The Staff at SoCal Dance

Lynne started her training at the age of three and always dreamed of having her own dance studio. She received her BA from San Diego State University and is a graduate of the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts.

Lynne has trained in tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop and modern with San Diego Ballet, City Ballet, San Diego Dance Centre, Academy of Performing Arts, San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts and two years at the Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program. She also trained and competed at the International Latin Ballroom with Champion Ballroom for two years.

Lynne was a member of the Corp de Ballet for City Ballet of San Diego and The Westwood Dance Center in Los Angeles. Lynne started her teaching career at the age of fifteen. She has won numerous awards for her choreography and dancing at regional and national competitions. Lynne had the honor of holding the title of Miss San Diego 2004 in the Miss America Program and competed at the Miss California Pageant.

Lynne loves to share her knowledge and passion of dance with all her students.

Shawn was born and raised in San Diego, studied ballet in Temecula, and graduated from UC Riverside (B.A. History, ‘01). His professional highlights include performing in the Broadway revival of “West Side Story” (’10), dancing to The Beatles’ music in the film “Across the Universe”, working extensively in Universal Studios Japan’s “Wicked”, and dancing for Tokyo Disney Sea in “Mystic Rhythms”. He has acted as Pépe for several years & nights on the “West Side Story” anniversary tour (London, Paris, Zurich, Athens, Amsterdam, Vienna, Kuala Lumpur, etc.) and has danced seasons with both the California Ballet (“Great Gatsby”, “Peter Pan”) and the San Diego Ballet (“Seven Beauties”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”). Other regional credits include San Diego Opera (“Great Scott”), Welk Resort Theatre (“Hello Dolly”, “Music Man”), and Moonlight Amphitheater (“Evita”, “Sweet Charity”, “Ragtime”).

As an instructor, Shawn hopes to build a strong foundation in ballet technique and looks forward to encouraging students, teaching dancers, supporting performers, and fostering creative artists. Other interests include reading (a lot), gaming, practicing piano accompaniments for ballet class, and working.

for Escondido Union School District as a full-time substitute teacher. He’s quite happy to join the team and be a part of the success of So Cal Dance.

Lia Buonfiglio started dancing when she was 2 years old at her mother’s studio in Salem, Massachusetts. She’s trained in all styles including ballet, tap, contemporary, tumbling, and hip-hop. After high school, she began focusing on the styles and elements of hip-hop while training and performing with the Boston-based professional Hip Hop company, Phunk Phenomenon. Some of her biggest dance accomplishments include headlining World of Dance Boston and LA, Bronze Medalist at Hip Hop International 2017, Backup dancer for Young MA and DaBaby, Tommy The Clowns, T-squad vs. The World Competitor on Caffeine TV, and countless charity/community events.

In addition to being a part of the Boston dance scene, she began teaching and choreographing for Boston-based studios as well as coaching the Jr Celtics dance team, Lil’ Phunk, with back-to-back Jr USA Gold Medals at Hip Hop International. While coaching, her choreography performed at Celtics games, the World of Dance and Prelude stages, and for an ISLIDE USA commercial. After relocating to San Diego in 2022, she began teaching for various studios in the area as well as headlining with Alpha League at World of Dance LA. Lia is stoked to have the opportunity to bring the East Coast style of hip-hop to Southern California.

Xavier Hicks is an alumnus of the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts. He went on to be principal dancer with California Ballet. He has worked with Alonzo King Dunham, Diane Macintyre, Julia Belafonte, Betsi Roe, Eddie Tuscan, and Eartha Kitt, as well as dancing with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble. 

Mady Landon began dancing when she was just 3 years old and quickly discovered her love and passion for this beautiful art form. At 8 years old, she began dancing competitively at Adage Dance Center under directors Alison Gladney and Richard Elszy. She grew up training in various styles and going to conventions where she had amazing opportunities to work with and learn from accomplished choreographers through multiple scholarships. At the age of 16, she signed with Bloc Talent agency La where she was given multiple opportunities to work in commercial dance. Upon graduating high school, she continued to pursue dance by doing more concert work, working with top choreographers such as Lar Lubovitch, Rebecca Lemme, Terry Schulke, Keith Johnson, Ama Ray, and Charlotte Griffin.

She eventually graduated from the University of California, Irvine where she got a bachelor's in the performing arts and completed a pilates certification at Studio Du Corps under the brilliant Diane Diefenderfer and Laura Hanlon. Throughout her college years, while she was performing in a professional setting, she shared her years of knowledge through teaching. She has over 10 years of experience in teaching and choreographing children and adults of all ages. Her background in dance science and pilates has helped give her an expansive knowledge of the anatomy of dancers and she is very passionate about teaching injury prevention and strong technical foundations. Mady is very excited and honored to begin this new journey while sharing her knowledge, passion, and love for dance.

Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Ashley graduated from Texas Tech University with a BBA in International Business and a BA in Spanish. She performed with The Frisco Ballet in various roles such as the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker. Since 2012, Ashley has been teaching ballet, jazz, lyrical, and tap techniques. With ballet as her focus discipline, she hopes to spread her passion and love for this art.

Ashley enjoys teaching and training dancers to reach their goals. She hopes that their hard work and dedication in the studio help them to grow into thriving young adults. She is very excited to be a part of the SoCal Dance family and hopes to make a positive impact on the lives of her students. When she is not teaching, Ashley enjoys spending time with her family in Poway, her husband, Kevin, two children, Amanda (a recent SoCal Dance alumnus) and Owen, and fur babies, Gracie and Chase.

Since the age of two Hailey has had a heart for Dance and Performing. She started training in various styles of dance from ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, and Hip Hop in San Diego, California. At the age of 6, her love for competing and performing began to grow. At the age of 12, she joined Tessandra Chaves’ Dance Company Unity San Diego and performed in their professional show “Little Red Riding Hood”.

Throughout high school, she trained with Travis Wall, Jason Parsons, Kenny Wormald, Will Loftis, and many other amazing instructors. She was also on her Varsity Dance Team and Competition Team all four years, bringing home multiple national titles. Senior year she was elected Varsity Dance Team Captain and led her team throughout many competitions. She choreographed and taught over 250 dancers and cheerleaders homecoming performances. At the end of Senior year, she was selected as the WCE apprentice where she had the opportunity to assist Mark Meismer, Audrey Case, and JoJo Gomez at the WCE Summer Experience.

Hailey attended college at Arizona State University where she joined the Nationally ranked ASU Dance Team and Spirit Squad. Throughout her time at ASU, she had the opportunity to perform and cheer at football and basketball games, as well as the Phoenix Suns. During her time in college, she competed at the UDA College Nationals where they won Top 3 in the Jazz Category and Top 4 in Pom. Pursuing her degree in Business Communications.

Hailey’s love for teaching and sharing her passion for dance only grew when she made her move home to San Diego. She began teaching Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, and Acro in San Diego. She is eager to Choreograph, Instruct, and help her students grow and flourish in the world of dance.