Our Teachers

Miss Cat began her love for dance and musical theatre at the age of 3 at Cookie Joe's Dancin' School in Sugar Land, TX, where she danced until she graduated from high school.  She was highly involved in band and theatre through middle and high school, and was accepted into the highly-competitive BFA program at Texas State University, where she graduated with a BFA in Acting.  After college, she performed throughout the Houston/Austin area, and played Callie the Cowgirl at the Wild West theme park, Tweetsie Railroad, in NC.  (Miss Cat has driven Thomas the Train!!). She began her teaching career at 18 as the drama and dance director for an all-girls camp in the Adirondacks of Upstate NY.  She continued teaching and private acting coaching in the Houston area at various film/drama schools and the International Performing Arts Academy for Acting and Modeling.  Miss Cat has been teaching at Fundamentally Music since 2014.   She can't wait to invite your whole family to enjoy music and dance in her class!

Ginny Cisneros holds a BA in theater with a minor in music from The University of North Texas. She works full time during the week as an assistant manager at Theater Under the Stars. On the weekends she can be found teaching classes and running birthday parties for Fundamentally Music. Ginny also runs the Tommy Tune Awards, a Houston outreach program for high school theater students. Ginny loves singing, theater and working with children.

Lizzie Oretsky has been teaching movement and music to children of all ages for more than thirty years. She holds a Bachelors Degree in education and has taught classes at the University of Houston on bringing movement and music into the elementary school classroom. After an extensive musical theatre career in the United States and Europe, Lizzie resides in Houston. Local theater credits include more than fifty productions with Theatre Under the Stars, Stages Theater, Main Street Theater and Houston Grand Opera.

Stacie Biggs has been teaching music and theatre to children for 8 years. She is certified by the Texas Education Agency in Early Childhood Education. Stacie has a Bachelors degree in Theatre from the College of Santa Fe and a Masters degree in Educational Administration from California State University. Stacie has always had a love of performing, and she is so excited to mix her teaching and performing skills with the great music of The Music Class program. She is the music teacher for Saint Rose of Lima Early Childhood Center. The greatest love of Stacie’s life is her family- husband, Brent, and sons Maxwell and Zachary.

Laura is a recent graduate from Texas Woman’s University with a Bachelors of Science from the School of Education, and is a certified early childhood teacher. She teaches  Language Arts for Spring Branch ISD. Laura has a rich background in music and performance which led her to seek out a degree in vocal performance before finally deciding her true passion was teaching.  Teaching the music class at Fundamentally Music gives Laura the chance to combine her two great loves, music and teaching! Laying a strong foundation for future lifelong musicians is her goal at Fundamentally Music and she looks forward to singing and dancing with you and your child!

Kaitlin Hanshaw studied Elementary Education and Teaching English as a Second Language at the University of Texas. She has taught pre-K for two years in Shanghai, China; six years of elementary music at KIPP SHINE Prep in Houston; as well as three months of English to adults in Buenos Aires Argentina. Kaitlin enjoys incorporating her passions of world cultures, music, and staying active into her classroom. She adores children and their imaginative, zesty enthusiasm for music! Kaitlin is thankful to share her life with her husband, Kyle, and daughter, Hallie (almost one).

SHAY RODGERS began her musical theatre career at the age of 10 with Theatre Under The Stars. In 2005 Shay created the Academy at Theatre Under The Stars bringing National recognition Houston's Educational Theatre and new programming to TUTS. Choreography credits at TUTS include Heathers, Rent, Hairspray,Bring It On, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Big, Xanadu, High School Musical, Legally Blonde, Flat Stanley, Scrooge, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Jr., VOTE! A New Musical, Little Shop of Horrors, The Sound Of Music, Disney’s Camp Rock: The Musical, The Who’s Tommy, Southwest Regional Premiere of 13, Southwest Regional Premiere of Geppetto & Son, Southwest Regional Premiere of The Stephen Schwartz Project, Disney's Aladdin Dual Language, Disney's When You Wishand The World Goes Round. Other director/choreography credits: A Pinkwell Flashmob starring Gloria Gaynor for breast cancer survivor’s, Gala’s for HGO, PALS, HAP and TUTS; Damn Yankees for Monomoy Theatre, Cabaret and You're A Good Man Charlie Brown for Ohio University; Forever Plaidfor Sam Houston State University and The Great Caruso. Shay also works with iTheatrics, R & H, Samuel French and Disney to create educational DVD's for Junior and School Edition licensing.

Andreah Symington has had a love for music from a young age. Throughout her childhood and teenage years, she was immersed in choir and musical theatre shows at the Houston Academy of Dramatic Arts and her school, The Village School. Her proudest moments have been playing the roles of Annie from ‘Annie’, Belle from ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and performing at B.B. King’s Blues Club, as part of Camp Broadway, in the heart of Times Square, New York City. Andreah is currently working on her Vocal Performance Degree at St. Thomas University.   Andreah loves being a music teacher and performing around Houston at open mics and restaurants. Her favorite style of music is jazz, though she has a guilty pleasure for musical theatre and playing her ukulele....and for playing with her students at music class!

Kayla Pierson grew up taking classes at Fundamentally Music. Her mother is beloved teacher Miss Lulu! Kayla was raised with music. Her father plays drums, piano and guitar and her mother was a gifted dancer, performer and music teachers. . Kayla grew up singing all The Music Class classics! Kayla was a part of the Cypress Falls Choir, and attended many state and national choral competitions. While teaching classes at Fundamentally Music, Kayla is also working on her teaching degree to fulfill her dreams of a professional career in education. Kayla's classes are high energy and fun!

Clara Treadway is an award-winning violinist and music educator from Houston. She recently graduated from Northern Illinois University, where she earned her Bachelor of Music and a graduate degree in Violin Performance. She has performed across the country in venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s Symphony Center, and Houston’s Jones Hall. In addition to the violin, she has studied viola, cello, piano, voice, clarinet, flute, and saxophone. Clara’s passion for teaching began a decade ago, and she has many years of experience teaching both early childhood music education classes and private music lessons. She combines her extensive knowledge of music with her exuberant personality to create a teaching environment that is equal parts educational and fun, and she is constantly inspired by her students’ energy, enthusiasm, and love of learning. Clara taught at Fundamentally Music from 2013 to 2014 and she is very excited to be back!