Michaela McAlpine

Co-Owner & Ballet/Pointe Instructor

Michaela McAlpine is originally from Pennsylvania, where she studied and trained in classical ballet for 10 years. After graduating high school, she decided to further her education at Ballet Magnificat's summer dance intensive and then moved to Alabama to study ministry and performing arts at the RAMP School of Ministry. While in Alabama she taught ballet and pointe for four years as well as choreographed, co-directed and performed in multiple city-wide productions. In 2017, Michaela and her husband, Brandon, decided to relocate to Knoxville, Tennessee. In Knoxville, they helped Pastors Casey and Lindsey Doss launch Hope Unlimited Church and now serve on their leadership team.

Michaela is honored to have the opportunity to share her love for dance with the city of Knoxville. She lives with a passion to help individuals discover their God given purpose and empower them to pursue it with excellence. Her goal for the school is to create an encouraging environment where students and adults of all ages can purse their dreams and become everything they were created to be.

Rebecca Collins

Co-Owner and Tap,Jazz &Contemporary Instructor

Becca Collins is originally from Everett, PA. She has been dancing for over 13 years and trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Modern, Hip Hop and Acro at Shery Foor Dance Studio and Blair Dance Academy. She competed in Regional and National competitions, attended multiple dance conventions and received numerous awards and recognitions. She also had an opportunity to appear on an episode of “Dance Moms.”

After graduating high school, Becca move to Hamilton, AL and completed the Ramp School of Ministry majoring in Worship and Performing Arts. She lived there for three years and worked as Company Co-Director for Alysse Nicolle’s School of the Arts during that time. After her time in Alabama she moved to Grapevine, TX to be apart of a dance internship with Ingredients Dance Company where she had an opportunity to travel with the company and further her training in Contemporary, Ballet, Modern, Hip Hop, and other fun styles. Since then she has been living in Dallas/Ft. Worth teaching at two different studios, and is excited to be apart of the Pursuit team!

Andrew Pfiffner

Partnering Instructor

Andrew is originally from Illinois and studied at Columbia College Chicago with an emphasis on modern dance and classical ballet. While in school he worked nights at a Ballroom studio teaching people how to partner dance and prepare for weddings and other special events. He has worked and performed with dance companies in Chicago, Nashville, and Knoxville where he performed various styles of dance ranging from ballet, jazz, to ballroom. Currently he is the dance director at Marble City Ballroom in Knoxville, TN where he teaches Ballroom, Latin, Swing, as well as, lifts and tricks that come from his ballet background for people who want to better understand partner dancing and add to their dance repoitoir.

He is very honored to be working with Pursuit School of dance and he is driven to help the students grow in their craft and be helping the company with performances.

Abby Dill

Ballet & Tap/Jazz Instructor

Abby has been dancing since the age of 2. Over the years she’s trained in Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Musical Theatre, Contemporary, Interpretive, Scottish Highland Dance, Israeli Folk Dance, and Ballroom & Latin Dance. She knew at a very young age she wanted to pursue dancing and teaching. Abby has been teaching dance since 2019 and has also choreographed for musical theatre productions. Since dancing at Pursuit she has danced the lead roles of the Cheshire Cat in “Alice in Wonderland” and Belle in “Beauty and the Beast”. Abby hopes to create a safe space for dancers to learn and try something new, encouraging growth in their God given gifts and talents.