Amy Shropshire (AS)
A graduate of Luther College, Amy Shropshire, aka Miss Amy, is an Orff-certified music educator with over twenty years of experience teaching children of all ages, from 2 to 82, to sing and play a variety of string and percussion instruments (piano, guitar, ukulele, banjo and percussion), individually and in classes of 2 to 42. Amy studied Piano Pedagogy at Concordia University and is currently a Master of Arts in Elementary Education candidate at National Louis University with Middle School endorsements and degree completion scheduled for May 2012. She has studied piano with Alice Curtis Hoadley Cummings and John Strauss, classical guitar with Jeff Kust, electric guitar with Curt Sperry, and voice with Helen Carroll and Dave Judisch. Amy has been a soloist with the Tower Chorale of Western Springs under the direction of James Winfield and is currently the accompanist for the Spirit Worship Band of the First Congregational Church of Western Springs.

Claire Kissinger (CK)
Has been dancing with her mom since the day she was born! Her classes andchoreography combine her athletic skills with dance – a powerful combination.


Drew Lewis (DL)
Has been studying dance and choreography at INTUIT Dance for three years. A gifted young choreographer, his choreography combines ballet, hip hop and contemporary.


Elisa Montalvo (EM)
Elisa is a native of Chicago, Elisa Montalvo training, teaching and performance include the full range of ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, modern, hip hop and contemporary styles of dance. She received her classical ballet training with Watmora Casey and Tatiana Mazur at Faubourg School of Dance. She has worked with nationally known choreographers including Lip Imperio, Chris Judd, Eddie Garcia, Randy Duncun, Nan Giordano, Jon Lehrer, Sakinah LeStage and Savion Glover. Elisa’s professional credentials include television, advertising, sporting events, film and music videos. Most recently she was an assistant choreographer and lead dancer for the Oprah 24th Season Kickoff Party performing alongside the Black Eyed Peas after teaching 21,000 people the choreography for the largest flash mob in history. This past May she performed for Aubrey O’Day, former member of the female music group Danity Kane. Elisa currently attends the University of Chicago and will receive a BA in both Mathematics and Economics June 2011.


Jessica Hallam (JH)
Jessica holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (1996). For the past several years she has been in Los Angeles teaching at various studios and working at Disneyworld, Cirque D’ Soliel, Cruiselines as well as in television, music videos and modeling. She is certified in Pilates and is a recent graduate of the Laban Movement Analysis certification program at Columbia College Chicago (2010).

Javier Marti Amat (JMA)

Kelley Watson (KW)
Kelley is trained in the classical Pilates Method. She is certified through the Pilates Method Alliance (PMA) in all levels of mat and equipment for all populations. Kelley has over five years and 5,000 hours of cumulative academic and teaching experience.



Mariannell Bassett-Dilley (MBD)
Mariannell started dancing and performing in community musicals in Alaska at the age of 8. Her performance studies include Oberlin Conservatory (vocal performance), the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, private voice lessons with Marni Nixon, and dance styles with the American Dance Machine at STEPS in NYC. AD/SM credits include Opera San Jose, Opera Idaho, Rogue Valley Opera Company, and other regionals.

Nikki Richardson (NR)
Nikki holds a BFA in Dance from Temple University. She has taught and danced professionally in Cleveland and Chicago. In her creative movement classes, your children will warm up, play games, and create dances. Nikki’s modern dance classes incorporate fundamentals of movement that engage and strengthen your core, as well as phrase work that fosters your creativity and enjoyment of movement.


Samantha Brenneman (SB)
Samantha is a teacher and performer of the American Tribal Style belly dance and is the founder of the troupe Smoke. She has studied with Carolena Nericcio and Rachel Brice, two of the great contemporary shapers of tribal style.

Yael Levitin (YL)
Yael trained in her native Israel, where she danced with the Haifa Ballet for three years. In 1991, she joined Bat-Dor Dance Company as a principal dancer. In 1992, Saban represented Israel at the Paris Opera Dance Soloist Competition, receiving a silver medal for her performance. In the U.S., she worked with Complexions, ConnecticutBallet, Ballet Hispanico of New York, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the Lyric Opera. Yael is currently a faculty member at Columbia College in Chicago and is an active teacher in companies and studios in the Chicago metropolitan area and Israel.