Faculty

Stacy Atkins-Salazar is a native of Humboldt County.  She is the owner and director of the No Limits Dance Academy, has a Master’s Degree in Psychology, was a Psychology professor at College of the Redwoods and is a happily married, mother of 3 grown children.  

Since the age of 5 Stacy danced and trained with local teachers including Sally Stevenson, Shirley Atkins, Cindy Savage and the late LaVerne Krei.  Outside of Humboldt County, Stacy trained in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.  As a teenager Stacy participated in numerous regional and national dance competitions and workshops.  Her professional dance and film credits include dancing as a professional tap dancer in San Francisco with Rosie Radiator; choreographing and consulting for “An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn” (Staring Aubrey Plaza, Emile Hirsch, Jemaine Clement, Matt Berry and Craig Robinson); and appearing in commercials for Good Year Tires and Bass Pro Shops.  

Stacy established the No Limits Arcata studio 2000.  In 2010 No Limits expanded to McKinleyville and then in 2015 added an upstairs studio to the Arcata location.  Dancers from No Limits have had the opportunity to participate in many exciting activities including:  Dancing in professional shows; dancing and acting in movies, commercials and videos; dancing in the opening ceremonies for the Special Olympics; dancing in college companies; and teaching master classes.  Stacy has spent the majority of her life training dancers, attending dance competitions, producing quality dance performances and feeling blessed to be doing what she loves… dancing!

Amethyst Sinn is the assistant director and a dance instructor for the No Limits Dance Academy. She has been teaching and creating choreography at NLDA since 2005. She has a background in fitness including personal training, Buti Yoga, Pilates and group fitness classes. Amethyst knew by the 2nd grade that her passion and carrier would be dance when she choreographed and taught her classmates a tap dance for their school musical, Oklahoma! 

Amethyst attended her hometown university, Humboldt State, and received a Bachelor's Degree in Interdisciplinary Dance Studies. She trained at various local dance schools but her primary dance education came from No Limits Dance Academy. Her passion for dance led her to start teaching at NLDA in the 8th grade. She competed and then went on to choreograph for the NLDA Dance Team. Amethyst took a two year hiatus when she moved to teach dance in Santa Cruz and San Jose. She has worked with recording artist Adrial Diaz as a choreographer and backup dancer. She has organized commissioned dances for fundraisers and flash mobs. Amethyst also represents NLDA in numerous community events.

Amethyst's senior college project, "Signal the Shake", received the Outstanding Senior Award for Excellence in Choreography at Humboldt State University. Her piece was selected for the HSU dance concert “Of Breath and Body”, won the Audience Choice Favorite award and was selected for the HSU Recruitment Tour. 

As the Assistant Director of No Limits Dance Academy, she blends her creative skills with the operations of the business. Amethyst strives to inspire her students and instill lifelong confidence through dance.

 Raven Arnold was born and raised in Arcata, where she trained in vaganova style ballet at Bayside Ballet School from the age of 8. During her training, she performed several lead roles, such as The Wolf in Peter and the Wolf, a soloist in Paquita, and both Harlequin Doll and Flora in the nutcracker. Additionally, she taught ballet classes at bayside ballet school for one year, as well as during the summers after graduating from high school. Raven is also an experienced choreographer. In high school, while pursuing an IB artist’s diploma in dance, she choreographed several contemporary dance pieces for the school’s dance showcase titled Cracks in the Shadows.

After graduating from high school, she went on to pursue a minor in dance at UC Santa Cruz. There, she took courses in contemporary and ballet technique, choreography, dance history, and more. She also participated in UCSC’s annual choreography showcase, Random with a Purpose, for 4 consecutive years. During her final year in this production in 2020, she had the wonderful opportunity to direct the show and convert it to a digital format. This taught her many valuable lessons about how to choreograph for the camera, collaborate with other artists, and manage and communicate with large groups of dancers. 

Since completing her Bachelor’s degree, Raven has returned to her alma mater, Northcoast Preparatory Academy, where she is now assistant teaching 9th and 10th grade French. Working with high school students has been incredibly fun and rewarding for her, but she is thrilled to be teaching dance again, as it is her true passion in life. Raven deeply values rigorous training in a way that is challenging, fun, and most importantly safe. In hopes of becoming a better ballet teacher and learning how to help students prevent injuries, Raven is currently pursuing certification in the Progressive Pointe Method of pointe shoe fitting, taught by Josephine Lee through The Pointe Shop. She looks forward to passing these values on to the next generation of ballet dancers so that they may enjoy long and healthy dance careers.

  Kaylie Adams is a dancer with gymnastics roots, instructing both disciplines for over 6 years. Starting out in competitive gymnastics at the age of 5, Kaylie fell in love with everything about the sport. She continued training and competing seriously until a move in location brought her to switch gears into competitive dance at age 12! She danced and travelled to numerous conventions/competitions with studios in the Ohio area and received primary training and mentorship from professional choreographer Mitchel Federan. Kaylie also spent her middle and high school years training at the Ohio Conservatory of Ballet which specialized in traditional Vaganova ballet. She started assisting classes at her local studio when she was 16 and was quickly promoted to teaching her own ballet and acro classes at the age of 17. Since then, Kaylie has been specializing her teaching skills in the following styles: acro, technique/body works, hip hop, jazz, and contemporary. She is actively pursuing her B.S. in Wildlife at Cal Poly Humboldt, where she also participates in the university's dance program by performing in their seasonal showcases. Having spent her first few years out of high school teaching and taking classes in Los Angeles, Kaylie is thrilled to bring her background and knowledge to NLDA and continue inspiring the future generations of dancers.