Dance Staff

Dance Program Coordinator
tlawrence@mcfetridgesportscenter.net
Classes: Ballet, Jazz, Acrobatics, Tap

Tiffani is the coordinator for the McFetridge Dance Studio, as well as a ballet, jazz, tap, and acrobatics instructor. She started dancing when she was 3 years old, started teaching when she was 12, and hasn’t looked back since then! She received Bachelor’s degrees in both Dance and Education from Kansas State University. She was the first dance instructor hired at McFetridge and has seen and helped the program grow immensely in a short period of time. Tiffani has experience teaching ballet, acrobatics, jazz, musical theater, hip-hop, and modern to dancers both young and old. She believes in the power of dance to improve students both physically and mentally, and she hopes to fuse her dance experience, education experience, and a deep care for every student into her program.

Classes: Ballet, Tap, Musical Theater

Born and raised in Chicago, Marissa began taking ballet and tap classes at the age of three years old. As a teen she decided to expand her horizons by joining her studio’s competition team and by taking jazz and musical theatre classes. Marissa began her teaching journey at the age of 15 when she began assisting tot and youth students in their combination ballet and tap classes. During her four years of college, she participated in her school’s dance company where she performed multiple dances in the company’s yearly spring showcase. She contributed to the showcase her junior and senior years by choreographing an advanced tap number for the show.

Marissa aims to provide dancers with a dance environment where they feel that they can express themselves freely through dance while also ensuring that they are receiving proper dance technique. Her goals are to share her love of dance with younger generations of dancers and to be a positive role model and mentor to her students.

Classes: Ballet

Always a curious individual, Alexa started dancing at a young age, when she initially crashed her older sister's ballet class. She started broad - studying ballet, tap, and jazz. Alexa ultimately focused on ballet and had the opportunity to study with professional companies - The Fresno Ballet and Singapore Dance Theater. While an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, she was a founding member of Ballet Club at Berkeley. Though she loves ballet, she has had the opportunity to explore other forms of dance and is an adult student of hip hop, commercial jazz, and salsa. Originally from California, Alexa has lived in Grand Cayman, Singapore, and the Philippines - all places where she had opportunities to  learn and teach dance. Through her years as a dancer, she believes that dance is a way for people to express emotions without words, and a way for young dancers to develop the skills of discipline, dedication, and determination. She hopes to share her love of dance with others through being an instructor with McFetridge. 

Classes: Hip-Hop 

Human. Story Teller. Creative. Mover. Artist. Athlete. Shape Shifter. Community Builder.

Rina is a Boricua Chicago Native who's a Student/Caregiver by day, and Dancer by night. When she's not hitting the books or taking care of the little ones, she's moving and grooving to the beat of what's in her heart.

Rina is involved in Chicago's street dance communities. Her main focus is to share, uplift, preserve, nurture, and assist in building respect for Chicago's street dance culture and communities. Rina gained her knowledge and experiences from the various roles and responsibilities such as but not limited to street dance/battle culture practitioner, performer, event hostess/organizer, MC, and dance/movement instructor. She's worked and collaborated with but not limited to BSeries Columbia College Chicago, World Of Dance Chicago, and Red Bull Dance Your Style Chicago. 

Her dance journey is an ongoing self exploration, rediscovery and healing practice in embracing herself as an artist by loving her trustest self unapologetically and embodying her macsuline and feminine energies. Rina aims to give to others what dance has given to her. 

She is always eager to learn and share her love and passions while providing safe and non judgmental spaces of expression, love, and art through music, dance, and movement. 

Classes: Salsa, Bachata, Cumbia

Edith is McFetridge's new Salsa dancing teacher. She has been dancing for over 10 years and enjoys many latin dances such as salsa, bachata, merengue, cumbia, and banda - the music calls to her. She first learned to dance salsa in Southern Illinois and has since been a part of the dancing scene in various communities, most recently in Southern California. Edith has taught salsa dancing on college campuses, to high school students, and continues to be a learner of new dance moves. She believes that dancing is a language that, once learned, can help people find a community anywhere in the world. She is eager to teach others the universal language of latin dancing and bring others into the welcoming latin dance community.

Classes: Ballet

Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Gretchen Plinke studied at Loyola University Chicago to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Dance in Anthropology. Gretchen has studied ballet, Humphrey, Graham, and contemporary techniques under Loyola faculty and now dances professionally with Venetia Stifler and Concert Dance Inc. Prioritizing bringing a humanistic, holistic approach to teaching and performing, Gretchen values rigorous individual artistic exploration. Gretchen believes dance is for everyone and can provide a vehicle for personal growth and connection to others. She loves teaching children’s dance throughout Chicago and is excited to continue to learn and grow with the young dancers at McFetridge!

Classes: Musical Theater

B is a Chicago native who grew up training in jazz, tap, and musical theater. She performed in and co-choreographed musicals all throughout high school and did 2 years as a Musical Theater major and dance minor in college. After covid she started pursuing dance professionally and now performs and trains primarily in hip hop and commercial dance styles, as well as continues to sing and train in musical theater. She is currently assisting choreographer and mentor Domé Lorusso, a dance captain and choreographer for Judith Priest, and rehearsal director for Met Down. In her non-dance time you can catch her practicing yoga or watching sports.