Brandee Lara (she/her)

Brandee began her professional stage career in regional theatre and national tours, then made her way to directing and choreographing for major civic light operas and Los Angeles-area theatres, garnering great reviews and many awards. Recent performing credits include television and film, appearing in 2022’s Spirited, the musical holiday film starring Ryan Reynolds, Will Farrell and Octavia Spencer, and a 2023 appearance on the Late, Late Show with James Corden, alongside Niall Horan.

Brandee holds a master's degree in dance and a bachelor's degree in acting and directing, both from CSULB, and has taught tap since 1996 at Chapman University, where she advises the on-campus tap dance ensemble (CUTE) and produces a tap and rhythm show each year. She is a 2024 panelist for the Region 8 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. In Spring, 2022, Brandee was the artistic director of Chapman's first-ever tap festival, featuring Chloe Arnold's Syncopated Ladies and other world-renowned guest artists. Besides teaching at Chapman, she is currently on the Musical Theatre and Dance faculties at Cal State University Fullerton. Brandee has taught at several major tap festivals, including the LA Tap Fest, Riff Dallas and most recently at the Tap Master Festival in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Working since 1992 in OC public arts education, she was a founder of the Huntington Beach Union High School District’s performing arts magnet school, began a high school theatre and dance program in Santa Ana USD and wrote and implemented a dance curriculum for Tustin USD. Golden West College awarded her a Pillar of Achievement for her work in arts education in Huntington Beach, and she was recognized as a Teacher of the Year for this work.

A highlight of Brandee’s academic career was being named Dance Magazine’s 2015 Dance Teacher of the Year for Higher Education for her work at Chapman University.