Instructors & Staff

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Mrs. Liz has been living in Brevard County, FL since 1952. She began her dance training at Jim Trevelen's School of Dance and Ebsen School of Dance and Royal Studios in Orlando. Her summers were spent studying in New York City at Ballet Russe and June Taylor School of Dance. She received her Dance Masters of America Teaching certification in 1958, which is the same year the Dussich Dance Studio began its inception. Along with the study, she began the Brevard Dance Company and initiated the Lecture Demonstration Dance Program in Brevard County Schools and has trained and coached many professionals dancers and teachers through the studio as well as through Florida Dance Masters. Currently, Mrs. Liz is the membership chairperson for Florida Dance Masters and is the author of the FDM Ballet Syllabus and Dictionary. Mrs. Liz still teaches many of the adult classes here at the studio. 

Mrs. Anna Bevilacqua Spangler was born and raised in Brevard County and started dance at the age of 2 and began teaching at the age of 16. She has had the opportunity to study with Ray & Rhee Gold, Jo  Rowan, Gus Giordano,  and Bob Kimball & Luigi. She is a graduate of Merritt Island High School and Brevard Community College, (Now Eastern Florida State College).  She attended Oklahoma City University for two years with studies in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Voice, Piano and Musical Theater.  While in Oklahoma, she was a member of the AMERICAN SPIRIT Dance Company and performed on stage with Tony Award Winner, Pearl Bailey.  After Returning to Florida, Anna danced as a Mexican Dancer for Walt Disney World at Epcot for one year and performed with local theaters in several plays.  She also has helped with school choirs in setting and conducting musical productions for school and local performances.  Anna officially returned to Dussich Dance Studio in 1999, teaching Preschool, Combo, Jazz, Tap and Musical Theater.  In 2016, she stepped down from her teaching role to become Office/Business Manager at Dussich. Anna is the daughter of Founder Elizabeth Bevilacqua

Mr. Al was born in Maine but grew up in New York. He attended college in Maine, where he majored in Science and was introduced to dance. While in college, he studied modern dance with a former member of Martha Graham's Dance Company and performed with the college dance company. After college, he moved to Florida and began studying ballet and jazz and performed with a group that later became Ft. Lauderdale Civic Ballet. In 1960, he moved to Melbourne but retired from performing dance in 1962. Five years later, he was contacted by Dussich Dance Studio to assist with teaching the Swan Lake Pas De Deux for their annual recital. After this, Mr. Al began teaching at Dussich and in 1972, he became co-owner. He joined the Dance Masters of America and continued his studies of dance with Ron Daniels, David Howard, Patsy Swazy, Gus Giordarno and many others. He performed for many years with the Brevard Dance Company but retired for the second and final time in 1986, becoming the Business Manager for the studio. Today, Mr. Al still assist with Business Management responsibilities at the studio and is also the annual dance recital emcee.

Ms. Ashley began dancing at Dussich Dance Studio at the age of 5. From 1991-2003, her love for dance grew in the study of ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, and pas de deux. At the age of 12, the excitement of being on a dance team took hold and during all of middle school and then moving on to Varsity dance team in high school, where she won many county, state and national titles in Jazz and Pom. After high school, she began studying acting and broadcasting. She received an AA in broadcast and a BS in Broadcasting while acting and hosting many TV shows, including Sports Zone for Orange TV and CW’s Movie Show. During college, she joined the adult hip-hop/jazz open team at Dance Mania, where they swept every competition.  After college, she returned home and took over the Merritt Island High School Dance Team as head coach from 2009-2012. During her time with the team, she opened her own dance studio, Modern Motions and taught all levels of creative ballet, jazz, hip-hop and tap. After becoming a mother to 2 baby boys, she decided to put her focus on them. Now she is happily married with 5 children and can’t wait to use all my skills to help students at Dussich Dance Studio continue to grow and develop their passion for dance!

  Ms.  Laura began dancing at Dussich Dance Studio at the age of 3. From  1999-2014, she studied ballet, pas de deux, modern, lyrical and jazz.  She attended FDM conventions throughout her time at Dussich and will be  taking the FDM Ballet exam this September. Ms. Laura studied ballet  extensively with Mrs. Liz, and began partner work in Mrs. Liz’s Pas de  Deux class beginning at 9 years old. She began dancing ballet with Ms.  Debbie at age 6 and began pointe work at age 14.

She  went on to study Exercise Physiology at Florida State University and  has received her Master’s of Public Health from the University of West  Florida. She is currently applying to medical school to one day become a  primary care doctor. Throughout her time at Florida State, she took  college level ballet classes but when she came back to Merritt Island  during her Masters program, she returned to Dussich Dance Studio. After  two years of demonstrating and being an Assistant Teacher to both Mrs.  Liz and Ms. Debbie, Ms. Laura will be teaching Pre-Pointe/Technique and a  new Ballet Variations Class.

Rose Started Ballet at age 3 & tap at age 8, She Continued with tap in high school She was in dance performance every year at her studio, She did a summer theater camp where & put on a production over the 6 week period. Performances/roles include: Miss Hannigan (Annie), Lumiere (Beauty & The Beast), Edwina Spoonapple(The Dear Edwina Show), The Baker’s Wife(Into the Woods), and more. She did theater productions from 5th grade-10th grade. And worked on hair, makeup, and costumes for the middle school productions. Her high school had an extremely high arts budget, the productions were comparable to an off-Broadway show in terms of set quality and direction. She was in voice lessons from age 9-12, and was in chorus in middle and high school, and was a competing Thespian (receiving only excellent and superiors in monologues and solo singing); and as an adult I now do karaoke every Thursday night

Teacher Feature- Ms. Tabatha currently teaches acro, preschool, combo, lyrical, musical theatre, and is the artistic director of The Imperial Dance Corps at Dussich Dance Studio. This is her third year as the artistic director of IDC. IDC is a not for profit children dance charity that is very involved in the community and raises money for local childrens charities. Ms. Tabatha is said to have started dancing from the moment she could walk. She is a 3rd generation dance teacher. Coming from a legacy of dancers, Tabatha has studied all forms of dance. In 2005, she received a scholarship to attend the Broadway Theatre Project, where she studied with Ben Vereen, Patrick Page (The Lion King), Jeff Goldbloom (Jurassic Park) and Paige Davis (Chicago). She recieved several dance scholarships from Florida Dance Masters with her dance abilities. She was a finalist for Ms. Dance of Florida in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, she graduated from Cocoa Beach High School, where she was a choreographer for the Cocoa Beach High School Dance Team. That same year she also was a finalist for the Orlando Magic Dance Team. She went on to dance for PGT Entertainment on Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines from 2006-2009. Where Tabatha got to dance professionally as well as travel around the world. Tabatha graduated from Eastern Florida State College with her AA, and Associates in Childhood Development, as well as completed certifications in Childcare Center Management, Early Child Development Intervention and Infant, Toddler and Preschool Specializations. She returned to Dussich Dance Studio as a teacher in 2015.  She is a certified Dance Instructor thru Florida Dance Masters and a current member of FDM. Tabatha was an elementary school teacher for four years. She currently is a special education teacher at an ABA therapy school. Ms. Tabatha loves teaching both education and dance.

She is the proud mother of two, Thomas and Elizabeth who both dance at Dussich Dance Studio. They are the 4th generation of Dussich Dancers and proud to keep the family legacy going. Tabatha is the grand daughter of Dussich Dance Studio's founder Liz Bevilacqua.

   Born and raised on Long Island, NY, Karis started her dance career at the age of 3. She started at the June Claire Dance run by Lynda Gache and June Loesche. She supplemented her education at Frank Ohman’s School of Ballet and Eglevsky School of Ballet.  As Karis’ love for dance grew she started venturing into Manhattan where she studied at Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor and Barnard College, Columbia University. Karis has performed in annual televised Holiday events, ballets, community theater, the Tribeca Film Festival and has appeared in such films as “Elf” and “School of Rock.” Karis has worked with Michael Trusnovec, Loyd Culbreath and Andrea Kron.  She has been an instructor for the past 21 years, has choreographed solos for competition and college audition, been a judge for dance competitions, choreographed for community theater productions, is a member of Florida Dance Masters, PBT certified and currently living in Florida 

Miss Alana LOVES teaching dance! She performed ballet and clogging dance all growing up in studios in Texas, Utah, and Washington. In college she majored in Elementary Education, minored in Contemporary Dance and teaching English Language Learners, extensively studied ballet, folk dance, and clogging, and toured with Brigham Young University's International Folk Dance Ensemble. She has taught Dance for three years. 

When she's not dancing, Alana likes reading children's books, eating international food, and watching her two young boys jump all around the house.

 Anastasia began her career at the Cocoa Village Playhouse from the ages of 10-16. She spent those years in their Stars of Tomorrow program building a foundation in theater. She then started dancing when she was 13. She began her dancing journey in 2018 on Edgewood jr/sr high school’s dance team. She spent her next 5 years on their varsity competition team where she was a captain her senior year. Throughout that time she was studying under Ashley Figueroa. For 4 years, and many more to come, she was a demonstrator for Ashley at Dussich Dance Studio. The later 2 of those years she became a substitute teacher there. Throughout that whole time she has come to love the styles of hip hop and contemporary in order to break the norms in dance, and embrace the individuality that it allows dancers of all kind! 

Debbie Manlove trained under Caroline de Lone and was a member of the Harrisburg Civic Ballet Company, a local semi-professional company in Pennsylvania. She majored in Dance at the Philadelphia Dance Academy, which was affiliated with the Combs College of Music, under the direction of Nadia Chilkovski, a dancer from Martha Graham’s first company. In her 50 years of dancing and teaching, she has taken from numerous teachers, including from NYC Ballet’s first cavalier in their first production of the Nutcracker.  Miss Debbie began teaching at age 16, at the West Shore Rec board. She also taught at the local YWCA, before opening her own studio, Manlove School of Dance, which she own and operated for 22 years.  Since relocating to Florida, she has been a substitute instructor here at Dussich Dance Studio, but most recently has joined our faculty as the Creative Movement Instructor, which is a dance class for our dancers with special needs that is rewarding both for the dancers and Miss Debbie!