Meet The Team
Kristen Robinson
Owner, Artistic Director, Choreographer
Kristen Robinson is the owner and Artistic Director of The Artist Collective. She is a dancer, choreographer and dance educator. Her love of dance started with ballet at a young age and expanded as she grew older and explored a variety of dance styles. She began seriously training in ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap and hip hop when she moved to Seattle, Washington. She was afforded many dance opportunities in Washington including training under master teachers and professional choreographers, attending conventions, guest performing, embarking on many trips to Los Angeles for pre-professional and professional audition invites and receiving scholarships for summers in Las Vegas training under the Ballet Masters of Cirque du Soleil. It was through all of these experiences as an aspiring dancer that she decided to pursue dance and choreography as a career.
She attended Chapman University and studied Dance and Integrated Educational Studies with an emphasis in the arts. During her time at Chapman, she immersed herself in the dance culture while studying dance history, choreography, dance teaching methods, anatomy, kinesiology, somatic practices, production and more. She directed two full evening length shows, choreographed and performed for multiple concerts and really grew as an artist. After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles to take all she had gained and put it to use. In her first handful of years in LA, Kristen focused mostly on performing. She danced in the ZUMBA international commercial, for Stella Rosa Wines, performed behind KC and the Sunshine Band, Kool and the Gang, Fifth Harmony and more. She danced in VMA’s promotional performances, industrial events for the Rose Parade and for the American Cancer Society galas and fundraising events.
She began choreographing for several artist showcases in the Los Angeles area and free-lance teaching. Her choreography won awards of “Best Choreography,” “Top Emerging Artist,” and “Artistry in Motion.” She guest choreographed and taught for many studios, pre-professional programs and sets around the country. She started directing and choreographing for upcoming music artists’ videos and most recently assisted on the Yuna ROUGE Summer Tour. She was selected as a guest choreographer for the Peridance Capezio APEX Gala in New York. With this breadth of experiences, Kristen is now the Artistic Director of her own pre-professional dance program through her studio, The Artist Collective. She hopes to continue to create meaningful work, share her love of the arts with her students and collaborate with other creatives along her journey.
Nicole Rivera
Faculty, Choreographer
Originally from Annapolis, MD, Nicole Rivera, has been dancing and performing since the age of three.
Upon her move to Los Angeles, CA in 2012, she has assisted on projects for Disney Channel, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello, and Paramore, as well as commercials for Southwest Airlines and Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen.
Most recently she has been dancing for music artist, Yuna, performing in her European and US ROUGE Tour, Camp Flog Gnaw, Good Vibes Festival & WE Day.
Nicole is currently a Principal Artist in Mitchel Federan’s contemporary company, MAYHEM DANCE FUSION.
She has performed in various live performances for choreographer’s such as Ryan Heffington (World Choreography Awards), Bonnie Story (Dance For Freedom Gala), Christopher Scott (1st European Games Closing Ceremony) and Jaja Vankova (Born U5.)
Nicole can be seen dancing in Disney Channel’s “Teen Beach 2,” “Austin & Ally,” “Shake It Up,” “Liv & Maddie,” and “Best Friends Whenever.” Other credits include Nike Airmax2090 Campaign, Lulu Lemon’s Enlite Bra Campaign, “Glow” (NETFLIX), “Making Moves” (FULLSCREEN), “100 Things To Do Before High School” (NICKELODEON), The Ellen Degeneres Show, and Virgin America’s In Flight Safety Video.
Production credits include Associate Producer for “Making Moves” (FULLSCREEN web series), Co-Producer for Christopher Scott’s “How to Catch A Ghost” (DISNEY CHANNEL FREEFORM digital short film) and 1st Assistant Director for Galen Hooks’ short film “Wait For Me.”
Patrick Ellis
Faculty, Choreographer
In his endeavor to pursue happiness, Patrick Ellis didn’t find dance until he was 13 years old. However, Patrick quickly realized that performing is his true passion. As a Baltimore native, Patrick’s principal training came from Danielle Sten-Guillermo, Lance Guillermo, and Karen Muccioli at his home studio, The Rage Box Dance Center, as well as studying with the Rock School of Ballet and The Pennsylvania Ballet.
During his time training at the Rage Box, Patrick developed a passion for the commercial dance industry. At 17, he was offered representation with Movement Talent Agency as a professional dancer and he moved to Los Angeles to further his career at 18 years old. Since moving to Los Angeles, some of Patrick’s recent professional accomplishments include the The Muppets at the O2 Arena in London, dancing in Zedd and Maren Morris’ music video for “The Middle”, performing at the American Music Awards with Khalid and Imagine Dragons, dancing in Florence + the Machine’s music videos for “Third Eye” and “Delilah”, dancing in his 5th season with Jaci Royal’s, “Royal Flux”, and performing on season 2 of World of Dance under Kirsten Russell’s, “Pursuit”. Most recently, Patrick had the honor of being chosen for MUSE’s Simulation Theory World Tour in 2019, as well as dancing in two feature films for Netflix: a remake of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “The Prom” directed by Ryan Murphy starring Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman that are set to be released in 2020 and 2021!
Patrick is sincerely humbled to have any opportunity to share his passion and experiences with those who foster the same love that he does for dancing and performing. His ultimate dream is to be truly happy, and dance is the vessel in which he can make his dreams a reality.
Lesli Todd
Faculty, Choreographer
Lesli began her life-long journey in dance at age two when she began her dance training at The Dance Center owned by her Mother in Mobile, AL. Her technical dance training includes ballet, pointe, jazz, modern, tap, lyrical and acrobatics. While training, she discovered her passion for teaching at the age of fourteen. Even though at that age her focus was to have a professional performance career she continued teaching throughout her professional dance career.
Lesli was awarded scholarships and had the opportunity to train with world renowned teachers at The Joffrey Ballet School, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and Broadway Dance Center. After graduating from a communication and arts high school Lesli moved to Chicago, IL. While in Chicago she became a company dancer with Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre and Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago. Additionally while performing she taught dance to underprivileged students for several different outreach programs and schools.
After her performance career in Chicago, Lesli moved back to her hometown and took over the position of Artistic Director of her family owned dance studio. During this time she also served on the board and was a resident choreographer for the Alabama Contemporary Dance Theatre and casting director and assistant choreographer under the direction of Ray Collins at Children’s Musical Theatre. In addition she performed as a Guest Artist for Mobile Ballet and served as assistant choreographer and rehearsal director for many full length ballets such as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia and many more.
In 2007 Lesli moved to Charlotte, NC where she was a company dancer for The Moving Poets, taught dance and choreographed for the Union County Youth Ballet, served as the director of the Dance Davidson Jazz Company, and served as a teaching artist for the outreach program and guest faculty for the Charlotte Ballet. Independently her choreography was nationally televised in collaboration with the NBA Charlotte Bobcats and McDonald's corporation.
Since moving to Los Angeles in 2017, Lesli has continued teaching and choreographing and sharing her expertise and love for dance with dancers of all levels. She is currently the Ballet Director of Ballet Elite at EDC and serves as a faculty member and choreographer at The Artist Collective. Her choreography was featured on the Nickelodeon Network for “Kids Pick the President” hosted by KeKe Palmer.
Molly Horne
Instructor, Choreographer
Molly Horne is a professional dancer, choreographer, and dance educator based in LA.
She recently spent 2019 on a world tour with pop music artist MARINA, where she was given the privilege of co-choreographing some of the show and performing with Marina on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Molly has worked with dance industry icons such as Tyce Diorio, Teddy Forance, Jaime Goodwin, Erica Sobol, Vincent Paterson, and Jonathan Redavid, and has traveled Asia as a lead dancer in Daniel Ezralow's production of the contemporary dance show "Pearl". You can find her choreography in music videos for artists such as Albin Lee Meldau and John the Blind, and a commercial for Dermovia skincare brand. When Molly is not performing, she is teaching and choreographing for students of all ages!
Natalie Iscovich
Instructor
Natalie Iscovich (she/her) is a Los Angeles based professional theatrical performer, dancer, choreographer and teacher. She received her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography in 2013, and has been working professionally nationally since. She has worked in various forms from Film/ Television to Theatre and Opera. Credits include:
National Tours-(associate choreographer) RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER
Opera- MACBETH (LA Opera) AIDA (pacific symphony)
Television- THE THUNDERMANS (Nick)
Film- THE SOUND THE SOUL MAKES
Regional -CABARET (MCRE) WEST SIDE STORY (MCRE) DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS (MTW) THE FULL MONTY, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, TARZAN, SIDE SHOW, SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL ( 3DT ) IN THE HEIGHTS, KISS ME KATE and BYE BYE BIRDIE (CMT).
She is passionate about education and creating environments for dancers and people to become the best version of themselves. She is a certified Yoga and Pilates Instructor and has learned the importance of injury management and supporting artists with their physical and mental well being.
She can currently be found as the Choreographer and Assistant Director of LA Opera’s educational concert series.
Chris Andrews
Instructor
Starting at age 15, Chris began dancing in his high school's dance company and then during his senior year, he attended a studio for more training. After graduating from high school, he became a battle dancer with Deadly Venom Crew(DVC)/Kombine Stylez Crew(KSC) and also started to teach at studios along the east coast. During this time he also joined a contemporary company named Alternative Dance Project(ADP) in Baltimore, Maryland. To extend his passion for dance, Chris decided to move to Los Angeles, CA to be involved in immersive theater shows with Zoe Joe's Theater, Performative Pop-Up, and Mutate(L.A.). While continuing his professional dance career on the west coast, Chris has been able to work with music artists like Lonr, Taylor Swift, Paula Abdul, Imagine Dragons, Jonas Brothers, Aluna, Foster the People, Khalid, FKA Twigs and Ruff Endz. Chris was awarded Top 30 on two seasons of 'So You Think You Can Dance' and most recently appeared in the film "In the Heights."
Patience Aquart
Instructor
Patience Aquart is a Midwest born and raised woman living out her west coast dream. Dance has been a part of her life for the past 20 years, solely training in technical styles like ballet, jazz and modern. She attended two prestigious performing arts schools growing up. At 18, she decided to take her talents and start a new journey in LA. Patience quickly found the studio, Movement Lifestyle, and continued her training under many great educators. In 2018, she joined an all-women collective, The GentleLadies, that empowers all creatives to develop their artistic identities through dance education and strong female role models! Since arriving in LA, she has been fortunate to work many dream jobs with artists such as Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, Rihanna and more. Patience has also worked with respected choreographers such as Brian Friedman, Charm Ladonna, and Parris Goebel.
Jacie Scott
Instructor
When Jacie Scott thinks about her dance career and the incredible opportunities she's had, including performing with the likes of Pitbull and Ne-Yo and overseas with the United Services Organization, the first word that comes to mind is teamwork. The Louisiana native has performed with some of the most iconic teams to date, from college as a National Champion LSU Tiger Girl to Dallas, TX as an internationally-acclaimed Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader to the Great Stage in New York City as a Radio City Rockette. These experiences have shaped her into the woman, performer, and instructor that she is today. She encourages progression over perfection in her classes, creating a nurturing environment for dancers of all levels to show up authentically.