2022 Dancing Stars of Atlanta

Nicolay Violletta

Nicolay, of SOROLAY BALLROOM ATLANTA, is a nationally certified ballroom dance instructor who enjoys teaching and competing Pro-Am with her wonderful students. As an active member of The National Dance Council of America she trains, and performs in American Smooth, Rhythm and Theater Arts styles of Ballroom Dance.  She is currently performing and competing professionally with Sorin Obreja. Nicolay began ballet training at age 3. She danced with the Atlanta School of Ballet and performed annually in The Nutcracker  at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. In New York City, she trained with instructors from the School of American Ballet, Pilobolus, and Alvin Ailey and performed with a Professional Dance Theater Company. Her musical credits include: The Wiz, West Side Story, Grease, Carmina Burana, Cabaret, and Leonard Bernstein's Mass. She has performed in national Coca-Cola commercials, choreographed musicals, original ballet, jazz and modern dance pieces, participated in the Governor's Honors Dance Program and danced as a soloist at both the State of Georgia's Governor's Inauguration and at the Presidential Palace in the Republic of Panama.

 Sorin Obreja      

Born in Romania, Sorin studied Ballroom Dance, Ballet, and folk dance at a young age.

He continued dancing and training during college and eventually turned his passion for Ballroom Dance into a wonderful career. He danced in a Professional Arts Ensemble in his home town for 9 years, performing weekly, achieving the title of Soloist Dancer, and gracing the stages of theaters in Romania, France, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, and the United States.

He made the United States his home in 2002 when he discovered the beauty of American Smooth Ballroom Dance and decided to pursue it. He began training in American Ballroom style Smooth and Rhythm with top coaches in the business.

Sorin is currently performing and competing professionally with Nicolay. They created together Sorolay Ballroom Atlanta dance company. He is nationally certified by the DVIDA Association, he is active member of The National Dance Council of America, and he also trains, competes and performs Pro-Am with his students.

For him dance is an expression of soul that brings joy, health,and balance in life.

 Simone Maccarrone

Simone Maccarrone - performer, teacher and choreographer - was born in Catania, Sicily (IT). His career began around the age of 10, when he passionately decided to put himself into the world of Latin American, Standard and Italian Ballroom dances. In 2001, fascinated by the sinuous movements and partnering connection of some Afro-Cuban dances, he decided to expand his knowledge towards these different disciplines. Simone began this new journey, and after only two months, he won his first regional championship. One year later, he joined a dance company, therefore, as a member of this company and was exposed to many world congresses and coaching sessions in different cities around the globe, including San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he ended up winning third place at the World Salsa Open competition in 2003. In 2004, he won second place in the world championship of Street Mambo, and in November of 2005 he won the title of world champion of multi-Carribean dances in Palermo, Italy. His success continued the same year winning the Italian Cup Circuit in Perugia, Italy. Soon after he decided to start his own business, opening his own studio "El Cubil". But it’s only In 2013 that his life path changed, when he decided to challenge himself with new opportunities, and moved to the United States. It was there that Simone was introduced to the American Style of ballroom dancing. In the summer of 2015 Simone competed professionally in the Novice division of the Southern Challenge dance competition and won first place. After few years, he finally decide to step up and work as independent teacher preparing students for Pro/Am competitions, performances or social dancing.
In addition to his devotion to teaching, Simone continues his dance training, constantly advancing his skills.

Tim Meyers

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Timothy started his dance career at Emory University, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Music, and has been dancing professionally for almost 30 years. After touring internationally as a dance captain for "Up With People", Timothy moved to Los Angeles to continue his training at the EDGE Performing Arts Center. With intense training in Ballet, Jazz, and Hip Hop, Timothy has performed internationally in numerous dance concerts and industrials, including work for Coca-Cola, GMC Truck, Home Depot, Reebok, Palmer Rox, Herbalife, the NFL Commissioner’s Ball and the NBA on TNT. He has performed as a guest artist with Fleetwood Dance, The Atlanta Opera, Atlanta Dance Theater and Decatur City Dance. Choreography credits include "A Passion To Dance", the HRC National Banquet, Joining Hearts, Seasons of Love, ABC Family TV (“My Fake Fiancee”), the Miss Georgia Competition and Six Flags Over Georgia. Timothy has worked with the Atlanta Hawks Dance Team and the Georgia Force Cheerleaders, and has served on the faculty for the Dance Masters of America national convention. Timothy strives to make a positive impact within the regional and national dance communities and is currently on the faculty at The Atlanta Dance Academy.

 Katya Cooper

 Massey Turpin

 Jay Varnadoe

Jay Varnedoe has been dancing since the age of seven. Starting with jazz and tap dancing, Varnedoe learned to love the stage and soon took to singing and acting at the age of nine. From Athens, Georgia, he graduated from North Georgia College and State University with a BS in Kinesiology.

Jay owned his own studio in Dawsonville for three years where he taught students aged 2 to 88! After deciding to move to a bigger city, he joined Ballroom Dance Clubs of Atlanta as an instructor and is starting his 12^th year with them. Jay is the manager of the downtown location.  Jay’s favorite part of teaching ballroom dance is watching his students grow, especially those who have never danced before or who have a hard time coming out of their shells.

Ballroom’s resident red-head loves performing! He has performed at Stone Mountain Park during their Christmas and Summers seasons as a singer, actor and feature dancer in several shows. When not on stage, he spends his time volunteering with his church’s youth group by teaching the Sr. High Sunday School class and working with their retreat program.  Jay loves to give back to the community. He performs with many charities that are dear to his heart including “CHRIS180” which benefits at-risk youth, Lost-N-Found which benefits LGBT youth, and The Alzheimer’s Association of GA. This will be his 8^th year working with Dancing Stars of Atlanta.

Jay would like to thank his family, husband Jason and daughter Amelia for their love and support.

 Tiffany Moraes

 Dia Adams

Born in New York, raised in North Carolina, and now established as a GA Peach, Dia started dancing at the age of 10 but didn’t start ballroom until she was 25. From being content in the background; dancing has pushed her to the front of the stage and to share the love that is movement. 

After graduating from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University with a B.S. in Animal science she pursued a career in the arts. She began her career as a ballroom instructor at ballroom dance clubs of Atlanta. Since then started her own performance and choreography business known as Diva D Dancery, Dia continues to better her skill set by continuing her training  and perfecting her craft. She shares her joy and talent through dance and is elated to share it with the masses.

 Rex Jones

 Alex Spencer

Alex Spencer’s passion for dance began at the age of seven, his dance career started at the Academy of Ballet Arts and it wasn’t long before ballroom tugged at him. Officially beginning his teaching career at local studio he quickly relocated to New York City to pursue greater dance opportunities in Ballroom.

He is a Certified DVida Instructor, active member of the NDCA, and BDFI as well as a registered judge in the FNDL.

Previously an Associate Teacher with the Popular “ Dancing Classrooms” program in NYC.

Alex and his partner were featured dancers for the TV production and live performance at Carnegie Hall for Tim Janis's “ Enchanted Evening”

Currently Alex resides in Atlanta and is the Head Standard Coach at Volga Dance Academy, training the next generation of competitive dancers. He and his wife Alina are active professional competitors dancing nationally and internationally, respected teachers and well known with their students on the Pro-Am dance circuit.  

 Aghali Moraes

Originally Born in Brazil and raised in California. Aghali first started teaching at Arthur Murray dance studio January of 2016. Within his first year he achieved the “Top 20 Teacher in the World” an elite group of teachers with the best skills in the organization. 

With a hunger for knowledge and a drive for advancement he quickly became a gold certified dance instructor, and expanded his knowledge by learning over 35 different dance styles from three different countries. To advance his ability to teach dance Aghali also studied Kinesiology, The art of communication, psychology, to make learning to dance fun and easy.  

His competitive nature lured him to competing professionally, and after only practicing for three months Aghali and his new dance partner Tiffany placed 4th out of 52 couples in their first Professional ballroom dance competition. After feeling the thrill of competitive dancing Both Aghali and Tiffany became regular rising star and open finalist in competitions around the world. Eventually Aghali & Tiffany shared many achievements together including marriage and owning their own Arthur Murray dance studio.  

Aside from his professional competitions, Aghali won numerous competitions dancing with his students in the Professional/amateur division, Aghali helped his students receive many achievements and awards, such as “Top Student Award” “Top Showcase Award” and first placements in Championship & Scholarship and more. In 2019 alone Aghali won The Top Teacher awards at the following ballroom competitions; Savannah Ballroom festival, Greenville dance challenge, and Atlanta Open Ballroom competition, and Hotlanta the classic.  

As a former studio owner, studio manager, dance consultant, sales consultant, and dance teacher Aghali became a well rounded instructor who loves to share his passion of dance with his family, students, and friends. He is currently living in the Atlanta area and happily working at Jones Dancesport in Marietta Georgia, where he makes learning to dance fun fast and easy!