Rehearsal Schedules
Rehearsal Schedules
Junior
Senior
Performances
2020 Nutcracker Reimagined Videos are now available for purchase!
Cost: $25
Performances
2021 Winter Showcase Recordings are now available for purchase!
Faculty
Our Professional Dance Faculty have performed with many well-respected Dance Companies such as: Alvin Ailey 2, Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Australian Ballet, National Ballet of Ireland, Sao Paulo Comphania de Danca, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, River North Dance Chicago, Dance 2XS, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Atlanta Ballet, Luna Negra Dance Theatre, Especially Tap Company, Chi-Town Jazz Dance Company, Inaside Chicago Dance, Thodos Dance Chicago, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Pittsburgh Ballet, Piel Morena Contemporary Dance, and Chicago Repertory Ballet.
Scroll below and click to read more about our Professional Dance Faculty!
Lisa Gold
Lisa Gold, Director of North Shore School of Dance, holds a B.A. in Dance from Barat College. The foundation of her dance training was at the Carol Walker Dance Studio, Rory Foster Dance Studio, Joseph Holmes, and Gus Giordano Dance Center. She performed with the Mesa Community Dance Theatre, Zephyr Dance Ensemble, Emergence Dance Theatre, Rockford Ballet, and the Barat Repertory Dance Company. Lisa taught ballet and modern dance at the Barat Conservatory of Dance for sixteen years. Lisa received a Professional Award from the Royal Academy of Dance for Adult Teaching Practice, and most recently, the Highland Park Arts Award for Time to Dance, a non-profit she co-founded that offers classes to senior citizens and cancer survivors. NSSD became a recognized member of the National Dance Education Organization through Lisa’s continued efforts to maintain the highest quality of dance education for her school.
Sören M. Niewelt
Soren Niewelt, Assistant Director at North Shore School of Dance and Director of North Shore Performance Companies
as well as Director of the NSSD Ballet Theatre.
He is a German born national and graduated from the Australian Ballet School in 1999.
His international career as a dancer took him all over the world performing soloist parts inmany classics like Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote, e.o. as well as in new works by Nacho Duarte, Alessio Silvestrin, e.o. He founded his own neoclassical dance company, JSLN Dance Company in Berlin in 2012 and his pieces have been performed in Europe and Asia.
He loves to challenge his staff and students and enjoys sharing his experience withinspiration, determination and professionalism.
Greg Begley
Born in Flint, Michigan, Greg began his professional career while still in high school, performing, teaching dance and choreographing musicals for other high schools. He became a member of the Pittsburg Ballet Theatre and had four successful years performing and touring as a soloist with the company, performing for professional summer theater productions, and received a bachelor of business degree on a full dance scholarship. Early in his career, Greg worked with some of the most notable and legendary artists of the famed Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Leonide Massine, Vitale Fokine, Edward Caton, Ruth Page, and Frederic Franklin – a master of the romantic ballets, are only a few of the great teachers he studied with. Solicited by Ruth Page, Greg became a principal dancer with the Chicago Ballet, and was an audience favorite. By invitation, Greg joined the Hubbard Street Dance Company, he is an original performer and was the company’s ballet master; successfully they toured throughout the United States, Europe and South America. For many years, Greg has been a guest teacher for Chicago’s professional dance companies, and is on staff at several of the professional schools in the area. Most recently, hosted by the Chinese Foreign Affairs Office, he traveled to China teaching in the cities of Beijing and Suzhou, at the Guangxi Arts Institute in Nanning, and working with a performance group at the World Expo in Shanghai.
Victoria Dutton
Victoria Dutton received a B.S. in Dance from Texas Woman’s University and a M.F.A from Boston Conservatory. She is a former company member of Atlanta Ballet and has also danced with Portland Ballet Company, Houston Ballet and Moving Theater Images of Sean Murphy. She has taught at Loyola University, Walnut Hill, Festival Ballet of N.C. Texas and Boston Conservatory. She is also a recipient of the Leaman Award for Artistic Excellence.
Trish Strong
Trish Strong was classically trained in Cecchetti Method as a child under the direction of Karla Harris. After graduating cum laude with a B.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, Trish began teaching ballet in Chicago. She is a certified member of the Cecchetti Council of America having passed her Advanced Teacher's Examination. Trish has also been trained in the Basic Elements of Structured Teaching (BEST) which helps her better connect with students on the autism spectrum. She has always loved teaching young students and is happy to merge that love with her passion for ballet technique. She celebrates the abilities of all students and shares the joy of dance with those who have diverse physical or learning differences including dancers on the autism spectrum and dancers with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and Downs Syndrome. Her training in the Ultra Barre dance conditioning program helps her safely strengthen dancers to improve their alignment and rotation needed in classical ballet. Trish was on the faculty of the Joffrey Academy of Dance for the past thirteen years and served in a management role for the past five. She has also taught for the Hubbard Street Youth Dance Program and for a variety of studios on the North Shore for over 20 years.
Photo by: Cheryl Mann
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Caroline Kuhl
Caroline Kuhl graduated from Illinois State University, and has performed with Zephyr Dance Ensemble, The Funny Firm, Pheasant Run Dinner Theatre, Flamingo Hilton Boardwalk Casino (Las Vegas), a tour of Tokyo with magician Luna Shemada, Ameba, and Motivity. She currently takes classes with Julie Cartier.
Ted Ely Photography
Kesha Milenkovic
Kesha Milenkovic is originally from Gaithersburg Maryland. She started dancing at the age of nine at Motion Mania Dance Center. For many summers she attended Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive, Bates Dance Festival and many more. She also got the opportunity to perform at the Kennedy Center under the direction of Debbie Allen in two productions called “Dreams & Pearl”. Kesha attended Columbia College Chicago and got her Bachelor of Arts in Dance. After graduation, Kesha got a scholarship at Gus Giordano Dance school and later on accepted into Giordano second company. In 2010 Kesha got hired as a dancer/vocalist for the Broadway musical Chicago on the largest cruise ship in the world “Allure of The Seas”. Kesha passion has always been to perform but now she would like to expand her knowledge and start teaching/choreographing. She would like to thank her friends, family and husband for always supporting her dream.
Tysh Nelson
Tysh Nelson received a Bachelor of Performing Arts degree from Oklahoma City University where she was a Cum Laude Graduate and also selected "Outstanding Dance Major." Tysh is a vested member of Actor's Equity and has performed in numerous musicals. She has appeared on Broadway and with National Touring Companies of the American classic SHOW BOAT & audience favorite JOESPH....DREAMCOAT with Donny Osmond. Chicago stage credits include The Goodman Theatre, Marriott Lincolnshire, and Drury Lane Oakbrook. She was also a featured dancer in a TV Commercial for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Locally, Tysh has taught dance at Lou Conte's Dance Studio, home of Hubbard Street, Columbia College, as well as Giordano's Dance.
Wes Owens
Wesley “Wesside” Owens is a dancer, choreographer, and MC. He began his dance career at an early age, and continued it throughout college and beyond. Wes graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Informatics, a cognate in Telecommunications Management, and a minor in Spanish. During his college years, he was the lead choreographer and artistic director of Hip Hop Connexion (Indiana Branch).
Wes has performed and taught across America. He has performed with Big Boi of Outkast, Mike Posner, Jason Derulo, the Cataracts, LMFAO, and Ludacris. He is known for a variety of hip hop styles, such as: Gliding, waving, bugaloo, krumping, footwork, locking, bucking, and popping. Currently he is a featured dancer, choreographer and MC for Monster Entertainment.
Pam Tanis
Pamela Johnson Tanis is a former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet (New York City) and also danced with American Ballet Theatre, Maria Tallchief’s Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Illinois Ballet. She was coached in principal roles by Robert Joffrey, Gerald Arpino, George Balanchine, Leonide Massine, Danilova, Bronislava Nijinska, Jerome Robbins, Rudolf Nureyev, Todd Bolender, and Alvin Ailey, among others. She trained with Richard Ellis & Christine Du Boulay, Robert Joffrey, Hector Zaraspe, and Basil Thompson, and taken classes with Finis Jhung, David Howard, and Maggie Black. She has taught at Gus Giordano’s Dance Studio and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and served on the faculties of Northern Illinois University (co-director), Columbia College Dance Center, Barat College Dance Conservatory (Lake Forest), and the Joel Hall Dance Center. She is a biographee in the Marquis Who’s Who in Entertainment. She has taught master classes in ballet and character at Dartmouth College, Ballet Folk of Moscow (Idaho), Rockford Dance Academy (Rockford, Ill.), Southold Dance Theater (South Bend, Ind.), and for the Cecchetti Council of America at Hope College (Holland, Mich.).
Lauren Scheurich
Lauren Scheurich began dancing at 2 ½ years old and has had a passion for dance ever since, taking every opportunity she can to share the love of dance with others. She enjoyed most of her early dance years at the Northbrook Dance Center, where she began studying Cecchetti. She is trained as both a student and instructor in the Cecchetti method. She began assisting dance classes at age 10. She progressed from there to teach a variety of classes ranging from ballet, pointe, hip hop, jazz, tap, modern, lyrical, and ballroom. She has worked with ages 2 years through adult. In the classroom, she strongly emphasizes proper technique as well as body awareness to prevent injuries while in a fun and nurturing environment. She received her B.A. from Northern Illinois University. While there, she studied under Judith Chitwood, Paula Frasz, and Dr. Jay as well as performed and choreographed for NIU Orchises.
Rachel Schmidt
Originally from Santa Cruz, California, Rachel Schmidt received her early dance training from Robert Kelley and Diane Cypher of Santa Cruz Ballet Theater. After earning her BFA in dance from Butler University she moved to San Francisco to dance as a trainee with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, performing in works by Alonzo King, Sidra Bell, Maurya Kerr, and Greg Dawson before joining dawsondanceSF. In 2019 she moved to New York and performed with Brooklyn Ballet, Dance Lab New York, and Visions Contemporary Ballet. She moved to Chicago in 2022 to join Chicago Repertory Ballet under the direction of Wade Schaaf.
MissG
MissG is a street dance artist that is currently living in Chicago. She was born and raised in New York City. Her dance training is not limited to street styles, although these styles are her focus and main forms of artistic expression. She studied in NYCs prestigious Broadway Dance Center and Steps, Peridance and LA’s notable Debbie Reynolds dance studio and other respected schools in South Florida, where she lived for 16 years.
MissG has practiced and trained in multiple street dance styles throughout her career such as hip hop, popping, locking, and house but her dominant style is the 70’s era, disco-influenced style of dance called Waacking. She trained with one of the last living pioneers who was the only one teaching the dance, Soul Train dance legend Tyrone "The Bone" Proctor, and has also trained with his prodigies, Princess Lockeroo and Adisa Steele.
MissG is certified to teach Vinyasa and Yin yoga, and she specializes in children's yoga, Yoga for seniors and Yoga for beginners.
MissG has practiced her craft for more than 20 years, and her unique approach to teaching has allowed her to reach a wide range of student clientele.
Sarah Sterling
Sarah Sterling graduated with honors from Washington University in St. Louis with a double major in Dance and Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology and a minor in Spanish. During her time in college, she supplemented her dance training by attending the Bodytraffic Summer Program, the Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive, the Bates Dance Festival, and the David Dorfman Dance Intensive. Upon graduation, she was accepted into the Visceral Dance Chicago trainee program where she trained and performed under the direction of Nick Pupillo and Cait Cucchiara. During this program, she performed works by Nick Pupillo, Braeden Barnes, Mónica Cervantes, and Mike Tyus. She has worked professionally as a dancer with Niko8 and Alluvion Dance Chicago and has performed in several music videos under the direction of Isaiah Silvia Chandley. Sarah has been a teacher and choreographer with Broadway Bound Dance Center in Natick, MA for over five years and is thrilled to begin working with North Shore School of Dance!
Jessica Desens
Jessica Desens is excited to join the staff at the North Shore School of Dance. She brings 25 years of teaching experience and studio administration to our organization. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Barat College, where she performed as both a soloist and ensemble member with the Barat Repertory Dance Company. Dedicated to fostering continuous professional development in the field of dance, she actively participates in conferences and workshops organized by the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters (CNADM). Jessica has been a member of CNADM since July 2004 and has served on its board of directors since 2010. Recently, she completed her Master Dance Educator Certification (MDE) in 2023. In addition to her dance qualifications, Jessica has also obtained certifications in Linux Administration, Security+, and Ethical Hacking from the College of Lake County. At NSSD, Jessica will be involved in administrative tasks and teaching dance classes as needed.Please stop by the desk and welcome Jessica to our team!
Maddilyn Desens
Maddilyn began dancing at the age of two.
Over the past ten years, she has taught students ranging from ages 3 - 18+, and she is thrilled to continue her teaching journey for another season! Maddilyn has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dance and Dance Education and an Associate Degree in Computer Science from Rockford University. She has been a member of the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters since 2016 and has earned a Certified Dance Educator (CDE) Certificate in 2021. She is certified to teach Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, and Jazz Funk/Hip Hop. Currently, Maddilyn is working toward getting a Master Dance Educator Certification. She's also on the CNADM Board of Directors. As a teacher, her goal is to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for her students and help build their confidence while also teaching them dance and movement without limits.
Carina Pollicella
Carina Pollicella (she/her) is a choreographer and performer from Brighton, Michigan. She
started her training at the age of 10 at Glenn’s School of Dance where she trained in ballet, jazz,
Cecchetti, tap, and pointe. In spring of 2024, Carina obtained her Bachelor's in Fine Arts in
Dance from Western Michigan University with a certification in Dance Studio Management.
Throughout her time at WMU she has performed in pieces by Kelsey Pascich and Carolyn
Pavlick. Additionally, she performed in student run shows, and several independently choreographed pieces at WMU between 2022-2024. While earning her degree, Carina worked at a local
West Michigan dance studio, Academy of Dance Arts, as a choreographer and teacher where she
taught styles such as ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, and hip-hop. Carina is now based in Chicago, IL
where she continues her work as a choreographer, teacher, and performer.