Meet the Faculty

Lindsey Labit Esquerré
Owner | Artistic Director
Instructor, DOCC Director & Choreographer 

Ms. Lindsey Labit Esquerré is the proud Owner and Artistic Director of Dancers Only. Established in the summer of 2007, the studio has been in business for 16 years. Lindsey has studied extensively in all subjects and styles of dance over the past 35 years and has over 20 years of teaching experience. She has trained under and worked with several accredited dance teachers and choreographers throughout the New Orleans, Baton Rouge and surrounding areas. Growing up as a “Comp Kid”, she participated in several local and national dance competitions and conventions across the U.S., receiving numerous awards both as a company member and solo performer.

Lindsey is a graduate of Louisiana State University holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management with a Minor in Dance. During her years at LSU, she was a 4-year member of the LSU Dance Ensemble and had the privilege of being selected to choreograph for the ensemble for 2 consecutive years in addition to performing in various faculty and student choreographed works. She was honored in 2005 with an invitation to the Louisiana Alliance for Dance choreographer showcase. She has appeared with Fox Kids, Sports Illustrated and Louisiana Casting. She was the co-choreographer for the 2003 Miss LSU Pageant opening number, has danced down the streets of The Magic Kingdom in Disney, Orlando with her former high school dance team, composed several song and dance productions for the LSU Greek system as a member of her college sorority, Delta Zeta and was an improv performer for the Baton Rouge Art Melt back in 2006.

Lindsey remains active in the Dance Team community by choreographing, judging and lending her expertise to local dance teams in the area. Several of her students have gone on to not only make their high schools dance teams, but have been appointed Captains, Presidents, Co-captains and Officers. One of her most cherished accomplishments will always be leading her local High School Dance Team, The Chapellettes, to a State Championship victory back in 2000!

As the Director of Dancers Only, Lindsey established the national award-winning studio based competitive team in 2008. For the past 12 seasons, the DOCC has been recognized for top honors at various competitions both regionally and nationally, have been title holders, scholarship recipients, scouted by talent agencies and are also a 5 time National Championship Winning Team! In the summer of 2013, her students were offered the opportunity to compete and be filmed in the Masters of Dance Arts competition for the Season 3 Finale episode of Dance Moms held here in New Orleans and they walked away being awarded one of the Top 5 schools in the competition.

Lindsey enjoys traveling with her students in order for them to take classes with the most sought after teachers in the dance industry. She continues to educate and push herself year after year to keep up with the latest trends developing in the dance community. Her more recent accomplishments in furthering her education is obtaining her “Acrobatic Arts” Instructor Certification and "Alixa Flexibility" Certification.  She wants to ensure her students not only thrive in dance, but also in Acro which is vital in the current dance scene.  Lindsey has a true passion for performing, choreographing and especially teaching and she loves to share her knowledge and expertise with her students!

Kat D'Antonio
Instructor - Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Technique/ DOCC Choreographer

Ms. Kat is an Instructor and Choreographer for the studio. She has been studying all types of dance for the past twenty-five years. She has worked closely with knowledgeable choreographers and teachers throughout her career. Katherine has participated in several dance competitions and conventions across the country. She has choreographed for studios and dance teams throughout the New Orleans and Tangipahoa Parish areas. She has judged local and state dance competitions for the Universal Dance Association for cheer/dance teams in Louisiana.

Katherine has traveled nationally as a member of the Sudden Impact Dance Company and is a former member of the Hammond Ballet Company. She has also performed during New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Hornets half time shows. Katherine attended St. Mary’s Dominican High School where she was captain and choreographer of the Dominican Debs Dance Team. Katherine has graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University with two Bachelor of Art Degrees in Business and Marketing with a minor in English Literature. She was a five-year member of the nationally ranked Lionettes Dance Team where she choreographed dances performed during Southeastern football and basketball seasons. Katherine also had the pleasure of performing winning competition dance routines on ESPN. She has also been seen on FOX news, CST, WWL and The Southeastern Channel.

Katherine is a former dance instructor of Lemoine Academy of Dance in Hammond, LA and and has been with Dancers Only for the past 10 years. Katherine is honored to share her love and knowledge of dance with others and hopes to inspire students to reach their fullest potential in their dance training!

Peppy Cervini
Instructor - Hip Hop / Jazz Technique / DOCC Choreographer

Ms. Peppy was born and raised in New Orleans and began dancing at the age of four. She grew up training as a competitive dancer and has received numerous awards at both regional and national levels. After losing everything in Hurricane Katrina, Peppy moved to North Carolina for a year where she was exposed to many different dance styles and choreographers. This experience began a new phase in her dance training that would now include more traveling and expanded dance opportunities.

After graduating from the University of New Orleans, Peppy kick started her professional dance career by performing alongside Beyonce in the 2013 Pepsi Superbowl Halftime Show. Other performance opportunities soon followed. She has performed in nationally broadcast Miss USA pageants alongside such artists as Nelly and Florida-Georgia Line. Peppy has also danced on the ABC hit series Astronaut Wives Club, and most recently danced on a national Popeye's commercial. She continues to share her talents by teaching and choreographing throughout the southeast region. Some of her choreography credits include the 2019 Calvin Klein Summit's LipsynCK Battle, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), and the award winning Dancers Only Competition Company.

Peppy loves working with the students at Dancers Only and always looks forward to wonderful classes!

Amanda Yesso
Instructor - Contemporary / Lyrical / Jazz Technique / DOCC Choreographer

Born and raised in New Orleans, Ms. Amanda has a long history of extensive training in Ballet, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Contemporary and Tap. Growing up involved in the competition and convention circuit, she has won scholarships and awards such as Brian Friedman's Intensive in New York, Edge studio in Los Angeles and Broadway Dance Center in New York City. Amanda relocated to Los Angeles in 2004 where she furthered her dance training and began her professional career in industrials and commercial work. She has been a featured dancer at Harrah's Casino in Thrillusion's Rock/Magic Concert and Le Royal Rouge.

She has had the honor of performing in the Superbowl Halftime Show with Beyonce, the Jonas Brothers Video: Americana, Grand Celebration Cruise line, and recently returning from Singapore where she performed as magicians' assistant with America's Got Talent's Rob Lake. Currently residing back in New Orleans, you can find her passing along her passion for the art of dance to her students, who have won both regional and national competitions. We are so happy to have Ms. Amanda on staff here at Dancers Only.

Crystal Vaccaro
Instructor - Pre-School / Beginner Combo Classes

Ms. Crystal was born and raised in New Orleans and began dancing at the age of three training in ballet, tap & jazz techniques. Crystal is a graduate of Archbishop Chapelle High School and Loyola University New Orleans, holding a B.A. in Political Science. While at Loyola, she also studied Vocal Performance and was a member of the Loyola Ballet Program studying the Vaganova Method.

From a young age she had a love for and enjoyed being part of a team and went on to make her grade school, high school and college dance teams, including the St. Christopher Cristolettes, the Archbishop Chapelle Hi- Steppers & Loyola Dance Team. Not only was she a member these teams, she was also named Captain of all 3 teams.

Ms. Crystal was a professional Staff member of American All-Stars Inc. heading up several camps specializing in instructing middle & high school dance teams. She has performed in several Half-time and Pre-game shows for the Super Bowl, New Orleans Saints and the former New Orleans Hornets. She coached and choreographed for her college Alma Mater, the Loyola University Dance Team, for 10 years. While under her direction, the team was an NDA National finalist numerous times and she received choreography awards for her work with the team.

Currently, Ms. Crystal works for Varsity Spirit Fashion working as the representative for several local elementary, middle & high school dance teams. Through her work she has been afforded the opportunity to judge, choreograph and be a professional speaker on a local and national level.

Above all, Ms. Crystal’s favorite thing to do is teach the Art of and instill the Love of dance in all her students and she is enjoying being a part of the Dancers Only staff as a Lead Instructor for our youngest dancers!

Jessica Touchet
Instructor & Director - Ballet Program

Ms. Jessica was born and raised in Metairie, LA and trained at Giacobbe Academy of Dance. She extended her training by attending Intensives with the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street.  Her professional career includes being a principal dancer at Smuin Ballet for 8 years based in San Francisco as well as performing with various companies such as  Delta Festival Ballet and LaJAZDANZ.  

Jessica has been teaching for the past 20 years in cities around the United States some of which include faculty at the Cincinnati Ballet School and the San Francisco Ballet School.  Since moving home and retiring from her professional career, Jessica has been an active Faculty member at her home studio, Giacobbe Academy and is also in her 7th season as the Director of the Ballet Program at Dancers Only.  

We are so grateful to have Ms. Jessica.  She has a true passion for teaching and choreographing...always striving to motivate and instill a love for Ballet into her students!

Caitlin Cali
Instructor - Pre-School / Beginner Combo Classes

Ms. Caitlin has been training in dance since the young age of 2, completing a total of 18 years as a student.  She is a 2021 Teacher Graduate of Dancers Only and in her second year as a Lead Instructor at the studio.  She is currently a student at Delgado Community College majoring in Nursing.  During high school she was a member of the dance team and was an invested Class Assistant at Dancers Only in her spare time. 

Throughout her years at Dancers Only, she has always been a strong presence in the younger classes volunteering several days a week to assist in classes of all styles, gaining a plethora of knowledge in how to approach teaching curriculum to the younger age groups.  Caitlin thrives in our Pre-school and Kinder Programs.  The young dancers love her and she certainly loves working with them!