|   Michelle Latimer opened Michelle Latimer Dance Academy in 1992, after having been a highly sought after dance teacher and choreographer in the Denver Metro area for over a decade. Michelle has successfully nurtured and developed thousands of dancers over the past 20 years, many who have gone on to prosperous careers in the areas of dance, music, acting, teaching and choreography. Michelle's studio is one of Dance Spirit Magazines " Top 20 Studios", and has garnered many national awards and achievements for excellence since the studio's inception. Michelle received her Bachelor's degree from Colorado State University in 1986, with a major in Sociology and a minor in Political Science. Michelle developed her love of dance and choreography from her mother, Janet, who was also an accomplished dancer and teacher. In high school, Michelle was featured in Megaphone magazine as one of the top 25 dance spirit dancers in the country. Michelle has performed in "West Side Story" in the role of Graciela, and in"42nd Street'. She has danced in industrials for Lincoln Mercury, Big Sur, Xenon and more. She has choreographed for The Denver Bronco Cheerleaders as the Dance Captain in 1992. She was a former Denver Nugget Dancer in the 1980's, as well as choreographing for the dancers in later years. Michelle was a member of the CSU Modern Touring Dance company. Other choreography credits include; "John Tesh "Live at Red Rocks" (Olympic Special), Star Search "Valor', 9News "Ramblerettes'. Most recently, Michelle had the honor of helping the director of the movie "The Adjustment Bureau" starring Matt Damon, on the initial development/research of the dancers/characters, and was able to visit the NYC set during filming. Michelle's greatest love is teaching and choreography and she continues to "live the dream", with the support and love of her amazing husband,Fred and her two beautiful daughters, Chelsea and Savannah.   Molly grew up in Denver and received her training at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance where she fell in love with classical technique while training to be a modern dancer. She realized the need for a strong technical background in all dance forms and now enjoys sharing that love with her students at MLDA. She is a member of the very first graduating class from the Denver School of the Arts and has also trained at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City. Molly joined the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble in 1998 where she was given the opportunity to perform and tour both nationally and internationally as well as work with and perform works by great choreographers such as Donald McKayle, Cleo Parker Robinson, Nejla Y. Yatkin, Gary Abbott, Darrell Moultrie, Roseangela Silvestre, Milton Meyers, Carlos Dos Santos, and Kevin Jeff. Since leaving the company in 2001 she has worked with numerous local companies and in 2003 spent the fall season in Ohio as a guest with the Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theater under the direction of Michael Medcalf. She also spent three seasons dancing with the Moraporvida Contemporary Dance Company. Molly has performed with the Denver Center Theater Company in "A Christmas Carol" and "Dream on Monkey Mountain", The Colorado Symphony in "Cinderella" and "Firebird" and Opera Colorado in "Aida". She was most recently given the opportunity to perform a work by Christopher L. Huggins at CU Boulder with other CPRD alumni. Although Molly enjoys performing, her true love is teaching. She has been on staff at MLDA for twelve years now and adores her job and her students more than anything in the world. She hopes to give them the vocabulary and knowledge required to communicate with any and all choreographers in all styles of dance and hopes to inspire them to have a great appreciation and love for classical ballet. Molly would like to thank Michelle for creating such an amazing family environment, and for allowing her to share her passion for dancing!   Nicole has been a part of Michelle Latimer Dance Academy since day one. After graduating she pursued a dance career in Los Angeles, where she was featured in a "Mellow Yellow" commercial as well as, trained with the industries top choreographers. After moving back to Denver in 1998, she began teaching for the studio and was the director and choreographer for the Denver Nuggets Dance Team. Nicole has been seen on billboards and in People magazine for a local add campaign. Working closely with Brian Friedman, Nicole was administrative director for "B Free" productions for four years. Nicole has a passion for teaching and has 14 years (and counting) as a proud member of the MLDA staff!   Julie began dancing at the age of 2 and hasn't stopped since. She grew up training in competitive dance studios, going to conventions and attending National competitions. Julie studied several forms of dance but has a particular interest in Musical Theatre, Contemporary/Lyrical and Tap. While in high school she discovered her passion for choreography and teaching. Julie taught her first class over 16 years ago and feels privileged to have the opportunity to share her love of this amazing art form with her students. While in class Julie believes in teaching through positivity and encouragement and desires to instill a feeling of self worth and confidence.She enjoys watching her students grow not only personally but as artists and is honored to have taught several dancers from early elementary through graduation. Julie has been recognized at the regional and national level of competition for her choreography. She has choreographed for productions of the musicals "The King and I", "Mame", "South Pacific", "Anything Goes", and "West Side Story" to name a few. Julie has also choreographed for high school show choirs, pom squads and dance teams. She has been a guest teacher at the Denver School of the Arts and has taught in years past at local studios. Julie has been able to pursue her passion for dance because of her husband Nathan and his unconditional love and support and their precious daughter Joslynn, who lights up her life everyday. Julie is thrilled to be celebrating her 11th year of teaching for Michelle Latimer and feels blessed to be part of such an incredible studio and staff.   Katie has been dancing since she was 4, and started with Michelle when she was 7 years old. Received a scholarship at MLDA at the age of 11, which was the year she took her first trip to LA. She began teaching at 17 and fell in love with it. Specializing in the younger companies at the studio, but not limited to, Katie has taught hip hop, jazz, turns, tricks, lyrical and more. She had a daughter in 2008, Presleigh, that also shares in her love of dance. Katie also graduated cosmetology school in 2011, and enjoys doing everyones hair!   Bio Coming Soon!   Bio Coming Soon!   Jen started dancing at the age of 3, studying ballet, jazz, tap, and modern dance while growing up in Iowa. She was a competitive dancer and three-time state qualified gymnast. She began teaching dance and gymnastics in 1985 and as a high school student Jen spearheaded the opening of a satellite dance studio where she became a head instructor of dance and gymnastics. Jen attended Iowa State University where she studied dance and was one of two freshmen accepted by audition into the dance company Orchesis. She also studied dance at the University of South Dakota and Westmar University where she attended on dance scholarships. Jen continued instructing dance and gymnastics during her college career including coaching gymnastics with Iowa State University. She became a safety certified gymnastics coach under the United States Association of Gymnastics and graduated from Westmar University with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and a minor in Reading. She was an elementary teacher in Iowa schools before moving to Denver and continuing to teach dance. Her dancers have received top honors and numerous awards in local and national competitions. Jen currently designs handcrafted greeting cards and gifts and her creations have been published in many magazines. She is married to Jim and they have two beautiful children, Emma and Sam. Jen has an obvious love for teaching and she is not afraid to get crazy in the classroom. She is thrilled to be sharing her enthusiasm for dance for over 25 years.   Kristin began practicing yoga in 2002 after a doctor told her she should expect a second back surgery on her lumbar spine. An outdoor enthusiast and a young mom, she refused to accept the diagnosis. That afternoon, she stepped into a power yoga class and committed to practicing to see if she'd see any improvements in her condition. With a consistent practice, yoga healed her by strengthening her core physically, giving her body awareness, and reducing stress in her mind and body. Knowing that 80% of Americans suffer from back problems, Kristin felt moved to learn everything she could about the anatomy, breathing techniques to reduce stress and how to transform other's lives through teaching yoga. A power yoga teacher for over 8 years, Kristin is now on the Power Yoga Teacher Training team for CorePower Yoga and serves as the Yoga Director for CPY Parker. "It has been an honor to teach yoga to MLDA dancers! I am so impressed by their discipline and eagerness to learn new things. Through yoga asana (postures), my goal is to help the students focus, get stronger, alleviate stress from school and competition, foster positive self-image and deepen the spirit of this amazing dance community. Working with these beautiful teenagers has given me a new understanding of the pressures young men and women are dealing with these days. I also know that the advancements in technology and constant texting and emailing gives them very little time to reflect on their lives and the choices they make. I am passionate about bringing health, wellness and yoga to help them develop a connection to themselves and their potential impact on this world."   Savannah has been dancing since she was 3 years old. Savannah attended The Denver School if The Arts as a dance major. She is well versed in the disciplines of Jazz,Lyrical, Contemporary, Hip Hop and Ballet. Savannah has appeared in Dance Spirit magazine, and has garnered many outstanding awards and scholarships at many Dance conventions and workshops. Savannah most recently was a featured dancer in John Gillette' new music video . Savannah hopes someday to pursue a professional dance career in Los Angeles.
  Lexi Janz started studying dance at the age of 3, and has been competing since the age of 4. She has been trained in ballet, jazz, tap, pointe, musical theater, lyrical, contemporary, modern and hip hop. She is delighted to have had the opportunity to both study under and perform in pieces choreographed by Dee Caspary, Jason Parsons, Travis Wall, Stacey Tookey, Dana Wilson, Erica Sobol and many others. In addition to dancing and competing, she is so excited to share her knowledge and love of dance with the future stars at MLDA!   Cheri began dancing at age three and teaching dance at age eighteen. She is experienced in ballet, modern, jazz, tap and lyrical. She graduated with honors from Arizona State University with both performance and education degrees in dance, receiving the B.A.E. Outstanding Graduate Award and the Honorary University Dance Theatre's Award of Excellence. Cheri has studied with Martha Graham, Twyla Tharp, Alwin Nikolais and Bill Evans to name a few. Cheri owned and directed her own dance studio for eleven years, and then founded and directed a student dance company for 16 years. Many of her former students are now teaching and/or dancing professionally. She has organized dance performance tours to California, Florida, the Bahamas and on cruise ships. She has judged dance, talent, and scholarship competitions on both the regional and national levels throughout the United States and Canada. Cheri has now hung up her dancing shoes, but is happy to still be a part of the dance world by working in the office at MLDA, a studio known for its dedication to excellence, artistry, and positive environment.
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