2017-2018 FACULTY MEMBERS
DEDRA DANIELS MOUNT (Director & Lead Instructor) is founder of the award-winning Broadway Bound Musical Theatre Company, which was named a "Best Debut School" in 2013, 2014 and 2018 by the national Access Broadway competition. She began her performance training at age 4, eventually studying privately for five years with Richard Bailey and Pam Inabinet Bailey, founders of Columbia's Bailey Fine Arts, and continuing her training with such professionals as Gil Stroming of Australia's Tap Dogs. Dedra has more than 30 years of experience as a director, choreographer, competition judge and arts educator, having taught dance, musical theatre and drama for many local theatres and schools, including being hired by Naomi Calvert to teach tap for the former Calvert-Brodie School of Dance. She brings her signature tap style -- exemplified by her choreography for such multi-award-winning numbers as "Cups," "Brick in the Wall" and "Ice Ice Baby / Under Pressure Mashup" -- to Broadway Bound's tap team, "The Flappers." Among the many productions she has directed and/or choreographed are: Seussical; SNOOPY!!!; Oliver!; It's Christmas Time!; Godspell Jr.; It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown; A Charlie Brown Christmas; You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Snoopy!!!; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; Annie Jr.; Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka, The Secret Garden; The Wizard of Oz; Peter Pan; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; The Wiz; Godspell; Footloose; Bye Bye, Birdie; Annie Warbucks; Rock Nativity; It's a Wonderful Life; The Music Man; The Sound of Music; Disney's Aladdin Jr.; Cheaper by the Dozen; Belles on Their Toes; The Best Christmas Pageant Ever; and The Littlest Angel.
COURTNEY REASONER (Voice Instructor) is a graduate of Columbia International University (CIU) where she earned a B.A. degree in Music. Courtney was the 2013 winner of the Columbia Music Teachers Association scholarship competition (Vocal Division) and in 2016 was a guest vocalist with the Southern Guitar Festival. While enrolled at CIU, from 2012 to 2015 she worked as a piano and voice instructor in the Lowcountry. Courtney has four directing credits to her name, including CIU’s 2014 production of Fiddler on the Roof. She is active in local theatre, appearing in such shows as Les Miserables, Into the Woods (Rapunzel) and Disney's The Little Mermaid (Ariel).
ELEANOR NOEGEL SMOLEN (Voice Instructor) is a 25-year veteran of the stage, having performed all over the United States in opera and musical theatre productions. After attending Lee University as a dual Vocal Performance and Theatre major, Eleanor went on to perform professionally and teach K-12 music and choir. She and her three children recently moved to Columbia from Augusta, Ga., where she is very excited to be plugging back into her artistic passion and profession by joining the Broadway Bound family!
LEIGHTON MOUNT-ROSSI (Musical Theatre & Tap Instructor) holds a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education from Columbia College, where she was active in the music and theatre programs, and currently is employed as a third-grade teacher at East Point Academy. An "alumnus" of Broadway Bound, Leighton has studied dance since the age of 2, winning many solo and group awards at regional competitions for vocals, dance and monologues. In addition to Broadway Bound, she has studied with the Columbia Conservatory of Dance, Lexington's Stepping Out Dance Studio (where she was a member of the tap and jazz companies), Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in New York City, and with Vicky Saye Henderson's ReWired improv troupe. Her choreography credits include Columbia Children's Theatre productions of Willy Wonka Jr. and Goodnight Moon, and she has worked with Arts Arising, Camden Fine Arts Center's summer youth program. Leighton is a charter member of The Flappers and the "Too Old to Be a Member of Broadway Bound" Players. In 2015, she appeared in Oliver! with the Broadway Bound Vista Theatre Project, followed by 2016's SNOOPY!!!, and was last seen as the Sour Kangaroo in the BBVTP's Summer 2017 production of Seussical.
RACHEL MILAS WHITEHAIR (Ballet Instructor & Musical Theatre Teaching Assistant) studied ballet with Radenko Pavlovich at Pavlovich Ballet School from 1993 to 2001, then with Anita Ashley at Columbia Ballet School from 2001 to 2003. She was also a member of Broadway Bound and trained with Dedra Daniels Mount from 1998 to 2008. Rachel graduated from the dance program of the Palmetto Center for the Arts at Richland Northeast High School, going on to study dance under Joan Phelps Palladino at Dean College in Franklin, Mass. From 2009 to 2011, Rachel was a performer with Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and has appeared in many local productions with Town, Workshop, and Trustus theatres, as well as with the Broadway Bound Vista Theatre Project.
HANNAH MOUNT (Adjunct Voice & Musical Theatre Instructor) is a senior in the CAP21 Musical Theatre Conservatory's BFA program with Molloy College in Rockville Centre, N.Y. She has performed all along the east coast from the Broadway Theatre Project in Tampa, Fla., to the Madison Theatre stage in Rockville Centre, appearing alongside such Broadway veterans as Howard McGillin, Klea Blackhurst and Tony Danza. Some of her favorite productions include Oliver! (Nancy & The Rose Seller), The Secret Garden (Mary Lennox), The Sound of Music (Louisa Von Trapp), The Little Mermaid Jr. (Ariel), Godspell Jr., A Charlie Brown Christmas (Snoopy), and the live sketch comedy show Blake & Beef Live! In 2016, she served as pianist and assistant musical director for SNOOPY!!! with the Broadway Bound Vista Theatre Project, and in Summer 2017 was seen as Mayzie LaBird in the BBVTP's production of Seussical.
2017-2018 TEACHING ASSISTANTS
MATTIE MOUNT
ANNA PALMER
OLIVIA TIMMERMAN
DEDRA DANIELS MOUNT (Director & Lead Instructor) is founder of the award-winning Broadway Bound Musical Theatre Company, which was named a "Best Debut School" in 2013, 2014 and 2018 by the national Access Broadway competition. She began her performance training at age 4, eventually studying privately for five years with Richard Bailey and Pam Inabinet Bailey, founders of Columbia's Bailey Fine Arts, and continuing her training with such professionals as Gil Stroming of Australia's Tap Dogs. Dedra has more than 30 years of experience as a director, choreographer, competition judge and arts educator, having taught dance, musical theatre and drama for many local theatres and schools, including being hired by Naomi Calvert to teach tap for the former Calvert-Brodie School of Dance. She brings her signature tap style -- exemplified by her choreography for such multi-award-winning numbers as "Cups," "Brick in the Wall" and "Ice Ice Baby / Under Pressure Mashup" -- to Broadway Bound's tap team, "The Flappers." Among the many productions she has directed and/or choreographed are: Seussical; SNOOPY!!!; Oliver!; It's Christmas Time!; Godspell Jr.; It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown; A Charlie Brown Christmas; You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Snoopy!!!; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; Annie Jr.; Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka, The Secret Garden; The Wizard of Oz; Peter Pan; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; The Wiz; Godspell; Footloose; Bye Bye, Birdie; Annie Warbucks; Rock Nativity; It's a Wonderful Life; The Music Man; The Sound of Music; Disney's Aladdin Jr.; Cheaper by the Dozen; Belles on Their Toes; The Best Christmas Pageant Ever; and The Littlest Angel.
COURTNEY REASONER (Voice Instructor) is a graduate of Columbia International University (CIU) where she earned a B.A. degree in Music. Courtney was the 2013 winner of the Columbia Music Teachers Association scholarship competition (Vocal Division) and in 2016 was a guest vocalist with the Southern Guitar Festival. While enrolled at CIU, from 2012 to 2015 she worked as a piano and voice instructor in the Lowcountry. Courtney has four directing credits to her name, including CIU’s 2014 production of Fiddler on the Roof. She is active in local theatre, appearing in such shows as Les Miserables, Into the Woods (Rapunzel) and Disney's The Little Mermaid (Ariel).
ELEANOR NOEGEL SMOLEN (Voice Instructor) is a 25-year veteran of the stage, having performed all over the United States in opera and musical theatre productions. After attending Lee University as a dual Vocal Performance and Theatre major, Eleanor went on to perform professionally and teach K-12 music and choir. She and her three children recently moved to Columbia from Augusta, Ga., where she is very excited to be plugging back into her artistic passion and profession by joining the Broadway Bound family!
LEIGHTON MOUNT-ROSSI (Musical Theatre & Tap Instructor) holds a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education from Columbia College, where she was active in the music and theatre programs, and currently is employed as a third-grade teacher at East Point Academy. An "alumnus" of Broadway Bound, Leighton has studied dance since the age of 2, winning many solo and group awards at regional competitions for vocals, dance and monologues. In addition to Broadway Bound, she has studied with the Columbia Conservatory of Dance, Lexington's Stepping Out Dance Studio (where she was a member of the tap and jazz companies), Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in New York City, and with Vicky Saye Henderson's ReWired improv troupe. Her choreography credits include Columbia Children's Theatre productions of Willy Wonka Jr. and Goodnight Moon, and she has worked with Arts Arising, Camden Fine Arts Center's summer youth program. Leighton is a charter member of The Flappers and the "Too Old to Be a Member of Broadway Bound" Players. In 2015, she appeared in Oliver! with the Broadway Bound Vista Theatre Project, followed by 2016's SNOOPY!!!, and was last seen as the Sour Kangaroo in the BBVTP's Summer 2017 production of Seussical.
RACHEL MILAS WHITEHAIR (Ballet Instructor & Musical Theatre Teaching Assistant) studied ballet with Radenko Pavlovich at Pavlovich Ballet School from 1993 to 2001, then with Anita Ashley at Columbia Ballet School from 2001 to 2003. She was also a member of Broadway Bound and trained with Dedra Daniels Mount from 1998 to 2008. Rachel graduated from the dance program of the Palmetto Center for the Arts at Richland Northeast High School, going on to study dance under Joan Phelps Palladino at Dean College in Franklin, Mass. From 2009 to 2011, Rachel was a performer with Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and has appeared in many local productions with Town, Workshop, and Trustus theatres, as well as with the Broadway Bound Vista Theatre Project.
HANNAH MOUNT (Adjunct Voice & Musical Theatre Instructor) is a senior in the CAP21 Musical Theatre Conservatory's BFA program with Molloy College in Rockville Centre, N.Y. She has performed all along the east coast from the Broadway Theatre Project in Tampa, Fla., to the Madison Theatre stage in Rockville Centre, appearing alongside such Broadway veterans as Howard McGillin, Klea Blackhurst and Tony Danza. Some of her favorite productions include Oliver! (Nancy & The Rose Seller), The Secret Garden (Mary Lennox), The Sound of Music (Louisa Von Trapp), The Little Mermaid Jr. (Ariel), Godspell Jr., A Charlie Brown Christmas (Snoopy), and the live sketch comedy show Blake & Beef Live! In 2016, she served as pianist and assistant musical director for SNOOPY!!! with the Broadway Bound Vista Theatre Project, and in Summer 2017 was seen as Mayzie LaBird in the BBVTP's production of Seussical.
2017-2018 TEACHING ASSISTANTS
MATTIE MOUNT
ANNA PALMER
OLIVIA TIMMERMAN
