The dance school was founded by sisters, Blake Bartlett-Dunn and Heather Bartlett-Kohberger who have been teaching together since the young ages of 12 and 14.  The after-school hobby that began in their basement dance school more than 21 years ago has evolved into a successful career and lifelong commitment to dancing, instructing, and performing.

Blake and Heather grew up in clogging. They, along with their oldest sister, Tamara, began dancing at the ages of 5, 7 and 9 as an after school hobby. Within a few years, the sisters were dancing on competition clogging teams. Throughout their childhood, they danced on teams together, as well as on opposing teams, often going head-to-head for championship titles. Their father had built the girls a practice dance school in their basement, but Blake, Heather and Tamara found the dance school to be more than a place to practice.

By 1988, the three girls had begun teaching clogging lessons out of their basement dance school to younger girls in their neighborhood, and from their church and school. It was not long after that the sisters introduced to the clogging world their very own competition team, the Southern Belles. As time went by, the program outgrew their basement dance school, Tamara moved on to college, and then marriage and family life, and in 1995, Blake and Heather opened the City Center Dance Dance School in Snellville, Georgia.

Blake, Heather and Tamara are members of the national Clogging Leaders Organization (C.L.O.G.), The Clogging Champions of America (CCA), and of the Georgia Clogging Leaders Association (GCLA). Blake and Heather are also nationally Certified Clogging Instructors (CCI). All three of these ladies have the utmost commitment to not only their dance school, but also to their profession.

Blake Bartlett-Dunn is a nationally acclaimed dancer, choreographer, and instructor.  She has been dancing since the age of 5 and began instructing at the age of 12. Blake's instructional and choreography abilities have catapulted her to the top of the list of America's most desired and sought after instructors.  She has had the opportunity to teach in more than 25 states across the US, as well as internationally.

Blake is the Director of the Southern Belles (the 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2009 Clogging Champions of America and the 2002 & 2003, 2008 and 2009 Clogging Champions of America Team of the Year).  In addition to these accomplishments, Blake was given the distinct honor of Director of the Year in 2000 by the Clogging Leaders Organization, and was inducted into the National Clogging Championships Hall of Fame in 2002.  In August of 2003, Blake appeared on the ABC Family television show Dance Fever.  As winners of their episode, they moved on to the Grand Finals where they placed in the top five of contestants from around the country.

In the winter of 2004, Blake performed in Giddy Up, a country variety show at the Tropicana Casino & Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In April 2008, Blake traveled with the Southern Belles to Oslo, Norway to appear on an internationally televised benefit for the Norwegian Red Cross. In the summer of 2008, Blake, along with 3 other Southern Belles was featured on the NBC television series America’s Got Talent, where the girls advanced to the semi-finals. Blake, along with her sister Heather, also coordinates and contracts dancers from around the country to entertain annually at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri.

In addition to her responsibilities as Southern Belles team director and choreographer, Blake also serves as our Vice-President on our Board of Directors. Ultimately, Blake remains the “cornerstone of choreography and creativity” for the majority of our other dance classes. She is highly skilled as a dancer, performer, and instructor in not only clogging, but in Irish and Hip-Hop as well. Blake is married to Gideon Dunn of Branson, Missouri. Blake and Gideon reside in Missouri, along with her stepson Noah. Blake looks forward to traveling throughout the United States over the next year to perform and instruct at various venues. She is also excited to spend much of her time right here in Snellville to be hands on in fostering young dancers at City Center Dance.

Heather Bartlett-Kohberger has been recognized and applauded for her dancing, choreography, and instruction across the country as well as internationally. She has been dancing for 27 years and instructing for 20 years. Throughout out her dancing career, Heather has performed with numerous National Champion Clogging Teams, and had the privilege of dancing alongside some of the “legends of clogging” over the years.

Heather has also directed National Champion teams (CC Express, the 2004 Clogging Champions of America Amateur Team of the Year, 2009 Elementary and Junior Amateur Teams of the Year; Southern Belles Elementary, the 2004 Clogging Champions of America Junior Challenge Team of the Year; CC Express Adults, the 2005 Clogging Champions of America Adult Team of the Year).  Heather currently serves as the Southern Belles team manager, as well as director and choreographer of our CC Express Competition Teams. Her international excursions include performances in Switzerland, Austria, South Korea, Australia, and Norway. Due to her ongoing commitment as an instructor, the Clogging Leaders Organization chose her as 2003 Director of the Year, and she was inducted into the National Clogging Championships Hall of Fame in 2004.  One of Heather's favorite dance experiences, thanks to her involvement in clogging, was filming the ABC Family show Switched Up!, which aired in May of 2004.
 
Heather also serves as the President on the Board of Directors for City Center Dance. Outside of her responsibilities as choreographer and director, she spends much of her time focused on fundraising efforts for City Center Dance and promoting our dancers and dance school locally, across the U.S., and even internationally. She also serves as our business manager. Heather, along with her sister Blake, also enjoys coordinating performances and productions that allow our dancers to shine on stage. Heather and her husband, Phil, of 10 years have a 6 1/2-year-old son, Zachary, and an almost 2 ½ year-old daughter, Macy. Heather’s family has come to love the world of dance as much as she does. Just watch for Macy to hit the stage this year; she is ready to take over the show!

Tamara Bartlett-Robinson has flirted with dance for more than 27 years. She is the eldest of the Bartlett sisters. Tamara has been married for 14 years, is the proud mother of five children of her own (ranging in age from 18 months to 13 years), and has fostered numerous other children over the past 10+ years. In addition to being a wife and mother, Tamara holds a Masters of Social Work from the University of Georgia.

Tamara serves on our staff this year as head of our public relations committee. She will focus on managing parent and student relations and grievances. Tamara’s goal is to help to promote the dance school within our local community, and to provide other general office management assistance. Throughout her dancing career, Tamara has been a member of several National Champion Clogging Teams, instructed senior citizens in Country Western Line Dancing, and served as our office manager intermittently. While her family life does not allow her to be a full time staff member or instructor, she enjoys assisting where she can, and especially enjoys watching her own daughters tear it up on the dance floor, much in the same way her boys do on the ball field!

We began teaching dance as a hobby, but learned at a very young age, that so much more comes from a career in guiding young girls. We soon discovered that not only were we instilling dance techniques in young dancers, but life skills such as confidence, dedication, and motivation to strive for perfection. It became very important to us at a very young age to do more than just teach dance. We wanted to make a difference in lives of young girls. Teaching responsibility and accountability, and everything else that it takes to make a successful championship level team became the underlying principles of our dance program.

Responsibility and accountability are not things that are easily instilled in the youth of today. There are so many influences in modern society that can lead a youngster astray. We have found ourselves in very stressful and often disgruntling situations. But we have stayed true to our values, and have encouraged our dancers to do the same. Our top level competition and professional team members are not only required to give 110% on the dance floor as a dancer, but must put their best foot forward in life outside of the dance school as well.

We set our standards high, and encourage each dancer to do the same. We firmly believe that when presented with a challenge, our dancers will rise to the occasion. We look forward to setting goals with you and/or your dancer this year, and applauding the many successes each of you will have over the coming months.