Republic Dance Center
281-345-7555
21227 FM 529, Cypress, TX 77433
(We are located on Business Park Drive off of FM 529)
About Us
Republic Gymnastics and Dance Center, Home of the competitive team Republic Edge opened its doors in 2018. Our 46,000 square feet building offers dance, acro, gymnastics, tumbling, adaptive gym, AND Ninja classes! Republic is proud of our 5 state of the art dance studios including a stage sized studio that is over 3,300 sq ft! Each studio has professional marley floors and a TV viewing area. Our Snack Shop and Pro Shop offer drinks, snacks and Republic goods for your convenience and includes multiple seating areas. Our Company rooms offer a dedicated space for team members and is furnished with lockers, cubbies, multiple couches and a homework work space. We also have a dedicated prop storage and costume room.
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Our recreational program offers classes for dancers ages 2+ in all genres of dance including Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, Contemporary ,Hip Hop and Acro. These students will grow in their technique and passion for dance and have the opportunity to perform in our Winter showcase and Annual Recital at the end of each season.
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Our Republic Edge Company Team has won multiple national championships, Top Studio, and Technical Excellence awards along with two official Industry Dance Awards nominations in 2021 and 2022. Our dancers train in multiple styes of dance each week and we also offer them special industry driven programs that have small group training in Acting, Voice, Ballroom, Audition Prep and more. Our goal is to provide a bridge between youth competitive dance and the professional industry and give our dancers all of the tools necessary to successfully transition to a career in dance. If you're interested in auditioning for our competitive team, please visit the "Company" tab. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram: @RepublicDanceCenter
Republic Edge Company Faculty
Christina is a native Houstonian who is extensively trained in all styles of dance as well as acrobatics, theater, and voice. She has over 15 years of teaching experience and has been the Director of Republic since it's inception in 2018. As Artistic Director, she oversees the vision and direction of the program and is a lead teacher and choreographer for Republic Edge. Christina enjoys teaching master classes throughout Houston and judges dance competitions across the country on both a regional and national level for Starpower, Kids Artistic Revue, and Rainbow National talent. Her choreographed pieces have earned numerous choreography awards, national championships and two Industry Dance Awards official nominations. She is grateful for her years of professional dance experience but has truly found her calling with dance education. Her students have gone on to receive acceptance into Kinder High School for Performing Arts, prestigious D1A college dance teams and programs, and some have gone on to become dance teachers and choreographers themselves. In 2019 she founded the Republic Edge INDUSTRY program to give dancers in her company the opportunity to train weekly with outside professionals in all genres involved in the industry. They train in Ballroom, Acting, Voice, Musical Theatre, Audition prep and more to prepare them for a future career in dance. Christina is passionately committed to teaching at Republic, loves her students and enjoys continuing to educate herself on the constant evolution of dance.
Christina Sefara, Artistic Director
of Republic Dance Center & Republic Edge
Company/Recreational instructor & choreographer
Founder of Republic Edge X-Track
Carlynn was a member of the contemporary dance company, NobleMotion Dance. She has completed two contracts with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, including a featured dancer in their production of Hairspray. Regional Theatre Credits include, The Wizard of Oz, The Little Mermaid, Cabaret, Beauty and the Beast, Cats, Pippin,Divas thru the Decade,and Hello Dolly. Carlynn is a nationally recognized choreographer and teacher and has been teaching since 2008. She also judges for Stage One Dance and Miss Drill Team Texas. Carlynn loves being a part of Republic and has also enjoyed teaching musical theatre for the Republic Edge EXCLUSIVE industry program.
Carlynn Laurie, Co-director
of Republic Dance Center & Republic Edge
Company/Recreational instructor & choreographer
Rachel Green
Company/Recreational instructor & choreographer
Rachel grew up dancing at North Harris Performing Arts where she received excellent technical and artistic instruction from “Dance Today’s Top Ten Dancers to Watch” – Dawn Dipple and Houston’s own Amy Cain. She quickly advanced and was assisting instructors in classes, learning valuable experience with teaching a variety of dance students and learning how to choreograph. Further dance instruction was received while studying at the HSPVA and with Marlana Walsh at the Houston Met and Kingwood Dance Company directed by Amy Duncan. Rachel also contributes much of her success to her study with top choreographers such as Mandy Moore, Tammy Dyke and Peter Chu. Rachel competed both regionally and nationally in dance, achieving top honors and awards from both competition events and conventions, even advancing several rounds in auditions for “So You Think You Can Dance”. She performed professionally with The Houston Met, Round Rock Entertainment, J&D Entertainment and Physphonia Dance Company and soon discovered her love for teaching young dancers, so embarked on owning her own studio for five years. She has spent the last nine years working as a teacher and director for Stacy’s Dance Studio in Kingwood, Texas. Rachel is looking forward to a new challenge where she knows that she can rely on her 18 years of teaching experience, her professionalism and her love and enthusiasm for teaching dancers of all skill levels.
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Jessie Harrell grew up in Memphis, TN where she trained in jazz, hip hop, contemporary, lyrical, and ballet on the competitive company at Studio 413. She then went to college at Middle Tennessee, where she began teaching and choreographing for her peers and competition dance teams. After college, Jessie danced professionally in Nashville, TN with FreshTalent Group and taught at Millennium Dance Complex. She later went on to train in Los Angeles and was apart of KreativMindz Mentorship Program, under Antoine Troupe and Kolanie Marks. From LA, she moved to Atlanta, GA to continue gaining knowledge of the dance industry from many incredible artists and also taught at Groov2Musik Studios, under D-Ray Colson. Jessie now resides in Houston, TX and has 13 years of teaching experience, focused in hip hop, contemporary, and jazz. She is so excited to continue to share her knowledge and passion for dance and mentor the younger generation!
Jessie Harrell
Company/Recreational instructor & choreographer
Christian Delery
Company Ballet instructor
Christian Delery was born in Salisbury, Maryland and began singing and acting at a young age. He starred in his first community production, Four Tickets to Christmas, at age ten where he sang, danced and acted. In 2004, at the age of 12, Christian began ballet training with the Salisbury Dance Academy where he studied for three years. During his training at the Salisbury Dance Academy he performed the roles of fritz, the nutcracker, and russian in the Eastern Shore Ballet Theater’s production of “The Nutcracker” and lead roles in the Eastern Shore Ballet Theater’s 2005 production of “Coppelia” and “Swan Lake”. In 2007 he was accepted as an apprentice by the Atlantic City Ballet Theater where he toured and performed lead roles in their 2007-2008 season’s productions “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “The Nutcracker”, “Dracula” and “The Mikado”. In 2008 was offered a full scholarship at Virginia School of the Arts where he performed lead roles in their 2008 production “The Nutcracker” and their 2009 production “Strings and Things” as well as community outreach demonstrations. In 2009, he was offered full scholarships to the Pittsburg Ballet School & the Milwaukee Ballet School. In the summer of 2009 he trained at the Joffrey Ballet School in NYC under a full scholarship. That summer, at the age of 17, he was accepted as an apprentice by the Dayton Ballet’s and performed lead roles in their 2009-2010 season productions “Tales from the Shadows”, “The Nutcracker” and “Dracula”. In the summer of 2010, he was accepted and attended the School of American Ballet. He performed soloist roles in the Dayton Ballet’s 2010-2011 season productions “Casanova & Eve of Frankenstein”, “The Nutcracker”, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, and “New Music for New Dance”. In 2011, he performed the lead role of cavalier as a guest artist for a production of “The Nutcracker” in Benton, Arkansas. In 2012 he moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane on Scholarship. Since he performed lead roles in New Orleans such as Arabian and Snow King in L.H. Ballet Classique’s Production “The Nutcracker”, and toy soldier and mirlitons in Delta Festival’s Ballet production “The Nutcracker” , and offered master classes in the gulf coast area. In 2013 he judged, choreographed and taught master classes for Dance Teachers United dance competition and convention in Hattiesburg, MS and choreographed and performed the lead roles arabian in L.H.Ballet Classique’s production “The Nutcracker” and cavalier in Kansas Youth Dance Center’s production “The Nutcracker”. He performed in the Marigny Opera Ballet’s “Giselle”, “The Art of Jazz” and Orfeo from 2016-2017. He has been trained by many famous dancers such as Jock Soto, Justin Peck, Phyllis Papa, George De La Pena, Era Jouravlev, Francesca Corkle, Davis Robertson, and many more. He continues to teach masterclasses and workshops in the Gulf Coast area.
Jenica Turner
Company Ballet instructor
Jenica Turner is a dedicated dance educator and accomplished performer with over 20 years of teaching experience in the competitive and recreational dance industry. A proud graduate of the prestigious New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), Jenica built a strong foundation in technical training and performance, which led to a successful career as a professional dancer across both concert and commercial stages. Known for her dynamic teaching style and attention to detail, Jenica has trained dancers of all ages and levels, helping them develop into confident, disciplined, and expressive artists. Her classes emphasize strong technique, musicality, and performance quality, while also encouraging creativity and growth.
Jenica has guided numerous students to success in competitions, auditions, and professional work, and she is passionate about passing on her knowledge to the next generation of dancers.
Now based in Houston, she is committed to inspiring and empowering young artists in the local community, shaping the future of dance one student at a time.
Samantha Slauter
Company Pom instructor
Samantha grew up dancing in Houston, Texas. She is extensively trained in all styles of dance as well as acrobatics and ballroom. Earning multiple national titles during her competitive years, she is passionate about training dancers to translate competitive success into artistic careers. At age fifteen, she began assisting classes and shortly thereafter, she joined the Republic Edge staff, where she trained their competitive students. After graduating high school, she was accepted onto the prestigious Texas Tech University's dance team and competed on the UDA stage. She continued her competitive career on the Florida State University's Golden Girls dance team, on which she was awarded "rookie of the year." In her final season with the FSU Golden Girls she was honored to be named MVP and received the golden nole award. Now that Samantha's collegiate career has come to a close, she's accepted a position to judge for Kar and Rainbow national talent dance competitions and has also earned a position as a Clutch City dancer for the NBA team, Houston Rockets. Sam is excited to head up the collegiate program at Republic where she will train their dancers weekly in pom, game day and collegiate dance team technique.
Angelica Mendoza
Company Ballroom instructor
Angelica is a native Houstonian who began dancing at the age of eight. She has been training extensively in Latin and Ballroom dancing for the past 18 years. She began assistant teaching at age 15 and has continued her teaching career ever since!
Throughout her years of training she was also apart of an elite dance company that competed in regional competitions like Showstopper, KAR, In10sity, and many more placing first in categories. She has also competed in national Latin and ballroom competitions and placed overalls in the Ohio Star ball, Vegas open dance challenge, Texas LoneStar ball, and Millennium dancesport championship.
Angelica has performed in various shows and events that have included Mario Lopez, Mayor Sylvester Turner, Harlem Globetrotters, Dancing with the Stars’ Karina Smirnoff, and worked alongside ten-time World Latin dance champions Riccardo Cocchi, Yulia Zagoruychenko, and Andra Vaidilaite.
Recently she has taught as a guest instructor at conventions and masterclasses for Dance Masters of America, HTX connect 713, and numerous dance studios throughout the Houston area!