Vanessa Carroll is a Southern California native from Orange County, where she began her dance journey at the age of eight. Growing up, she trained extensively in all styles includingtap, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, ballet, hip hop, pointe, jazz funk, technique, ballroom and musical theatre. During high school, she was a four-year member of her varsity dance team.

After graduation, Vanessa was accepted into Mather Dance Company’s pre-professional program, Bridge into the Industry, where she trained closely under Shannon Mather and her brother, Blake McGrath. Through this program, she performed as a background dancer in Blake’s official music video “Love You the Most”, worked as a production assistant for Matt Cady and Ricky Palomino, and danced in an Apolla Performance online advertisement choreographed by Shannon Mather and Nicole Smith. Vanessa later joined the prestigious Mather faculty, where she taught ballet and tap for several years.

She went on to complete two years with The Launch Program at The Space TV in Brea,California, under the direction of Cory and Krista Miller. Through Launch, she booked additional professional work, including dancing for Emmy-nominated artist Frankie Moreno during his residency at The Palms in Las Vegas, choreographed by Christina Grady and Lacey Schwimmer.

Some of Vanessa’s favorite credits include performing in Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour Prom production, tap dancing under Ryan Maw at LA’s premier showcase Club Jete, and dancing with Karmagraphy Entertainment alongside Bonnie Foster Productions under the direction of Kavita Rao.

On the back-end, Vanessa works for the national touring competition Spotlight Dance Cup as a stage manager, social media coordinator, and “dance down” audition instructor. She also serves as competition/company director and lead teacher at The Warehouse Dance Studio in Charleston, South Carolina, where she earned multiple choreography awards and elite-level wins.

Most recently, Vanessa became bi-coastal after signing two contracts with Rough House Pictures. She appeared as a dancer in the fourth and final season of HBO Max’s award-winning series The Righteous Gemstones, performing alongside Adam Devine, Walton Goggins, Danny McBride, John Goodman, and Edi Patterson, with choreography by Brad and Jenny Moranz. In addition, she danced in Them Carolina Boys’ single “Honkytonk Crunk,” featured on Netflix’s Tires.

Now based between the East and West Coasts, Vanessa is thrilled to continue sharing her passion and knowledge of dance with students and audiences across the country.y!