Meet the Team at Mindy’s Jessamine School of Classical Dance
Mindy Taylor Jackson
Owner/ Artistic Director
Mindy is the owner and artistic director of Mindy’s JSCD. She grew up in Nicholasville, graduated from Jessamine County High School, and attended the University of Louisville.
She was a soloist for The Lexington Ballet and a member of The Louisville Ballet Civic Company. She has trained with many great instructors, including Robert Joffrey of Joffrey Ballet, Robert Barnett of Atlanta Ballet, Helen Starr and Alun Jones of Louisville Ballet, and Charles Bronson of U of L Dance Academy. She began her teaching career over 30 years ago. She taught for the Lexington Ballet and was the assistant director for the Mullen–Janow School of Dance. In 1992, she began her career in Jessamine County.
Miss Mindy teaches all the core dance classes offered at Mindy’s JSCD.
This ensures that every student will benefit from her extensive training and teaching experience.
She is so proud to share her passion for dance with her community!
Alisha Courtney
Alisha danced with Mindy’s for 13 years, beginning in 2002 at the age of 5. Starting at age 16, while Alisha was pursuing her own dance training at the studio, she was also teaching and setting choreography for our younger team classes. Alisha graduated from West Jessamine High School in 2015. In the fall of 2015, she became Mindy’s hip hop instructor. She continues to teach hip hop and do choreography in contemporary and hip-hop techniques. Our dancers love Miss Alisha!
The family tradition continues! Alisha’s daughter is dancing at Mindy’s. She absolutely loves it! Alisha says, “Mindy’s JSCD is our home away from home.” She is thankful to have so many opportunities to share her creativity and knowledge of dance with our students!
Brooke Bailey
Brooke is an alumnus of Mindy’s JSCD. She started dancing with Mindy when she was 4 and continued through graduation from high school. She started as a teacher helper around the age of 7 and began teaching classes on her own while still in high school. Brooke went to EKU where she pursued a Minor in Dance. She continued her dance training as a member of EKU’s Dance Theatre!
Over the years she has taught a variety of classes but specializes in Kinder and BTM! Brooke has always had a love and passion for working with children. She looks forward to sharing her gift and love of dance with the next generation of dancers!
Brooke is now a mom of 3 and her children are dancing at Mindy’s. The family tradition continues!
Dana Ramey
Miss Dana is our office manager. She has a background in banking and early childhood development. Like all our staff, Miss Dana strives to make each dancer feel welcome and a part of our dance family. Miss Dana’s children have grown up at Mindy’s and continue dancing here.
Lauren Gore
Lauren is a dancer, choreographer, and educator born and raised in Nicholasville, Kentucky. She began dancing at the age of 2 at Mindy’s Jessamine School of Classical Dance. After graduating high school, she attended Western Kentucky University where she graduated in 2024 with a B.A. in Dance and a Bachelor’s in Social Work. She has attended intensives with Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Western Kentucky University, Bates Dance Festival, and New Dialect. During her time at WKU, she performed in the WKU Dance Company in their winter and spring concerts, along with student choreography concerts. Her choreographic works have been presented in WKU’s Last Chance to Dance, The Dance Project, and Evening of Dance. She has also presented her works at the North Alabama Dance Festival and the American College Dance Association Southeastern Conference. Since graduating college, she has taught and set choreography on the students at Mindy’s. She is grateful to be able to share her knowledge and passion with the students at Mindy’s!
Emily Fowler
Emily was born and raised in Lexington, KY, where she grew up dancing at Mindy’s JSCD. After high school, she continued pursuing dance in college at WKU. While there, she received a BA in Dance and a BS in Elementary Education. She was also a featured performer in their Dance Company all four years of college. Since college, she has taught and choreographed all styles of dance at multiple studios, including Dance Arts in Bowling Green and Dance Tech in Blacksburg, VA. She is so excited to be back in Kentucky and teaching at her home studio. She can’t wait to continue sharing her love of dance with future generations!