Staff
Angela McCallum - Creative Director
Angela is very excited to be apart of Vision Dance. She received her dance training from Susan Byrd’s Dance Creations and was a member of the award winning Dance Company. After graduating high school, Angela made the decision to pursue a dance and fitness career. She worked as a fitness consultant and taught at several dance studios in the area.
Volunteering has always been a priority in Angela’s life, and she was an avid member for local animal rescue groups for 5 years. In 2007, she was compelled to raise money and walk in the Light the Night fundraiser walk, after knowing 3 dancers and a family member who were diagnosed with Leukemia. These amazing people showed Angela the strength and faith it takes to overcome such a life altering issue. Sometimes it’s hard to find the right words to comfort someone in pain and who is suffering, so she hopes that Vision Dance will represent those words with the love, compassion and inspiration that will shine through. She hopes that through Vision Dance you will find “a person that inspires you, an organization that you can be apart of, or a dance that moves you”!
Angela has many loves outside of her “dance world”! She is the wife of Richard, and mother of Connor and Marisa. She will be welcoming a new baby girl in May of 2010! Her family brightens her life! She also is mommy to a German shepherd named Luke and 2 cats, Tigger and Scratchy. Angela would like to dedicate her participation in the Vision Dance Convention to her precious German shepherd, Godiva who passed away from Lymphoma in December of 2008 and to her father, James who passed away from Lung Cancer in September of 2009. Cancer affects us everywhere in our lives.
Amy Mitchiner - Creative Director
Amy is thrilled to be sharing in the Vision Dance experience with all of you! She grew up dancing in Raleigh at Susan Byrd's Dance Creations. During this time, she participated in competitive dance and performed in many stage productions such as Raleigh's well known “A Christmas Carol” and as a dancer for the Miss North Carolina Pageant. Amy later graduated from North Carolina State University receiving a degree in Business Management with a concentration in Human Resources. During her four years at NCSU, Amy was co-captain, and later became coach, of the nationally ranked NC State Dance Team. She has also taught at and choreographed for numerous local dance studios.
Amy and her husband Nathan live in Raleigh and have a beautiful daughter, Jaidyn. Together, they hope that by producing Vision Dance, they will show Jaidyn the importance of freely donating your worldly blessings to help others in need. She hopes that the awareness Vision Dance raises will inspire you to become a volunteer for a cause that calls out to you. If only one person comes away from this event with a renewed spirit of giving, then Vision Dance has been a success. As Dr. Phil says, “Awareness without action is worthless.”
Mariah Bridges Newby - Creative Director
Mariah grew up dancing in the Raleigh area with Susan Byrd’s Dance Creations dance company. In her high school years she studied at Pierrette Sadler’s Danceurs. She spent her childhood involved in multiple plays and competitions and winning multiple awards. While she was attending North Carolina State University for her teaching degree she realized her call to take her passion and talent for dance and merge it with her passion for teaching. She then began teaching at local dance studios in the Raleigh area.
Through family and friends, Mariah has been personally affected by Leukemia and cancer. Those personal experiences have helped to shape Vision Dance. Mariah feels that the more positive and uplifting the community can be, the more we can better the world around us. It is Mariah’s hope that everyone will see the Light of Christ through her attitude and selfless serving of the world around her. Mariah was recently married to the love of her life. They are both excited to be a part of this wonderful new venture.