Our Team

stephanie johnson

Stephanie Johnson has been dancing since she was 2 ½ years old.  She has been teaching at Clifton since it’s opening in 1996.

Stephanie graduated from Chapman University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance performance and has since taught dance at Cypress College and Irvine Valley College.  She was also the coach of Fountain Valley High School’s dance team. 

Though Stephanie has been in many productions her true passion is teaching.  She loves passing along her knowledge and love for dance to students of all ages. 

At Clifton Dance Project Stephanie teaches tap, jazz, and ballet for all ages. 

In her spare time away from the studio, Stephanie enjoys reading, watching movies and going to baseball games with her family. 

Stephanie also spends her time watching her two girls take part in their dance classes.

Gina Ritchie

Gina started dancing at 2 ½ years old and has been teaching since 2003. 

Some of Gina's greatest and most memorable achievements are being Captain of the Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) dance team and competing in Fountain Valley's 1st hip hop team.

Gina went on to coach hip hop at FVHS from 2003-2006 and was Head Coach from 2005-2006.

Following her coaching role at FVHS, Gina has excelled as both a performer and instructor. Her dance resume includes performing in Knott's Scary Farms Hacks show as a main dancer in 2007, teaching numerous hip hop master classes and workshops, choreographing roles for multiple high school dance teams in both Southern and Northern California, however her role to date has been in CDP's annual Who Stole Christmas performance as the Grinch. 

At CDP Gina teaches tap and hip hop across all ages. Her interests outside of dance include fashion, styling and being a fantastic mommy to her daughter Lily.

Kyle Schrader

Kyle Schrader is born and raised in Huntington Beach, California and recently moved back, after graduating from Pace University in New York City with a BFA in Commercial Dance with concentrations in Choreography and Pedagogy, with a minor in business.

During his time at Pace, Kyle had the opportunity to work with a handful of amazing teachers and choreographers including Mandy Moore, Jenn Hamilton, Dee Caspary and Rhonda Miller, just to name a few!

Besides Kyle’s training at Pace, he has also trained at multiple intensives on scholarship with American Ballet Theatre, as well as Alonzo Kings Lines Contemporary Ballet and Arts Umbrella.

Kyle has a huge passion for teaching and choreographing and has been teaching at studios, and for intensives and performing arts schools in the Orange County area for the past six years. Kyle has choreographed numerous first place numbers for both studios and schools that have also gone on to win best choreography. 

Kyle loves working with driven dancers of all ages and strives to help them to achieve their goals in dance while in the process teaching them life skills that they can take with them forever.

Taylor York

Taylor began dancing at Clifton Dance Project when she was 3 years old and since that time has studied ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, and hip hop. During her time in high school, she was a member of the Jazz and Commercial Ensembles at the Huntington Beach High School Academy of the Performing Arts.  She participated in choreography classes, where her choreography was showcased in numerous main stage shows.

While in this group she traveled to New York City to perform at a dance showcase. Upon graduating from High School Taylor left Clifton and went to the University of Utah where she graduated with Bachelor’s Degrees in Criminology, Political Science, and International Studies. However, her love for dance never wavered, she still continued to improve her craft at the University’s School of Dance where she had the opportunity to learn from different choreographers and took a variety of dance and choreography classes.

Taylor’s love for education began at the age of 12 while assisting her first dance class. She has recently returned to Clifton to pursue her passion for teaching and choreographing. She also enjoys performing as the Grinch in CDP's annual Who Stole Christmas show. She is always looking to continue to expand her skills for teaching dance by participating in workshops and instructional sessions.

Taylor aims to create a learning environment that is positive, fun, and exciting, while still working to improve each individual’s skill level. She loves to share her passion for dance with her students and wants to ensure that her students are always comfortable, encouraged and productively motivated.

At CDP Taylor teaches jazz, contemporary, and hip hop across all ages.