Studio Staff
Courtney Kaye Kirby — Owner / Artistic Director / Dance Instructor
Courtney Kaye Kirby is artistic director and instructor at Anne Kaye Academy of Dance. She started dancing at the age of two and decided that she never wanted to stop. Her love of dance continued to grow as she joined her studio's competition team and attended dance conventions led by prestigious choreographers like Brian Friedman and Mandy Moore. Using the scholarships and awards from her years on the team, Courtney attended the University of Central Florida and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre with a Minor in Dance. She continues her education by attending master classes and conferences led by today's leaders of the dance world.
Courtney has used her training to teach others since the age of fourteen. Through teaching at her childhood studio and apprenticing with multiple dance conventions, she found her true passion. She has taught dance and theatre to students of all ages, from toddlers to adults. Courtney began professionally choreographing in college for musicals, show choirs and dance teams. Her choreography has won multiple awards and her students consistently leave competitions with overall awards and scholarships.
With the opening of AKA, Courtney is able to push the boundaries of modern choreography and technical training, while helping her students become the best version of themselves!
Brittany Graziano — AKA Luminary Director / Dance Instructor
At 12 years old Brittany started her dance training at the Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland where she studied the Vaganova Method among other styles such as modern, jazz, flamenco and musical theatre. In 2005 she was awarded a Scholarship to dance in Ballet Royale’s Enrichment Program and was given the opportunity to dance as a soloist in Paquita and as a member of the corps de ballet in Giselle where she danced alongside of Sasha Radetsky, Irina Dvorovenko, Maxim Beloserkovsky and Stella Abrera of the American Ballet Theatre. After high school Brittany was awarded a tuition free scholarship to dance at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In 2008, while in college, Brittany began her teaching career. She has taught Ballet, Floor Barre, Lyrical, Jazz, Pointe, Conditioning, Leaps & Turns, Contemporary, Creative Movement and Improvisation across the nation. She believes that there is nothing more rewarding than teaching and has dedicated her life to providing students with self motivation, discipline and self confidence through dance training.
Desirée Koontz-Nachtrieb — AKA Ballet & Curriculum Director / Dance Instructor
Mrs Desirée Koontz-Nachtrieb has her MFA in Dance from The George Washington University, as well as her bachelor of art degrees in Dance and History from The University of Baltimore County. She is certified in Progressing Ballet Technique (level 1), 200 Hr Hatha Yoga and Pilates Mat 1. She performed classical ballet and contemporary dance professionally throughout the East Coast with several dance companies.
While living in Maryland she taught classical ballet, pointe and technique classes and set traditional and original classical and contemporary ballet works at several local private dance studios for both recital and competition purposes. Concurrently she taught various dance related courses at Howard Community College and Bowie State University’s Dance programs for well over a decade.
She is excited to begin her Florida teaching adventure at Anne Kaye Academy of Dance where she will continue to facilitate an environment of trust, dedication, and positive reinforcement. She will encourage her students to think critically about what is being taught, and empower them to use their own experiences and background to further grow in their mental and physical execution of the material learned in their dance classes.
