Our Terrific & Talented Team!
Check back soon! We’re hiring some amazing teachers and excited to tell you all about them!
OWNER/DIRECTOR/MENTOR/TEACHER/LEADER
Miss Holly
Miss Holly is celebrating 26 fabulous years of dance studio ownership and 39 years of teaching and mentoring! She started dancing at the age of 3 in Wichita, Kansas and practiced so much at home, both her brothers would join her in performing for their parents.
Miss Holly performed in the Super Bowl XXVI Half Time Show with Gloria Estefan. She’s very fortunate to have studied with many dance world educators in Chicago, Oklahoma, Las Vegas, Florida, LA, New York, Switzerland including Tommy Walsh, Luigi Faccuito, Joe Lanteri, Joe Tremaine and many more.
After earning her degree in Kinesiology from University of Minnesota, she taught and performed with Club Med Vacations in SandPiper Florida.
Miss Holly has taught several workshops at local dance schools and colleges as well as serving as a dance judge. She successfully developed, taught and staged the Minnesota Valley Family YMCA’s dance program, 1998 through 2000; while instructing group fitness classes and holding the fitness director position.
Miss Holly holds the prestigious Dance Educators of America Certification, which she received in July 2004, and is still an active member today. She passed her written, verbal and demonstration exams in the 98th percentile.
Teaching dance and mentoring the future of our world has always been Miss Holly’s true love and passion. She’s been fortunate to be able to do so for decades, and still gets excited to share her lifelong love and passion with her students
TEACHER/BALLET MISTRESS/QUALITY CONTROLLER & EXECUTOR
Miss Mandy
Miss Mandy was born and raised in Bozeman, Montana where she trained in ballet under the direction of Lynda Youth of the New York City Ballet. She also trained with the Joffrey Ballet and the Boston Ballet.
After High School, Miss Mandy focused on developing a science career and started teaching ballet.
She has enhanced her classical ballet pedagogy by becoming a certified Licentiate member of the Cecchetti Council of America and focuses her teaching on technique, artistry and injury prevention.
Miss Mandy loves sharing her passion and joy for classical ballet and hopes to instill her love for ballet in all of the students she teaches.
Miss Annabelle
TEACHER / STRATEGIST
Miss Annabelle grew up dancing in the Twin cities and is entering her 11th year of teaching.
She has won numerous awards including choreography and overall as both dancer and choreographer for her tap, musical theatre, acro and jazz dances.
Miss Annabelle has performed at the Twin Cities Tap Festival, in Elite Tap Feet. She was the Captain of her High School Dance Team where she was named South Suburban Conference Honorable Mention and a member of the MN All-State Jazz Team. She is currently Vice President of the Twin Cities Tap Festival Board.
She graduated from the university of St Thomas with a B.S in Mechanical Engineering. While at St. Thomas, she was a 4 year member and 2 year captain of the St. Thomas Cheer Team.
In her spare time, she enjoys rhinestoning, traveling and spending time with her cat Snoopy.
TEACHER / MENTORSHIP COORDINATOR
Miss Abbie
Miss Abbie grew up dancing around the Twin Cities.
She has won multiple judges choice, title and overall awards as a competitive dancer and teacher. She performed in the Twin Cities Tap Festival as a student showcase performer for the 4 years and was a member of Elite Tap Feet.
Miss Abbie feels mentorship is a valuable part of being a competitive dancer; she was an Assistant Teacher for five years and a Teacher in Training through the mentorship Program at Holly’s Dance and Mentorship.
In High School, she was a member of the Cheer Team, Dance Team and Robotics Team. Miss Abbie, is a certified Emergency Medical Technician(EMT) and is currently in school for her BSN.
In her free time, she enjoys trying new coffees and spending time with her cats.
TEACHER
Miss Jane
Miss Jane is from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and began dancing at three years old at Chanhassen Dance and Performing Arts Center where she danced until graduating from high school, 11 out of 15 years competitively.
She graduated from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities with a double major in Dance and English, where she had the opportunity to perform and study with many prominent teachers and choreographers in Minnesota. She has trained in modern, ballet, contemporary, tap, jazz, lyrical, musical theater, and improvisation.
This is Miss Jane’s fifth year teaching at Holly’s Dance and Mentorship, where she is a teacher for both our recreational and competition programs. She loves sharing her passion for dance with her students in a variety of styles including contemporary, lyrical, jazz, and musical theater.
She works at Mackin Educational Resources as a Summary Writer where she gets to spend all day doing her other favorite thing: reading books. In her spare time, she loves reading, photography, and spending time in nature.
Miss Katie
TEACHER
Miss Katie has been dancing since she was four years old. She’s been at Holly’s 21 years, starting her 22nd year! Dancer for 15 years and teacher for 6 years. She was a member of Miss Holly’s First Competition Team.
Miss Katie danced competitively from the age of 11 for both Miss Holly’s Studio as well as the Lakeville Starliners Middle School Dance Team. In High School, Katie also danced varsity for the Lakeville South Cougar Dance Team in both High Kick and Jazz, where she helped the team make it to the finals and place 5th in State two years in a row. While in High School, she was also an Assistant Teacher at the studio helping to mentor younger dancers.
Miss Katie is well versed in all genres of dance but she especially loves to share her passion for Contemporary and Lyrical with her students. She also loves to help students improve their technique and learn new skills, helping them gain confidence when they are competing or performing in our Annual Recital.
Miss Katie graduated from Winona State University in December 2020 where she majored in Elementary Education and minored in Dance. During her 4 years at Winona State, Katie continued her dance training and enjoyed having the opportunity to both choreograph and perform, along with her peers, at the Annual Winona State Dancescape Performances held each spring.
Katie currently teaches full time at Parkview Elementary as a Title One Interventionist. In her free time she enjoys camping and spending time with her family and friends and cuddling with her cats Bailey & Blue.
Miss Kiera
TEACHER
Miss Kiera is a Minnesota native and spent the most formative years of her dance training and competition with us at Holly’s Dance and Mentorship
Miss Kiera is well versed in many genres of dance as well as holding her certification in Cecchetti Grade I and pursuing her certification in Grade II
She recently graduated from the University of Northwestern St. Paul with her B.S in Psychology and minor studies in Dance.
Miss. Kiera is thrilled to continue teaching at the studio this year, supporting students in finding their love of dance, movement, and community.
Miss Izabella
TEACHER
Miss Izabella went to her first dance performance at the age of 3 and immediately fell in love and signed up at a local dance studio. Shortly after, she realized she also had a passion for teaching an choreography. This passion led her to offer free dance classes out of her garage.
Over her 20 years of dancing she has trained in contemporary, modern, lyrical, ballet, tap, hip hop, salsa, bachata, and more.
After graduating from Larkin Dance Studio, she went on to pursue a degree in education at Hamline university. While attending Hamline, she founded a dance organization that went on to perform and compete at the national level.
Miss Izabella is excited to share her passion and knowledge with her students and become part of the amazing work of Holly’s Dance and Mentorship.
WELCOME! Miss Sydney
TEACHER
Miss Sydney began her dance journey at just three years old under the guidance of Miss Holly, who instilled in her a lifelong passion for movement and artistry. She continued training with Miss Holly until graduating from The St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, where she attended high school and pursued an intensive focus on dance.
Continuing to dance after graduation, Miss Sydney has performed featured roles in classical productions such as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle, Copellia, Don Quixote, Cinderella, Peter and the Wolf and The Sleeping Beauty. She is currently a company dancer with Continental Ballet Company where she continues to perform and pursue her passion for dance.
Miss Sydney is passionate about mentorship, positivity, and finding the freedom to be able to express yourself through movement. She hopes to help students of all ages build confidence, explore creativity, grow both technically and artistically, and discover their own unique love for dance.
In her spare time, she enjoys camping, making art, and spending time with her family and beagle, Murphy.
Miss Amber
OFFICE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Miss Amber is starting her second Dance season with Holly's assisting at the front desk.
She has been involved with dance in some capacity since she was a dancer herself. Her love for dance has been seen in a studio competitively for 12+ years, on her High School Dance Team and continuing at the University of Wisconsin River Falls with their Dance Team & Dance Theatre Program.
She has also taught dance and assisted at Holly's a couple of times.
Outside of dance, Miss Amber spends her time as a Building Secretary at Parkview Elementary School and spends time with her husband and two boys.
Miss Andreea
OFFICE & OPERATIONS MANAGER
Miss Andreea was born and raised in Romania, where she started her education. She has a Bachelor Degree in International Relations and European Studies and a Masters Degree in Public Policies and Advocacy.
Ever since she was young, she was always very attentive to details and had a strong creative side, and when she moved to Minnesota in 2015, she realized that her passion lied elsewhere and that life was too short to not follow that path. She earned a diploma in Graphic Design, and is now freelancing as a graphic designer.
She has found happiness and fulfillment in her passion, and it is her hope to use this passion to inspire and encourage the dancers at Holly’s Dance and Mentorship to believe in themselves and follow their own dreams as well.