Teachers Make the Difference

Mari Jo Irbe Barker

Mari Jo, an accomplished performer, choreographer, rehearsal director and teacher, is originally from La Grange, Illinois, and has called Chicago “home” during much of her career. She has been a featured performer with River North Dance Chicago (RNDC), under the direction of both Sherry Zunker and Frank Chaves, for 15 years and continued on as rehearsal director for another 10 years. She has toured extensively, performing works by internationally acclaimed choreographers. Mari Jo also danced with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and toured the United States and Mexico with Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre, under the direction of Randy Duncan. In addition to her extensive modern and jazz background, Mari Jo has been a guest artist with Especially Tap Co., under the direction of Bruce Stegmann. In 2001, MJ received the “Ruth Page Chicago and Music Alliance Dance Achievement Award”. From August 2001 to April 2002, MJ danced for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL) “Adventure Of The Seas” production cast, under the direction of Harrison McEldowney and Sherry Zunker. Mari Jo continues to choreograph, and teach, extensively throughout the metropolitan area, nationally, and internationally. She is currently on faculty at Loyola University of Chicago and serves as the Dance Minor advisor for LUC’s dance department. Mari Jo is thrilled to be a “certified elite BeMoved® instructor”. (A dance fitness experience, designed by Sherry Zunker, for adults of all ages and skill levels).

Pat Doyle

Pat has taught in the area for the past 40 years. Her training was at Stone Cameron, Gus Giordano, and Anida Sedala. Pat studied with Bruce Stegman and has received her Grade One Cecchetti teacher’s degree. She has choreographed a number of community productions including ones at Morten Jr. College and Stevenson High School  and is the costumer for Prospect High School and the District 214 Summer Musical program.  Pat also taught for Stevenson High School’s Odyssey program and is a CDE Lifetime member of CNADM. She is celebrating 28 years as director of Kids Dance Express, Pre-school Creative Dance Program and is the proud co-owner of D & G Dancewear. Pat has received her jazz teacher certification in Giordano Jazz technique.

Casey Gunther

Casey began her dance training at McDonald Dance Academy at the age of 3. From childhood through high school, Casey was a member of the Arlington Dance Ensemble, where she was a part of many performance opportunities including The Winter Gala, The Giordano Dance Showcase, Dance for Life Next Generation, and many others. Casey also was the lead choreographer for Dynamite Dancers, a Special Education dance group at John Hersey High School. Upon graduating, Casey received the Distinguished Artist Award Scholarship at Hope College, where she received her BA in Dance Performance and Choreography as well as psychology. Casey trained in ballet, jazz, modern, tap, and choreography. Casey has been fortunate enough to work with many wonderful choreographers including Matthew Farmer, Sharon Wong, Steven Iannacone, and Linda Graham. She has also performed in local choreography showcases including Dance X, the Student Dance Showcase at Hope College and the Inaside Choreography Competition. In her spare time, Casey loved to volunteer at a local arts Center in Michigan for adults and teens with various cognitive and physical abilities. Casey is beyond excited to be back in Chicago and find out where her dance career will take her next. She is also full of gratitude to be back at the studio that ignited her passion for dance, but this time as a teacher working with the next generation of dancers. 

Jenna Jozefowski

Jenna graduated from The University of Akron in 2006 with a BA in Dance and a minor in Business Administration. Professionally, she has performed with Joel Hall Dancers II, RASA Dance Chicago, Chicago Dance Crash, and Chicago Tap Theatre. She has worked as an independent performance artist and choreographer; performing and presenting her work in Rebound Dance Festival, Dance Chicago, the Inaside Choreographic Sponsorship Event and Chicago Freelance Dance, to name a few. She is a member of the Midwest Committee of the Cecchetti Council of America and currently holds a Grade IV Teacher’s Certificate. She has completed her iTap Teacher training as well as the Tap Teacher Training Program with American Tap Dance Foundation in NYC. She has been on faculty at Carthage College and several Chicago area studios, where she also serves as director of the tap performance companies. Jenna is also an E-RYT 200 yoga instructor and a NASM certified personal trainer, and loves using her knowledge of strength & conditioning to help her students improve their dancing.

Katie Calandra Kritek

Katie graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a BS in Dance and Dance Education and completed her M.Ed. from National-Louis University.  She has been an active member of the Chicago dance community as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer for 25 years.  She is the Dance Coordinator and a teacher in New Trier High School’s Dance Division.  Katie is the recipient of the 2021 Shape America National Dance Teacher of the Year award after being named the 2019 Illinois AHPERD Dance Educator of the Year.  She has taught dance at McDonald Dance Academy for 23 years and is excited to be a part of the staff at Arlington Dance Academy.  She lives locally with her husband and two kids.

Caroline Kuhl

Caroline began her training at Hubbard Street and the Gus Giordano schools. Since graduating with honors from I.S.U. with a B.S. in theater and dance she has enjoyed teaching, choreographing and performing. Experiences include: Light Opera Works, Pheasant Run Dinner Theater, Zebra Crossing Theater, Temporary Theater, Motivity, Zephyr Dance, Ameba Dance, Duets for my Valentine, Chi-Town Jazz Dance, several Las Vegas shows and a tour in Japan. A long time teacher on the north shore, Caroline keeps busy taking tap and jazz class with Julie Cartier and Pilates/yoga with Jennifer Alesi as well as chasing after her teenage daughter.

Tatum Lang

Tatum began dancing at the age of three in the small town of Waconia, Minnesota. Throughout her teen years, Tatum attended summer intensive programs, including Joffrey Ballet School NYC, School of Ballet Arizona, and Kansas City Ballet School. Tatum graduated from the University of Iowa in 2021 with a BFA in Dance and a Certificate in Arts Entrepreneurship. During her time at UI, she worked with reputable choreographers including: Shannon Alvis, Christopher Rasheem-McMillan, Eloy Barragan, Britt Juleen,
and Armando Duarte. While at UI, she performed in the Iowa Dance Festival, the Harvest Contemporary Dance Festival in Chicago, and at Hollins University for Eloy Barragan’s Master’s Thesis “Ashes in the Air.” One of the highlights of her college career includes working closely with Shannon Alvis as a soloist in her work The Love of Souls in 2018. Following graduation, she promptly moved to Chicago to further pursue her love of dance. She danced as an ensemble member of Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre for the 2022-2023 season, where she trained with, and performed works by Shannon Alvis, Katlin Bourgeois, and Monique Haley. In addition, she also freelances around the Chicago area. With over 7 years of teaching experience, Tatum is so grateful for the role dance plays in her life and finds joy in sharing her knowledge and love of dance through finding connection with her students. She strives to create a healthy and fun classroom environment where students can be their genuine selves as they pursue excellence in dance.

Celine Spinka O’Brien

Celine grew up training in her hometown of Redding, California. She is a graduate from Butler University with a major in Dance Pedagogy. She spent summers training at The Jillana School, Long Beach Ballet, Ballet West, Ballet Met, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and River North Dance Chicago. She has been fortunate to work with teachers and choreographers such as Frank Chavez, Lesley Telford, Ronn Stewart, Hanna Brictson, Noelle Kayser, Robyn Mineko Williams and Jessica Miller Tomlinson among others. Since moving to Chicago, she has danced with Moonwater Dance Project, Elements Contemporary Ballet, Cocodaco Dance Project, Little Fire Artist Collective as well as freelanced throughout the city participating in dance festivals such as Take Up Space, Going Dutch, Trifecta Dance Festival, Detroit Dance City Festival, and Dance for Life. As a choreographer, O’Brien has created work for Moonwater Dance Project main and youth companies, Little Fire Artist Collective, and Hot Crowd.

Sarah O’Keeffe

Sarah is originally from Boulder, Colorado where she began her dance training with Reverence Academy of Dance. Sarah continued her training at the University of Kansas where she earned her BFA degree in Dance. During her time at KU Sarah was appointed president of the University Dance Company as well as being honored with the Lee Family scholarship, the Kick-start award, and the Elizabeth Sherbon Award for Dance. Sarah has been honored to perform works by Melissa Thodos, Regina Klenjoski, Lane Gifford, David Justin, Talia Beck, Robert McKee, and Autumn Eckman. Since moving to Chicago Sarah has worked with Inaside Dance Chicago and is currently a principal company dancer for the Trifecta Dance Collective. She also works as a free-lance dancer and choreographer for many projects in the city. When not dancing herself Sarah loves sharing her passion for dance with her students around Chicagoland.

Irfan Qurashi

Born in India, raised in New York and dancing in Chicago, Irfan Qurashi, found his passion for dance at 13 years old, Irfan Qurashi has taught in the Chicago Community at various workshops, company classes & studios for the past 10 years with a specialization in hip-hop, street styles, commercial dance, as well as contemporary fusion. Irfan is currently teaching at Dance and Music Academy, where he serves as the director of the hip-hop program. Irfan also currently teaches at All About Dance in Chicago, serving as an instructor for the recreational program as well as a choreographer for their upper division hip-hop company. Irfan also teaches recreational hip-hop at Dance Center Evanston and serves as a choreographer for Evanston Dance Ensemble. Irfan also directs & films his own passion-project, Deja Reve – a convergence of dance & film to showcase talented pre-professional young students through a cinematic lens.

Rachel Schmidt

Rachel Schmidt was born and raised in Santa Cruz, CA and received her early dance training from Robert Kelley and Diane Cypher of Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. After graduating from Butler University with a degree in Dance she joined the Alonzo King LINES Ballet training program and danced as a company member of dawsondanceSF in San Francisco, CA. She later joined Brooklyn Ballet and Visions Contemporary Ballet in New York, NY and performed at the Guggenheim Museum during Dance Lab NY’s Alchemy Lab Cycle. She has performed in works choreographed by Gerald Arpino, Alonzo King, Maurya Kerr, Sidra Bell, Gregory Dawson, Wade Schaaf, Mike Tyus and Kia Smith. She is currently in her third season with Chicago Repertory Ballet under the direction of Wade Schaaf.

Julie Senft

Julie grew up in Mt Prospect, IL and graduated with honors from the University of Iowa with a BFA in Dance and a Minor in Sociology. She performed in a variety of works at Iowa, trained with many talented artists, and also got to study Samba Dance and Music abroad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Julie went on to dance professionally with Inaside Chicago Dance for 7 years and got to perform locally as well as internationally. She was also Inaside’s Rehearsal Director as well as the Youth Program Director. Julie was a judge in both regional and national dance competitions for Applause Talent Competition for several years. While Julie has always loved to perform, she loves sharing her passion for dance with her students through her teaching and choreography.

Corinne Sigler

Corinne’s joy to inspire children through dance started at the age of twelve. She earned her BFA from the University of Illinois and was a faculty member in the Dance Department. Her choreography was chosen to close the university’s annual Studio Dance II performance for four consecutive years. Corinne’s work wasn’t limited to campus; she taught and choreographed for students at local studios for education and performances. Out of college she worked and performed with Chicago Dance Medium, Chicago Dance Crash and RASA. For the past 20 years she has taught ballet, tap, pointe, modern and tumbling to dancers ages three through adult. Corinne has worked with many dance legends, including Debbie Allen, Dianne Walker, Mark Morris, Lynn Simonson, Robert Reed, Sam Weber, Gregory Hines, and Savion Glover. She received scholarships from Dance for Life, Joel Hall Dance, California Institute of the Arts and Melissa Thodos. In addition to performing for U of I and Chicago-based choreographers, she performed in NYC, Minnesota and Disneyworld. She was featured on NBC with the Chicago Human Rhythm Project. Corinne’s passion for dance is contagious to her students, and she enjoys her commitment to ADA. 

Christine Wellner

Christine grew up dancing at the North Suburban School of Dance in Northbrook, Illinois. She continued her training in ballet, tap, jazz, and modern at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign while earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She performed in and choreographed numerous musical theater productions such as West Side Story, Hair, A Chorus Line, Guys and Dolls, and Grease. After a career in nonprofit administration, she returned to the dance studio as a teacher, specializing in early childhood ballet and creative movement at various locations around the northern suburbs. Christine currently serves as the choreographer for Harmony Youth Theatre of Arlington Heights. She’s excited to move joyfully with the newest generation of dancers here at Arlington Dance Academy!