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| Chanhassen Dance Connection has some of the most talented teachers in the industry. Meet our teachers. . . | |
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Melissa Grannis is not only the owner/director/instructor of the Dance Connection, but also its’ creator.
She has been teaching and choreographing tap, jazz, ballet and creative movement to students of all ages in the Rosemount area for over 20 years. Melissa has also had the opportunity to study with top instructors and choreographers from New York and Los Angeles. |
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Michelle Banbury has over 25 years of dance experience in jazz, lyrical, musical theatre, ballet, tap and hiphop. She has studied at the Larkin Dance studio, Zenon Dance, Ballet Arts, Tremaine in L.A. and Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in New York.
Michelle has been teaching for the last 13 years and has won many choreography awards at dance competitions. Along with competing and winning at many competitions in Minnesota as a soloist, she has performed in the pre-show for Crazy For You at the Ordway Theatre, danced at the Walt Disney Production at the State Theatre in Minneapolis, along with Vanessa Williams; she has danced and modeled for Polaris of St. Paul, Minnesota and has choreographed the famous local Christmas show for performer Lori Line. |
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Trey Barber has been teaching and choreographing for the last 14 years across the country. He comes to us from Salt Lake City, Utah and has relocated here, ready to share his talents with all of us. 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. SInce his arrival in Minnesota in 2005, Trey has worked with the Minnesota Timberwolves Dancers, St. Cloud State Dance Team, Eden Prairie Pom Squad, University of Minnesota dance team, and enjoyed his victory at the Minnesota State Fair grandstand performance in his first year of competition. |
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Melissa Rogers (Missy) is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in Marketing, Dance, and Leadership. She started dance at the age of 3 in Cleveland Ohio, and moved to Minnesota where she studied under Renee Anchor at Chanhassen Dance and Performing Arts Center for 10 years. There, she danced on a competition team, and competed numerous solo’s. Missy has also preformed at Walt Disney World, and has traveled to New York to take classes at the Broadway Dance Studio.
Currently Missy is working at TREND enterprises Inc. in New Brighton, MN. There she works in Human Resources, and is planning to attend Law School in the near future. Missy has taught at other competitive dance studios in the Metro area, and is very excited to be back at Chanhassen Dance. She is looking forward to sharing her love and passion for Dance with all students. |
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Emily Schmitz
Dance experience:
Trained with top ballet instructors Michelle Lucci and Ted Kivet
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Patty Vannucci has a passion for teaching proper ballet technique both as a basis for more advanced ballet as well as a foundation for all forms of dance. Patty has been dancing for many years beginning in high school on a competition dance line. She currently performs with the Lipa Slovak dancers and has been performing in The Academy of Russian Ballet’s Nutcracker for 3 years. For the past 10+ years she has studied ballet at numerous schools throughout the Twin Cities. Patty has also been very active in performance productions providing Stage management for numerous shows. Patty actively attends classes in classical and character ballet. |
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Ali Morrissey is an experienced dancer, choreographer,
coach and instructor. She is also currently a cheerleader
for the Minnesota Vikings. She joins Chanhassen Dance PAC after performing in Crash Dance Productions and coaching dance lines. She is no stranger to coaching and choreographing. Ali has provided private lessons assisting dancers in reaching their goals by improving technique and dance team styles. She has taught and choreographed advanced jazz routines and intermediate contemporary routines in other metro studios. Ali has also coached and choreographed for the Eden Prairie High School Dance Team and Chaska Middle School Dance Team leading them to win First place at the Wayzata Invitational in 2009. She was an accomplished member of the Eden Prairie High School Varsity Dance Team winning multiple awards all four years she started at the Varsity level. Ali and her teammates won the All Conference Award '05-06, '06-'07, and '07-'08. She has been awarded Rookie of the Year, Heather Habeck Award, Outstanding Dancer Award, and made the All American Team at NDA. Joining the Chanhassen Dance PAC team, Ali hopes to inspire dancers to have fun, learn and explore their own passion. |
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Brianna Collins has been a studio dancer for 15 years and 11 of them as a competitive dancer where she has won numerous awards and dance scholarships. Brianna has trained in many forms of dance including Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical and Hip Hop and has taken master classes from our own Trey Barber, Brian Friedman, Dave Scott, Shane Sparks and many other Choreographers. She performed at Walt Disney World, Lynx and Timberwolves games.
Brianna has been teaching for 5 years 3 of those years with dancers who have competed in local competitions. |
Chanhassen Dance Connection
1250 Park Road
Chanhassen, Minnesota, 55317
952-934-8840