Kathy Holtz has been teaching dance since her high school years. Her passion and enthusiasm, garnered from over 30 years on the dance floor; as well as her training as a school counselor; sets the stage for an enriching environment for students. Under Kathy’s leadership, all students are encouraged to reach their potential in dance classes, participate actively in their community, and challenge themselves as individuals both inside and outside of the dance studio.
At the age of 2, Kathy began her dance training in her hometown of Auburn, NY. She studied ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, and pointe under the instruction of Blair Pausley, Bettina Pausley, and Laura Pratt. She also was a successful competitive gymnast for 13 years. She continued her education at SUNY Geneseo where she studied psychology and sociology, and her post-graduate work earned her a Masters Degree in School Counseling from Sage Graduate School. Kathy became a Certified School Counselor in 2007. She has provided counseling services to youth in the foster care system and in the school setting. She served as Director of a dance program in Las Vegas, where her career in the professional dance world began. Kathy continued her career as a dance educator in Las Vegas and New York. After several years of dreaming, Kathy's vision for a dance studio of her own came to life! In 2015 she opened the doors to her first studio, Dance Me School of Dance and Character Development. Kathy relocated to St. Augustine in 2020 where she gained her Florida State Teacher Certification in School Counseling and has worked in the St. Johns County School District since. While Kathy has loved working in the school district, her passion for dance was too strong to ignore.
The Dance Connection has come to life as Kathy realized her true passion for working with youth is through the art of dance. The Dance Connection is not just a dance studio. The classes at the Dance Connection are positive, wholesome and fun, designed to build confidence in each student. The Dance Connection Team has a passion for both dance education and positive character development. They embrace the role they serve as role models and mentors to all students. We hope to instill the same passion in them while helping to shape them into successful, contributing members of our community.
Kathy and her team continue to progress with their professional development, while simultaneously helping their students progress through the process of dance. Kathy is a Certified Teacher and School Counselor as well as being certified in youth mental health and is working toward a certification in Acro Dance and Progressive Ballet Technique. She is considered an expert in the field of dance education as she has been teaching since 2009, however, she continues to widen her knowledge base through workshops, trainings, and other professional development.
Dawn Schlaks has been been active in dance, theatre and photography for over 36 years. She started dancing at 6 years old under Sarita Jennings at Studio Dance Contemporary in New York, studying in the styles of classical ballet, jazz, tap, pointe, lyrical and hiphop. She continued her dance training under Lisa Roth at High Performance Dance Studio where she had her first opportunity to teach dance classes which ignited her passion for teaching, thanks Lisa! Dawn started acting in middle school where she hit the stage in every play and musical throughout high school and several in college as well as community theater while continuing to dance throughout college and beyond.
After High School Dawn continued her education and holds a Bachelors Degree in Marketing and Communications from the University at Albany. She also found a passion for photography and has been professional photographer for over 15 years traveling all over the country growing her skills. She loves being able to bring her love of photography and dance together and you will see many of her images on our website and in the studio! Dawn continues her professional development in dance with trainings, workshops, online courses to keep furthering her knowledge and help her students grow. She is currently working on certifications with Progressive Ballet Technique, CLI and mUvmethod.
Dawn is a mom of three wonderful kids and brings her nurturing kindness to each class. She's always ready with a kind ear, positive re-enforcement, passion and loads of energy, and she doesn’t even drink coffee! Dawn and her family relocated to Florida in 2022 where she Kathy reunited and soon realized their passion for teaching dance was leading them back to the dance studio!
Wearing many hats is a skill that Dawn loves and carries well! She helps behind the scenes to maintain a positive studio culture and well as administration, competition, curriculum development, policies, special events and so much more! She is passionate about creating a space at the dance studio where each student feels loved and nurtured throughout their dance journey. Dawn is one of a kind and well loved amongst students and parents. She started teaching at Kathy’s first studio, Dance Me, in 2016. Dawn is beyond thrilled to be reunited with Kathy and is looking forward to many amazing years educating dancers at The Dance Connection!
Leanne grew up near Lake Tahoe, Nevada. She started dancing at a young age and trained in many forms of dance but focused primarily on tap. She grew up participating with her studio in a few dance competitions every year. At age 14 Leanne was in a small group tap routine that won first overall at a national competition. As a result, her dance company was offered the opportunity to tour to Japan. She spent 10 days dancing in Japan at age 15.
Leanne attended Brigham Young University where she was a member of the International Folk Dance Ensemble Performing Arts Company. She toured with them to Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Canada, and throughout the United States. She was also a teaching assistant for various dance classes and taught a university tap course while still a student. A true math nerd at heart, Leanne graduated with a degree in statistics with an actuarial emphasis and completed a minor in dance.
During the 2002 Winter Olympics Leanne danced in the closing ceremonies, performing with the legendary rock band KISS. Since that time Leanne’s focus has shifted to teaching. She has continued to share her love of dance through teaching at studios in Utah, Missouri, Ohio, and Florida. She loves to encourage and challenge her students! She has won choreography awards at both the regional and national level, and had routines place overall in both regional and national competitions.
While Leanne loves teaching tap, her main roles are as wife and mom to her four children.
Tiffany Shields has been active in the dance world since the age of 2. She studied dance for years with Sullivan Theater of Dance here in the Jacksonville area under the director Betty Sullivan. She loves all types of dance and has enjoyed studying in the styles of ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, modern, and pointe with many great teachers over the years; including Dulce Anaya and Joel Ruminer just to name a couple. In high school, Tiffany danced and successfully competed with many different dance and cheerleading teams, winning many national titles along the way. Her love for dance continued throughout college with her dancing for the University of Florida dance team, the “Dazzlers”, and studying dance in college and receiving a minor in dance from UF. Through these years in Gainesville, she taught many forms of dance at Joni Messler’s dance studio and enjoyed every minute. After obtaining a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Microbiology and continuing on to receive her Doctorate in Dentistry, she decided to move back to her hometown and is now so excited to share her love of dance with others through teaching again. Tiffany knows and understands that dance teachers can and do have such a lifelong influence on their students and believes that dance class and the art of dance is so much more than just dance and should be challenging but always fun!
Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, Jaci has lived in a myriad of places throughout the US and traveled abroad. This has afforded her knowledge in a broad variety of dance styles, teaching and studios. Jaci’s College training is in modern (Horton Technique), but is trained in tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, musical theatre and tumbling. She was awarded the prestigious Missouri Statewide Cappy Award in 2010 for her choreography in “Singing in the Rain” and has earned guest teacher awards for master classes at various conventions. High School included both varsity dance team and studio company competition team.
Not dancing? You can find Jaci with her Kindle on the beach or hanging with her husband Brian and their three kids Piper, Cooper, Zander and their dog Bogey.
Julie grew up in Fredericksburg, VA and started singing and dancing at a very young age. She was cast in her first professional theatre performance at 8 years old and continued to grow professionally in musical theatre. Some of her favorite roles she was cast include Kim McAfee in Bye Bye Birdie, Liesl in Sound of Music, and Belle in Beauty and the Beast among many others.
Julie moved to Orem, UT in 2008 in order to further her education in musical theatre and was selected as an Irene Ryan nominee in 2011 for her portrayal of Laurey in Oklahoma! She also performed alongside Audra McDonald in a regional production of 110 In The Shade.
Julie took a break from school in 2013 in order to start her family and in the meantime earned her Certified Personal Training certificate to be a personal trainer. She also recently went back to school and earned her Bachelors Degree in Family Science, and is pursuing a master's degree in Mental Health Counseling with an emphasis on child and adolescent therapy.
Some of her non-dance hobbies that she loves doing are DIY projects in her home, binge watching tv shows, napping, and going on cruises around the world.
She is excited to be a teacher in the Dance Connection family!
Photo and Bio coming soon!
Meet Lasana, our passionate dance instructor whose journey with teaching children spans various traditional and unconventional settings. From traditional studio environments to teaching freshmen in high school and working with public middle schools and competition teams, Lasana has honed her skills in inspiring young dancers. Her secret sauce for creating engaging and educational dance classes involves incorporating their favorite music, weaving fun stories, and introducing silly moves to keep them connected and involved in the movement. To break the ice and empower shy kiddos, Lasana engages them by inviting them to teach her something or playfully guessing their names, fostering moments of connection and excitement. What truly brings joy to Lasana's heart is witnessing her students' confidence grow as they become comfortable with the moves and eagerly showcase them to their parents and classmates. She cherishes the moments when trust is built, making each class a fun and exciting experience. Beyond dance, Lasana's quirky passions include diving into her extensive Books to Read list and experimenting with new recipes to delight her and her husband's taste buds. Join Lasana for a dance journey filled with creativity, connection, and culinary adventures!
I’m Emily, I have been dancing since I was 6 years old and competed from the age 8 until I graduated. Over the years I’ve had the privilege of teaching classes such as hip hop in my high school’s dance program and lyrical/ contemporary at my childhood studio. My largest goal as a dance teacher is to provide students with not only the knowledge of the dance world, but the meaning behind their movement. I love to see dancers embrace their talent by working hard and diving deep into their emotions to show the artwork of dance. Most of my dance experience comes from what ie learned from the many dance conventions ive gone to. If im not dancing, I love to study astrology and go to the beach to catch some sun. Im super excited to be a part of this team, and so overjoyed with the family get to be apart of!
Ashlyn has been dancing since she was six years old and she started assisting her own dance teachers at age ten in the two to six year old classes. She has taken ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, modern, pre pointe, pointe, hip hop, and Bollywood. Her favorites being tap, Bollywood, and contemporary.
She currently works in a daycare with infants during the day and is looking forward to working towards her bachelors in education degree at night. She is recently married (Oct 2024) and is looking forward to this new chapter in her life. Her and her husband started a goal to try and stay at every single state park in GA back in 2017, which they have tent camped at about eight of the forty eight so far.
She is looking forward to getting to know everyone and see what this new adventure holds.
The Dance Connection
70 Silver Forest Dr. St. Augustine, FL 32092
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