Jasmine's Beat®- An Adaptive Dance Company for Persons of All Abilities

Amy Sullivan-Caillouet, OT

Amy is a pediatric occupational therapist for over 15 years. “I’ve worked in many settings including inpatient, outpatient, traumatic brain injury, day rehab and home health. I have over 14 years of experience in ballet and over 5 years of experience with competitive ballroom dancing. This is the best of both worlds for me! I am so excited to be a part of Jasmine’s Beat.”

Grace Park

Grace is obsessed with all things Zumba and may even corner complete strangers to explain why they need to embrace Zumba in their lives! Grace was licensed to teach Zumba in 2012, and is licensed in Toning, Kids, Kids Jr., Step, Aqua, Gold, and Gold Toning. Grace has coached Special Olympics gymnastics, and taught line dance, international folk dance, and dance for special needs children. She previously taught at YouFit and LA Fitness until Covid hit. Currently, Grace is teaching virtually with El Doco Loco Studio, New Orleans on Friday mornings at 11:00 am CDT. Grace leads classes in Murphy, TX.

Ashley McDermott

Ashley McDermott was born in New Orleans. She was self­-taught in hip hop dance. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, she and her family moved to Texas. She graduated from North Mesquite High School ’11 and Richland college ’17. During school time, she took dance classes such as hip-hop and contemporary. She began her Visionary Impossible People (V.I.P) events in March ’17. Her vision is to bring deaf/HOH, ASL students, or anyone who wants to learn to dance. V.I.P is about incorporating sign language into the dance moves and bring people together. She kept her V.I.P consistent. People started to recognize what she was trying to achieve in the dance community. She taught dance classes from Deaf Girl Scout to Deaf Imagination Celebration online. She has been performing dance shows in Dallas and others. Also, she has been a Lead Teacher for Jasmine’s Beat at Notre Dame School of Dallas and Centre for Dance in Richardson. She has been living her life to the fullest. 

Serena Macias-Denton

Serena went to University of North Texas where she has a degree in Dance with a minor in Psychology. At UNT she worked as the Dance Media Designer, and is also President of Chi Tau Epsilon the dance honor society. Serena has had a passion for dancing since a young age. She grew up as a Military kid so has lived all over the country and even Japan! Due to moving a lot she danced on and off in dance studios. She has taken technique classes in ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, musical theatre, modern, and tap for numerous years. In high school, she was a part of the dance program, performed in the musical and theatre productions, and was on the dance team. In the future she hopes to work as a Dance Movement Therapist so she can share her passion for dance and helping others! 

Megan graduated from Lone Star High School in Frisco and attends TCU majoring in broadcasting. She loves all things performing – musical theatre, dance, and acting – she is constantly training in these areas. She enjoys hanging out with her friends. She especially loves to hang out with her favorite person, her sister, Katie, who has Down syndrome. She also loves spending time with her dog and rabbit. When she has extra time, she volunteers with NTPA Starcatchers as a performance partner.

I’m so excited to be a part of Jasmine’s Beat. I am from East Texas and obtained my Bachelor’s in Kinesiology with a minor in Education from UT Tyler and I’m a  2022 graduate from Texas Woman’s University with my Masters in Adapted Physical Education. I am now an APE Specialist for a school district! I cheered for 6 years during my middle and high school years and have been teaching different dance classes to various ages and abilities since 2017. I love dancing because there’s endless possibilities to choose from and everyone can find their own place within their own time! Dance is limitless while promoting creativity and freedom.

Writisha was a student at Allen High School and currently at UT Dallas, pre-med. She has been dancing for the majority of her life, with experience in ballet, jazz, contemporary, folk, kathak, and Bollywood dance. She teaches Bollywood dance at Masti Dance Academy. Her hobbies include writing, listening to music, and watching movies. She also loves volunteering for adaptive dance/performing arts programs such as NTPA Starcatchers. She has been teaching  in Frisco/Plano/McKinney

Lauren has been working with the disabled population for over 4 years. She began as a personal care attendant and has moved over to the dance/theatre realm to better help teach her students social skills and have fun! She is currently working to get certified as a Drama Therapist.

T.J. Mathew, Adaptive Tap Instructor

“I’ve been with The Officials for three years and have won first place in a lot of competitions such as Kaos and Monsters hip hop during that time. I’ve trained in hip-hop for five years, ballroom for three years, and tap for three years. In total i’ve been dancing about 8 years now, and I love dancing because it’s always been a huge part of who I am. I’m also really into esports and love the competition and energy it brings. Being part of Jasmine’s Beat lets me combine two of my favorite passions, and I’m excited to be here.”

Tatum Samuels has previously worked with Malana Murphy at Next Step Dance to provide wide ranging levels of tap dance classes, as well as has taken from various tap masters from around the world, such as Jeremy Arnold, Nick Van Young, Anthony Morigerato, Derick K Grant, Elizabeth Burke, Sarah Reich, and more. Tatum will be attending the University of Texas at Austin in the fall, and plans on expanding Jasmine’s Beat when she moves. Tatum is also developing her own program, Tap into Potential, where she focuses on providing tap classes to children on the neurodivergent spectrum.

AnnaGrace’s passion for dance and belief that every body is a dancer body uniquely equips her for instructing at Jasmine’s Beat. She has worked as a mentor for neurodivergent teens at C.R.E.W. Learning, and assisted with both the Penguin Project at Water Tower Theatre and the Blue Pegasus Players at Dallas Children’s Theatre. When she’s not performing she’s working with people of all abilities teaching ballet and tap. She is currently attending UT Arlington to get her BFA in Musical Theatre with a concentration in Dance.

Isabella is a sophomore Honors student at Temple University’s Fox School of Business where she is majoring in Marketing and Management Information Systems. She’s excited to be part of Jasmine’s Beat and use social media to share the joy and impact dance has on people of all ages and abilities!