Lesli Hook Gillies

Lesli started dancing at the age of three in her babysitter’s living room in San Jose, California.  Her babysitter was starting a dance studio and by the time Lesli was seven, she was not only a student, but a company member as well.  She performed and competed all over California until she was thirteen.  In 1982, her family moved to Seattle, Washington.  Throughout high school, Lesli was on her school’s gymnastics team and continued to dance at a local studio.  In 1990, she was third-runner-up at the Miss Auburn Pageant, as part of the Miss America Program.

In 1991, Lesli moved to Los Angeles to pursue a professional dance career.  There, she was accepted into the Joe Tremaine Scholarship Program.  She studied with Joe, Jackie Sleight, Doug Caldwell, Michael Rooney, Liz Imperio, Sallie Whalen, Jonette Swider, Tony Coppola, and Jim Taylor.

After her scholarship, Lesli had the opportunity to work all over the world with all kinds of wonderful people.  She assisted Tony Coppola on the Tremaine Convention circuit and travelled the states with him, teaching master classes.  She danced in the feature film “I’ll Do Anything” (James L. Brooks, Director), did a national commercial for True Value Hardware, and worked on cruise ships that travelled everywhere from the Caribbean to Singapore, Malaysia, China and Hong Kong.  Additionally, she has done many industrials and fashion shows.

One of the highlights of her dance career was the World Gold Gymnastics Tour (1996) working with world class gymnasts such as Nadia Comaneci, Bart Connor, the entire Romanian women’s team, Kerri Strug, Svetlana Boginskaya and more.  They performed in France, Romania, Mexico and the U.S.

After taking some time off to start a family, she has decided to become a part of the Top Hat staff.  Lesli now lives in Irving with her husband and two children.