As the educator, Ashlea emphasizes a somatic and inclusive approach to classes by incorporating her certified Yoga teacher training within. She values breath, fluidity, and awareness of one’s presence in relationship to others. In theory courses, Ashlea facilitates conversations to shift and shape new perspectives by inviting students to question societal patterns through lecture courses in person and online. She also collaborates on wellness workshops and retreats to help individuals find their purpose and tools for overall well-being. Ashlea is the Visiting Assistant Professor in Dance at her alma mater, Winthrop University.

As the performer, Ashlea enjoys collaborating in different creative processes on and off stage and for dance photography. Her performance philosophy is to engage the audience through her presence, which led to her nomination as an Outstanding Performer in Dallas, Texas. She has worked with choreographers such as Jennifer Archibald, Judith Sanchez-Ruiz, George Staib and photographers Lynn Lane, Kela Portee and Amanda Wolfe. 

As the choreographer, Ashlea is inspired by real-life experiences and human interactions. She deconstructs these experiences to create movement narratives. Her work was presented at the American College Dance Association Festival South-Central Region, the Ignite Conference (a Women’s Political Leadership Conference), the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in Philadelphia, PA, the Equinox Dance Festival in Greenville, SC and during the Staibdance summer intensive in Sorrento, Italy. Ashlea received the Emerging Artist Grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission and the Artist Project Support Grant to develop the work 10 Recalling-20 with collaborator Alexandria Nunweiler. 10 Recalling-20 was nominated for a “Philly Fringie”, an audience choice award for the ‘dance’ category for best performance.

As the advocate, Ashlea educates individuals and political officials about why dance matters. She has created and presented, “How to Create an Advocacy Toolkit” at the National Dance Education Conference in San Antonio, TX and the World Dance Alliance in El Paso, TX to train individuals to become dance advocates. As an advocate for her community, she is the president of the board for the Grand Strand Charter Arts High School; a new arts focused school proposed to open in Fall 2025 in Myrtle Beach, SC. Also, she remains on the board for the World Dance Alliance-Americas and is an Advocacy Committee member for the National Dance Education Organization.

As the administrator, Ashlea has experience in arts program management with skills that include project execution, content development, grant writing/editing and leading facilitation amongst artists. Ashlea worked as an assistant production coordinator at Fringe Arts and at the former Iron Factory in Philadelphia, PA and was the Recruitment Coordinator for the Department of Dance at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas. Ashlea co-curates the CURE8 dance series, an east coast dance curation project that seeks to bring new voices in dance to the main stage in curated dance shows featuring artists from select regions, in multiple techniques, and differing backgrounds. In addition, she is the Community Relations Coordinator for the Staibdance summer intensive in Sorrento, Italy and continues to develop international dance programming through the Sant’Anna Institute in Sorrento, Italy and greater region of Naples, Italy.