Dance Connection - About Us
Our Faculty |
Faculty
Melissa Schott was most recently seen on the stage of the Beacon Theatre in New York City as a member of the Original Company of Cirque du Soleil’s production of Banana Shpeel, choreographed by Jared Grimes. Before taking on her latest challenge, she was seen performing in the National Production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, under the direction of Tony Award Winning Director, Walter Bobbie, and Tony Award Winning Choreographer, Randy Skinner. Locally, she has been seen performing with American Cabaret Theatre (ACT), Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre, Actors Theatre of Indiana, Indianapolis Civic Theatre, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and Footlite Musicals. Her performance as Peggy Sawyer in Footlite’s 42nd Street earned her an Encore Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She was selected to play Violet Beauregarde and Mrs. Gloop in Broadway Jr.’s recording of Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. Other productions through MTI’s Broadway Jr. and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Theatricals include The Pirates of Penzance (Ruth), Into The Woods (The Witch), Cinderella (Portia) and Once Upon A Mattress (Queen Aggravain). Melissa was also a featured soloist for Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede. Publishing company credits include Warner Publishing, CP Belwin and Hal Leonard Productions, and jingle credits include Indiana Lasik Center, Hershey’s Chocolate World, Meijer and Macy’s Department Stores. As a Director of Dance Connection in Indianapolis, she enjoys training the performers of tomorrow in the latest trends and performance styles, while always trusting fundamentals as her guide. Other choreography credits include work for Music K-8 Magazine, ACT, Indianapolis Civic Theatre, Wayne Township Community Theatre and Footlite Musicals. Melissa has studied with professionals such as Bril Barrett, Debbie Dee, Gus Giordano, Dena Rizzo, Juan Sanchez, New York City Ballet’s Daniel Ulbricht and Nick Drago (Bravo’s Step It Up And Dance). Melissa is a graduate of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Michelle Martin is recognized nationally as a performer and choreographer, with performances for stages in San Juan, Puerto Rico for Dolphin Cruise Lines; Big-10 Halftime Performance in Indianapolis; Disney Magic Music Days in Orlando, Florida; and Market Square Arena/Conseco Fieldhouse for Indiana Pacer Games, to name a few. She has choreographed and performed routines for the cheerleading squad at Franklin College; Indiana Chapter of the Special Olympics; Dance Interim in Alma, Michigan; and was co-director of choreography for the holiday production of All on a Christmas Day. Her voice has been heard for companies like Warner Publishing, Hal Leonard Productions, CP Belwin, Plank Road Publishing (Music K-8 Magazine), and Lorenz 2000. She has performed jingles for Buddy L, Cub Cadet, and Hershey’s Chocolate World. Michelle acted as choreographer for The Wizard Of Oz at Indianapolis Civic Theatre; Once On This Island, Footloose, Will Rogers Follies: A Life In Revue at Footlite Musicals; The Wiz, Elton & Stevie: A Black & White Affair and Disney’s High School Musical at American Cabaret Theatre (ACT). She also was seen on stage in Children Of Eden at Footlite Musicals and Victor/Victoria at ACT. Michelle has studied with dance professionals nationwide, including names such as Nick Drago, Thommie Rhetter and Mark Santoro. She is a graduate of Western International University in Phoenix, Arizona.
Jennifer Dixon joined Dance Connection in the fall of 2006. She studied dance at Jordan Dance Academy for eleven years with training in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Modern and Hip Hop. Jennie enjoys training with professionals nationwide through workshop opportunities with companies like Dance Educators of America and Showstoppers American Dance Championships. She attended Marian College in Indianapolis and graduated with a major in Elementary Education and a minor in Psychology. While in high school, she performed with the Roncalli High School Show Choir and has assisted with show choir choreography in addition to acting as a rehearsal coach. Jennie’s stage performances include No, No Nanette, Fiddler On The Roof, My Fair Lady and 42nd Street. She also choreographed Pippin and Jesus Christ Superstar for Wayne Township Community Theatre.
Melanie Heazeltine has been teaching with Dance Connection since 2008! She is a graduate of Point Park University in Pittsburgh majoring in Dance Performance with a minor in Business Management and has been a company member with the Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre in Indianapolis since 2009. During her college career, Melanie performed in More Momentum, Adjunct Connection, and “SCP” with Point Park University. In the fall of 2007, Melanie became an apprentice with the Pillow Project dance company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and performed in Volume III: A Certain Point Of View. As a summer intern/apprentice with the Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre, she performed such works as Hooray for Bollywood, Superhero, Between Heaven And Earth, and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. She attended Jordan College Academy of Dance for thirteen years, training in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Modern, Tap and Hip Hop dance, and was a member of the Jordan Dance Ensemble.
Sarah Burney is excited to be a part Dance Connection! Since the age of 12, she spent summers on scholarship in LA with professionals, such as Mia Michaels, John Crutchman, Wade Robson and others. She is a four-time winner of West Coast Dance Explosions Edge Performing Arts Scholarship, and two-time recipient of Star Light Productions and LA Underground’s Performer of the Year , as well as the LA Agent Award. While studying in Chicago for a degree in Interior Design/Architecture, she continued training at Lou Conte Dance Center. She has been privileged to work with educators and choreographers, such as Sonya Tayeh, Brooke Pierotti and Chris Jacobsen. Since beginning as a teacher/choreographer in 2004, she has been a faculty member of Street of Dreams Dance Convention and judged several competition circuits. Miss Burney was featured as the Co-Director for the national award winning Xtreme Dance Force Jazz Division in the June 2009 issue of Dance Teacher Magazine. She hopes to educate young dancers about the passion for the art as a whole: what truly inspires them to move and embrace the process in which dance is created.
Amanda Moos is thrilled to join the staff at Dance Connection! Amanda just recently graduated from Butler University with a degree in Dance Arts Administration. She is also a certified ZUMBA Instructor. At Butler, Amanda’s intensive dance studies included classical Ballet, Jazz, Slavic and Latin Character Dance, Improvisation and the Taylor Style of Modern Dance. As a part of Butler Ballet, she performed corps and soloist roles in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Coppelia, Cinderella, and Giselle. Previous to her Butler career, Amanda had training from Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Giacobbe Academy, and Schramel Conservatory. She also attended summer programs with Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, and Atlanta Ballet. Growing up in Mandeville, Louisiana, Amanda was a member of Mandeville High Spinnakers dance team, winning several awards at UDA nationals and first place in state competitions.
Trish Martin joined the staff in 2009 with 30 years of teaching experience and a B.A in Dance from Butler University. At Butler she studied in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Character Dance, Spanish Dance, and Theatre Dance and was selected as an apprentice for Dance Kaleidoscope. Upon graduation, she moved to Boston, on scholarship, to the School of the Boston Ballet, joining the Clint Hamblin Dancers: The Boyfriend, Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation and more at The Academy Playhouse. Moving to NYC led to a scholarship with the Melissa Hayden School of Dance, where she assisted classes before joining Ronn Forella Dancers for performances in NYC, Montreal and Dallas. She also appeared in Def Leppard’s music video Hysteria. Trish has trained with George Verdak, William Glen, Luigi, Ann Reinking and more. Through her organization, Memories in Movement, she teaches movement classes to Alzheimer patients. She was recently awarded a 2012 Individual Artist Grant in Dance from the Indiana Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts to further training with Dance for Parkinson’s.
Nancy Emery joins Dance Connection with over 20 years experience in teaching. As a young dancer, she performed for many Jerry Lewis Telethons and was part of the special talent in Multiple Jr. Miss Contests. She was accepted into Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan for high school majoring in dance and soon after, she joined the Dayton Ballet Company II and Contemporary Ballet of Dayton. Upon moving to Indiana 1987, she opened her own dance studio in Richmond, where she taught Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Creative and Acrobatics. Nancy was accepted into Marymount Manhattan College in New York to continue to study dance and focus on choreography and modern blues. While at Marymount, she had the opportunity to perform in both Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, such as Sweet Charity, African Review, If It’s Not Broke Don’t Fix It and many more. She also advanced her dance technique into Hip Hop, Latin, African, Fitness, Pointe, Broadway and Partnering.
Amber Bow is excited to begin teaching at Dance Connection this year! She has been an Assistant to the current teaching staff, as well as a member of the Dance Connection Performing Arts Company since 2004. Amber has experience in Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Tap and Musical Theatre, in which she holds many Regional and National Competition Titles, and Top Awards with organizations such as Dance Educators of America, Dance Makers, Showstoppers American Dance Championships, Tremaine and Dupree Hollywood. Theatrical experience includes Footlite Musical’s production of Sweet Charity and American Cabaret Theatre’s Big Band Holidaze as part of the opening act. Amber was also seen at IMAX’s Happy Feet premiere performance. Miss Bow enjoys finding new ways to share her love of dance with others and looks forward to working with the dancers of tomorrow.
Magdalena Olesiak is very happy to join the staff at Dance Connection! While striving toward a journalism degree, she was fortunate to study in various international student exchange programs, where she started to learn the major Latin and international dance styles. Her fascination for dance brought her to the decision to commit her career to ZUMBA instruction. Maggie is certified in many forms of ZUMBA: Basic, Advanced, Toning, Aqua and ZumbaTomic (ZUMBA for children) and enjoys leading events for the Indiana State Fair, Indianapolis International Festival, Indianapolis Children's Museum and others. Her choreography blends various dance styles together, including Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia, Reggaeton, Hip Hop, Techno, Bhangra, Swing, Rock & Roll, Cha Cha, African, Latin Pop, Belly Dance, Arabic, Quebradita, Flamenco, Soca, Calypso and more. She is thankful for the life path that has also allowed her to become a Yoga Instructor, claiming that "flowing through various Yoga poses feels like dancing." Maggie is honored to be both a ZUMBA and Yoga Instructor; the profound teachings help her to grow personally in all areas of her life.
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Jennifer Dixon
