Meet Our Professional Staff
 SANDY
GOETZ RAGSDALE (Director) began her early dance
training with Anida Sedala, former Lake Forest Dance Academy
Director, and with Gus Giordano. She earned her Bachelor of
Arts in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College and her Master of
Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Michigan. She was
on the faculty of University of Michigan’s Dance Department
for two years. She has performed, taught, and choreographed
in Paris, France, Geneva, Switzerland and New York City as
well as in the Chicago area. Sandy choreographs for
CenterStage in Lake Forest and Lake Forest High School. She
is past President of the Lake Shore Chapter of the Sacred
Dance Guild of America. Sandy holds her Associate IV
Teaching certificate form the Cecchetti Council of America
and is a member of the National Dance Education Organization
and National Dance Honor’s Society. This will be Sandy’s
28th year teaching for Lake Forest Dance Academy and her
15th year as the Director of the dance program.
 CONNIE
DAVIS (Ballet Mistress & Co-Director) was a member of
Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago for five seasons during
which she toured the U.S., Japan, Brazil and Europe. She
also served as Scholarship Program Director. She has
appeared as guest artist for Ballet Entre Nous, Winnetka, IL
and Balletto Italia Associazione with whom she toured Italy
(also teaching classes in ballet, tap, and jazz). Connie
danced and choreographed for Festival Chorus at Harper
College, Palatine, IL and was Artistic Director for Lake
Shore Dance Theatre. Television appearances include Star
Search (1990 season), Oprah Winfrey (dancer/model), Do-May
Film Inc., and Kansai Television in Osaka, Japan. Connie was
Ballet Director for the Center for Performing Arts in
Maryland and received scholarships from the National Ballet
and Washington School of Ballet in D.C. Her teaching
experience has included: Gus Giordano Dance Centre, Maryland
School of Ballet, Northwestern University, George Mason
University, VA (master class), Joy of Motion, D.C., Jackson
School of the Arts, Bermuda (master class) and Dance Factory
in Mundelein. Connie is a Fellow Member of the Cecchetti
Council of America (CCA) and holds her Advanced Professional
Teaching Certificate (Grade VII). She is President of the
Midwest Committee of CCA and is also a member of Chicago
National Association of Dance Masters (CNADM). She is
certified by CNADM in ballet, tap and jazz. This will be
Connie’s 15th year at LFDA as Ballet Mistress.
 Richard “Fusion”
Ashworth began dancing at the age of two,
receiving most of his training at the Legein Dance Academy
of Performing Arts and conventions around the New England
Area. Richard attended the University of New York in Buffalo
receiving a BFA in Dance in June 2007. During his time at UB,
Richard performed and choreographed for the university’s
Zodiaque Dance Company (Director Tom Ralabate) as well as
the Zodiaque Studio Ensemble and Young Choreographers
Showcases. Richard has apprenticed for the Lehrerdance
Company (Director Jon Lehrer); is a guest principle of the
Configurations Dance Theatre (Director Joseph Cipolla) and
performs with the Pick of the Crop Dance Company (Director
Elaine Gardner). He has also established himself as a
teacher, joining the faculty of several dance education
organizations including Dance Masters of America and the
Interdanza Organization of Mexico. Richard also participates
in international hip hop battles and has professionally
busked (street performed) on street corners around the
world. He is an eight time winner of Buffalo’s, NY’s Battle
at Buffalo and has received acclaim in Western New York as a
Hip Hop and Funk Styles dancer, teacher and historian. He
currently resides in Chicago and is a member of Chicago Tap
Theatre. Richard will be teaching at LFDA for his third year
and will be choreographing for both Euphony Tap Ensemble and
Hip Hop Evolution for the 2011-2012 season.
 Roberta
Cassidy-DuMong began her dance education under the
direction of Loretto and Mimi Rozak and soon fell into the
path of legendary master teachers Richard Arve and Margaret
DiCianni. In training and on scholarship, she became an
apprentice and member of The Arve Connection Dance Company
and was asked to become Rehearsal Mistress for the Arve
Quartet. Pursuing her studies, she attended Jacob’s Pillow
Dance Festival in Massachusetts on scholarship and furthered
her knowledge with the amazing Juidth Jamison and the late
James Truitte. She has choreographed dance works for
semi-professional youth companies, colleges, musical theater
productions and numerous high school Orchesis programs.
Having taught master classes with The Joel Hall Jazz Camp
and the Chicago Dance Connection since the 2000 season in
modern dance; she expanded her artistic endeavors and taught
a jazz program to Beginning/Advanced students and adults at
The Ruth Page Center for the Arts. She was also honored with
being asked to teach Arve Modern Technique for the Midwest
Committee of the Cecchetti Council of America’s Fall 2009
workshop. Berta looks forward to returning to LFDA for her
sixth year on the faculty.
 Holly
Curtis Holly Curtis grew up in New York City with a
love for dance. Holly graduated from Northwestern University
with a BS in Psychology. She competed on the NU Gymnastics
team and was a Big 10 Cheerleader. Holly is the former Dance
Director for the Libertyville Park District and is a dance
instructor at Lifetime Fitness. She holds her Cecchetti
Council of America Grade I Teacher’s Certificate. Currently,
Holly is our Birthday Party Guru as well as teaching in our
Toddler and Pre School Programs. Holly also teaches a
wonderful Adult stretch class based on principles of the
Ballet Floor Barre. This will be Holly’s seventh year at
Lake Forest Dance Academy.
 LIZZIE
DAVIS is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dance in
London and holds a Master of Arts Degree in Ballet Studies
from Surrey University U.K. For eight years she performed as
principal and soloist with the Chelsea Ballet London where
her roles included the title role in Act II Pas de Deux from
Giselle, Dawn in Coppelia and the Pas de Trois from Swan
Lake, as well as many roles in the Nutcracker. She also had
the role of Marie Taglioni recreated on her by the director
and former soloist of Rambert Ballet when the Chelsea Ballet
restaged the romantic ballet, Pas de Quatre. Lizzie has
danced with groups in Europe and Africa; and has taught in
Africa, the U.S. and Europe, the Education Department of
Birmingham Royal Ballet, Barat Conservatory of Dance and
College of Lake County amongst other North Shore schools. As
well as ballet, Lizzie lectures on dance history and dance
and worship in the Judeo/Christian world. Lizzie holds her
Grade IV Teaching Certificate from the Cecchetti Council of
America. She considers teaching a great way to give back to
the profession she loves and is excited about starting her
seventh year with LFDA!
 Kimberly Fletcher
is a graduate of The University of the Arts in Philadelphia,
PA. She has performed with several dance companies such as
Black Box Theatre, Lehrer Dance, Koresh Dance Company,
Philadanco, and Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago where she was
Assistant Associate Director. For six great years, Kim was a
Rockette in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She has
taught locally as well as all over the world. For the past
four years Kim has been teaching for the Jazz Dance World
Congress. Kim loves all her students and their dedication to
dance. Kim is returning to LFDA teaching faculty for a third
year and delighted to continue as one of our Directors of
the Prelude Dance Theatre for the 2011-2012 season.
 VALERIE
GONZALEZ received her Masters of Fine Arts degree
in Dance Performance and Choreography from New York
University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She was a guest
teaching artist in the dance program of Western Michigan
University and has served on the faculty of several diverse
New York, Chicago and Wisconsin studios. Valerie has trained
and performed with notable companies such as Gus Giordano
Jazz Dance Chicago IL, River North Chicago Dance Company,
Chicago Arts Project, Joel Hall Dancers and TJ & Co. Dance
Theatre. Valerie’s experiences have allowed her to perform
across the country and internationally. She has
choreographed for the Second Avenue Dance Company, TJ & Co.
Dance Theatre, Terpsichore Dance Company, Lake Forest Dance
Academy’s Prelude Dance Theatre, numerous competitive
entries, high school musicals and orchesis groups. Valerie
is happy to return to Lake Forest Dance Academy for the
ninth year as a teacher. She will continue as Director of
Prelude Dance Theatre 2011-2012 we will serve as
Administrative Director for all the performing companies.
 HEATHER
GOODRICH
Kiely received her BA in Communications with a
minor in Business and Theatre from Barat College of DePaul.
She was an intern on the WGN Morning Show where she not only
reported but performed song and dance numbers. Heather’s
dance training includes Dance Center North and Terpsichore
Company in Libertyville; tap workshops in New York; Disney
Dance Workshops, Orlando, FL and LA Dance Force Workshops.
She is currently teaching at the Libertyville Park District
Dance Program and gives private voice lessons. Heather
believes every child has the gift of music and dance within
them and it is her gift to bring that out and help her
students shine! Heather will be teaching for LFDA for her
tenth year and will be choreographing for Euphony Tap
Ensemble’s 2011-2012 season.
 Brenda Good
Hellwig graduated from Lake Forest High School,
and then went on to receive a B.A. Degree Cum Laude from
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. She then pursued graduate
dance courses from Columbia University, New York, and
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Brenda directed
her own troupe, the Good Company Dancers, who performed on
many stages from 1984 to 1997. She has choreographed and
performed in such venues as the Auditorium Theater, Symphony
Center, the Harold Washington Library, Navy Pier, and the
Park West in Chicago and in several other parts of the
United States. Her choreography and dancing has appeared on
various television stations and in independent films. Brenda
has also won grants from the State of Illinois Arts Council
and the Chicago Music and Dance Alliance. Brenda was the
Director of Dance for the Village of Libertyville for seven
years. She currently teaches at the Lake Forest Dance
Academy and the Deerfield Dance Studio. She has also taught
at the North Suburban YMCA, the Northbrook Leisure Center,
was Dance Director at the Meadow Club, and has been a guest
teacher at Adlai Stevenson High School and Lake Forest High
School. Brenda holds her Level IV Cecchetti Teacher
Certificate; she has been a member of the Midwest Committee
of the Cecchetti Council of America since 1997 and has
served as publicity chairman of this group. She was awarded
a scholarship to study at Teachers week at the International
Summer School at Hope College during summer 2011. This will
be Brenda’s sixth year with LFDA.
 Lisa Jacobs
attended the National Academy of Art with full scholarship
after performing in tap and musical theatre productions from
age seven. She apprenticed with the Joseph Holmes Company
and Deeply Rooted Dance Productions, danced with Abiogenesis
and Barat College Repertory Dance3 Ensemble and is a
founding member of the Zephyr Dance Ensemble. Lisa performed
in numerous Nutcrackers as well as at Six Flags Great
America, Chicago Cultural Center, Krannert Center
(University of Illinois, Champagne) and Madison Civic
Center. She has taught and choreographed tap, ballet, jazz
and modern to students of all ages including Lake County
College’s Fear No Art Festival. She was the former dance
director at the Jack Benny Center for Performing Arts in
Waukegan, has been a dance counselor at the Northbrook YMCA
and currently teaches at Libertyville Park District. Since
becoming accredited in 2003, Lisa has been teaching T’ai Chi
Chih, a moving meditation, for the Waukegan Park District,
at the Cancer Wellness Center in Northbrook and has given
lecture demonstrations around Chicagoland. Lisa holds a
Cecchetti Council of America Grade I Teacher’s Certificate
and is excited to return to Lake Forest Dance Academy for
the fourth year!
 JENNA
Jozefowski graduated from The University of Akron
with a BA in Dance and a minor in Business Administration.
During college, she performed with The University of Akron
Dance Company and also choreographed several tap pieces for
student performances. She is a member of the Midwest
Committee of the Cecchetti Council of America and currently
holds a Grade II Teacher’s Certificate. Professionally, she
has performed as a company member of Joel Hall Dancers II,
RASA Dance Chicago, and as a guest artist with Chicago Dance
Crash. She is currently working as an independent
performance artist and choreographer, performing and
presenting her work in Rebound Dance Festival, Dance
Chicago, and Chicago Freelance Dance. Jenna believes that as
dancers and teachers we should embrace opportunities to
learn and grow and finds that taking class regularly
inspires her own teaching. She looks forward to her third
year as Director for Euphony Tap Ensemble, and her fifth
year of teaching at Lake Forest Dance Academy.
 Margaret
Miller, a proud LFDA alum, Margaret was very
excited when she was asked to return to her dance home to
share her love of musical theatre and dance! Her recent
choreography work included Dear Edwina and Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for CenterStage. Margaret
spent three years working at Lake Forest High School’s
Little Scouts preschool program and is currently working
towards her masters in Elementary Education at Northwestern
University.
 Stephanie
Paul, a native New Yorker, has proudly called Chicago
her home since 2002. After graduating from Northwestern
University, Stephanie co-founded Be the Groove (a rhythmic
performance and education ensemble) based in Chicago. She
also serves as the ensemble’s Artistic Director. When not
working with Be the Groove, Stephanie can be found teaching
at Chicagoland studios and Urban Gateways (a center for arts
education). Stephanie has choreographed and taught for
Evanston Dance Ensemble, Albany Park Theater Project and
Northwestern University’s Danceworks. She has also taught
for the Chicago National Association of DanceMasters.
Stephanie’s approach to dance instruction is founded in the
usage of rhythm as the means of motivating development of
ensemble and individual self-confidence. Stephanie is
returning for her sixth year on the Lake Forest Dance
Academy faculty. She will also continue as Director of the
Hip Hop Evolution Companies.
 Danielle
Schager (Danni) received a B.A. in Dance from The
University of Akron, OH. She has been teaching Jazz and
Ballet since 2002 at many prestigious dance schools in the
Akron, OH and Cleveland, OH areas. After graduation, Danni
moved to Chicago where her love and passion for dance
continued to grow both as a performer and as an instructor.
For three amazing season (2007-2010), she danced for the
Chicago Bulls’ Luvabulls dance team. Along with performing
and cheering, she has found a home here at LFDA and
continues to teach in the North Shore area. She holds a
Cecchetti Council of America Grade I Teacher’s Certificate
and is currently working on Grade II. Danni absolutely loves
to see her students transform from year to year physically,
emotionally and technically! Danni is thrilled to be
returning to LFDA for her fifth year. This year Danni will
also be found in the Dance office as our new Administrative
Assistant.
 MARINA
TOLPIN was trained in Classical Ballet in St.
Petersburg, Russia and in Los Angeles, CA. She danced as a
soloist with the Pacific Festival Ballet Company and studied
the Vaganova Method of teaching throughout her dance career.
She holds a Cecchetti Council of America level III Teacher’s
Certificate. Marina has taught Classical Ballet to children
and adults in Los Angeles, CA, Washington, D.C., and is
currently teaching in the Chicago area. Marina has also
studied various forms of Swing Dance such as: Smooth, Lindy
Hop and Balboa. She has taught and performed Swing Dance in
the United States, England and Sweden; as well as
choreographing for various performances troupes in Santa
Barbara, CA and London, England. She is returning for her
seventh year at Lake Forest Dance Academy.
 LESLIE
TREECE holds her B.A. in Dance with a minor in
psychology from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo,
Michigan. After performing throughout Michigan, Ohio and
Wisconsin, Leslie moved to Chicago and continued to perform
at such venues as Athenaeum Theatre, Northwestern University
and Columbia College. Leslie holds the Cecchetti Council of
America Level IV Teacher’s Certificate. She also is a
certified Level 1 BeMoved Teacher and will be teaching this
exciting new form of dance/fitness for us this year. She has
been teaching on the North Shore for 17 years and is excited
to be back at LFDA for her 14th year of teaching.
 Hilliary
Vaccarello started dancing at the age of three in
Madison, Wisconsin and continued her training with the
Milwaukee Ballet, the Kirov Academy of Ballet, and the
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where she received a
B.A. in dance. There she had the honor of being selected to
perform at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in
Washington, D.C. Upon graduating and moving to Chicago she
joined the contemporary company, Thodos Dance Chicago (TDC)
where she was a performer, choreographer and educator for
five years. Her Career with TDC allowed her to perform
throughout the United States and perform works by renowned
choreographers including Ann Reinking, Lar Lubovich, Lauri
Stallings, Michael Anderson, Eddy Ocampo, Lucas Crandall,
Brock Clawson and Melissa Thodos. She made her film debut as
a dancer in the movie “Public Enemies,” starring Johnny Depp,
released the summer of 2009. She has set works on
universities, high school dance programs, advertising
agencies, and has been resident choreographer for the annual
Diabetes Foundation Gala. Currently Hilliary is an
independent artist and enjoys performing for numerous
industrial events. She continues to pass along the art of
dance to many studios in the Chicagoland area. She is
excited to be returning to LFDA for her fifth year and will
continue her role as Company Technique Mistress.
 Kristy White
has been dancing and performing in Chicago since the age of
six. She received her training from such notable teachers as
Laura Wade, Jeff Hancock, Eduardo Villaro and Wilfredo
Rivero as well as Chicago National Association of Dance
Masters and Dupree Jazz Forum. Kristy has performed in Dance
Explosion with TJ & Company and as a member of Luna Negra
Dance Ensemble of Chicago. She has participated in the
“Who’s That Girl” Benefit for AIDS and “Dance for Dreams.”
Kristy’s choreographic credits include “A Chance to Dance” (TJ
& Company,) Lake Forest High School musical, competitive pom
pom squads and dance ensembles. Kristy began teaching for
LFDA in 1998 and continued with us for five wonderful years,
she took a brief hiatus to extended her dance career and
become a certified massage therapist. Kristy is thrilled to
be returning to the LFDA faculty for a second year after her
absence!
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