Our Teachers
Sandy Slayton-Mavrotheris
Sandy Slayton-Mavrotheris is the owner and director of Pulaski Performing Arts Center. Sandy teaches all levels of dance classes at PPAC. Sandy began her training at the young age of 3 in Bury St. Edmunds, England. She received the highest award possible by the Imperial Society of dancing at the age of 10. Upon moving to the United States, she has been trained in Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, and Alabama. She began her teacher training in Little Rock, Arkansas with Sally Riggs at Studio One at the age of 13. Sandy has been trained in the arts of ballet, tap and jazz, and trained to teach all three. She danced competitively as a soloist in Arkansas and Illinois. In 1989, Sandy became involved with the Giles Heritage Theatre, and decided to open the Pulaski Performing Arts Center. While at GHT she sang, acted, and danced in over 25 productions. She has choreographed many musicals at GHT such as "Camelot," "Carousel," "The Music Man," "Jesus Christ Superstar," and "My Fair Lady." Sandy was the choreographer for Martin Methodist College's show choir Daybreak for 14 years. While at MMC she choreographed "Godspell," "Cotton Patch Gospel" and several other musicals. She also choreographed "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" for the Lynnville Area Arts Association. Sandy is active at Southern Tennessee Area Arts Center (STAAR) with directing and choreographing shows. She directed and choreographed “Footloose,” “Aladdin,” “Wizard of Oz,” and “Little Mermaid,” and “The Miracle Worker” to name a few.” She has also choreographed and directed "High School Musical," and "The Addams Family Musical,” "Nutcracker." "Lion King" and "Frozen" for STAAR. Her most recent production was “Newsies.” Sandy has also performed as Patsy Cline in the musical "Always Patsy Cline." Through the years, Sandy has choreographed many award-winning competition dances for PPAC's dance companies. Sandy is a member of First Baptist Church, Pulaski. She has a B.S. in Business Administration and is a Certified Personal Fitness Trainer. Sandy and her husband, Micah Mavrotheris, have two sons, Hub and Nick.
Amanda Manies
Amanda has been at PPAC for 28 years. She began her dancing career at the age of 3 in Huntsville, Alabama and became a student at PPAC at the age of 12. She was a part of Color Guard at GCHS and performed for two years with Arts Afire, a Christian based dance company in Huntsville. She performed at Vanderbilt University with the Band of Gold as a color guard member. She has also worked with local theaters including GHT, Lynnville Area Arts, and STAAR both on stage and behind the scenes. Amanda is the coach for the award winning Lawrence County High School Dance Team and the EO Coffman Middle School Dance Team. Amanda lives in Pulaski with her husband, Dillon.
Jessie Ballard
Jessie Ballard grew up dancing at PPAC and has been a teacher for five years. Jessie is a graduate of Giles County High School where she performed with the dance team. She is also a graduate of TCAT-Pulaski. Jessie loves working with children and is a Respite Foster Parent in her free time. Jessie will be teaching predance, prek, kinder, 1st grade at PPAC this year. She lives in Pulaski with her 4 dogs, and works at a local bank.
Cate Pride
Cate was a student at PPAC for 15 and started teaching at the age of 15 as a student teacher. A 2017 Giles County High School graduate, Cate continued her education at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) and holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance Education. While at USM, Cate trained heavily in ballet and modern dance, performed with the Repertory Dance Company and Performance Project, and worked with artists and companies such as Steve Zee, Chris and Lauren Grant, Melanie George, Collage Dance Collective, and artEmotion. She was a creative movement and ballet teacher for Stretch-N-Grow of Hattiesburg/Laurel for 2 years. Cate is currently the dance teacher at Richland Elementary School and resides in Prospect.
Tala Gvozdas
Tala Gvozdas is a homeschool graduate. She has been a student at PPAC for 17 years and Mrs. Sandy's Assistant for three years. Tala is very involved in theater and has performed in over 20 productions at STAAR Theater. Tala is also a part of PPAC's competition dance teams as a competitor.