Escalate Biographies

	Ann Marie Omeish, owner and director, has a B.A. in dance from Gustavus Adolphus College. She has taught and choreographed dance and theater for the past twenty years in many venues throughout the region. The past five years have been spent as a Resident Artist at Stages Theatre Company. She also has extensive training in teaching, choreographing and performing ballroom dance.
	Kyia Gullickson has been involved in dance since the age of 5. She has had training in ballet, lyrical, modern, tap, jazz, funk/hip hop and kickline. Kyia danced with the Wayzata High School Trojet dance team and was captain her senior year, earning an All-Conference dancer award. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Exercise Management from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Kyia taught ballet, tap and jazz for the city of Maple Grove before teaching at Escalate. She was on the coaching staff of the Hopkins High School “Royelles” dance team for 4 years and continues to train dancers for various high school dance teams in her Jazz Technique classes at Escalate. Kyia began her career with Escalate in October of 2004 and looks forward to teaching and helping manage the studio for many years to come!
	Beth Brody performed children's ballet roles in Chicago and solo roles in high school with Omaha Civic Ballet. She continued ballet studies at The Royal Ballet School, London. She received a BA in elementary education from Grinnell College and an MFA in dance from CalArts. She's performed, taught, and choreographed in Minnesota for twenty years. She has also taught in Iowa, Wisconsin, and New Zealand. She's been a visiting teacher in California and New York. Early in her career, she received choreography fellowships from MICA/McKnight and the NEA. She looks forward to working with today's young performers.
	Todd Bruse is a working actor with a great history of ensemble created work. His experience with the Dell’ Arte Player’s Company in Blue Lake California as well as study at Chicago’s Second City E.T.C. Program offer a powerful combination of improvisational skill and a love for physical theatre. When not performing, Todd leads classes in Mask, Improvisation, Commedia, and other elements of theatre. He has taught as a Resident Artist Instructor for Stages Theatre Company’s Conservatory Program, The Main Street School for the Performing Arts, Bethune Elementary, Blake, and a number of workshops in the public school systems of Minneapolis and Chicago. Todd is dedicated to offering theatre students a tool to understanding themselves and the world around them. This experience and understanding gained will lead to emotionally connected scene development in any given moment.
	Doree Du Toit earned her certification as a VMT Practitioner under the insightful instruction of Carolyn Campfield and Barbara Salzberg at the Voice Movement Therapy Institute in St. Paul, Minnesota. Since certification she has been actively working in the VMT field with individual clients, groups, choirs, and natural childbirth classes. Doree is co-founder of the Wild Horizon Workshop which integrates drawing with the powerful elements VMT to help participants expand their unique artistic voice. Her studio spaces are located in Maple Grove and St. Paul, Minnesota.
	Sheila Casey is presently pursuing a BFA in Dance with a Business minor at the University of Minnesota and is a member of the Student Dance Coalition. She is a graduate of Heartbeat Studios Academy Program, having earned majors in tap, jazz, modern and ballet, as well as receiving the Academy Program's Student Choreographer of the Year award. Sheila perfomred at venues such as Old Arizona Theater, First Avenue Nightclub and the Fitzgerald Theater while studying at Heartbeat. She also studied under Master Teachers Dianne Walker, Yukiko Misumi, ARTN Studio, Tokyo, and Tim Hickey, a founder of Northwest Tap Festival-Seattle. At age 16, Sheila was cast by audition for an internship with Vox Medusa Dance Company, performing in the production Transcendance, and then joined the Company after the performance. Sheila has worked as a choreographer for Stillwater High School and Stillwater Community Theater, including productions of Pajama Game, A Midsummer's Night Dream, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and for the South St. Paul Community Theater production, Best of Broadway II. She has also worked for the South Family YMCA as Lead Youth Dance Instructor, and the South St. Paul Gymnastics Program, creating and running a ballet training program for gymnasts. Sheila is currently a co-owner of Promised Land Productions, a company whose mission is to impact the community through dance.
	Angela Mannella is a professional actor, dancer and choreographer. She began her career as a child actor with Children's Theater Company. Since then, she has acted in shows with the Guthrie Theater, Old Log Theater, Actor's Theater of Minnesota, Pantages Theater and many others. She also played Whitley, the Head Cheerleader in The Awesome 80s Prom at Hennepin Stages. Angela will be playing Regan in King Lear this spring. Angela has danced with the Minnesota Dance Theater and as part of Paul McCartney's Back in the US tour. She has choreographed shows for Stages Theater Company, Actor's Theater of Minnesota, Saint Norbert College and many high school and middle school productions. Angela has done a number of commercials including being the spokesperson for American Furniture. But she is most excited about her most recent role as a mother. Angela gave birth to a beautiful baby boy this October!
	Erin Cooney is an Associate Member of Cumann Rince Naisiunta (CRN) 'the National Dance Association of Ireland' and has attended Irish dance teacher training workshops in New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, and Ireland. Erin spent a semester of study in Galway, Ireland during her college years and recently traveled back to Ireland to take her first series of exams for the Irish Dance Teacher Diploma. Erin holds a BA in Communication from the College of Saint Benedict and directs the Cooney School of Irish Dance.
	Katie Schlosser has been dancing since she was 3 years old with a focus on ballet. At just 22 years old, Katie brings a fresh perspective as a dance instructor, applying the benefits of competitive dance as she inspires her students to find their own unique style. Trained under Leslie Daly, a few of Katie’s accomplishments include: solo and group performances around the country, auditioning with the Oklahoma City University Dance Program where she was offered a scholarship, and receiving the Distinguished Artists Award from Hope College in Holland, Michigan in 2004. Katie’s maturity and passion to teach dance landed her a teaching assistant position at 14 years old. She continues to learn while teaching at Escalate Dance and Theatre Studio to stay on the cutting edge of her desire to be a role model who influences poise, presence and a positive self-image. Katie is also a student at the University of Minnesota studying finance.
	Laura Kirkeby has been involved with dance and theater for many years. At a young age she performed in many plays including Christmas Carol and Babes in Arms at the Guthrie Theater. Laura danced at Dancin’ on Broadway for many years and began competing in 5th grade. She has taken classes at Ballet of the Arts, and attended training intensives taught by various instructors from around the country. Besides ballet, Laura has studied lyrical, tap, pointe, modern and jazz. She is currently attending the University of Minnesota’s Dance program and is in her sophomore year of college there. Laura is very excited to be part of the teaching staff here at Escalate Dance and Theatre Studio and share her passion for dance with others.
	Tracy Lindley is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a bachelor degree in Communication Studies. Her professional career began with four years as a Cognitive Rehabilitation Specialist for traumatically brain injured as well as stroke patients. She then transitioned into Human Resources where she spent the next five years. Her Human Resources experience began in employee benefits, handling administration of over 5,000 hospital employees. Tracy later moved into a Generalist position with a small, privately owned company where she was responsible for the entire spectrum of Human Resource Management. She then spent the next six years being a stay-at-home mother of two. Tracy began her journey into the dance and theatre studio world when her daughter started showing an interest in dancing and singing in 2004. While researching options for her daughter she came upon this wonderful studio where kids could be kids while dancing just for the love of dancing without the pressure she was finding at other studios. During an interview she had with Ann Marie while trying to choose the best fit for her daughter she remembered Ann Marie saying, “If the kids don’t leave class feeling better about themselves than they did when they got here, then we are not doing our job.” After watching her live those words throughout the following year while instructing her daughter, Tracy jumped at the opportunity to become a part of Ann Marie’s mission. She is proud to tell people that she is the Studio Manager of Escalate Dance and Theatre Studio. It is a wonderful feeling to be a part of something that you know is making a difference for so many.
	Heather Leadens started her dancing career at the age of 3 and began competing at Dance Shoppe and Youngquest Performing Arts Company starting in 4th grade. In high school, Heather danced on the Maple Grove Dance team for 3 years. She is trained in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, Character, High-Kick, Jazz Funk, and Liturgical. Heather taught liturigical dance for 3 years at Maple Grove Lutheran Church. She just recently graduated from college with a degree in Respiratory Therapy and specialized in Pediatrics and Neonates. Heather's love of working with children and teaching them her passion of dance has her looking forward to working at Escalate for many years to come.
	Susie Campbell has been studying and performing dance since she was 9 years old spanning ballet, jazz, tap and modern. She studied dance and theater while attending and graduating from the Children's Theater Company High School in Minneapolis, and went on to futher her study of theater at the University of Minnesota and dance at Boston University in its School of Fine Arts. After college, she became a franchisee with Jazzercise, and taught at a dance exercise studio in Boston until 1988. Upon relocating to Minneapolis, she continued teaching Jazzercise until 1993. In 1998 she became an instructor at The Dance Shoppe and remained there for 8 years, where she taught chldren 3-18 as well as performed and competed in the women's dance group. She also recently became the head coach of the Osseo High School Varsity Dance Team, and has reinstated as a current Jazzercise instuctor. She has four teenage daughters at home who are all involved in some way with dance, music or the theater arts. She joined Escalate in 2007 where she continues to enjoy teaching the joy of dance and theater, especially to children.