Pointe of Grace Dance
Ballet Studio
Meet our Staff
Our Director
Mrs. Ansleigh W. Standridge
Mrs. Ansleigh has the dream job of owning and directing her own studio. Pointe of Grace Dance has given her the opportunity to influence hundreds of girls through the art of dance. Her desire is to see young ladies pursue their dreams in a world of limitless opportunities. Since the age of two Mrs. Ansleigh has been in ballet shoes following her own dream of being a ballerina. Through studios such as Buford School of Ballet, Gwinnett Ballet Theatre, Brenau University, and Ballet Magnificat Mrs. Ansleigh has performed and trained with our state’s finest. Performing lead roles on the Infinite Energy Center's grand stage, Ansleigh fell in love with the theatre and takes her own ballerinas to Buford Community Center's stage. Mrs. Ansleigh is proud of her work in high school as she was assistant choreographer to Jefferson High School's Musical "Legally Blonde". Mrs. Ansleigh is a Miss Georgia Competition finalist from 2021 and 2022.
Mrs. Ashley Matveyev
Mrs. Ashley is from Hoschton, Georgia. After ending a long career in travel soccer, she started dancing at the age of thirteen, and quickly gained a deep appreciation for the gift of ballet. She is trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, and pom. She trained at Buford School of Ballet, where she grew a deep appreciation for ballet as a form of worship, as well as Mill Creek High School where she had the opportunity to learn and grow in many different styles of dance. She is currently pursuing an Elementary Education degree at the University of Georgia, however, she is thrilled that she also has the opportunity to teach ballet and instill the passion of ballet that was given to her by her wonderful teachers in students here at Pointe of Grace!
Ms. Lauren Forbes
Ms. Lauren has been dancing for sixteen years. She trained at Buford School of Ballet for most of her life in addition to Dance FX and Mill Creek High School. She has trained in many dance genres such as ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary, and hip hop, but ballet is where she thrives the most. Ms. Lauren is passionate about seeing children succeed and is working to make her career as she studies Elementary Education at the University of Georgia.
Mrs. Cara Morris
Mrs. Cara was raised in Buford, Ga where her mother so deeply wanted her to be the thing she couldn’t, a dancer. She began her training at the Buford School of Ballet and moved on to schools such as the Gainesville Ballet and Kingsport Ballet, the latter where she instilled her love for the Vaganova Syllabus under Valeria Sinyavskaya.
She continued her ballet training at Kennesaw State University, but decided to pivot into the contemporary space. Under the contemporary direction of Ivan Pulinkala, Mrs. Cara was able to travel to Israel and learn under the Batsheva Dance Company.
Upon graduation Lauri S. Had taken a liking to Mrs. Cara’s dancing and invited her to join gloATL, where she danced for 3 years. Along with professional contemporary career Mrs. Cara choreographed for many Atlanta local musicians such as Chelsea Shag, Corey Smith, I The Victor, and other local artists.
When Covid hit the world dance and performing was halted for the nations. Mrs. Cara realized through this that teaching and showing people the love for ballet was her passion. My hope is to keep Vaganova’s teaching alive in rural areas of America.
Mrs. Mandi Young
Mrs. Mandi dabbled in studio ballet, jazz, and tap at a very young age before falling in love with clogging and hiphop outside of a studio performing at community events throughout the year. She joined a clogging team in kindergarten and then found hip hop while on her middle school dance team and continued these 2 forms of dance throughout her college experiences with Bailey Mountain Cloggers at Mars Hill College and Columbus State Cougar Dance Team. Mandi has continued to dance into her adulthood as a hired hiphop choreographer for middle/high schools, theater departments, and colleges and as an owner and director of her own clogging studio in both Rockdale and Walton county. Joining PGD for a hiphop class is a dream!
Mrs. Maggie Greene
Mrs. Maggie is an AFAA certified personal trainer and has been teaching fitness and dance classes for over a decade. She currently teaches beginner hip hop, acro, pre-pointe & prepares our company girls to reach their fullest potential through conditioning classes. Her passion is to teach healthy training habits to young athletes so that they can maintain a strong, active lifestyle going forward. Watching her daughters honor the Lord through dance at PGD has been one of the highlights of her life.
Ms. Kate Washburn
Ms. Kate is from Tucker, GA and has danced since she was 3 years old. She is primarily trained in classical ballet but also loves jazz, modern, ballroom, and hip hop. She danced at Northeast Atlanta Ballet, where she had the opportunity to perform many dream roles. Ms. Kate deeply values dance and loves to see kids develop a passion for the art.
Ms. Charlotte Griffith
Ms. Charlotte grew up as a ballet student with Northeast Atlanta Ballet until she graduated high school. She is now a sophomore at UGA and currently apart of Countetpoint Dance Company. She loves dancing and teaching, and she looks forward to continuing her passion with PGD!
Mrs. Faith Lalaian
Mrs. Faith is our Monroe Office Manager and a teacher at Pointe of Grace Dance. She started dancing in 2009 and immediately fell in love with ballet! She continued through her junior year of high school, and since then has taught dance classes and private lessons. She has a B.S. Ed in History degree from the University of Georgia, and loves working with children!
Miss Abigail Williams
Miss Abigail has been dancing for 13 years with PGD. She has trained in classical ballet, jazz, modern, hiphop and pointe. Miss Abi has been on pointe for 6 years now. She has trained with Ballet Magnificat for their summer intensive and been accepted into South Carolina's and Atlanta's summer intensives. You may have seen Miss Abi on stage as Baby Simba, Baby Elsa, Olaf, and Fritzi. Her passion is to see baby ballerinas grow in their love for dan
