Deborah Agrusa is the owner and artistic director of Deborah's Stage Door Center for the Performing Arts which is now in its 40th year. Debbie received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in dance from Michigan State University and a Masters of Education Degree from Wayne State University. Debbie was chosen by the faculty of Michigan State University as "One of the Top Ten Graduating Seniors" upon the completion of her Bachelors Degree from Michigan State University. She has taught on the faculties of Wayne State University, Michigan State University and Oakland University. She was awarded the prestigious Copper Foot Award of Excellence in Choreography from Wayne State University. Deborah has served as the choreographer for America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit for many years. Debbie's competition dancers are known throughout the United States for their excellence in dance. They have performed at the Reel Awards (a pre-Academy Award Gala) in Hollywood, California; for Variety, A Children's Charity International Convention in Palm Springs, California; America's Thanksgiving Parade televised nationally on CBS; Detroit Piston Halftime Shows; The Ryder Cup, Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Her dancers have had the privilege of performing with the Jonas Brothers, the Cheetah Girls, Raven Simone, Corbin Bleu, Chubby Checkers, Bernadette Peters, The Contours, Little Richard, The Four Tops, Rich Little, Bob McGrath from Sesame Street, Sam Wright from "The Little Mermaid" and many more. These talented dancers have also performed at Comerica Park on the baseball field at Detroit Tigers games. These talented dancers have been crowned the National Dance Champions 21 times in the past 37 years. Her students have gone on to receive Tony awards, Emmy awards, Grammy awards, VMA awards and have been finalists on So You Think You Can Dance, Star Search, and America's Got Talent. They have also performed at the Academy Awards, the Emmys and the American Choreographer Awards. She is proud that they have been able to attend some of the most prestigious universities in the country as well as starring on Broadway, TV and Film. They have most recently been involved with television's Dance Moms, Nashville, Smash, The Young and the Restless as well as many other shows. Debbie is very proud of all of her students and of all those who have studied at DSD throughout the years. She is elated to have so many of the children of her former students now studying at DSD and so many of her former students now teaching for her. Debbie feels privileged to be a part of the lives of each of the children who attend DSD and their families. We are very thankful for the support the community has given us throughout our now 38 years. In addition, Miss Debbie feels it is important to give back and to instill in her students a sense of giving. Thus, the DSD dancers perform at community, charity and fundraiser events throughout the year. "Miss Debbie" is the driving force that makes her students excel and strives to offer the "best" in dance and performing arts education.

Maddie Savara is a West Michigan native who studied in a pre-professional ballet program. She earned her BFA in Dance Education and Performance from Oakland University, graduating with the Distinguished Dance Student MaTilDa Award, and experience performing professionally with various modern dance companies in metro Detroit. Since 2016, Maddie has been teaching ballet, jazz, modern, lyrical, creative movement, and stretch and strengthening to students aged 18 months to adult. Most recently, Maddie spent time as a head coach and ballet instructor training nationally competitive rhythmic gymnasts. Her experience extends to choreography for dance and musical theatre.

Salina began dancing and tumbling when she was little girl. She has studied jazz, tap, ballet, hip and tumbling most of her life. Teaching for over ten years, Salina loves to share her enthusiasm for the arts with the next generations.

She is proud to be an educator at Deborah's Stage Door.

Cat Manturuk is the founder and artistic director of DANCE CAT-ALYST, a soul-driven contemporary dance company that created a  unique style of movement called “MOD-HOP-JAZZ.” A dynamic approach to movement that incorporates elements of modern, hip-hop, and jazz, with a strong ballet base. A native of Detroit, MI, she holds a BFA in Dance and BS in Exercise Science from Western Michigan University. After graduating, Cat was a scholarship student at Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Center in Chicago, later moving to LA, where she performed with LA Modern and Ballet Company, Blue13 Dance, Regina Klenjosky Dance Company, and Collage Dance Theatre. Upon her arrival in New York, she joined Dance 2XS and became rehearsal director to Decadancetheatre. Her music video credits lie with BET and MTVIndia, and she has been featured in Dance Spirit, Shape, and Elle magazine.

DANCE CAT-ALYST outreach programs and performances include: Nanjing, China; the NY Jazz Choreography Project; Battery Downtown Dance Festival; Brooklyn Dance Festival; Detroit Dance City Festival; Albion College; University of Wisconsin-Eau-Claire; Wellspring Cori Terry & Dancers; NYC’S Chelsea Piers Sports Center and Sky Rink; and Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival. Cat is a recipient of the ACDF Excellence in Performance and Choreography Award, a Harkness Scholarship, a National Dance Association Outstanding Scholarship, and Presidential Award. Her choreography has been noted as “creating heat…” by the LA Times and teaching role as “crisply alive…” by the NY Times.  Cat began her dance training at DSD and is happy to come  full circle to teach where her training and inspiration for dance began!

Please welcome our new acting teacher, Mr. Brandon Johnson.  Brandon comes to us with a Bachelors in Musical Theater from Rochester University.  He has over 15 years experience as a performer in various roles throughout Detroit and Chicago.  He was a performer and branch operator at Fairytail Entertainment and an intern with Uncovered Theatre Co. He also taught art courses at Young Rembrandts and Barnes and Noble, teaching children to read and discover more about literature.  Brandon enjoys encouraging young minds to express themselves through various forms of art.

Megan Winegardner began dancing at the age of 3 at Dancin’ Feet in Canton, MI where she studied ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, and Cecchetti ballet technique. She later danced at the Dean/Black School of Performing Arts in Midland, MI where she was a member of the Dance Theatre Unlimited competition troupe and a teaching assistant for children’s dance classes. Megan continued her dance journey as an adult tap dancer at Juliana’s Academy of Dance and Deborah’s Stage Door. She now has two children who are members of the DSD competition dance line. Megan enjoys working with dance students of all ages to instill a life-long love of dance!