Meet Our Teachers
At Taos Mountain Dance Academy, our teachers are passionate about helping every dancer grow with confidence, creativity, and strong technique. With years of experience and a love for teaching, our instructors create a positive, encouraging environment where students feel supported every step of the way. Whether your child is taking their very first dance class or continuing their training, our dedicated team is committed to helping each dancer reach their full potential while building friendships, discipline, and a lifelong love of dance. At TMDA, every student is welcomed, valued, and inspired to shine.
Tuesday Faust
Tuesday Faust is proud to be in her 2nd year as the new director/studio owner of Taos Mountain Dance Academy! She has enjoyed teaching at this studio alongside many incredible teachers since moving to Taos in 2013. She is delighted to continue to provide a school where dancers can experience the richness that this art form has to offer. She has enjoyed a 15 -year-long professional dance career as a modern dancer. Most of her dance career has been in Kansas City as a principal dancer and choreographer with 940 Dance Company, City in Motion Dance Theater, aha! Dance Theater, Quixotic, Jane Gotch, and co-director of Trapdoor Slippers. She has taught dancers of all ages and levels in Kansas City dance studios and served as an adjunct dance instructor at Penn Valley Community College and William Jewell College. She has lived and danced in Amsterdam, NL, where she studied dance at SNDO and the Henny Jurriens studio for dance professionals, and performed in many independent projects including Cobra (Laura Moro and Nathan Fuhr) and Performance Hotel (David Hernandez and Renate Graziadei). In 2007-2008, she lived in NYC, where she performed with Tze Chun Dance Company and Stone Dance Depot, and taught dance at Education in Dance (public schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx) and the Little Red Schoolhouse. Since moving to Taos, her primary focus is sharing her passion for dance with some of the youngest dancers in Taos, New Mexico, where she weaves the stories, props, and music of ballet into each class. Now, as studio owner, she enjoys teaching all levels and delights in producing original full-length ballets. This year, she is excited to launch Taos Mountain Dance Company. She also teaches Yoga and Dance at the Taos Day School and Anansi Day School. She lives with her husband, Brian, and daughters Elsie and Paloma.
Amber Vasquez
New Mexico native Amber has enjoyed a varied career in the arts, spanning over 30 years. Beginning as a professional modern dancer in New York City, she transitioned to Taos, ran a dance studio for18 years, and established "Dance and Learn," a free innovative arts program for Taos school children. Currently, Amber wears multiple hats in the arts community. She directs DanceWorx, a STEAM-based dance company in Taos, and coordinates early childhood programs at Twirl Play and Discovery Space. As education coordinator with The Paseo Project, she enriches the classroom by bringing art, math, and science together. In addition, Amber serves as the choreographer for John Biscello's Youth Ensemble Theater Company, and volunteers as a youth education advocate in the community. Amber's advocacy for arts-integrated education extends statewide, earning her the Janet Webb Community Engagement Award in 2018, an acknowledgement in “Early Learning through the Arts” from The Advisory Council on Arts Education in 2020, and recognition as one of Taos County's Eight Women of Impact in 2023. Outside the arts, Amber delights in her family, skiing, traveling, and cherishing family moments.
Michelle F. Roaque, dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Michelle was born and raised in Taos, NM, and started dance when she was four years of age at the Bette Winslow Dance Studio. She has trained under Bette Winslow, Ludmilla Hart, Amber Vasquez, Jari Poulin, and Olga Biagas in Taos and Sheila Ross at Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. Training in many forms of dance, including Jazz, Tap, Modern, Theatrical dance, and Ballet/Pointe. She graduated from Taos High School, then went to pursue her degree at Eastern New Mexico University. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in University Studies with an emphasis in Theater and Dance. Dance has been a part of her life for 31 years; ten of those years she has been teaching dance. Michelle has also had the opportunity to choreograph for Taos Children’s Theater for the last decade! She is excited to work with the community and enjoys incorporating her love of dance and movement in her classes, and is now teaching here at The Taos Mountain Dance Academy as a dance instructor of Ballet and Tap. She also hopes to include workshops in Ballroom/Partner dance with her husband, Martin Roaque, in the near future.
Michelle Roque
Madrone Matysiak
MADRONE MATYSIAK is an independent dance artist and choreographer based in Taos, New Mexico. She was in the second graduating class from the New Mexico School for the Arts Dance Department, a graduate of The University of New Mexico, and has worked and danced professionally in Albuquerque and abroad for the last decade. She is trained in Ballet, Contemporary, Release Technique, Contemporary Jazz, and Countertechnique. Madrone has danced with J. Garcia Dance Company, Kelsey Paschich, Vladimir Conde Reche, Amanda Hamp and AGA Collaborative, ARCOS Dance, Donna Jewell, and Elyse Fahey in Albuquerque, and guest artists Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Francesca Harper, Seán Curran, and Miguel Gutierrez. Internationally, Madrone has performed with Lawine Torren in Sölden, Austria, and toured as movement director and choreographer of a theatre piece in Beijing, China. She creates work for both stage and film, and frequently collaborates with theater artists and directors. Most recently, she performed a new work by Erik Ehn at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York City, co-organized the 2026 Albuquerque Fringe Festival, and produced the New Mexico Dance Hackathon with UNM ARTSLab.
