Meet Our Summer 2025 Guest Artists

Julie Chapnick and Asha Gangolli

will be teaching our Ballet Intensive in June!

Julie Chapnick

Julie Chapnick began her career classically trained in the Cecchetti ballet method. She studied with the Atlantic Contemporary Ballet, American Dance Machine and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Julie received a BFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and went on to earn an MA in Dance and Dance Education with a concentration in K-12 from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education. Working with world-renowned teachers and choreographers alike, Julie performed in numerous works during her undergraduate and graduate studies. She danced with the New Dance Ensemble, 2nd Avenue Dance Company, New Dance Collective and American Dance Art with whom she performed at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Julie has served as Director of summer dance camps and intensives, worked as a Ballet Mistress and has presented her choreography in dance festivals and regional competitions. She has taught for privately owned studios, the public school system and as a volunteer for community outreach programs. She was appointed Adjunct Dance Professor at Central Piedmont Community College and Johnson C. Smith University. Since moving to Chicago, Julie has had the pleasure of being a teaching artist at the School of Performing Arts, Academy of Dance Arts, Hubbard Street Dance Youth Program, Dance Center Evanston and Grainger Academy, the official school of the Joffrey Ballet.

Asha Gangolli

Asha Gangolli, a native of Evanston IL, began her dance training locally with Kerry Hubata and Bea Rashid. As a student she trained across the U.S. with Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, and as a trainee with The Joffrey Ballet under the tutelage of Alexei Kremnev and Anna Reznik. During this time she worked and performed with the company in Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker, as well as Stanton Welch’s La Bayadere and Krzysztof Pastor’s Romeo and Juliet. Asha joined Alabama Ballet in 2014 and was promoted to a company dancer in 2017. Since then she has enjoyed performing principal roles including Sugar Plum Fairy and Coffee in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, Myrtha in Giselle, Rancher’s Daughter in Agnes De Mille’s Rodeo, Fourth Movement Principal in George Balanchine’s Western Symphony, Long Tall Sally in Dennis Nahat’s Blue Suede Shoes, Barbara Allen in Christopher Bruce’s Sergeant Early’s Dream, Lady Jane in Christopher Bruce’s Rooster, All the Way in Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs, and Twyla Tharp’s Baker’s Dozen. Asha is on faculty at the Alabama Ballet School and also teaches classical Pilates in the Birmingham area.

Robert Mckee and Andi Learman

will be teaching our Contemporary Intensive in July.

Robert Mckee

Robert Mckee attended Point Park University and is a former company member of Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago. He has been a guest dancer and choreographer most recently with Chicago Dance Crash, Cerqua Rivera, and other Independent projects. Robert began an interest in teaching and choreography at a very young age. Influenced by percussive rhythms and dynamic shapes, he finds himself always inspired to create.

Robert has been on faculty at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, a teacher for Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, and most recently at Point Park University. He has worked with Rockford Dance Company, The Giordano Project, Giordano Juniors, McDonald Dance Academy, Barrington High School, Northshore School of Dance Performing Ensemble, the Giordano on Giordano choreography showcase, Riverside Brookfield High School, Northern Illinois University and Framework Dance Chicago.

Andi Learman

Andi Learman was born and raised in Woodstock, Illinois. She later went on to earn a degree in Dance Business at Anderson University. While there, she worked with artists such as Earl Mosley, Eddy Ocampo and Gregory Hancock. Following her time at Anderson, Andi went off to train with Hubbard Street’s Professional Program under the direction of Alexandra Wells. Andi has had the opportunity to perform at the American College Dance Festival’s National Gala, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s 2018 winter series and New Dance’s 2020 Virtual Performance. She is currently dancing with Trifecta Dance Collective and Solarium Dance Company. Andi continues to work in various projects around the Chicagoland area while pursuing her passion for dance, choreography and teaching!

Past Guest Artists

2024 Guest Artists

Rachel Schmidt
Meghann Mueller
Braeden Barnes
Hattie Haggard Gobble

2023 Guest Artists

Shannon Alvis
Cara Hansvick
Brian Hare
Connie Sweeney

2022 Guest Artists

Lauren Blane Bogren
Bennett Cullen
Sinead Gildea
Sarah Schafer

Rachel Schmidt and Meghann Mueller

will be teaching our Ballet Intensive in June!

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.

Meghann Mueller

Originally from the Chicago area, Meghann began her early dance training at the Evanston School of Ballet, the Ruth Page Center for the Arts and the Lou Conte Dance Studio. Meghann continued her dance education at Texas Christian University where she had the opportunity to perform works by TCU faculty members, as well as by several guest artists including TCU Choreographer in Residence Fernando Bujones. She graduated from TCU, magna cum laude, with a BFA in Dance and a BA in History and returned to Chicago. In 2009, Meghann founded Project606 Dance, which for nine years was active in the Chicago arts community. She is currently the Rehearsal Director for Trifecta Dance Collective. In 2015, she joined the faculty at the Joffrey Academy of Dance and currently teaches classes in the Pre Professional, Dance Lab, Childrens and Adaptive Programs.

Braeden Barnes and Hattie Haggard Gobble

will be teaching our Contemporary Intensive in July.

Braeden Barnes

Braeden Barnes is a Chicago based director, choreographer and teacher. He found his love of choreography from a young age and has created work for over 15 years. Braeden danced professionally with companies including Balletmet, Joffrey Ballet Chicago, Billy Elliot the Musical, Nevada Ballet Theatre and Visceral Dance Chicago. He has worked with choreographers such as James Canfield, Paul Vasterling, Danielle Agami, Kevin O’Day, Mónica Cervantes, Marguerite Donlon, Matthew Neenan, and Lucas Crandall. As a choreographer, his work has been featured across the United States and abroad. Among these places, his work has won the first-place audience choice award at REVERBDance festival in New York, as well as first place for best choreography at YAGP in 2021. He has choreographed on companies such as Nevada Ballet Theatre, Cirque Du Soleil, Visceral Dance Chicago, Peoria Ballet, Waterstreet Dance Milwaukee, A&A Ballet, Common Conservatory, Indiana University Contemporary Department and for New Dances: a collaboration between Danceworks and Thodos Dance Chicago. In 2020, he started his own nonprofit danced based company, Symbiosis Arts, which is based in Chicago. Symbiosis has produced full evening performances in Chicago and Denver and has commissioned choreographers such as Anna Long, Francisco Avina, Shannan Alvis, Jason Parsons, and Noelle Kayser. Symbiosis Arts is taking an expanded approach to incorporate multiple mediums of art, in hopes of questioning norms, building unorthodox collaborations, and being open-minded about how art can be seen and consumed. In addition to Symbiosis Arts, Braeden has recently taken on the role of Co-director of Visceral Encore, a company for dancers over 35.

Hattie Haggard Gobble

Hattie Haggard Gobble is a stylistically diverse dancer and choreographer originally from Plano, TX. She has trained extensively in Contemporary, Ballet, Modern, Jazz and Hip Hop for over 25 years. She has performed around the world with companies such as Thodos Dance Chicago, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance, and Sol Dans Company. She has won multiple awards for directing, producing, and choreographing for film and stage. Alongside performing and creating, Hattie regularly teaches classes in Contemporary, Ballet, Jazz and Musical Theatre. Her students have won national tiles and titlist runners-up for competitions such as NYCDA and The Dance Awards. She feels blessed to share her enthusiasm and whimsical style with the future generations of artists.