Faculty
Amy Markgraf and Angela Banchero-Kelleher have been colleagues, close friends, and artistic collaborators for nearly 20 years. Holly Markgraf-Mayne — Amy's sister — is the heart of MDC's youngest classes.
Amy Markgraf
UVU Professor · Dance Education Program Coordinator
Amy began her dance journey with BYU Young DanceMakers. She holds a B.S. in Dance Education/Biology from Utah State University, an M.A. from BYU, and an MFA from the University of Utah. She is a tenured Professor and Dance Education Program Coordinator at UVU — where she has taught for 26 years, previously directed the Contemporary Dance Ensemble and Synergy Dance Company, and served as faculty at BYU Children's Dance, Tanner Dance, USU, and BYU earlier in her career.
A prolific choreographer and performer, Amy has toured and performed with the USU, BYU, and University of Utah dance companies, and has appeared as a guest artist with local professional companies throughout her career. Her choreography has reached international audiences in Denmark, England, Scotland, Ireland, the Philippines, and South America — including multiple ACDA Gala Concerts, Breaking Ground, and Metropolitan Ballet's Choreography Design Project.
At UVU she also teaches Anatomy and Kinesiology for Dancers — giving her a deep, technical understanding of how the body moves, develops, and stays healthy. Every student at MDC benefits from this expertise: technique is taught not just artistically but anatomically, building strength and skill in a way that protects growing bodies. She has presented research at NDEO, IADMS, UDEO, and daCi alongside Angela Banchero-Kelleher, served nine years on the daCi USA board. She co-authored Utah's K–12 Dance Core Curriculum, holds Anne Green Gilbert's Brain-Compatible Dance Education teaching certification, and is co-creator of Body and Brain (B2), a dance-specific conditioning program with Kate Monson, Associate Professor at BYU (b2conditioning.com). She received UVU's Faculty Teaching Excellence Award and the Dean's Recognition Award for Scholarly and Creative Work, and remains an active member of NDEO, IADMS, and daCi.
More than 60 former students are performing, teaching, and creating worldwide. Two have attended Juilliard. Now she's teaching in Mapleton — in a studio she designed and built.
Full biography and lineage on About Us →
Classes: Contemporary/Modern · Dance 1, 2 & 3 · Performance Dance · Creative Dance Ages 3–4 · Ballet
Private Pilates: Mat & reformer · By appointment · $65/session · $55 MDC families · $33 trial
Angela Banchero-Kelleher
Repertory Dance Theatre · UVU Professor
Angela Banchero-Kelleher, MFA, is a Full Professor of Modern Dance at Utah Valley University and one of Utah's most accomplished professional dancers. Her performing career spans over twenty years, including 17 years as a featured artist with Repertory Dance Theatre — performing the full arc of modern repertory from Isadora Duncan to Zvi Gotheiner.
Career highlights include performing Ekstasis by Martha Graham, reimagined by Virginie Mècène; the premiere of Indebted, a solo choreographed for her by Jaclyn Brown at RDT's Emerge concert (2019); and bringing MDC students to the RDT stage in Andy Noble's Tower (2018), Doris Humphrey's Passacaglia Fugue in C Minor (2019), and Martha Graham's Steps in the Street (2021). Her choreography has been presented internationally — Lacuna at the daCi International Congress in Copenhagen, Blackbird in Austria — and her work Material Tokens of the Freedom of Thought was selected for the ACDA Gala Concert and is held in RDT's current repertory.
She has taught at the La Bella Vita Arts dance workshop in Italy for four years and as a guest teacher at RDT's summer workshop specializing in Humphrey/Limón technique. Her scholarly research — focused on dance as a vehicle for social and political activism — has been presented internationally and co-published in the International Journal of Arts in Society. She was awarded the UVU School of the Arts Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award (2016). She is trained in Pilates mat and reformer.
She and Amy have been colleagues, close friends, and creative collaborators for nearly 20 years. Her Wednesday evening adult contemporary class is one of the most distinctive offerings in Utah County — professional-level training taught by a working professional artist at the peak of her career. Open to all adults at any level.
Class: Adult Contemporary/Modern · Wednesday 7:30–9:00pm · $75/month
Private Pilates: Mat & reformer · By appointment · $65/session · $55 MDC families · $33 trial
Holly Markgraf-Mayne
Beverly Taylor Arts Specialist · Anne Green Gilbert Certified
Holly Markgraf-Mayne is a performer, educator, and connector of people who brings an irresistible warmth and playfulness to everything she touches. She grew up in BYU's Young DanceMakers program — studying under Christine Ollerton and teaching advanced technique and creative dance in the Virginia Tanner tradition for children ages 3 through teens. She holds a B.A. and B.S. in Dance, Liberal Arts, Spanish, and Music from Utah State University, where she was a Sunburst Singer scholarship recipient for four years, touring with the ensemble to Japan, Thailand, and California. She was also a member of the USU DanceWorks Dance Company, Jazz Vocal Ensemble, and studied privately with renowned vocal coach and mentor Michael Ballam. She completed her Teaching Certificate at UVU with Honors and earned Dean's List every semester.
Holly is certified through Anne Green Gilbert's Brain-Compatible Dance Education teacher certification program — the gold standard in children's creative dance education worldwide — and spent 15 years as a Beverly Taylor Arts Specialist in Granite and Nebo School Districts. She is currently the choir director at Mapleton Middle School, where every day is its own adventure. Beyond the classroom, she is a performer in the fullest sense — having appeared in plays, worked as a backup and studio singer, and recorded as a professional vocalist.
Holly believes that learning should be engaging and full of discovery — that working with children is magical, that every person you meet becomes part of your life, and that the only things worth taking with you are the relationships you've built and the knowledge you've gained. She lives that philosophy in every class. The three-year-olds adore her. So do their parents.
Classes: Creative Dance Ages 3–6 · Tuesday & Thursday · Boys Creative Dance (Fall 2026)
Additional faculty coming soon.
As MDC grows, so will our faculty. Amy draws on 30 years of professional relationships in the dance education world — from university colleagues to working performers to master teachers — to bring the very best instructors to this studio.
Every instructor added to MDC will be a professional in their field and a trained educator. No exceptions. The standard that defines Amy, Angie, and Holly will define every teacher who joins them here.
Ready to meet them in person?
Schedule a free trial class and experience what MDC is all about.