Nancy Suwalski began dancing at four at the Lattof YMCA in Des Plaines. She attended Maine West High School, where she was a proud member of Orchesis (now West Side Dance Company) during her 4 years. Nancy attended Northeastern Illinois University, where she studied Recreation and Leisure Studies with a minor in Health Education. While attending college, Nancy began her journey as a dance teacher, specializing in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, and Lyrical. She has taught for over 12 years at various park districts: Arlington Heights, Park Ridge, and Des Plaines. In 2001, Nancy transitioned into her full time role as the Cultural Arts Manager at the Des Plaines Park District, overseeing such programs as, Dance, Poms, Acrobatics, Aerial Silks, Music Academy, Dance & Arts Camp, Dance Idol Dance Competition & Convention, as well as managing the Leisure Center and assisting with many Park District special events. She is the Head Coach for the Maine West Warriorettes Dance Team in her spare time. Nancy resides in Des Plaines with her husband and two dogs. She is the proud mother of 2 daughters, who both grew up attending dance classes at the Des Plaines Dance Academy. Dance has always been a part of her life and she is thrilled to share her passion with the DPDA students and community.
Natalie Sanchez began dancing with the Des Plaines School of Dance (now DPDA) at 4. Joining Artistry in Motion (AiM) in 2011, she trained in ballet, pointe, modern, contemporary, jazz, tap, musical theater, and hip-hop until graduating in 2017. She continued her studies at Northern Illinois University (NIU), concentrating on her dance foundations while including Horton, Graham, Ballroom, Flamenco, Pilates, and Kinesiology in her education. She has performed at several Chicagoland venues, including Harold Washington Library, Athenaeum Theater, Paramount Theater, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Prairie Center for the Arts, and Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Along with dance, she was Northern Dance Theater’s School of Dance Student President for 3 years, choreographed four works involving different facets of a stage production (Lighting, Costume, and Music), and produced two dance films (Director and Editor). She graduated in 2021 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and is very excited to continue teaching here at her home studio, the Des Plaines Dance Academy!
Callie Weinert started dancing at three at Galinas Dance Studio, which later resulted in competitive dance through the Des Plaines School of dance (now Des Plaines Dance Academy) program; Artistry in Motion. She joined The Dance Colony in 2020 for their homeschool program, where she could further her dance training for her last year of middle school. Callie now attends Maine West High School, a current senior, where she was a member of Varsity Cheerleading and is now captain of the Warriorettes Dance Team. Throughout high school, she worked for Dance Idol and volunteered as a Streetz Company Assistant.
Dani Bliss Rink grew up in a Chicago suburb. She began dancing at a young age, training in various styles and competing until she graduated high school. In her senior year, she started her professional career as an intern with Trifecta Dance Collective, where she trained and performed with various professional companies in Chicago. Following this, she attended Illinois State University, where she could perform works from artists including Mark Caserta, YNOT, Kaley Pruitt, and Laina Carney. During her time at ISU, her choreographic work was selected as the only student work representing ISU at the American Collegiate Dance Association conference in 2022 and 2023. After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Dance Performance, she went off to further her training and launch her career at Waterstreet Dance Milwaukee, where she performed locally and nationally with the company. Following her time with Waterstreet, she has been freelancing in Chicago and pursuing further expansion as an artist through attending various workshops, including Gaga Lab, SANCTA, and more. She is also pursuing a career as a personal trainer! Dani has taught dance and choreographing for studios across the Midwest for 8 years. She is excited to join the DPDA faculty, sharing her love and passion for dance while cultivating strong, confident artists!
Ella Dorman is from Traverse City, MI, and has been dancing since the age of three. She graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy and spent summers training at ABT NYC, Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and Oklahoma City Ballet. At 18 years old, Ella joined A&A Ballet in Chicago for their inaugural season, where she danced to works by Alexei Kremev, Justin Allen, and Ronn Stewart, including Cinderella in Kremnev’s adaptation of Cinderella. She then joined Oklahoma City Ballet’s Second Company before being promoted to the Main Company. Her repertoire with the company includes Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, The Little Mermaid, Romeo and Juliet, Septime Webre’s Alice in Wonderland, La Sylphide, Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, Helen Pickett’s Petal, and Michael Pink’s Dracula. Since leaving OKCB, she is now a freelance dancer in Chicago. She has toured with the Traverse City Dance Project and has performed with The Rooted Space Dance Company for the past two seasons. Ella has taught dance for nine years and choreographed for studios throughout Michigan and Chicago. She is passionate about teaching the art form of dance in supportive and empowering ways and is a strong advocate for dancer’s needs as people and as artists.
Gracie John is from Des Plaines, Illinois, and has been passionate about dance since age two. She trained at Studio 22 High Tek, where she competed with both Company 22 and the High Tek Teams. During her time with Company 22, the team consistently excelled in competitions, securing top 10 placements and receiving judges’ recognition awards. Notably, Gracie achieved a top 5 placement at In10sity Nationals over the summer, allowing her to re-compete her solo. Gracie was also a member of the first-ever Senior All-Star team at Studio 22. This team achieved remarkable success, consistently placing in the top 3 at every competition and advancing to the world stage, where they competed against studios from various countries. Impressively, they secured top 5 in the world for jazz and top 10 in the world for pom. A recent Maine West High School graduate, Class of 2024, Gracie is now attending Oakton Community College, majoring in Sports Medicine with a minor in dance. She continues to pursue her dance training to join a Big Ten college dance team within the next year. Alongside her passion for dance, Gracie has a background in gymnastics, where she developed her acrobatic skills over five years and achieved a top 3 placement in the state at her national meet when she was nine years old. Gracie is eager to spread her positivity and motivation and looks forward to seeing where the season takes everyone!
Greta Sorensen was born and raised in Des Plaines, IL. She started dancing at a young age at the Des Plaines Dance Academy, where she studied many dance styles. There, she was a member of Artistry in Motion and Rhythm in Motion until she graduated high school. While Greta loved all styles of dance, she quickly realized tap was her favorite and the style she would pursue professionally. She went on to study dance at Hope College in Holland, MI, where she had the opportunity to study under Heather Cornell, Matthew Farmer, Crystal Frazier, and Sharon Wong, among others. After graduation, she moved to Barcelona for seven months to study tap dance at Escola Luthier, founded and directed by internationally renowned tap dancer Guillem Alonso. Currently, she performs as a company member at Chicago Tap Theatre under the direction of Mark Yonally. Greta is excited to be back at her home studio, sharing her love of dance with students and strengthening the tap dance community!
Heather Peterson is a Chicago native who has decades of dance training and experience from childhood to college, and continues to expand her dance education. Her professional training began in ballet, jazz, Horton, and Graham styles at the Joel Hall Dance Center and Gus Giordano Dance School. In college, she trained under the direction of Ruth Page’s Venetia Stifler as a dance scholarship student at NEIU. At that time, she founded Reveries In Motion Inc., a nonprofit modern dance company that continues to perform throughout the Midwest. Heather has over 15 years of dance teaching experience for all ages and has directed and choreographed for award-winning competitive dance teams. Her favorite styles include modern, ballet, and musical theatre. She also holds an Acrobatic Arts Certification.
Holly Lehnertz grew up in a suburb of Chicago. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance from the University of North Carolina, School of the Arts. While in college, she studied numerous techniques, including CounterTechnique, Graham, Cunningham, Limon, and Release. She performed works by José Limón, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, and Kira Blazek-Ziaii. After 3 years at UNCSA, Holly moved to Israel to dance with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company – MASA from 2019-2020. Holly has participated in many summer studies, including Cambrians Dance Chicago, Peter Chu’s Intensive, Entity Dance Company, Countertechnique, Thodos Dance Chicago, Point Park Intensive, and Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive. Holly danced professionally for Hedwig Dances in Chicago for their 2021-2022 season. She recently performed with the Kate Jablonksi Statement in Croatia for the 2022 Sibenik Dance Festival. She danced professionally with Dance Magazines ‘Top 25 to Watch’ Water Street Dance Milwaukee from 2021- 2023. With Water Street, she performed in many cities, including New York City, Detroit, Chicago,’ Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, and Toledo. Holly is so excited to continue sharing her love of dance and inspire the Des Plaines Dance Academy students.
Lauren Smith is a creative based in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Western Michigan University in May 2021 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance. Here, she had the opportunity to perform works by Brendan Dougan, Aszure Barton, Kate Skarpetowska, Melanie George, Seyong Kim, and Mike Esperanza and was a member of the student touring company Western Dance Project under the direction of Whitney Moncrief. Since moving to Chicago, Lauren has worked with Alluvion Dance Chicago, and also was fortunate to perform in an episode of Robyn Mineko-Williams’ Undercover Episodes. She is currently dancing with The Rooted Space Company and working on freelance projects with other local artists.
Mathew Skorupski is a Polish American dancer who grew up in Des Plaines. Mat is a Northern Illinois University graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Dance Performance. After graduating from Northern in December of 2021, Mat was hired by Rockford University as a tap instructor. Mat has trained in dance since he was six years old, dancing at the Des Plaines School of Dance, and has over 10 years of performance experience. Mathew has danced with many companies, including our very own Artistry in Motion, Supreme Dance, Insaside Dance Chicago, and Ardent Dance. Mat’s other passions are traveling, overlanding, cycling, and hiking. Mathew aims to express himself through the artistry found within dance and inspire others through this exact expression. Mat is currently a second-year member of Madison Contemporary Dance in Wisconsin.
Melissa Samp began dancing at age seven at the Denise Sabala Dance Studio in Arlington Heights. She was one of the founding students of Picture Us Different Dance Studio in Park Ridge. She danced for PUD through middle school and high school. With PUD, she competed across Illinois with her dance company in ballet, tap, and jazz. Melissa attended Maine West High School. She was a four-year member of Orchesis (now West Side Dance Company). During this time, she choreographed pieces for the company, which performed at the annual show and the Illinois State High School Association Dance Competition. One of her pieces, “Satellite,” was selected to compete in 1996. Melissa was a member of Maine West Poms (now Warriorettes) and was the captain her senior year. She choreographed new routines every week for basketball and football games. Melissa went to Butler University and took dance classes throughout her 4 years. She is one of the founding coaches of DP Poms in 2019. Melissa is a prosecutor and resides in Des Plaines with her family.
Michi Lettow began dancing at 8 with Urban Dance Beat, focusing on hip-hop. The following year, she joined Kaleidoscope Dance Company’s competitive hip-hop group, “The Krew,” where she competed at various events and trained at the Monsters Hip-Hop convention. After five years with Kaleidoscope, she joined Artistry in Motion Dance Company, specifically training under Terry Turner in their competitive group, Groove, and their performance group. While dancing with Artistry in Motion, she attended conventions such as Monsters, Kaos, and Kinfigure. In 2024, she graduated from Evanston Township High School with an Artistry in Motion Dance Company, and I now train, perform, and compete with The Puzzle Box Dance Company.
Rachel Lauren has been in the aerial arts industry for nine years, constantly improving and learning through online programs, teacher training, and independent study. She trained and performed at multiple studios in the Chicago and Raleigh, North Carolina areas. Throughout training and instructing, Rachel has developed a strong understanding of performance art, intelligent movement, choreography, and injury prevention. She finds so much joy in seeing her students’ progress, giving back to the community and improving the physical and emotional lives of others through the art form. Rachel constantly challenges herself to create a safe, positive, and welcoming environment to grow self-esteem and develop grit, confidence, and a strong mindset that her students can implement in class and in their own lives outside of aerial.
Sarah Glover grew up training in the Chicagoland area. She graduated from East Carolina University with a BFA in Dance Performance, where she had the privilege of studying with, and performing works by guest artists such as the David Dorfman Dance Company and River North Dance Chicago. Sarah is a former company member of Peckish Rhodes Performing Arts Society and a current company member of Forward the Movement. As a freelance dancer, she has performed in various shows in the Chicagoland area, such as Dance For Life, Within (Visceral Dance Chicago), and THAW. She toured nationally with her company in 2019. She has the incredible opportunity to travel internationally with Freckled Sky to Saudi Arabia to perform in the Saudi Arabian Film Festival in 2023 and Montreal, Canada, in 2024. In addition to dancing, Sarah is a signed model and has worked for companies such as MAC Cosmetics, Groupon, and TJ Maxx. When she is not performing, she loves teaching and inspiring the younger generation of dancers.
Terry Turner started dancing at five when his mom introduced him to Michael Jackson and his music. He has been an active athlete and enjoys playing football and basketball. When he tore his ACL in college during football practice, after returning home and getting surgery, he decided to pursue dance and started training as a serious dancer. In 2010, he began with a UIC Collegiate hip hop team, FiaModern and Primo Dance Troupe. After training in the collegiate group for some time, he decided it was time for a more significant challenge and auditioned for the professional companies in the Chicago community, starting with Puzzle League in 2012. He auditioned for CODA (Chicago Onyx Dance Alliance) when he didn’t make it to the company. He made it and continued to train in many styles. In 2013, he auditioned again for Puzzle League. He made the company Through hard work, training, and perseverance. During that time, he became an Artistic Board member for CODA. Currently, and continues to explore more styles of dance. His mission as a hip-hop teacher is for his students to become educated, confident, and well-trained dancers.
