a staff of true passion for dance teaching at Academy of Dance. They bring their unparalleled experience and vision into every class, sharing their love of dance with their students. Learn more about some of our staff below.
Tamala Taylor
Owner/Instructor/Choreographer
Tamala has an intense passion toward the art of dance and choreography. Tamala’s students have performed and competed throughout Ohio and Dance Masters of America Nationals. She has had the pleasure to have taught scholarship classes for Ohio Dance Masters and Ohio Cecchetti Committee. Tamala has also taught summer workshop classes at other studios. Tamala is a member of Ohio Dance Masters and Dance Masters of America for 40 years. Furthermore, Tamala is currently serving on the Executive Ohio Dance Masters Board, which Tamala currently serves as a Past President and is head of the Auditing committee, Co-Chairs the Bylaw Committee, and serves as Parliamentarian. Tamala has been a member of Cecchetti Council of America and Ohio for 31 years, where she holds the position of Acting Recording Secretary for the Ohio Committee. Tamala takes pride in preparing her students for the CCA ballet exams.
Maddie Gumber
Instructor/Choreographer
Maddie Gumber has been a part of The Academy of Dance since she was 4 years old, first as a student and now as an instructor. Maddie is a member of Ohio Dance Masters, certified to teach Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Acrobatics, and Modern. She is also an Associate Member of the Cecchetti Council of America. She just recently graduated with her Master's Degree in Education and hopes to spend her time away from the studio as an English Language Arts teacher.
Alicia Kunkler
Instructor/Choreographer
Alicia Kunkler has been a part of the Academy of Dance since the age of 3. She later earned a BFA in Dance with a concentration in Performance and Choreography from Slippery Rock University. Alicia has trained in a wide range of styles, including Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Hip-Hop, and Bharatanatyam. She has applied these skills in numerous performance and choreographic opportunities throughout her career. Alicia has also been selected for multiple understudy roles, including Jon Legrer’s *La Follia* in 2023 and Nathan Trice’s *Recognizing Women Project: Their Speech Is Silver, Their Silence is Gold* in 2024. She has worked closely with professional artists such as Teena Marie Custer, Lindsay Fisher Viatori, Jennifer Keller, Erin Kouwe, Cristiana Cavallo, and Omar Roman de Jesus. In 2024 and 2025, Alicia expanded her experience by traveling abroad to Guatemala with JUNTOS Collective and to Belgium with Slippery Rock University’s Dance Department, where she immersed herself in different cultures and built meaningful connections. Inspired by the belief that dance is a conversation of the body, she aims to create and perform work that communicates emotion and human experience while inspiring audiences.