Staff

 

Jennifer Tell - Owner/Director/Instructor

Competition and recreational dance instructor since 1999

Jennifer started her dance training at the age of 6, at 2 different local studios. She completed her BS in Management from the University of Minnesota in 1994. After college, she danced 2 years as a Minnesota Vikings Cheerleader, serving as captain in 1995. She then pursued her dream of owning a dance studio, and in 1999, opened The Dance Factory. With her dance and business training, she has made The Dance Factory a successful studio with a great reputation in the Forest Lake and Circle Pines area. Jennifer continues to train at master classes and business seminars. She has a true passion for teaching and instilling a love for dance in her students. In her personal life, she enjoys spending time with her husband and 2 children, Ella and Clara.

Zina has been dancing over 26 years, 10 competitively. She danced at Metro and Larkin locally. She has 8 years of teaching experience and 2 as an assistant. This is her 6th year at the Dance Factory. Zina teaches tap, ballet, and jazz classes for the recreation program and two competition groups, the Cupids and the Rainbows. She also works at Fairview Lakes Hospital as a Medical Secretary.

Jessica Szymanski

Competition and recreational dance instructor since 2002--Forest Lake

It was the sparkly tutus that first drew Jessica to dance class. She began at the age of 3 at Larkin, but found herself eventually at 4th Street Dance Studio. She took as many classes as her schedule allowed including tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, and pointe. She started competition as a fourth grader. Her first competition was at Northrup Auditorium where she proudly walked on stage with a frizzy side ponytail and white jazz boots. In high school, she became a member of the Mounds View Viewettes. She has taught at the Dance Factory for eight years. She enjoys teaching the younger students along with the Twinklers and Twilights competition lines.

Besides teaching dance, she is a special education teacher at Red Rock Elementary school.

Clair Anderson - Director of Ballet and Technique

Competition and recreational dance instructor since 2003--Forest Lake

Clair earned her BA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She first began leaping and shuffling in 1989 at the J&L Dance Academy in Anoka. Before coming to the Dance Factory in 2003 Clair taught various workshops around the state in jazz, lyrical, modern and for her former Dance Team in Elk River, MN. She also worked for Dancercise Kids teaching pre-school creative movement. In 2002, Clair joined a Sesame Street Live production and danced the role of Baby Bear for 9 months. During the summer months you can find her participating in a dance show called Dances, Chances, Circumstances in Hudson, WI; she directed the show for the first time in 2007 and again in 2009.  Here at the studio, Clair is responsible for having fun and passing dance knowledge on to many recreational groups from preschoolers to high school teens and with our competition groups Fusion, Galaxies, Prizms, and Crystals. On a personal note, Clair and her husband Derek are busy being new parents to their awesome baby girl, Violet Elizabeth, who was born April, 25, 2008.

Erika has been dancing for as many years as she can remember, but didn't
officially begin dancing at a studio until 1995 when she enrolled at
Dance Fever in Andover, MN. She was also a part of her high school dance
team at Coon Rapids High School & continues to take classes at Zenon in
Minneapolis & Dance Spectrum in St. Paul during the summer months. Her
love of dance continues to grow over the years. Erika has enjoyed
teaching jazz, lyrical, and tap to all ages ranging from preschool to
the Adult class! She also loves teaching our Competition and
Competition-Prep lines & the Father/Daughter class every year. Erika is
looking forward to another outstanding year here at The Dance Factory!

Angela has been a dance teacher here at the Dance Factory since 2003, having taught classes ranging from Kindergarten up to the Competitive High School levels.  She has been dancing for 25 plus years including: tap, jazz, modern, lyrical, ballet, and character genres.

 Most of her training was done at Stage Door of Performing Arts in Coon Rapids, MN, competing and training throughout the United States- including exciting events such as winning Top Overall Score from Showstopper National Competition and competing on live television in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.   She has won scholarships and awards in dance including Senior Scholarship from New York Dance Alliance to STEPS in New York, and Performer of Excellence from I Love Dance Inc.

During her college years she became a member of the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders for 4 years, and in her last year with the team was chosen to perform in the 25th Annual Pro Bowl in Hawaii. This was her most proud and memorable moment as a dancer and performer!

Kelli Porter

Recreational dance instructor since 2005, Competition dance instructor since 2008--Forest Lake and Circle Pines

 

Kelli enrolled in her first dance class at Five Star Dance Studio (St. Paul, MN) when she was 8 years old.  She joined the Tap Competition Line just one year later and continued to participate in dance competitions across the Twin Cities.  One of Kelli's favorite dance memories was tap dancing for the St. Paul Winter Carnival Parade in a record-breaking -28 degrees!  Kelli earned her BS in Mass Communications from St. Cloud State University, and is currently pursuing her MBA in Marketing through Capella University.  Kelli's first day teaching at the Dance Factory was in October 2005, and she thoroughly enjoys teaching tap, jazz, and hip hop.  Kelli is a studio favorite and is known for her fun, energetic teaching style!

Taylor Dreyling

Competition ballet instructor since 2005--Forest Lake and Circle Pines

Taylor began her training in 1993 with Minnetonka Dance Theatre. She continued her training with Classical Ballet Academy (CBA) in Saint Paul, under the direction of Andrew and Cheryl Rist. After graduating CBA in 2001, she continued her studies with both University of Kansas and University of Wisconsin-Madison, under dance scholarships. She's studied with many summer programs such as Dance Aspen, Virginia School of the Arts, Milwaukee Ballet School, and Boston Ballet School. From 2000-07 Taylor was a company member with Ballet Minnesota and frequently dances as a guest with many dance companies around the metro. Her repertoire includes multiple soloist roles in ballets like: Ballet Minnesota's "The Classic Nutcracker", "Coppelia", "Don Quixote", "Giselle", "Swan Lake", James Sewell Ballet's "Amahl and the Night Visitors", Sally Rousse's "Paramount to My Footage", and Potomac Classical Youth Ballet Company's (Maryland) "Nutcracker" featured as both the Snow Pas de Deux and Grand Pas de Deux. Along with performing, Taylor choreographed in 2009 for "Dances Chances & Circumstances" in Hudson, WI. Year round, Taylor teaches Larkin Dance Studio's competition lines. Teaching at the Dance Factory, Taylor works with most competition lines on their ballet technique.

Maggie has been dancing since the age of seven, and started teaching in 1998.  In 2006, she graduated from Webster University in St. Louis, MO, with a BFA in Dance and BA in Business Administration.  She founded Webster University's Danceline in 2003; coached and participated on the team for three years.  After college, Maggie returned to Minnesota where she performed as a hip hop dancer/impersonator in a show called: "Mythology" at MythNight Club.  She also started working for Hey Sugar Productions and Soul2Soul Dance Conversion, where she was a backup dancer for major artists, and performed in national/international fashion and hair shows.  During the summer of 2007, she was fortunate enough to dance in Macy’s: Glamorama Fashion Show, performing with Big n’ Rich at the Orpheum and Chicago State Theatre. Also that summer, she was a choreographer and performer in a dance show called Dances, Chances, Circumstances in Hudson, WI.  In the summer of 2008, she was a back-up dancer in the Stacey B. music video,“With You.”  Maggie has been involved with various master classes and workshops across the U.S. and trained at several different dance studios: Pat Peare School of Dance, Terps, Butterfield, Larkin, and with Eagan High School's Danceline for four years.  She competed for 12 years and won awards such as: Symposium's Terpsichorian, The Minnesota State Fair Amateur Talent Contest Winner, Statewide's Performer of Excellence, Jr. Miss Showbiz and Miss Starpower.  Maggie has taught: jazz, tap, hip hop, lyrical, ballet, musical theatre, gymnastics, and baton.  Here at The Dance Factory Maggie primarily works with the hip hop recreational groups.

Colleen Tague

Competition ballet instructor since 2007--Forest Lake

Colleen has been dancing professionally in the Twin Cities for over 20 years. She has performed with Zenon Dance Company, Minnesota Jazz Dance Company, the Children's Theatre Company, Ballet Arts Minnesota, Ballet of the Dolls, JAZZDANCE by Danny Buraczeski, The Metropolitan Ballet, and has performed in independent projects by SallyRousse of James Sewell Ballet, and Vicky Virgin from New York. Colleen has been teaching for over 10 years. She has been the jazz dance teacher for the summer program at Ballet Arts Minnesota, and has taught ballet all over the metro area, from Elk River to Burnsville.

Heidi Schuwerck

Heidi started dancing at a young age.  She has taken classes in jazz, tap, lyrical, and ballet.  In 2006, she graduated from Forest Lake High School.

Kristen has been dancing since the age of 3, and began competing locally and nationally in the 3rd grade. At age 15, she took a break from dance to pursue cheerleading throughout high school and college, but returned to dance after college and hasn't stopped since! Kristen continued her dance training as an adult at several local studio, and became a member of the St Paul Slam, and Planet Spirit Performance Teams. Kristen's teaching background began when she became an assistant coach for Minnetonka High School's danceteam in 1998. She then taught ballet, tap, jazz and cheerleading as one of The Dance Factory's very first instructors. Kristen went on to teach a tap dance mini-course at the University of Minnesota, and opened her own branch of The Dance Factory in Minneapolis, which she ran for 3 years unitl moving to Costa Rica for a short time. Upon returning to the US, Kristen returned to teaching at The Dance Factory's Circle Pines and Forest Lake locations. Professionally, Kristen has a bachelor's degree in Sociology and Criminology from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and has worked in the non-profit field for about 10 years. In her personal life, she enjoys spending time with her husband Mike, and her daughter Isis Elinora, who was born on September 5, 2008.

Sara Iverson


Recreational Instructor since 2009 -- Circle Pines Instructor

Sara has been dancing since a very young age. She went into the competitive level at age 6, competing regionally and nationally until graduating from high school. She was an assistant teacher at age 12 and became an instructor after high school in 1996. She was a member of the Centennial High School dance line during High School.  Sara has taught both recreational and competitive levels to all ages. She is trained in tap, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, musical theatre, and lyrical. Sara currently lives in White Bear Lake with her husband Corey, her son and daughter, and 2 stepdaughters.

2009-10 Teaching Staff

Our 2009-2010 assistant teachers: