Proud DU Teachers at Recital 2019Zorene Cruise
Owner/Artistic Director This year Zorene completed over 40 years of teaching dance. After dancing professionally for over a dozen years she seriously began studying the art of teaching dance. A graduate of Dance Masters of America Training Program held at Kent State and the State University in Buffalo, she continues to study dance and the art of educating children. In addition to her time at Dance Unlimited she has been invited to hold a position as Head Judge and Adjudicator on the national talent tour for Dance Xplosion. The great strides Dance Unlimited has made in performance, competition and dance education under her direction have not gone unnoticed. Her choreography, production and networking skills bring great opportunities for our dancers. Boundless energy and a positive attitude make working with Zorene productive and joyful. |
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Jenna Barnett
Competition Team Director Jenna began her training at the Rising Stars Dance Academy before falling in love with ballet. She then danced with the Rotaru International Ballet Company of Atlanta, becoming an apprentice with Pavel Rotaru's company, Ballet du Soleil at just 16 years old. Upon graduation from high school, Jenna joined Colorado Ballet where she danced in classical and contemporary works. A highlight was touring to Tokyo, Japan to perform Paquita and excerpts from The Nutcracker. When she decided to go back to school, Jenna was asked to join the Academy of Colorado Ballet as an instructor, and she hasn't stopped teaching since. She has been teaching at Dance Unlimited since 2008. Jenna has a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and Secondary Education, as well as a Master's Degree in Business Administration. While she loves teaching high school mathematics in Colorado Springs, dance will always be her first love and she enjoys sharing this passion with DU. In 2018, Jenna became the Competition Team Director and continues to choreograph as well as teach technique classes. Jenna's choreography has received numerous awards, as she enjoys pushing herself more each year to keep up with the advancement of her students. While you can find Jenna at the studio most nights, she loves the occasional quiet evening at home with her husband John, and two daughters Layla and Brinley. |
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Logan Hathaway
Logan began dancing at the age of 10 in his hometown of Colorado Springs, Colorado. He has received training in contemporary, jazz, ballet, tap, lyrical, musical theatre, hip hop, and jazz funk. During his high school education, Logan fell in love with the discipline of choreography and teaching. He began teaching classes in a variety of styles and choreographing dances even during his high school career. Logan has trained with many artists such as Ade Obeyami, Melissa Sandvig, Alex Little, and other teachers from conventions across the country. Working alongside Robin Moore, he has been able to produce and choreograph for the Pikes Peak Performance Company's holiday performances since graduating in 2017 where they continue to raise money for charities across the Pikes Peak region. His group and solo choreography have won multiple high scoring awards and recognition for outstanding choreography at LA Dance Magic, Talent on Parade, Revolution, and Rainbow dance competitions. Using his knowledge of a variety of styles, Logan enjoys creating new and innovative movement that is technically proficient, musically adapt, and engaging to all audience members. Logan is currently pursuing a degree in Multimedia Graphic Design.
Kaley Montel
Kaley started her dance experience with Dance Unlimited at the age of three. She began studying ballet, tap, hip hop, contemporary, jazz, acro-tumbling and everything else but the kitchen sink. She continued following this path until graduating from high school. After graduating, she attended Chapman University in California to study dance and business. She has studied with The Young Americans performance group where she had the privilege of working with school outreach programs aimed to help troubled children. She has opened for the New York City Rockettes and has performed in a Todrick Hall music video. Kaley is currently attending UCCS to become a paralegal. We are excited that Kaley makes time to teach all her favorite kids at DU. Dance class is always the best part of her day.
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Robin Moore
Robin Moore, former Owner/Director of Robin’s Danceworks and Founder and President of the Pikes Peak Performance Company, has been teaching the joy of dance to students of all ages for the past 33 years. Under her direction, her students are working professionals in the industry, succeeding in Professional Companies, Universities, and Stage Shows. Former students have gone on to develop their own companies and dance studios. Robin’s work has won numerous Outstanding Choreography awards as well as producing many national titles. Her love for stage performance has been seen in productions of Oklahoma, Little Shop of Horrors, Honk, Annie, Seussical, and Fiddler on the Roof. Establishing the Pikes Peak Performance Company in 2000 has enabled her to link her talents with our community. This non-profit dance company has raised over $100,000.00 for local children’s charities. Providing an outlet for dancers to use their talents to give to others has been her greatest professional accomplishment. Robin is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado, with a degree in Elementary Education. While teaching and directing are her professional passions, her husband Mike and her daughters, Michaela and Madison, are her joy and inspiration. |
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Kaylee Ortega
Kaylee Ortega is currently a student, performer, and choreographer originally from Houston where she has trained in dance since the age of five. She was a member of Kingwood Jazz and Company for 9 years where she trained in a variety of dance forms, such as Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Improv, Tap, Modern, Musical Theatre, and Lyrical. In addition to her extensive training, she was also given the opportunity to work with different choreographers such as Peter Chu, Jessica Hendricks, Travis Wall, Justin Giles, Matt Luck, Natalia Reza, Kim Olsen, and many others. Kaylee started her college career at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she was a member of their dance team and pom squad, Ragin Jazz. She graduated Texas State University, where she obtained her BFA degree in Dance with an emphasis in Dance Education as well as a minor in Business Administration. Upon graduation, Kaylee taught at 2 middle schools in Texas where she taught Dance Classes and coached both Dance Teams. |
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Jasmine Rice Jasmine has over 25 years of dance experience. This year begins her fifth year as a Division 1 Head Dance Coach at the United States Air Force Academy. She has completed extensive training in Ballet, Lyrical, Folkloric, Ballroom, Jazz, Tap and Pointe. Her professional career began at age 15 with Borinquen Dance Theatre of NY, training under internationally known Garth Fagan. Jasmine holds certifications in RAD Ballet, Pilates and Arthur Murray Ballroom Instruction. She has choreographed award winning competitive dances, musical theatre productions and semi-professional dance teams. Jasmine was a dancer with the Fayetteville Fire Ants Hockey Dance Team & the Fayetteville Guard Indoor Football Cheer Team. She holds an AAS in Education, BAS in Psychology-Counseling and a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology-Gifted Education. |
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Debi Spencer
Debi has been a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer for more than 20 years. In her professional career, she toured with the Broadway musical 42nd Street through Europe, appeared in many musical theatre productions including West Side Story, Annie, Anything Goes, Sugar Babies, and Camelot to name a few. She has also danced at Walt Disney World in Beauty and the Beast, Hollywood Hollywood, and the Dick Tracy Show and many other productions in Japan and Europe. Debi has appeared in the movie “Tap”as well as many industrials shows. She has a Bachelor’s in Performing Arts from Oklahoma City University and a Masters in Education from University of Central Oklahoma. Most recently, she has taught and choreographed at Wake Forest University, Pine Creek High School, and Danceworks. Debi’s choreography has won many awards, including Apogee awards, entertainment awards and choreography awards. Aside from dancing, Debi has appeared in numerous national and regional television commercials, has been the spokesmodel for the Anthony’s stores and lent her voice to a variety of radio spots. Debi is thrilled to be joining Dance Unlimited where she can combine her love of teaching dance with her love of choreography. It is a great joy for her to be able to work and build relationships with the DU dancers. Watching them grow as artists and being a part of that growth is one of the most fulfilling aspects for her, as an artist and a teacher.
Debi has been a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer for more than 20 years. In her professional career, she toured with the Broadway musical 42nd Street through Europe, appeared in many musical theatre productions including West Side Story, Annie, Anything Goes, Sugar Babies, and Camelot to name a few. She has also danced at Walt Disney World in Beauty and the Beast, Hollywood Hollywood, and the Dick Tracy Show and many other productions in Japan and Europe. Debi has appeared in the movie “Tap”as well as many industrials shows. She has a Bachelor’s in Performing Arts from Oklahoma City University and a Masters in Education from University of Central Oklahoma. Most recently, she has taught and choreographed at Wake Forest University, Pine Creek High School, and Danceworks. Debi’s choreography has won many awards, including Apogee awards, entertainment awards and choreography awards. Aside from dancing, Debi has appeared in numerous national and regional television commercials, has been the spokesmodel for the Anthony’s stores and lent her voice to a variety of radio spots. Debi is thrilled to be joining Dance Unlimited where she can combine her love of teaching dance with her love of choreography. It is a great joy for her to be able to work and build relationships with the DU dancers. Watching them grow as artists and being a part of that growth is one of the most fulfilling aspects for her, as an artist and a teacher.
Erica Swaby
Erica Colon trained for most of her 15 years of dance at Dance Unlimited. At the State University in Buffalo, New York she attended Dance Masters of America Teaching Training School. Erica enjoyed coaching the Air Academy Dance Team. She earned her BA in Special Education from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs where she dances with UCCS Rhythm and Gold Dance Team. Erica earned her master degree in Education Administration while teaching at Centennial Elementary School in Harrison School District 2. This year Erica helped open an arts integrated elementary school in Falcon School District 49 where she teaches 4th grade. Erica was a member of Dance Unlimited's first performance team in 1990!
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Brenda Zeman
I received my secondary teaching certification in history with a minor in art from the University of Southern Colorado. I began studying dance in my early twenties at the Art Center in Pueblo. I continued my training with the Pueblo Civic ballet and Ballet Theater of Pueblo. I performed with all three companies in various ballets and children's theater. My husband and I moved our family to western New York where I discovered my love of teaching dance. I was ballet director for Dance Arts in Olean New York and Randolph School of Dance for ten years. i began working for the Chatauqua Youth Ballet during my last four years in New York state and was also offered the ballet directorship there. Unfortunately I was not able to accept that position as we decided to move back to Colorado to be near family. We settled in Colorado Springs and I began teaching at Encore Dance. This provided me with my first opportunity to be involved in a studio that did competition dance. I was given the chance to work with a few group of dancers and discovered I loved creating competition dances. When Encore closed I moved to Rocky Mountain Dance Academy where I continued in my role as ballet director. I have also taught at Derby Dance and Summit Danceworks. I began teaching a early movement dance class at the Hope Montessori schools in 2012 and am currently continuing in that endeavor. During my years as a competition teacher my dancers generally ranked in the top ten. I have won numerous choreography awards both locally and nationally. I am now thrilled to have the opportunity to bring my knowledge and love of dance to Dance Unlimited. I believe dance enriches the lives of our children and helps them to grow both cognitively and physically. Dance gives children confidence, grace, and joy of expression. I am looking forward to meeting my new dance family. |
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Brandon Miller
From the vibrant studios of Dance Connection 2 in Arizona to the iconic stages of New York City, Brandon Miller has been perfecting the art of dance since he was five years old. With a rich background in tap, jazz, acro, hip hop, and contemporary dance, Brandon's early years were shaped by transformative experiences, including a standout performance in the Tap Kids! showcase in New York when he was just 12. Brandon's evolution into a sought after choreographer began in 2012, marked by a series of accolades for his innovative work across multiple dance genres. His unique choreographic style, described as "visual music," blends rhythmic precision with expressive movement, captivating audiences nationwide. This distinctive approach has been honed under the mentorship of dance luminaries like Cory Finn, Donovan Helma, Anthony Morigerato, Jason Janas, Mike Minery, Leo Morimune, and Chaz Buzan. A recognized talent in the competitive dance scene, Brandon triumphed as the champion of Operation Tap's Technique Tuesday Challenge VI and has been a consistent finalist, showcasing his technical excellence and creative choreography. As an integral member of Jason Janas' professional tap company, Co.MMIT, he has been able to perform with some of the best tap dancers in the country. Brandon has also contributed his skills as an assistant at Radix, NUVO, and JUMP Dance Conventions inspiring a new generation of dancers. Dedicated to nurturing the potential of each student, Brandon brings passion, expertise, and a deep love for dance to every class, ready to guide dancers who are eager to grow and excel in the ever-evolving world of dance. |
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Sophia Rose I grew up in Colorado Springs, CO where I began dancing at the age of eight, training and competing in multiple styles over the years. I recently graduated with distinction from the University of Colorado Boulder with a Bachelors in Sociology. During my four years at CU, I was a member of the nationally ranked CU Dance Team, which gave me the opportunity to continue growing as a performer and competitor. I began teaching dance as a senior in high school at Summit Dance Works, and since then have been a camp instructor for the Universal Dance Association, and an instructor for SPARK Dance Team Training. Both of which allowed me the opportunity to teach teams all across Colorado. I am now excited to have the opportunity to work with the talented staff and dancers at Dance Unlimited, and be able to bring my skill set to the table! |
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Jadeyn King Jadeyn was born and raised in Colorado Springs. She graduated in the class of 2024 from Palmer Ridge High School. She'll now attend college where she plans to study sports medicine. She has done gymnastics for 14 years, beginning at the age of 3. Since then, she has found a passion for gymnastics and acro. She is the oldest of four girls that also share a love for the fun, but challenging part of it. Throughout her many years as a competitive gymnast, she has won several state and regional titles. Jadeyn has been coaching gymnastics since she was 16 years old. She is very excited to share her passion and knowledge of acro here at Dance Unlimited. |
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Kylie Cruise
Bio coming soon
Bio coming soon