Stephanie Anderson
(Children, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Lyrical)

Stephanie recently graduated with her BFA in Dance, her BA in Communication Studies, and is working towards her MA in Communication Studies with an emphasis in Performance Studies at San Jose State University. She also currently teaches Public Speaking courses at SJSU, and is moving into her 6th year working as Songleading Head Instructor for the United Spirit Association. Over the past few years, she has performed in halftime events for the Golden State Warriors, and the San Francisco 49ers. Stephanie also was recently provided with the opportunity to perform in events featuring artists such as Mickey Thomas, and the band Train. She has danced in companies such as SJSU's University Dance Theater (UDT), Foothill College's Dance Co., and is currently the captain of the hip hop company known as Soul Conspiracy. She spent 3 years coaching and choreographing for a nationally ranked high school dance team, and is so happy to be moving into her 3rd year teaching all of the wonderful students at Dance Connection.

 

Bruce Biada
(Tap)

Bruce brings over 30 years of experience to Dance Connection. He studied with Mason and Stanley Kahn in San Francisco, as well as Lyle Miller and Pat Mason. As a member of the Youth of America Company he traveled all over the country and performed in benefit concerts with celebrities like Ray Boldger and Bob Hope. He taught in Europe and Athens Greece at various professional dance companies. He recently choreographed two pieces for the inaugural Bay Area performance of BAD Company.

Randy Bernal
(hip hop)

With over a decade of performing experience, Randy W1SHONE Bernal brings the knowledge he obtained over many years. Studying the foundations of B-boying, Popping, Locking, House and Freestyle Dance, Randy is also a professional DJ and Producer. His dance and music career took form in LA when he rocked shows with Superstars of Dance season 1 champions: Groovaloos and Americas Best Dance Crew season 1 champions: Jabbawockeez. W1SHONE's ultimate goal is to continue to inspire thru music and movement.

 

Faith Bonitz
(Ballet, Pilates)

Faith began her training in the RAD technique and moved to New York where she trained under a Balanchine protege from the New York City Ballet. She then performed professionally with the Illinois Ballet where she studied the Russian Vaganova technique. Upon returning to New York, she joined her former mentor as an instructor and taught pre ballet through advanced classes and pointe for the past 4 years. Faith is certified through Fitour to teach beginner through advanced Pilates mat classes. Faith is the proud mother of her darling daughter, Mina.

Beckey Brewer
(Account Manager)

"I have been married for 25 years to Tony Brewer and have two children, Gabe
- 23 and Sisley - 21. I am an elementary school secretary at Nixon
Elementary School during the day and do the billing for Dance Connection
after school and in the evenings. I love to walk my dog and garden on the
weekends. My daughter and younger son both danced with Dance Connection and
the Ginannis have been our best friends for over twenty years."

Tami Burton
(Performing Company Director; Children, Jazz, Tap)

Tami has a BA in Computer Science from SDSU where she was also a cheerleader and a gymnast. Tami performs extensively with the Foothill College Performance Company where she is the Assistant Dance Director. Under her direction as Performing Company Directory, she leads competitive and non-competitive teams to regional competitions and local events. Tami and her husband, Mark have three super children: Alyssa, Bryan, and Cory. Tami has been teaching at Dance Connection for the 13 years, and is a very popular teacher with all age groups. Her choreography has won many awards at competitions.

Carrie Edwards

Carrie began her training at Dance Connection in 1990 as a student, and has now assisted and taught classes here since 1998. While recieving her B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, she performed as a member of the Stanford Dollies, Urban Styles Jazz Dance Company, and the Ram's Head's production of "Cabaret". Carrie currently works as a Design Engineer in the Bay Area during the day, and is excited to be back at Dance Connection teaching evening classes.

Jamie Fraser
(Break Dance/Hip Hop)

Jamie is a Hip-Hop choreographer from the Bay Area. Teaching the art of Gee-ology from the Jedi Master Gary Kendell. Jamie has toured with " Monster Shop Bumpin" from 99-07 who expanded their audience as far as Shanghi, China. Jamie teaches the fundamentals of Hip-Hop such as, Poppin, Lockin, & Breakin' . Jamie's goal is to spread the art of Hip-Hop as a positive influence to the younger generation. Jamie along many others also, hold an annual show in honor of his long time friend & mentor Gary Kendell, called ONE 4 GEE!

Cindy Ginanni
(Director; Children, Adults)

Cindy has been teaching dance for over 31 years to all ages and abilities, and is now seeing the second generation of her dance students. She has a fondness for working with young dancers, and an educational background in Early Childhood Development. Cindy founded Dance Connection in 1987, and it has grown to become one of the most popular dance schools on the Peninsula. One of the rewards of teaching dance is the relationships that develop over the years with the DC dancers and families. Cindy credits the outstanding faculty here at Dance Connection for the quality training every dancer receives. She and her husband, Mark have three grown children, Joe, Christie, and John.

Mary Grimes

Mary is a Bay Area native, having grown up in the north bay. While attending Scripps College, she had many opportunities to dance with companies and choreographers in the Los Angeles area, including a scholarship which gave her the opportunity to study at ODC for a summer. After graduating with a BA in Dance, Mary returned to the Bay Area to choreograph and teach full time. Mary has had the opportunity to work with many brilliant choreographers, including Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, Molissa Fenley, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and Shinichi Iova-Koga. She has also had her work presented at festivals across the country. This past May, Mary graduated from Mills College with her Master's of Fine Arts. She hopes to continue teaching and dancing for many years to come.

Elizabeth Hutter
(Ballet)

Elizabeth Hutter’s involvement at Dance Connection began as the parent of her twin daughters Sarah and Grace, and now Sylvie, but we are now thrilled to have her join our faculty. Elizabeth trained with the Boston Ballet and later danced with Boston Ballet II. More recently, she is a competitive ballroom dancer and has her Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology. She is glad to be sharing her love of ballet with our children.

Lisa Hess

Lisa was born in Amarillo, Texas. She received her early training from her parents, Neil and Camille Hess. She was chosen by George Balanchine to join the New York City Ballet in 1975. As a soloist with the company, she danced principal roles in ballets by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Peter Martins. She was invited to dance as a guest artist throughout the United States, Asia, Australia, and several performances at Jacobs Pillow.In 1987 she followed her husband to Texas, where she joined the Fort Worth Ballet as a principal dancer under the direction of Nannette Klushak and Michele Rahn.

After leaving her career as a dancer in order to start a family, Miss Hess focused on her interest in choreography. She has created works for the Carlisle project, West Texas State University, the Chamberlain Ballet Company. She currently free-lances as a choreographer and teacher and is the mother of two boys- Christian (21) and Spencer (19).

James Kopecky

James grew up studying Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Musical Theater, Lyrical, Hip-hop, and ballroom in Libertyville, IL. He holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Butler University, where he performed both classical and modern pieces choreographed by Paul Taylor, Jules Perrot, Anthony Tudor, Marius Petipa, and George Balanchine. James performed professionally with the Cartier Collective in Chicago, and joined the company of Ballet San Jose in 2010, where he continues dancing and performing. We are pleased to welcome James to our Dance Connection faculty!

Jennifer Kulz-Smith
(Ballet, Pointe, Variations)

Jennifer received her ballet training in San Francisco with the Academy of Ballet, Dancers' Stage, Lanova Academy, City Ballet School and Boston Ballet School. She has performed with various Bay Area companies including the Peninsula Ballet Theater, San Francisco Dance Theater, and the Santa Clara Ballet. She performed in the San Francisco production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" for 4 1/2 years. Jennifer has two beautiful little girls, Cynthia and Allison, and has been teaching at Dance Connection for the past eight years.

Therese Martin
(Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Children)

Therese is a Dance Connection Alumni who grew up dancing at the studio for 15 years. She graduated from UCLA in 2009 where she majored in World Arts and Cultures with a Dance Concentration. While at UCLA she choreographed and performed in numerous UCLA productions, including WAC Smash, Elimidance, and Senior Projects. Therese holds a Masters in Teaching and Multiple- Subject Teaching Credential through USC and currently substitute teaches at local elementary schools. She is excited to be back at Dance Connection teaching classes again.

Heather Miller
(Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Childrens)

Dancing for 20 years, Heather is trained in jazz,tap, ballet, lyrical and hip hop and has had the opportunity to take professional classes in Los Angeles and New York from master choreographers. She has participated in many dance competitions, performances and the Miss Dance Pageant. She also danced in many halftime performances for the Oakland Raiders, Golden State Warriors and Stanford University teams. A graduate of San Jose State University, Heather was a member of the University Dance Theatre. She was a gala performer in the American College Dance Festival and the Tap Festival in Thousand Oaks. She recieved a BA in Dance and performed in many SJSU concerts, in the independent film "Shut Up and Dance," and with the Corie Tyson dance company. Heather will be performing this basketball season with the Sacramento Kings dancers, and bring to her students her passion for dance, her fun choreography, and always a smile!

Anton Pankivich

Anton received his ballet training at the School of American Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet School, and began his professional career in 1996 with New York City Ballet followed by Dutch National Ballet, Royal Ballet of London, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. In 2009, Anton joined Ballet San Jose where he is currently performing. He has taught as a guest teacher or ballet master worldwide at English National Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Stuttgart Ballet, Wiesbaden Ballet, Hannover Ballet, Leipzig Ballet, National Ballet School in Amsterdam, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Ballet San Jose.

Judy Rechsteiner
(Tap)

Judy has been teaching tap dance for over 16 years to Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced level adults through the Palo Alto Recreation Department.  She studied tap dance with Lorna Fordyce in San Francisco and Berle Davis at the Dance Arts Center on the Peninsula.  Judy has performed in musical theatre for the past 30 years and has choreographed for various theatre groups during that time. Several of her students have found they too enjoy the community theatre experience.

Kristen Schifferli Portner

Kristen received her B.A. in Dance Performance from San Francisco State University, her M.A. in Dance Education from NYU, and has taught various forms of dance technique for over 30 different private and public dance programs throughout California and New York City. Most recently she was on faculty at the award winning dance themed Gabriella Charter School, and was commissioned to write the VAPA dance curriculum for the ABC Unified School District in Southern California. She has taught for programs including: the 92nd Street Y Harkness Center for Dance, NOBA (New Orleans Ballet Association), Peridance Center NYC, New York University, and Leeds University U.K and worked as an editorial intern and then feature writer for Dance Teacher magazine. Kristen's life passion is dance education. Her focus is the cultivation of love and respect for the art of movement and believes dance is a multifaceted art form that everyone and anyone can benefit from.

Sara Shin
(Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop)

Sara began dancing in Los Angeles, CA where she trained and competed growing up. Before graduating High school Sara was apart of Sparkids, the dance team for the Los Angeles Sparks . After moving to the bay area, Sara became assistant director for a Hip Hop Company called Mind Over Matter, that performs all over the Bay Area and beyond. Sara graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Business Management/ Economics. She was a Golden State Warrior Girl for 2 years in which she also choreographed routines that were performed at the NBA games and events. She currently works at a corporate office in Finance/ Accounting during the day, and loves that she is able to dance after a day in the office.

Grant Spencer
(Ballet, Variations, Pointe/Pas de Deux)

Grant trained with Jon Cristofori and Kathleen Sinclair at Yuma Ballet Academy in Yuma, AZ.  He was a founding member of the regional company Ballet Yuma, and helped them gain Honor Status with Regional Dance America/Pacific.  Grant supplemented his training at Joffrey San Antonio, BalletMet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet where he received full scholarships.  His professional experience began as a Corps de Ballet dancer with Sacramento Ballet where we worked his way up to Soloist performing pieces by Alan Heinlein, Septime Webre, and Katherine Posin.  During his time with Sacramento Ballet, he became well acquainted with George Balanchine’s masterpieces, and style, while performing in his Four Temperaments, Serenade, Western Symphony, Theme and Variations, and Rubies.  Grant continued his career with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, in New York City, where he performed as a Soloist in much of the Classic Russian Repertoire.  His favorite roles include Little Swans in Swan Lake Act II, Lucille Grahn in Pas de Quatre, Cupid Variation in Paquita, Spring Waters, Tarantella, and Stars & Stripes pas de deux.  Grant toured extensively with Trockadero to such countries as Japan, Australia, Italy, France, England, Thailand, China, Russia (at the Bolshoi) and the greater United States.  In 2006, Grant moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.  He performed with Peninsula Ballet Theatre and Company C Contemporary Ballet and danced works by Anthony Tutor, David Parsons, Michael Smuin, and Charles Anderson. 

Corie Tyson
(Lyrical, Jazz)

Corie has performed professionally for "Robert Moses 'Kin",industrials, video work for Frank Boehm, and an aceppella/dance production"Our World" and has traveled to both coasts teaching master classes. She has been teaching in the Bay Area for the past 10 years, and has choreographed for soloists and groups of competitive dance teams. Corie has also taught at SJSU and choreographed for the dance film project "Shut Up & Dance."

Joan Walton
(Tap, Theatre, Ballroom)

Joan's high-energy teaching style and ability to communicate concepts to all levels of learners have become well known at universities and dance studios across the country. She has deep knowledge of Vintage, Historical and Social Dance, Tap Dance, Musical Theatre Choreography and Theatredance Styles. She has been teaching at Vintage and Historical dance workshops nationally and internationally since 1991. Her work encompasses choreographing for musicals and operas at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, six of them winning 1st place at the National Opera Awards.

At Dance Connection she has taught all levels of Tap Dance, performed as the Queen in “The Sleeping Beauty” ballet, and currently has a lively collection of Ballroom Dance aficionados that she meets for private lessons.

She has performed and choreographed all over the country, and received a Masters degree in Dance Education from Stanford University’s prestigious School of Education in 1999.

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Ballet Intensive Guest Faculty
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Charlene Hannibal

Charlene received the majority of her training at The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre under Haydee Gutierrez and James Canfield. At a young age she began performing with the professional company and upon graduation she was invited to join OBT. While still performing, she recorded and annotated Gutierrez' entire curriculum and began to teach ballet for the school.

In 2002, Ms. Hannibal moved to the Bay Area where she performed with The Oakland Ballet, Ballet Counterpointe, and Amy Seiwert's im'ij-re. She spent 6 seasons as a principal artist with Company C Contemporary Ballet. During her career, Ms. Hannibal has performed the works of George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Paul Taylor, David Parsons, Twyla Tharp, Gregory Dawson, Alexandre Proia, Patrick Corbin and Nikolai Kabaniaev.

Ms. Hannibal has taught dancers of all ages for the San Francisco Dance Center, Marin Dance Theatre, Contra Costa Ballet, BodyVox and the Northwest Dance Project. She is a classically trained pianist, a certified yoga instructor and she studied English on a full academic scholarship at UC Berkeley, graduating cum laude.

Currently, Charlene teaches posture at the Esther Gokhale Wellness Center in Palo Alto.

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Erin Olmstead
(Dance Connection Dance Team Director)

Over the past ten years, Erin has worked as a Producer for e2k Events and Entertainment. She has produced and/or directed over 50 field shows and special events, including the NFL Pro Bowl halftime show in Hawaii, NFL American Bowl in Japan, and the Orange Bowl in Miami. She has managed the entertainment at numerous events for clients such as Pixar, Microsoft, and Sony Computer Entertainment and produced the game entertainment for the past 5 NFL All Star Pro Bowls starring such acts as Enrique Iglesias, Ciara, David Archuleta, Kelly Rowland, and Lifehouse. Erin has also produced three nationally televised halftime shows for the Detroit Lions United Way Thanksgiving Day Game, featuring such acts as the Goo Goo Dolls, Jesse McCartney, and the 50th Anniversary of Motown. Each of the United Way shows were seen by over 30 million viewers. Currently Erin directs the “Gold Rush” Cheerleaders for the San Francisco 49ers and choreographs and consults for several professional dance teams around the world.