Our Staff

Our quality instructors have many years of coaching experience and truly care for their students. All tumbling coaches are safety certified. We have a high teacher-to-student ratio in all our classes.

DIRECTORS

Anne Kramer
Owner, Artistic Director
Anne has been a dancer for 32 years, and a teacher for 24 years. She was a full scholarship student with Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, and danced professionally in a variety of theater productions. Anne has received numerous choreography and teacher awards at both regional and national levels, including "Teacher of the Year" from Rainbow Connection in 2003, "Top Choreograper" from StarQuest International in 2003, "Best Choreography" from Cathy Roe Productions in 2006, the "Rising Star Award" from Rising Star Productions in 2006, and "Teacher of the Year" from Kids Artistic Revue in 2007. In 1998 she received the Founders Gold Medal for her achievement of the arts in her community, and in 2007 was nominated for Small Business of the Year. She has been a dance and talent judge for beauty pageants as well as Kids Artistic Revue. She helped write an article for Dance Teacher Magazine about incorporating boys into competitive dance and most recently about how to costume and choreograph for competition. Before opening her studio in the mid 1990's, Anne was involved in the fitness industry, becoming a personal trainer, aerobics instructor, health club program director, aerobics competitor and workshop presenter.
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Catherine Bissett
Director of Tumbling - Catherine received a BFA in dance from Ohio University. She began her dance training in Grove City, PA and majored in dance at Ohio University. Growing up she had a strong competition background, and holds a BFA with honors in dance, choreography, and dance education. She has experience in teaching all ages in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip-hop, acro, and creative dance. She taught at many institutions including McGill's School of Dance, Lake Erie Ballet, Ohio University and Dance Etc. Her competition teams consistently place in the top 5 at regional and national competitions. She loves dogs, owning four of her own and volunteering at the animal shelter several times a week. "I believe a teacher should create a very fun and open atmosphere while presenting a challenge to her students."
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Veronica Day
Director of Dance Program - Veronica is a graduate of Ball State University, majoring in dance. She started dancing at the age of 5, and joined competition teams at the age of 9. Her solos, duets and groups regularly scored in the top 5 at competitions, including the top scoring duet at Starbound in 2002, and the top scoring group at Rainbow Nationals in Branson in 2003. She took private dance classes from "Elec" (STOMP tap dancer), and took a tap workshop in NYC studying with Gil Stroming, Mike Minery, and Rojelio Douglas. She performed in an off-Broadway tap show called "Break the Floor." She performed with the Cincinnati Ballet Company in The Nutcracker for two years. Currently she guest-teaches at Dance Etc. in ballet, tap, lyrical, modern, hip-hop, jazz and swing dancing and is a demonstrator for the Ball State Swing Society. She has also assisted with and choreographed for Dance Etc.'s competition teams. She choreographed in college both for Ball State and University of Akron. She also is a seamstress and loves to design and create dance costumes. She is also experienced in sign language (6 years), and is CPR certified.
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SENIOR STAFF

Christy Crawford is a graduate from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Electronic Media. She has been dancing since the age of 6. Throughout her years as a student she studied Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Musical Theater, and Hip Hop. Her dancing talents led her to become a member of the competition team where she competed in competitions around the country and attended workshops including LA Dance Force, Access Broadway, and Dance Masters of America. She recently was inducted as a member of Dance Masters of America where she is certified in Acrobatics. She is working to be certified in jazz, ballet, and tap. She was also a varsity cheerleader and participant in many musicals and drama productions. She hopes to one day be working in LA in the entertainment industry.
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Jay Goodlett is a senior soloist at the Cincinnati Ballet Company. He was born at Dayton's Wright Patterson Air Force Base and attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati for nine years before training at the School of American Ballet for several seasons. Mr. Goodlett's first performances with the Company were as an apprentice in 1992. Mr. Goodlett has performed in many Cincinnati Ballet productions including The Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Carmina Burana, Giselle, Blue until June, The Four Temperaments, and Fingerprints, among others. As a choreographer, Mr. Goodlett made his professional debut collaborating with Victoria Morgan on Graceland in March 2002. In April 2005, his work Sing It Franklin had its world premiere at Beyond Ballet. Mr. Goodlett was invited by Opera Theatre of St. Louis to choreograph two operas in their 2005 season, Romeo and Juliet and Rigoletto. When he is not involved with dance, he enjoys spending time with his wife Jenny Leinberger Goodlett (former CB Dancer) and his children, Megan 8 and Nathan 5.

Anthony Krutzkamp is a native of Alexandria, Kentucky, and is a principal dancer with the Cincinnati Ballet for his 8 th season. Since joining the Company in 2001 as a new dancer, he has been promoted every season. Mr. Krutzkamp is a proud graduate of The Virginia School of the Arts where he studied on full scholarship under the direction of Petrus Bosman and David Keener. He furthered his training during summers at Houston Ballet and Boston Ballet. Before coming to Cincinnati Ballet, Mr. Krutzkamp danced with Kansas City Ballet for one season. During that season, he was an intricate part of the reconstruction of Balanchine's Renard, restaged by Todd Bolender , as The Cat. His favorite roles at Cincinnati Ballet include Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Tchaikovsky pas de deux, The God in Léonide Massine's Seventh Symphony, the pas de deux in Balanchine's Concerto Barocco, and the Prince in Cinderella. He has also performed in contemporary works, including Adam Hougland's Beyond, and Trey McIntyre's Blue until June and Chasing Squirrel.

Sarah Pickett has been tumbling for the past eight years and a cheerleader for seven years, cheering competitively on all-star teams for six years. She has been assisting tumbling classes at Dance Etc. for five years and assisting cheerleading for three years. In addition she is the assistant coach for the Outlaw All-Star cheerleaders. Sarah was on a dance team for two years and assisted in hip hop classes for a year. She began gymnastics and cheerleading through Dance Etc. Sarah was on the only cheerleading team in Ohio to get a bid to World's, a National cheerleading competition. She was also on a cheerleading team that went undefeated all season. She is currently a senior at Milford High School.
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Christina Mason- is a graduate of Xavier University where she obtained her BLA in Performing Arts and Business Management, while holding honors and performance scholarships. As a native of Memphis, TN she studied ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, pointe, modern, cheerleading, and tumbling at Studio B Memphis, Ballet Memphis, Playhouse on the Square Professional Theatre, GHS and CTK for many years. In Cincinnati she has worked with CCM Prep and Xavier University as dance captain and assistant choreographer on many musicals including The Music Man, Cabaret, Jekyll & Hyde, Smokey Joe's Cafe, and Grease. Her original choreography was featured in Workshop 05 and 06, King Stag, and Voices for Change at Xavier. She was awarded the Otto Kvapil Performance Award at XU in 2005 and the Most Valuable Scholarship Receipient in 2004 and 2005. She has taught dance, cheerleading and gymnastics with Cincinnati Action Center, Cincinnati Museum Center and St. Xavier Middle School since graduating in 2006. She is so happy to be at Dance Etc.!

Jody Campbell- has a degree in Child Day Care Management from Harcourt Learning District in Cambridge, Massachusettes. She has been teaching cheerleading since 2001. She started at Batavia youth football and basketball as a recreational coach, then went on as the head coach for Cheerleading International Academy for 2 years. Her teams competed in regional and national competitions, ending with a win at UCA nationals! Her philosophy is that the most meaningful learning takes place when children are motivated and interested. "The way to achieve this is by giving a children a voice in the learning process, and by assisting them in finding connections in their curriculum with their own likes and interests. By allowing children to bring their own stories, experience and ideas into the studio/gym, this provides the children with opportunities to work together to learn from each other and respect each others' differences. Excellence is the result of carding more than others think is wise; risking more than others think is safe; dreaming more than others think is practical and expecting more than others think is possible."

Elaine Iram- grew up in Weymouth, MA where she competed for the junior high and high school gymnastics teams. She was also a member of the diving team, breaking the high school diving record, and a member of the track team, which earned her a college scholarship in track and field. Her senior year she earned the title of “Best Scholastic Athlete” in a class of almost 500 students. Early on in her freshman year of college at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, her track coach asked her to teach the proper hurdle technique to the boys’ track team. These sessions were held near where the cheerleaders practiced. It wasn’t long before Elaine was assisting the cheerleaders with their tumbling skills. Soon she was invited to join the squad, teaching all the tumbling skills while she learned the dance, cheer, and mount skills. Elaine graduated with an Electrical Engineering Degree and worked for the Army teaching Nondestructive testing all over the US. Then she moved to Cincinnati and worked for General Electric for 14 years before becoming a full-time mother of three boys. “I teach tumbling at Dance Etc. for the pure enjoyment of it!”

Kelly Yankle- A trainee with the Cincinnati Ballet Company. Born in Canton, Ohio she began studying ballet at the School of Canton Ballet at the age of ten. Ms. Yankle has received scholarships to Pacific Northwest Ballet, Chautauqua Institution, where she spent three summers and two at the School of American Ballet and Central Youth Ballet. Ms. Yankle also participated in a professional workshop with Alonzo King in the summer of 2006. Recently she won first place at the Regional Society of Arts and Letter competition and fifth place at the National Competition in Jacksonville, Florida. Chosen by Jiang Qi to be the featured American performer in the Hopestar performance tour in Beijing, China in 2004. Ms. Yankle is currently on a scholarship majoring in ballet and a minor in Spanish at the College of Conservatory Music at the University of Cincinnati. She has performed many featured roles and some of her favorites include New Sleep pas de duex, choreographed by William Forsythe, Russian girl in Balanchine’s Serenade and Kitri in Don Quixote, as well as many others.

JUNIOR STAFF

Kelli Barton has been dancing for 14 years and competing for 9 years. She has been a teacher/co-teacher for 9 years. She works with Dance Etc.'s competition teams, solos and duets, and is highly requested. Kelli is a very versatile dancer. She is trained and has competed in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, hip-hop, and partnering. In 2007, Kelli won Top Elite Solo at KAR, Top Senior Solo at Showstoppers, Top Senior Solo at Rainbow Connection, and Top Elite Duet at Nationals in Chicago, which was also featured on the national video. Also, she was a finalist and scholarship winner in the Cincinnati Arts Association's Overture Awards. "I love working with kids; I love to see them have fun as they learn to dance."

Marisa Gordon has been dancing for 13 years — 12 at Dance Etc. She has been on competition teams for 9 years, competing at many regional competitions and going to national competitions in Branson, Chicago, Las Vegas and Myrtle Beach. She has experience in ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, lyrical, modern and acro. She has been privileged to work with Anne Kramer, Don Mirault, Becky Erhart of the Washington DC Ballet, and many performers with the Cincinnati Ballet Co. She has assisted classes for 6 years and loves to work with kids of all ages. "I love seeing the excitement in the kids faces as they run into class." She also enjoys Pilates, reading and spending time with friends and family.

Alexa Helwig has been a student at Dance Etc. for 10 years. She has performed on various competition teams in Acro-Dance, Jazz, and Hip-Hop for 8 years, and has been assistant teaching at Dance Etc. for 6 years. Alexa has performed with national competition teams in Branson, Myrtle Beach and Chicago. She was chosen for the Dance USA national dance team for the past 4 years. Hobbies include playing basketball, babysitting and listening to music.

Tori Patrice has been training in dance since she was 3 years old and has taught/assisted at Dance Etc. for 6 years. She has performed on competition teams for 12 years and is currently on "The Company" at Dance Etc., competing in ballet, lyrical, tap, jazz, hip-hop, pointe, modern and adagio (partnering/lifts). She also performs 2 solos and a duet. She has attended national competitions in Chicago, Branson, Myrtle Beach and Las Vegas. Tori was chosen as a "KAR kid" for Kids Artistic Revue competition and the Dance USA National dance team. She has trained with instructors from the Cincinnati Ballet Company, Don Mirault, Becky Erhart of the Washington DC Ballet, and other professional dancers, including extensive partnering work. She choreographed a musical program for the 5th and 6th graders at Charles L. Seipelt Elementary School in Milford. She has also choreographed and taught hip-hop numbers for bridal shows for Skeffington's Formalwear. She has also performed at nursing homes, churches and other community events. The first year she was eligible, she was chosen to be on Show Choir (a singing/dancing performing group) at Milford High School.

Hannah Riesenberg began dancing when she was 3 years old, for the last 8 years she has been studying at Dance Etc. under Miss Anne Kramer. During her time at Dance Etc. she has been privileged to be part of the studio’s competition teams and has competed at the regional and national level in tap, hip hop, jazz and production. She also has studied ballet and acro technique. As the oldest girl in a family of eight children, she is accustomed to working with younger children. She has been assisting at Dance Etc. for the past 6 years and is highly requested. She completed the Better Babysitter course in 1991 and has been growing her babysitting business every since. In her free time, Hannah enjoys volunteering at Beechmont Stables, volunteering at Ronald McDonald House, participating in 4-H, scrapbooking, knitting, crocheting, quilting and sewing.

GUEST INSTRUCTORS

Daryl Bjoza is the Co-Director of School of Creative and Performing Arts Dance Ensemble (SCPA). His training includes San Francisco Ballet School, San Diego State University, Western State College of Colorado, and many others. His professional expericne includes 9 years as a soloist in the Cincinnati Ballet Company, as well as work with the San Francisco Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Cleveland Ballet, Theatre-Ballet Canadians, Feld Ballet (NYC), Ballet de Santiago (Chile), Lines Contemporary Dance Company (San Francisco), Ballet Hawaii and others. He is known for his excellent and creative choreography. "My choreography allows the youth and professionals I work with to move in a variety of styles, with depth of character, utilizing strong technical training. This is where they get their varied experience of movement skills, enhancing their marketability not jut as ballet dancers but as musical theatre dancers, modern dance movers, jazz movers and ethnic character dancers."

Jill Marlow - Member of the Cincinnati Ballet Company. Born in Rochester, New York, Jill Marlow trained at Draper Studio of Dance under Timothy Draper. She continued her dance education at American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive and Boston Ballet’s Summer Dance Program. Ms. Marlow received a scholarship to attend Indiana University ’s Ballet Department, where she was coached by the renowned ballerina, Violette Verdy. Ms. Marlow most recently was a corps de ballet member with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre during their 2003-2004 season. She has performed soloist roles, including Summer Fairy in Victoria Morgan’s Cinderella, Hermia in Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Moyna in Giselle, Big Swans in Swan Lake and featured roles in Matjash Mrozewski’s Straight Life, Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s Ballad of You and Me, and Trey McIntyre’s Chasing Squirrel.

Ali Atsalis has much experience and love for the hip-hop style. Currently studying dance professionally in New York City, Ali has toured with Dance Caravan National Workshop for two years all over the U.S. She has assisted for and danced with Barry Youngblood (backup dancer for J-lo) and Jason Alvarez  (back-up dancer for Janet Jackson).  She was a Dance Etc. competition team member and a UC Varsity Dance Team Member.  She has plans to move to LA  to pursue her dream of dancing professionally. She guest teaches for Dance Etc. each summer, choreographing for hip-hop competition teams.

Jacqui Haas, A.T.C., teaches Pilates and injury prevention at Dance Etc. on a regular basis. She is a former ballet dancer and trained at The School of American Ballet, the Boston ballet and the Cleveland Ballet. As a professional, she danced with the Southern Ballet Theater, Tampa Ballet, New Orleans City Ballet, the Cincinnati Ballet and Ballet Artists Cincinnati. A member of the faculty of the School of the Cincinnati Ballet, Haas earned her bachelor's degree in dance form the University of South Florida' and her Athletic Training Certification from UC. Jacqui cares for dancers and other performers in all their health matters as director of Performing Arts Medicine at Christ Hospital. Haas has extended her reach into the community as the athletic trainer of the Cincinnati Ballet, the School of Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, the Arnoff Center for Performing Arts and the University of Cincinnati (UC) dance department and as a frequent guest lecturer at UC. Read about Jacqui Haas in CityBeat magazine