With 23 years of dance experience and 11 years of teaching experience, Samantha brings a youthful edge and unique quality to each piece she creates and directs. Training her students with sincerity and passion, Samantha instructs her students to pursue excellence on and off the stage. She is gracefully cultivating a new generation of artists who are talented, passionate and purposeful.Samantha currently resides in Franklin, TN with her husband, Kory Krikac & 3 beautiful children.  She is excited about all that God is doing at SSDS!

Bringing with him over 19 years of theatre experience and dance training, Kory’s love for theatre came alive when he got his first role in his local school production.  From that point on he has been cast in a wide variety of musicals and plays as lead and supporting roles.  He has 5 years of competition experience in ballet, tap, and jazz.Kory took his experience and continued to train and perform beyond college, including a summer in NYC in pursuit of extensive musical theatre and dance instruction. He has enjoyed his experiences over the years in various improv groups, youth & children’s productions, vocal performances, and variety shows; and now pours his knowledge into his students sharing his love for the arts.

As a dance instructor & choreographer, Mariah continues her own eduction by attending intensives & workshops, such as Generation IV & more.  Mariah Amor Gorman, is excited about this new season of her life as she has recently married the love of her life, JD Gorman & resides in Franklin, TN.  She is excited about all of the new opportunities to work with all ages of students at Shining Starz Dance Studio, it’s Dance Company & The Joshua Generation Discipleship Company!

Johanna has been teaching for 7 years and has experience teaching modern, ballet, contemporary, hip-hop and jazz! She has spent several summers at Nashville Ballet and Atlanta Ballet and has had the opportunity of traveling and dancing with Christian artist, Nicole C. Mullen. Johanna currently dances with Anchored Dance Company.  She is very excited to continue living out her love for teaching and dance!

Faith Gulliver was born and raised in the warm sunshine of Central Florida. Her dance journey began with her first ballet class at the age of 2 and she hasn't stopped dancing since. She trained under the direction of Stephania Rogers and Lenora Rousseau at Cambridge School of Ballet. As an original member of the their Junior Company, she had the opportunity to dance roles such as the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Queen of Hearts. In 2016, Faith discovered her love of nurturing young dancers and has since taught ballet, tap, and jazz both at Cambridge School of Ballet and her home studio. Her main passion is ballet, but she has also studied tap, jazz, and lyrical. Faith is currently studying in pursuit of her B.A. in Liberal Arts at New College Franklin and when not dancing can be found reading old books, singing Broadway showtunes, and spending time with her family and friends.