Miss Annie // Creative Director

Annie Hickey was born and raised in Michigan. She began dancing at the age of 4, studying theatre at the age of 12, and teaching dance, acting, and choreographing at the age of 18 . Her love for performing led her to Michigan State University where she received a BA in Theatre with a Specialization in Dance in 2005. While at MSU, she performed in numerous plays, musicals, and dance concerts. She was the publicist for the Orchesis Dance Board, and also served as a Dance Instructor for the Orchesis Dance Classes. She was a member of the MSU Repertory Dance Company, and a Dance Captain, and Choreographer for MSU Productions. She also Choreographed and Directed two productions of The Nutcracker and in her home town of Marshall. Upon graduation she went to work for Interlochen Center for the Arts, in Northern Michigan, as a Choreographer, Acting Instructor, Dance Captain, and Residence Councilor. 

In 2006 she moved to Las Vegas and worked for the Academy of the Nevada Ballet Theatre as a Dance Instructor and Children’s Ballet Mistress. She spent six years at NBT developing the Theatre Dance program, and teaching Creative Movement, Pre-Ballet, Jazz, and Tap classes. While in Vegas, she also Co-Founded and Directed Star Arts Productions, a creative arts company for youth. 

In 2013, she moved to Los Angeles, with her husband and children.  In addition to being apart of the Sophie Dance team since 2015, she has also worked as a Director and Choreographer for the Youth Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood, where she created over 35 musical theatre productions for children ages 3-18.  

Annie is the Creative Director at Sophie Dance 3rd & Level Up Dance Academy, taking countless routines from the studio to the stage and bringing all of her creative visions to life.  She is a lead choreographer for the studio's competition teams as well as a musical theatre and tap technical teacher.  And when she has a moment to spare she still loves being on the dance floor with our tiniest dancers or heading up a fun camp for our recreational kids.  But her favorite hat of all is her Mom Hat and she happily gets to wear that Dance Mom version in the studio while working with her 15 year old dance daughter, Kya.  When Annie is not in the studio she can be found wearing her Baseball Mom hat while cheering on her two sons, Cole (age 12) & Landon (age 10) or enjoying a glass of red with her husband, Restaurant Manager, Pat Hickey.