Instructors

2010 Instructors

Sponsors:

.:: Featured Instructors ::.

Trey Barber

Trey has been teaching and choreographing for the last 12 years across the country.

He is originally from Salt Lake City, Utah. He has worked with Radio Disney Artists, LMNT and DreamStreet. He continues to work with pop sensation Jesse McCartney.

Trey’s choreography has been featured on HBO Family, ABC’s The View, MBC, ESPN, and the Oxygen Network. He has performed and choreographed numerous routines for the NBA, NCAA, fashion shows, professional dance companies, industrials, and various television projects.

Trey’s classes offer a challenging, innovative approach to Hip Hop placing the student’s needs first. His passion and talent are truly inspiring-making his classes fun and exciting for everyone.

Meredith Butulis

Meredith Butulis has been dancing for 22 years in a variety of genres including modern, jazz, ballet, tap, theater, and dance team. Currently, Meredith competes in x-treme fitness, and has been the reigning Ms. Natural X-treme Fitness Minnesota since 2007.

In 2008, she completed a Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree from Northeastern University. Previously, she attended Boston University to earn a Master’s in Physical Therapy and minor in Dance.

While studying, she choreographed and performed with the University’s Dance Theater, and began performing professionally in Boston with Impulse and Kelly Donovan & Dancers. In 2002, Meredith took a break from performing to join New York City Performing Arts Physical Therapy. Here, she provided Physical Therapy service for the Radio City Rockettes, as well as the Broadway Shows: Lion King, Hairspray, and Beauty & the Beast. She returned to Boston to be named one of CrashArts’ s top 10 upcoming choreographers in 2004.

Over the past few years, she has been working as a Dance Physical Therapist at LifeRehab/Phenomenal Rehab (Wayzata, MN) in collaboration with Minnesota Dance Medicine. Meredith looks forward to another summer season teaching workshops for high school dance teams with Kelly Hegarty’s Advantage Dance, LLC.

Katie Haggerty

Katie Haggerty is the Group Fitness Department Head for St. Louis Park and Saint Paul Life Time Fitness Clubs.

She has been teaching in the industry for over 10 years, and loves teaching various formats from Yoga, Cycle, Strength Training, Step and Dance Fitness.

Katie has a degree in Kinesiology from the University of Minnesota, travels nationwide conducting fitness trainings for National Exercise Trainers Association (NETA), and is one of the Life Time Fitness Master Instructor Team leads for the MN Region. Her passion in life is to inspire people to live healthy while having as much fun as they possibly can!

Kelly Hegarty

Kelly Hegarty is the owner of Advantage Dance, LLC, which consults with and operates camps for more than 30 high school dance team programs in Minnesota and throughout the Midwest.

Hegarty’s diverse background in track and field, gymnastics, strength training, marathons, and triathlons gives her a unique perspective on training for dance. During her tenure as the head coach of the Burnsville Blazettes, she led the team to five Minnesota State High Kick titles and numerous appearances in state finals. Hegarty’s education and experience include more than 15 years of high school dance team coaching experience, a master’s degree in education, and a B.S. in biological science with an emphasis on health and fitness.

She has presented on various topics at conventions throughout the upper Midwest. Hegarty is also a proud inductee into the Minnesota Association of Dance Team’s Coaches Hall of Fame. She resides in Rosemount with her husband and three children.

Tami Krause

     Tami Krause is a presenter, consultant, coach and business owner. She is best known as the Head Coach and Coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders (NFL) and the Minnesota Swarm (NLL) Performance Team.

   She has a BA degree from the University of Minnesota. After coaching her former high school dance team to five state championships and choreographing two National College Championship routines, she was inducted into the Minnesota Association of Dance Teams and United Performing Associations Halls of Fame. She has been a MSHSL, JAM and currently is a UPA certified dance team judge.

   She has worked in the corporate world for over a decade and brings experience in marketing, management, health/fitness, personal development, motivation and strategizing to any project. She is a former Mrs. Minnesota America, who placed in the top ten at the National pageant and the reigning Mrs. Minnesota International 2009, where she again placed in the top 10 at the International pageant.

   Tami enjoys sharing her passion for health through the American Heart Association’s Volunteer Speaker Bureau and is on the Go Red Educational Committee and in their Ambassador program.

   Tami is also the owner and president of The Diamond Within Inc. Her most prized accomplishment is as a wife to Aaron and mother to three boys and a little one on the way.

.::Instructors ::.

	*Dr. James T. Alexander*
Dr. James T. Alexander grew up in Lafayette, Minnesota, a small town north of New Ulm. He did his undergraduate studies at Gustavus Adolphus University and went on to complete his Doctorate of Chiropractic degree at Northwestern Health Sciences University, in the Spring of 2006. Introduced to chiropractic through numerous sports injuries in high school, Alexander quickly learned how chiropractic should be a vital part of any athletes’ lifestyle. Through chiropractic, he was shown the amazing healing properties of thebody. He says his personal experiences through chiropractic are the driving force to his passion for health and wellness. Currently the owner of Finish Line Chiropractic in Burnsville, Finish Line Chiropractic has grown to be one of the largest family practices in the state. Finish Line specializes in helping numerous families achieve health and wellness through preventative health care choices. The human body is an amazing machine and when its control center (the nervous system) functions well, we function well, he says.
	*Nikki Bergene*
A graduate from the University of St. Thomas, Nikki was a member of the University of St. Thomas Dance Team for four years and won a UDA National Championship in 2007. She is currently a team member and choreographer for the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders and the head coach for the Irondale High School Varsity Knightline Dance Team. She was recognized by the MADT as Rookie Coach of the Year for the 2008-2009 season.
	*Cindy Clough*
Cindy is the Executive Director for Just For Kix and has been the Coach for the Brainerd High School, Warrior Dance Team, “The Kixters” since the 1976-77 season. They have won 8 state championships, top 5 in the state for 25 years straight and National High Kick Championship in 1987 in Orlando, Florida. Most memorable experience was representing the United States with the U.S. Military Band from Washington D.C. for the opening of the Tokyo Dome in Japan. She is the Cofounder and past president of the Minnesota Association of Dance Teams. She served on the Board of Directors for 12 years. Cindy is a member of the steering committee which was successful in getting Dance Team to be a part of the Minnesota State High School League. She has choreographed 25 major Collegiate Bowl Game Half-Time Shows , including Holiday Bowl/San Diego, Freedom Bowls/Anaheim, Orange Bowls/Miami, Citrus Bowls/Orlando, and numerous Outback Bowls in Tampa. Cindy is the author of a dance and drill-coaching manual and has been a Keynote speaker at numerous state and national conventions. JUST FOR KIX is the business Cindy and her husband, Steve, have built. It started with a children’s program in Brainerd and has branched to 150 other communities approaching 20,000 dancers participating annually, including programs in ND, SD, IA, WI, NE, IL, and MN. Cindy is married to her husband Steve and has 3 children, Joel, Jerad and Alexandra.
	*Lindsay Danielson*
Lindsay Danielson is a well known dance instructor and coach in the Minnesota dance team community. Lindsay grew up training at The Dance Shoppe (now Summit Dance Shoppe). She was a member of the Eden Prairie High School Dance Team and the Gustavus Dance Team. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Communications in 2005. She is currently the Coach of the Eden Prairie High School State Dance Team and is a full time instructor/choreographer at Dance Arts Centre in Chanhassen. Lindsay has also been a member of the camp and choreography staff at Just For Kix for eight years. She has incredible choreography experience choreographing for numerous high school and college dance teams, professional teams, and dance studios throughout the country.

	*Meghan Hutton*
Meghan Hutton is the director for the Just For Kix program in Medina. She was the coach of the 2006, 2007 and 2009 State Champion Wayzata Trojet Dance Team. Meghan grew up dancing at the Dance Shoppe where she has been on staff since 1988. She also graduated from Wayzata and was a two time State Champion as a Wayzata Trojet. Meghan is also on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Association of Dance Teams and is a five time recipient of the Assistant Coach of the Year award as well as the 2009 Coach of the Year. She was a member of the Timberwolves Performance Team as well as the coach for the first ever Minnesota Lynx Hip-Hop Team. She also has had the opportunity to work on the halftime show for Super Bowl 39, the halftime show for the NFL kickoff in Boston, as well the MTV Music Video Awards in Miami.
	*Deborah Johnson*
Deborah Johnson is the director of Breaking Boundaries Dance Company and Training Center. She teaches the open contemporary dance classes that the training center hosts at the Hennepin Center for the Arts. In addition, Deborah is a freelance choreographer and instructor who has worked with professional dance companies and schools, dance studios, college and high school dance teams, and independent competitive dancers. Deborah has been dancing and performing for the past 15 years. Deborah has trained extensively in ballet, jazz, lyrical, modern, contemporary and hip-hop and continues to train at Broadway Dance Center in New York City. During her competitive dancing Deborah received many awards including Junior Miss Dance Team MN 2003, Miss Dance Team MN 2004, and the winner of the best technique award at the Miss Dance/Drill Team USA competition in 2005. She was a finalist at the American Dance Idol Competition in 2003 in Orlando, FL and received many other scholarships and top overall awards for her dancing. On a dance scholarship, Deborah trained in ballet and modern at college. After college, Deborah was a performer and choreographer with Crash Dance Productions for three seasons, and took over as the director of the company for its fourth season. She continues to perform as a member of Breaking Boundaries Professional Contemporary Dance Company.
	*Cathy Keane Wind*
Cathy Keane Wind has performed with such great tap artists as Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, and is a student of the Maestro Lane Alexander. She is on staff at St. Paul Conservatory for the Arts, St. Cloud State University, and the University of Minnesota. She has won numerous choreography awards and her students have gone on to compete in the Miss America pageant as well as winners of state fairs and other national competitions. She is sought after as a master teacher, choreographer and performer. Cathy is the co-artistic director of Keane Sense of Rhythm tap company. KSR has performed around the US, Canada, Europe and China, including performances with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Human Rhythm Project and Minneapolis and Thunder Bay Fringe Festivals. In 1997, Keane Sense of Rhythm started the Keane Sense of Rhythm Youth Tap Ensemble to give gifted rhythm-tap students a chance to explore different aspects of the art form.
	*Amy Laliberte*
At the early age of three I stepped into my first pair of dance shoes, ever since then, I’ve been hooked. Growing up, I attended J&L dance studio for ballet, tap and jazz, and from that early age, I knew I was meant to dance and perform. After a few short years of my time spent at the studio, I was curious to endure other outside activities and put my young dancing days on a stand still. As my high school years approached, I knew I wanted to get back into the activity I loved and knew I could excel at. During high school, I joined the Concordia Academy dance team and helped lead them to state two years in a row. Outside the doors of Concordia, I was also apart of an independent dance team, Trinity Team Elite that competed monthly across the Midwest. Once my dance team days had come to an end, I couldn’t say goodbye and decided to become the assistant coach for the Concordia Academy Junior Varsity dance team. Although, it was a great experience to lead a team, it wasn’t enough. I then found myself longing for another outlet of dance and came across salsa dancing, something I had yet to try. I pushed myself to learn as much as I could by watching and practicing every week. I was then fortunate to come across some Minneapolis ballroom instructors and knew I had found my nitch. Over the past four years I have been teaching and training in Latin, Ballroom and social dancing for Arthur Murray Dance Studios. I have now stepped into the world of professional competition and am competing in the division of American Rhythm. I am so passionate about what I do and want to share that joy with everyone I come across. Dancing has changed my life as I hope it can change yours.

	*Catherine Loose*
Catherine graduated from Drake University in 1996 with a degree in Public Relations. She began her career with the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders in 1997. In 1998, she worked for the Minnesota Vikings as the Plaza Manager where she coordinated all events outside of the Metrodome for each home game. Catherine returned to cheerleading and the MVC the following season in 1999. She is the current President of the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders Alumni Association. Catherine was the Regional Director for the Minneapolis/St. Paul Chapter of Fashion Group International, Inc from 2004 – 2006 which is an organization that provides opportunities for professional development and leadership in the fashion arena. She is currently the President of the Fashion Group Foundation for 2010 - 2012, providing student scholarships, promoting educational programs that are devoted to the study of the fashion industry, and sponsoring public service activities in which the fashion industry works to serve the relevant community needs. Catherine has been the Public Relation Manager at Neiman Marcus in downtown Minneapolis for the past ten years and is responsible for the fashion presentations, event planning, media and community relations. Catherine and her family live in Minnetonka.
	*Sara Marek*
Sara Marek just finished her thirteenth year of coaching St. Cloud Cathedral Dance Team. Throughout those years they have taken home five State Titles, numerous medals in the top three have consistently been the WCC Conference Champions and the Section 4AA Champions. Before Sara began coaching she danced throughout her younger years, high school, and college. She then went on to run the Just For Kix program out of Milaca. Sara has been married for Ten years and has three beautiful children. She looks forward to sharing her knowledge on team building, constructive use of and planning of practice time and how to find a good balance between Kick and Jazz.
	*Stacy Marquardt*
Stacy is a lifelong dance enthusiast and an accomplished performer, instructor and choreographer. She grew up receiving a majority of her training from the Helmer Dance Studio in Wisconsin and went on to graduate from the University of Minnesota where she spent time as a dancer and captain of the University of Minnesota Dance Team. Stacy continued her dance career after college as a captain for the Minnesota Timberwolves Dancers. Most recently, she spent three years as the Assistant Coach for the University of Minnesota Dance Team and just completed her seventh year as part of the coaching staff for the four-time state champion, Maple Grove Dance Team. Stacy has choreographed for several dance studios, college and high school dance teams throughout the Midwest. She also serves as a judge, speaker and guest instructor for UPA, UDA, IASF and the WACPC.
	*Marie McKay*
Marie is the only Black Belt Certified Nia instructor in Minnesota. She has been facilitating classes, workshops and retreats at various health clubs, hospitals, corporations, and colleges throughout the country for the past 10 years. She has a weekly teaching schedule at Life Time Fitness in Eden Prairie. www.NiaNow.com

	*John Montague*
John Montague is an entrepreneur with a wide range of experience and expertise. His current company, Warm Health, provides technology-enabled solutions that enable healthcare organizations to effectively engage, educate, motivate and monitor the healthy behavior of their members, patients, employees and customers. Before joining Warm Health in 2009, Montague served as CEO and Co-Founder of Muve, a provider of technology-enabled health and wellness solutions that was built in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic and honored with the 2007 Minnesota Cup Award as the state’s top “breakthrough” company. Prior to Muve, he was the CEO and Founder of Golf Intelligence/GolfNet where he developed the National Golf Network (NGN) and RCGA Network that provides online services to golf associations, clubs, and millions of golfers throughout North America. Previously, Montague served as Vice President of Marketing, Director of Investor Relations, Alliance Sales Manager and Client Partner at customer relationship management (CRM) technology pioneer, Zamba Solutions. Montague is a member of several corporate and non-profit boards, he also serves as a member of the St. Mary’s University Board of Regents. He attended the University of Minnesota for a Bachelors of Science degree in Applied Economics, Political Science and Capital Markets.
	*Dr. Brad Moser*
Dr. Moser is the founder and director of Minnesota Dance Medicine, a group of dance medicine professionals who conduct research and education in dance medicine. His experience includes being the sports medicine consultant and company physician for The Radio City Rockettes, Cirque du Soleil, A Chorus Line, Mary Poppins, In The Heights, and Wicked when touring through Minneapolis. Dr. Moser has lectured locally and nationally on dance medicine topics. He cares for many amateur and professional dancers from many companies and studios in the Twin Cities area. Dr. Moser is a board-certified primary care sports medicine physician. He completed his undergraduate degree in pharmacology-toxicology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy in 1994 and earned his medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in 2000. Following, he completed his residency in family medicine and community medicine at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., and a sports medicine fellowship at Minneapolis-based Hennepin County Medical Center. Dr. Moser is a sports and dance medicine physician at MOSMI – Minnesota Orthopedic Sports Medicine Institute. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Family and Community Medicine and Clinical Instructor for the Minnesota Sports Medicine Orthopedic Sports Medicine Fellowship Program. Dr. Moser is a member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science, The Performing Arts Medicine Association, the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
	*Katie Ohlund*
Katie began dance and gymnastics at the age of five. She was a competitive gymnast and dancer until high school when she chose to try out for her high school dance team. Katie was a three year member, captain and choreographer for her high school team. She was also a captain, choreographer and student coach of the Saint Cloud State University Dance Team. While she was a captain, the team received a paid bid to Nationals and placed 2nd at the UDA National Dance Team Championship in Orlando, Florida. Katie has been a choreographer for several high schools in Iowa and has held private technique clinics for high schools in the Midwest. Katie has been a judge for the Minnesota State High School League and a member of JAM since 1999. She served on the JAM Board of Directors from 2006-2009. In addition to judging for the MSHSL, she has judged various studio and talent competitions. Katie has enjoyed judging at the Miss Dance Team MN competition for the past three years. Most recently, Katie has been on staff at two metro dance studios teaching competition jazz, hip hop, pom and high kick to various age groups. In her spare time, Katie enjoys spending as much time as possible with her husband Jade and two kids, Jack, age 5 and Lauren, age 1.
	*Heather Pilakowski*
Heather Pilakowski is from Prior Lake and has over 20 years of dance and fitness experience. Heather danced professionally for 5 years with the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders and one year with the Minnesota Swarm Performance Team (indoor Lacrosse). She is currently the coach of the Vikings Cheerleader Alumni Team as well as a member of the Game Day Staff. Additionally, Heather is Yoga Fit® certified and teaches Vinyasa yoga at Lifetime Fitness in Savage. Heather holds a BA in Marketing and French from the University of St. Thomas. She has over 10 years of marketing experience and currently owns a Sales and Consulting business in the Natural and Organic food industry with her husband. Besides keeping busy with dance, yoga and owning a business, Heather’s most rewarding job is staying home with her 14-month old son, Alex.

	*Cindy Reistad*
Cindy Reistad is licensed ZUMBA Instuctor. She is also a hair stylist. Cindy believes that feeling good and looking good in mind, body and soul go hand in hand. She has been formally trained in Jazz and Ballet. Her passion for dance led her to Zumba - getting fit and having fun through dance. What a combo!
	*Allie Seifert*
Allie Seifert has had 17 years of dance experience. She has danced both studio and with her High School dance team at Sleepy Eye where she was a four year member and captain. She then went on to attend the College of Saint Benedict were she was a four year member and captain of the St. Ben’s Dance Team. During her time there, she worked as an assistant to the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach implementing training programs focused on injury prevention and promoting athletic success for the St. Ben’s athletes. She graduated in 2009 from St. Ben’s with a degree in Nutrition and Sports Medicine. After graduation, she began working with Velocity Sports Performance in Burnsville, Minnesota, as a performance coach intern where she implemented Velocity training programs designed to enhance sports performance in the athletes that she worked with. She currently works for SSTAR (Sport Specific Training and Rehabilitation) in Eagan, Minnesota, where she works as a performance trainer developing and enhancing sport performance techniques with an emphasis in injury prevention. She is a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and is a member of the Advantage Dance by Just for Kix Staff.
	*Pam Sylvestre*
Pam Sylvestre was trained at Dance Arts Centre studio in Eden Prairie for 11 years. Pam has trained in multiple disciplines of dance. While jazz and contemporary are her forte, she has also been trained in ballet, hip hop, tap, pointe, and high kick. While in high school, Pam was a 4-year varsity member of the Benilde-St. Margaret’s Knightettes. During her 4 years at BSM, Pam was voted Rookie of the Year, All Conference, All State, Most Spirited, Most Valuable Dancer, and Best Toe Touches at JFK Camp. As a junior and senior captain, Pam was a choreographer and danced on the 2004 Jazz State Championship team at Benilde. Pam has been a member of the University of St. Thomas dance team, where she was awarded Rookie of the Year, the Tommie Award, and Most Valuable Dancer. She was a captain in 2007 when St. Thomas brought home the National Title in jazz. She was also captain her senior year when UST won their first UPA National Hip Hop Title in 2009. Pam currently teaches around Minnesota with Advantage Dance, and also is a instructor at Chanhassen Dance. Pam is also a member of the prestigious Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders, and this past season was honored to be voted “Rookie of the Year.”
	*Kathy Tolley*
Kathy Tolley is the Medical Spa Manager and Aesthetician at Expressions MD Medical Spa and Laser Center in Rosemount, MN. A lifetime resident of Minnesota, she has worked in the medical field for 27 years. Her aesthetic eye and interest in medical applications of aesthetics led her to licensure as an aesthetician in 2007. She has had additional training and experience with leaders in the field around the country. She assists with all aspects of the minimally invasive procedures at Expressions MD including Botox, Juvederm filler, Laser and light treatments and Body Sculpting in addition to the more traditional spa services. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience to help clients through the somewhat overwhelming choices of medical aesthetic options available to improve the way they look and feel about themselves.

Stacey Weyandt

Stacey Weyandt started dancing at the age of 3, and today is still pursuing her dreams with the talent god blessed her with. Growing up she trained at Larkin Dance Studio in Maplewood, Minnesota.

She graduated high school in 2005 and decided to move out to New York City to pursue a professional career in dance. While out there she worked with choreographers like Marguerite Derricks, Ray Leeper, and John Carrafa. She danced in projects for VH1 fashion Rocks, Duran Duran, Sandals Resort, Wal-Mart, The Editors, and Broadway Diva Night. She also was an assistant choreographer for the 2008 Truth Campaign commercials. Stacey also worked for the company Break The Floor while out in NYC. She was an assistant on the 2006-2007 tour of Jump. Stacey performed in the show “I was. I am. I will be. “ by a Minnesota based company called Crash Dance Productions.

Stacey is now a proud member of the University of Minnesota Dance Team and is now enjoying her dance career more than ever. The dance team has opened up many doors for her. She has now gotten a chance to use her choreography skills by helping choreograph the teams camp dance. She has also started co-choreographing with her teammate and good friend Toni Gabrielli. They have had the pleasure to work with Hillcrest High School in Utah and Exisdance in Minnesota.

She hopes to keep having more opportunities to share her love and passion with young dancers around the country. Stacey’s most recent and exciting accomplishments include becoming a double National Champion in the Jazz and Pom 1A division at the 2010 UDA Nationals Competition. She is also looking forward to having her team represent the USA in the upcoming Worlds competition in April 2010.