Nova Dance Company Directors
Khalil Sanders
Director of NOVA & Color Guard
Khalil Sanders has been involved in many performing arts throughout his life including music, theatre, and color guard. Starting his color guard career in 2014, he performed with the Conroe Tiger Band and Conroe High School Theatre all throughout high school. He decided to keep his passion for color guard alive by marching with Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps in 2017. Afterwards he continued his drum corps career with Phantom Regiment 2018 and received the Drum Corps International World Championships silver medal with the Bluecoats in 2019. Khalil aged out with the Bluecoats in 2021 and wants to keep his career as a performer going strong.
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Khalil also marched with Cypress Independent Winter Guard in 2018 winning a gold medal at TCGC Championships and becoming a world class finalist at WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio. He fell in love with Cypress Independent and the friendships he created and continued to grow, learn, and excel as a performer with the group in 2019.
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He started his color guard teaching career at Putnam City West High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. There he learned what it means to push himself and students to be the best they can be, winning the Outstanding Color Guard award in Ada, Oklahoma. He continued teaching the collaborative Putnam City North West Original Winter Guard, being named Independent Regional A Champions at the 2023 WGI Dallas Regional and getting the Regional A bronze medal at WGPO State Championships that same year.
Recently moved from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Khalil is very thankful to be given the opportunity and extremely excited to be working with the Cypress Woods High School Band & Nova Dance Company. He hopes to always learn, grow, and provide the best learning environment he can!
Lauren has lived in the Houston area her whole life and has danced since she was 3 years old. She attended Elkins High School in Fort Bend ISD and was a member and dance officer of the national champion Elite dance team. She was elected by her classmates as the "Knight in Shining Armor" for her class and the Most Outstanding Senior of the Elite dance team. After high school she went on the Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. While at Texas State she was a 4 year member of the Texas State University Strutters dance team and a 2 year line officer. While on Strutters she had the opportunity to perform and travel to Greece, Italy, and Turkey. She performed in halftime performances for both the New Orleans Saints and San Antonio Spurs. At Texas State she was very active in both the education department and dance department. Lauren was also a member of the sorority Alpha Xi Delta and the Sigma Chi fraternity Sweetheart. Lauren was also a member of the honor society Rho Lambda and also a tutor for local elementary school students thru the Bobcat Buddy program. Lauren graduated from Texas State with a major in Education and a minor in dance. Upon graduation she was offered a job as a dance teacher and assistant dance team director of the Hightower High School Hi-Lites in Fort Bend ISD. While at Hightower she taught all levels of dance classes and helped found the Junior Varsity and Freshman dance teams. Lauren currently holds Texas teacher certifications in dance, elementary education and physical education.
Lauren is current member of the Texas Dance Educator's Association. She frequently choreographs and judges tryouts for many studios, soloists and drill teams in the area. Lauren is married to her high school sweetheart, Adam and they have a Labrador retriever named Ranger.
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Brittany Reilly
Assistant Director of Dance
brittany.reilly@cfisd.net
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Brittany Reilly is the assistant director of the Cypress Woods Crimson Cadettes. Brittany has lived in the Houston area her whole life and began dancing when she was 3 years old. She attended Elkins High School in Fort Bend ISD where she was a three-year member of the Elkins Elite Dance Team. She held the leadership positions of junior lieutenant her junior year and head captain her senior year. During her senior year Brittany was selected to represent Elkins High School as an All-State Dancer at the Texas Dance Educators Association Convention. After high school Brittany continued her education at Texas State University where she majored in dance. While at Texas State Brittany was a three-year member of the Texas State University Strutters and a four-year member of the Texas State University Dance Department. As a member of the Texas State Strutters she performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. Brittany graduated from Texas State with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance Education. Brittany has been teaching for a total of 6 years and has taught both at the middle school and high school levels. Brittany has taught at Klein Forest High School, Conroe High School, and Pin Oak Middle School in Houston ISD. Brittany loves working alongside her older sister at Cy Woods, Lauren Reilly Gregory in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. It has been her lifelong dream to work alongside her older sister and co-direct the Cy Woods Crimson Cadettes. Brittany is a current member of Texas Dance Educators Association and frequently choreographs and guest judges for several teams in Houston area.
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