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Kathleen Francis Kathleen Whitman Francis grew up in Alma and began dancing at age 10, studying ballet, tap and jazz. Four years later she was teaching and beginning to choreograph. She continued her Cecchetti ballet and pointe training with Doris Marsh in Saginaw during high school and college. Moving to Chicago in 1976, she trained professionally for 4 years, taking daily classes in ballet, jazz and tap. She studied extensively at the Lou Conte Dance Studio, and was privileged and fortunate to study daily with Lou Conte, as well as Claire Bataille. Kathleen danced as an apprentice member of the newly formed Hubbard Street Dance Company. She also studied at the Ruth Page Foundation (ballet) and Gus Giordano Dance Center (ballet, pointe, jazz, modern). Kathleen later studied in Red Bank, NJ, with Bob and Rosemary Boross in the Matt Mattox jazz technique.
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Kristen
Bennett Kristen Bennett graduated from Grand Valley State University with a B.A. in English Language and Literature with a minor in dance. During her years at Grand Valley she choreographed and danced with Grand Valley's Dance Troupe. In 2006, two of her pieces were featured in Ann Arbor Civic Ballet's Emerging Choreographers Showcase. She taught at Superior Dance Academy in Marquette, and has returned to her hometown of Mt. Pleasant and is excited to be teaching again. She was a student at the Academy of Performing Arts all through high school, and is happy to find herself part of such a dance family. She teaches at Alma College as well as Vision in Mt. Pleasant. She is also certified in Zumba. She looks forward to another year sharing her love of dance with the students. |
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Telli
Luneack Telli is a full time school Social Worker for the Gratiot County school district (RESD). She grew up in Breckenridge and has danced most of her life! She began with the Linda Lee Dance Studio in Alma, and while attending Oakland University in Pontiac she danced with Oakland Dance Theater. She received her Masters in Social Work at MSU, and while there performed with the Lansing Lyric Opera. Telli has been a Jazzercize instructor since 1990, studied and taught at APA since 1999, and is a very involved actress, singer, dancer, choreographer with the Gratiot County Players community theater in Alma.
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Judi
Swartz Judi Swartz holds BS and MA degrees in education. She has been a dance instructor for tap and ballroom at Vision Studio of Performing Arts in Mt. Pleasant since 1997 and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Alma since 2002. She has been the choreographer for six shows with Gratiot County Players. She enjoys attending dance workshops and classes to learn new combinations and technique. Judi retired in 2007 from Mt Pleasant Public Schools after 34 years in education. She is currently a graduate student in Health Fitness at CMU. Judi has been an aerobics instructor at Wellness Central Fitness since 2002, and also an aerobics instructor at Nimkee Fitness Center, and a group exercise instructor at Morey Courts. She is certified in a variety of fitness forms: Personal Trainer through Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA); Primary Group Exercise and Kickboxing from AFAA; Examiner for AFAA, adjudicating practical exams for new aerobics instructors; Turbo Kick and PiYo from Powder Blue Productions; Muscular Strength and Range of Motion, and Cardio Circuit and Yoga Stretch for the Silver Sneakers Program; Zumba and Zumba Toning. Judi is also a national presenter for Zoo-phonics Inc., doing trainings for teachers of pre-school and early elementary students. As you can see, she is a ‘life long learner‘as well! |
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| Simone Boos Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical A native of Indianapolis, Simone is a senior at Alma College where she is pursuing dual degrees in Dance and English. As a member of the Alma College Dance Company, she has been featured in such pieces as Vespri Siciliana, Waiting for the Sun, Les Sylphides, and Paquita. Prior to attending Alma College, Simone trained with Evansville Dance Theater, Ballet Internationale, Nutmeg Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Virginia School of the Arts, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, Jordan College Academy of Dance, and Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre. She was a participant in the Youth America Grand Prix Nationals and Gala performance in 2005, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland in 2006, and the American Telegu Association National Convention in 2008. Simone has appeared in such professional productions as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Superhero, The Scarlet Letter, Romeo and Juliet at the Disco, and American Classics and has had the opportunity to work with several professional companies including Ballet Internationale, Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre, and Surfscape Contemporary Dance Theatre. She recently completed an internship in arts management at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Simone is thrilled to be teaching at the Academy of Performing Arts this year. |
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Chelsea Radgens Chelsea is a current sophomore at Alma College and will be majoring in Dance and Communication. She has danced extensively in Vaganova-style ballet under the direction of Sergey Rayevskiy at the Academy of Russian Classical Ballet. Other notable instructors include Anton Korsakov of the Kirov ballet, Russian Prima Ballerina Olga Pavlova, and Maria Calegari of the New York City Ballet. She has also been a cast member in musicals such as Fame, Bye Bye Birdie, Brigadoon, and Beauty and the Beast and served as a choreographer for Fame. She prefers vibrant and eclectic dance, and hopes to bring a sense of excitement and dedication to her students! |
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Michael C. Sheldon Michael C. Sheldon has been involved in theater since the age of 13, starting out at the Avondale Players in his hometown of Auburn Hills, MI. He received his BS in Technical Theater from Northern Michigan University and then on to get his MFA in Stage Management/ Shakespearean Production from the University of Alabama. He has worked in theater his entire life with such companies as Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Seaside Music Theater, and Ensemble Theater
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Kathy Loviska Michigan native Kathy Loviska moved to Florida in 1988, and shortly after settling in she took a beginner clogging class and fell in love with the dance. She danced with the Indian River Cloggers of Cocoa Beach 1988-1990 and after a move across the state to Ft. Myers, she joined the Sidekick Cloggers in LaBelle, 1990-1992. While a member of the Sidekick Cloggers, Kathy was asked to teach a group of young students to clog and that was the start of her career as a clog-dance instructor! While teaching the kids, Kathy continued to dance with Sidekick Cloggers and performed at Disney World, Dollywood, and many local festivals and events throughout the Southwest Florida area. The Sidekick Cloggers were also an opening act for Ricky Skaggs at a concert which took place in Labelle, Florida in the early 1990’s. In 1992 Kathy moved to the Palm Beach County area and became associated with the Lighthouse Cloggers, soon becoming the director of the group as well as instructing clogging classes which were open to the public. The Lighthouse Cloggers performed at many different festivals, fairs, and events from Fort Lauderdale to Daytona Beach, along Florida’s Atlantic coast, Orlando and many inland cities as well. IIn 2002, Kathy returned to her home town of Saginaw, MI. Upon returning to Saginaw, Kathy searched for a clogging club and was unable to find one and called APA looking for other cloggers! Kathy’s other hobbies include an avid love of golf, playing Scrabble, and most card games. She has one child, a daughter who shares her love of dance and three beautiful granddaughters. |
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Michelle Mahan Martinez Michelle grew up studying with Edwina Wright in Saginaw, a former Rockette. She moved to Florida in 1992, and began dancing with the Lighthouse Cloggers where her mother, Kathy Loviska, was an instructor. She began teaching shortly thereafter and helped her mother to direct the group. She then founded her own children’s team, the K.A.T.S Kloggers (Kiddin' Around & Teen Spirit) for dancers ages 3-19 and the performance competition team traveled the entire state of Florida winning numerous awards, and was often featured on tv and in newspapers. They hosted a convention every year that brought in hundreds of dancers from around the state. Michelle became a state certified instructor and taught at conventions, again all over the state of Florida. She taught for years for Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation, and was bonded to teach in the Palm Beach County School system. She opened 'Miss Michelle's School of Dance' in Jupiter, Florida, that offered a full range of dance and drama classes for both children and adults, with summer camps running all summer long. Michelle sadly closed her studio upon moving back to Michigan in 2002. Several of her dancers have since become instructors themselves and have their own groups, and one has also moved on to teach at college, form her own team, and become a national judge for clogging competitions. Back in Michigan, Michelle began teaching for the Saginaw Township Community Education, Saginaw Township Public School, and Saginaw Area Catholic Schools. In 2010, she started her journey with Kathy Francis, helping to teach her mother’s clogging class and choreographing the ‘Footloose’ routine; Michelle also taught two classes during APA Summer Dance Fest, and we are glad to have her join our faculty! |
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Sue Stack Sue graduated from CMU with a double major in Physical Education and Community Parks and Recreation Administration. She has put her experience and gifts to work in many ways: developing day camp activities for young children at His Place Family Enrichment Center; as physical education teacher to pre-K through 8th grade Native American students in TesBonito, NM; planning and leading recreational activities for juvenile delinquent/emotionally impaired boys living in the residential setting of Eagle Village, Hersey, MI; one-to-one aide in a communication disorders classroom; taught physical education, health and living skills at Mountain Mission School in VA. Sue has 5 children of her own with husband, Matt, and still finds time to volunteer with many community organizations, her church and back stage at APA recital! Sue is excited to return to her phys ed roots and use her skills to teach Kindergym to young students at APA. |
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Nic Gareiss Nic Gareiss' dancing incorporates footwork vocabulary from many step dance styles to rhythmically accompany traditional music. Nic has studied a broad variety of percussive movement forms, focusing primarily on the dance traditions associated with North American fiddle tunes. In his teens, Gareiss received dual scholarships from the Wheatland Music Organization and the Augusta Heritage Center to apprentice with the internationally recognized company, Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble. Through high school, Gareiss performed with Footworks, including an ensemble role in "The Crossing," their production with Grammy-winning songwriter Tim O'Brien. During that period, at the tender age of sixteen, he took second place at the 2003 Clifftop Flat-footing contest in the 15-49 age group. From his wide berth of traditional dance experience, Nic has gleaned figurations, motives and shoe sounds from percussive dance traditions worldwide. This becomes most evident when he is performing with a live musician, engaging in a musical dialogue between feet and instrument. Using imitation, ornaments and contrasting rhythmic patterns, Gareiss really is creating music on the floor. With the David Munnelly Band, Nic integrates Irish dance traditions with American tap dance, exploring the reaction of Irish immigrants to the infectious spirit of jazz they encountered in the 1920s as they settled in the United States. Nic has danced at the Milwaukee Irish Festival, Virginia's Wolf Trap Farm Park, the Ann Arbor Ark, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and most recently at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, Scotland. He has performed as a featured soloist with Solas, Dervish, Le Vent Du Nord and the Chieftains and has also taught at Alasdair Fraser's Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle Camp in northern California. In 2007, Nic spent a year studying traditional Irish music and dance performance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick, Ireland. During that period he studied sean-nós and Cape Breton step dance with Mats Melin as well as Irish dancing and choreography with Orflaif Ni Bhriain, T.C.R.G, A.D.C.R.G. He also had the opportunity to take master classes and workshops from contemporary Irish dancer Colin Dunne, tap dancer Tarik Winston and sean-nós dancer Joe Néachtain. Central Michigan University; Bachelor of Sciences in Anthropology, Minor in Music; Recipient of CMU Undergraduate Research Presentation Grant to present on American clogging at North Atlantic Fiddle Convention in Aberdeen, Scotland, 2010; Collective for Music Research & Cultural Studies Executive Board Member 2009-10; CMU vocal music award 2005-06; CMU Student Research & Creative Endeavors Exhibition, 2010; Recipient of 4 Elyce Fishman Scholarships from Wheatland Music Organization 2001, ‘04, ‘05, ‘07; Performance engagements in France, Belgium, Ireland, Australia, 2005-10; Employee of CMU Public Broadcasting, 4 yrs. He is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Ethnochoreology, the study of dance in its cultural context, at University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland. |
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Michelle
Lucchesi Michelle has been involved at APA since 1997, teaching Creative Movement, Contemporary, Musical Theater, Multicultural Folk Dance and Modern Improvisation. Her training and experience is a wide variety of dance, music, voice, choreography, theater, writing, including Inside Out Music and Dance of Midland, Michigan from 1992 to 1997, New Kids on the Rock from 1987 to 2002, Northeast Michigan Art Council's summer performing art camp since 1996, Spirit Wings Liturgical Dance 1998-2000. She also has been involved in musical productions through the church and community theater, including, writing, directing, choreography and performing since 1981. Michelle holds a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology and is active as a Limited Licensed Psychologist in our community. Her belief in the idea of peace through balance in life can be seen at her website www.whollyhuman.com. |
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