All of our instructors are Christian Artists, skilled in their various art form, passionate about serving God with their talents, and dedicated to instilling a desire for excellence within each of their students as they pursue the expansion of Gods kingdom through the surrendering and offering of their gifts.

Sarah Dimmick, School Administrator & Director of the EAS Hip Hop Company & EAS Dance Theatre Company
Sarah “Saza” Dimmick is an educator/choreographer/performer who has been actively pursuing a life in the arts for most of her years. She has a BFA in dance education from Arizona State University, and has studied, taught and performed throughout the U.S.

In the education arena, Saza has taught on the dance faculties at Arizona State University and Glendale Community College. She also served as Dance Director at Willow Canyon High School where she directed the Canyon Fusion Dance Company, and, most recently, Dance/P.E. faculty at Dobson High School, where she also directed the Dobson Hip Hop Club. Through a grant from Kellogg’s and Phoenix Women’s Sports Association, Saza wrote and taught the curriculum for the Stardust House community dance program in central Phoenix. She also co-developed an after-school dance program at Arizona State University called Moving Inventors. Saza has taught and presented curriculum throughout the US, including the Dance and the Child International (DACI) conference and the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) national conferences four times. She has lectured and taught at universities in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, California, as well as Arizona. Saza has received many awards for her teaching ability, including the prestigious Artsbridge America Scholarship, the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) 2004 Student Scholarship, and the Arizona State University Intercollegiate Athletics Board’s Award for Most Inspirational Faculty Member. Currently, in addition to her position as School Administrator for Experience Arts School, she serves as Managing Director for EPIK Dance Company, an award-winning professional fusion dance company in Phoenix.

Saza loves to choreograph, and has created pieces for the Seattle Supersonics (NBA), the Golden State Warriors (NBA), the Portland Trailblazers (NBA), the Phoenix Suns (NBA), the Seattle Storm (WNBA), the Phoenix Mercury (WNBA), the Miss Teen Arizona Pageant, an episode for MTV’s “My Super Sweet 16,” and live performances and a music video for up and coming R&B artists JR and Renee. Her performance credits also include works by David Dorfman, Cliff Keuter, Yvonne Rainer, and live performances for hip hop artist Queen Yonasda. She also toured as a dancer and co-choreographer for the drum and dance group, Street Jam, and was a member and co-choreographer for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury Hip Hop Squad for seven years. Saza also dances for FLUX Dance Project, a professional modern dance company, who just recently performed at the ODC Theater in San Francisco. She was recently featured in a Cox Communications commercial and Dance Teacher and Dance Spirit magazines. Saza is excited to finally find a place to use the gifts God gave her to serve Him and His purposes.

Kenny Jezek, Drama
Kenny is probably best known for his regular role as Lars Englund in NBC’s “Days of Our Lives”. He has guest starred in “Hill Street Blues”, “St. Elsewhere” and “FAME”. Prior to his transition into acting, Kenny was one of the top working dancers in the country, often touring, teaching master jazz and tap classes in the US, Europe and Canada. Some of his dancing credits include the Los Angeles (National Touring) companies of two Tony award winning Broadway musicals; “Cats” and “42nd Street”, a regular series dancer in FAME, and a featured dancer in the movies “Pretty In Pink” and “Fast Forward”. Kenny has worked with some of the most recognizable names in entertainment in capacities that include dancing, choreographing, directing and staging. Some of them include Chita Rivera, John Travolta, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Helen Hunt, Sydney Poitier, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dinah Shore, Paula Abdul, Olivia Newton-John, Gordon MacRae, Kenny Ortega, Gregory Hines, Howard and Fayard Nicholas, Jeffery Hornaday, Jaime Rogers, Trevor Nunn, Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber, Jillian Lish and Gloria Loring. He has numerous national and local commercial, music video, industrial and community theatre credits as well.

Kenny also holds black belts and Full Instructor certifications in several martial arts disciplines and is the founder of Christian Freestyle Karate, his Christian martial arts school, owned and operated for 17 years.

Karen Jezek, Drama
Karen has acted in two soap operas, playing the role of Brenda Clegg in CBS’ “Capitol” and Noel Gallager in “Rituals”. A former Miss LaHabra and expert in Polynesian Dance, Karen has had the privilege of working with entertainment greats including Rory Calhoun, Richard Egan, Marj Dusay, Tammy Wynette, Estelle Getty, Pat Morita, Gary Collins, Lanie Kazan, and Kin Shriner.

Together
After their conversion in 1988, Kenny and Karen (who met at a Hollywood party in 1986) were married in 1989 and became heavily involved in the theatrical arts ministry of a large, local church, acting, directing and choreographing skits and musical productions. As the Lord has grown them both in their faith, He has allowed them to use their gifts in many ways, including starring in two independent Christian films. In “Forevermore-The Karla Faye Tucker Story,” Karen played the title role of Karla Faye Tucker. “Come What May” is currently being released through Advent Film Group. Kenny and Karen have also used their talents by mentoring and teaching others who desire to develop their gifts in the areas of theatrical production, both in performance and producing. Next to their love for the Lord, each other, their family and their local church; producing, performing and teaching in the areas of theatrical arts is what Kenny and Karen love and believe they are called to do. All by God’s grace and for His glory.

Carole Hillsbury, Watercolor Instructor
"Each scene or person I paint elicits a personal response and fires my imagination. I want to capture that moment and convey those thoughts and emotions to my viewer."

Carole Hillsbery has been painting in transparent watercolors for over twenty-five years. She has studied with such notable artists as Robert E. Wood, Charles Reid, Diane Maxey and Ted Nuttall.

Carole describes herself a “shape maker,” starting with large fresh washes of color and working toward smaller, more intense shapes and colors that define the subject. She is an impressionist in her approach to her work which has been described as "meticulously imprecise" as she thoughtfully and carefully builds shapes to represent her subject.

Carole is a member of the Arizona Watercolor Society, Transparent Watercolor Society of America and Arizona Artist Guild. She is a featured artist in the December 2006 American Artist magazine.

Rena Sue Brown, Voice Teacher and Director of Hope Choir & Exultate Choir
Arizona 2008 Metropolitan National Council Audition finalist, Rena Sue Brown, specializes in 20th century music and the opera roles of the lyric mezzo-soprano repertoire, as well as pop, jazz and musical theatre styles. She has also been the recipient of multiple vocal awards from the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Denver Lyric Opera Guild, and the National Association for Teachers of Singing.

Rena earned a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance from Grand Canyon University. She has performed the roles of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Chinese Cup and Dragonfly in L’Enfant et les sortileges, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, Jo March in Little Women, and Ma Moss in The Tender Land.

In addition to these opera roles, Rena has performed multiple musical theatre roles, and has been a mezzo-soprano soloist for musical theatre reviews. Rena’s unique skills and musicianship have enabled her to perform multiple 20th century pieces that have not been widely performed, including the mezzo-soprano solo in the Evidence of Things Not Seen by Ned Rorem and two songs by Lukas Foss from his Song of Songs.

Since a young age, Rena has performed extensively at her home church in Christmas and Easter musicals and contemporary Christian solo repertoire. Throughout high school and college, she also sang a wide range of jazz and choral literature. For the last few years, Rena has enjoyed the privilege of building a private voice studio in Tempe called Studio 98. Recently joining the City of Grace music department as Vocal Director and the EAS School, Rena looks forward to many wonderful moments growing in musical skill and Christ-like character while challenging others to do the same.

John Ivory Myers III… a.k.a. VREE
Hip Hop Teacher
John Ivory Myers III… a.k.a. VREE is a dance education major currently studying at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. Ivory just recently began pursuing dance intensively in 2006. He’s been dancing since his childhood and was raised on strictly hip hop. With no formal training in the style, he considers himself a free-style/ KRUMP dancer at heart. After graduating high school in 2004, Ivory joined a danced company by the name of Finesse where he was a part of their hip hop squad, F2. Unfortunately, after a freak accident on June 1st of 2005, he was forced to put dance up on the shelf for a season and didn’t pick it back up until after he rededicated his life to the Lord in August of 2005. This is when he began to KRUMP. Since then he has been spreading The Good News and his love for God through the art of dance every chance he gets. The Lord has even challenged him to step out into other styles such as ballet, modern and jazz, which has done nothing but open doors to other great opportunities. He has choreographed several pieces for Chandler-Gilbert student showcases, as well as high schools in the valley. He has also performed in faculty showcases for Chandler-Gilbert.

Most recently, Ivory had the opportunity to attend the American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA) 2008 Southwest Conference at UC Irvine where he took master classes with Rennie Harris in House style, Erin Landry in Afro Modern, Melanie Kay in Afro Caribbean and Modern with Amy Schiffner. He has also been blessed to take and learn from EAS’s very own Sarah Dimmick!

Now that his mind about the dance world has been renewed, Ivory is ecstatic about being a part of the EAS program, and vows to bring much more than the bare minimum in energy, joy, and hard work to the table, and is looking forward to an amazing learning experience as well.

Randy Rohde
Video Production Techniques
Randy is currently the President of Urban Truth Video Productions, where he brings 27 years of video production experience. In addition to his finely honed skills of videography and video editing, Randy has vast experience with multimedia presentations, staging live corporate events, and coordinating elements needed for project completion. Randy also has invaluable global experience, having shot on location in China, France, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Turkey and the UK.