OUR INSTRUCTORS

Emily Havenhill, Coming Soon..

Emily completed her B.F.A. in Dance at Western Michigan University in Spring 2022. Before entering WMU’s Dance Program, Emily danced at Michigan Ballet Academy and Body Language Dance Company where she trained in Ballet, Pointe, Variations, Pas de Deux, Jazz, Modern, Lyrical, Contemporary, Hip-Hop, and Tap. She also attended multiple summer intensives such as the American Ballet Theater Intensive, Visceral Dance Chicago Intensive, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Pre-Professional Intensive, New York University Tisch Summer Dance Residency, Francisco Gella Dance Works Seattle Dance Advance Intensive, and Peridance Blueprint Intensive. She also completed the Gibney Professional Training Certificate Program. Emily teaches ballet, jazz, contemporary, and hip-hop. Currently, Emily is a part of an up-and-coming contemporary dance company called Currents Dance Theater and a hip-hop collective called DancespireFam.

Emily grew up dancing in the Grand Rapids area and took her first class at the age of 6. She pursued extensive ballet training while also enjoying the competitive dance world. Emily’s ballet training included summer intensives with Grand Rapids Ballet, Joffrey Ballet and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. This training allowed her to take on lead roles, such as the Snow Queen, in her local studio’s production of the Nutcracker. Emily also enjoyed many regional and national awards for her competition pointe solos. Emily taught her first ballet class at the age of 14. She continued teaching until 2008, when she hung up her dancing shoes to join the US Air Force Reserve. Emily is so thankful that she was given the opportunity to come back to teaching dance with BSD since 2018.

Erin and her children have been a part of BSD for the past 8 years and have enjoyed their dance journey along the way. Erin has been in the Adult Hip-Hop class since it started at BSD and has also taken adult Jazz, Lyrical, and Tap classes. Erin’s motto has been, “Just remember you are never too old to do something you love to do.” Erin has recently transitioned from one of BSD’s adult dancers to a BSD adult class instructor. Erin has 2 children, both of which share her love of dance.

Haley graduated from BSD as a student in spring of 2024. She danced for 6 1/2 years and developed a great passion for it. Her favorite styles are tap and lyrical, but she truly loves all of them. Haley is now studying Elementary Education at Western Michigan University. Her love for teaching combined with her love for dance have made teaching at BSD the best of both worlds. Haley has been teaching for 3 years and is beyond excited to continue working with students to hopefully foster the same passion in them that she has for dance.

Heather has been dancing since she could walk at 9 months old! She studied classical ballet, character, tap and jazz and performed with the Virginia Youth Ballet in high school. While she took a detour into marathon running after college, Heather returned to dance by studying flamenco, becoming a Zumba instructor, and starting to teach youth dance classes. Heather is married to her college sweetheart and has two teenagers. She is the co-owner of Just Move Fitness and More and an All Star Mentor for POMSQUAD Fitness. All movement, but especially dance, is her passion!

Ivy has been dancing her whole life and joined BSD two years ago, where she quickly fell in love with the studio’s welcoming community. Her passion for dance and connection with others led her to stay involved and give back. Ivy has experience assistant teaching at the Kalamazoo Civic Theater’s day camps and loves working with kids. This fall, she will begin studying Early Childhood Education at Western Michigan University. Ivy hopes to inspire her students to embrace who they are and build confidence through dance.

Jessica Kerby, Coming Soon..

Kayla has been dancing since age 2 and instantly developed a passion for the art form! Growing up she trained competitively in dance, competing at regional and national competitions both in studio and dance team styles of dance. Complementing this training, she trained at various ballet schools during her summers, including Cincinnati Ballet, Orlando ballet, and Carolina Ballet. This love for dance continued as she grew, leading her to WMU, where she is currently pursuing a BFA in Dance. Kayla has a passion for dance and teaching!

Born and raised in Paw Paw Michigan, Kaylee has been dancing since she could walk. Starting at age two with ballet, tap, and jazz, to end up exploring many different styles and variations throughout her career. Kaylee was competitive for many years, dancing with her team Positively Dance under MKSOD. She assisted and co-taught under her mother, Amanda Bilton, at the very same studio. She went on to win many awards for her solos and duos, including first place for the first dance she’d ever choreographed. Kaylee’s favorite styles are contemporary, modern, and hiphop. One thing she hopes to continue to do is inspire other young dancers to push forward with their dreams, even if it feels hopeless at times. In her spare time, she enjoys making art. Such as: portraits, t-shirt designs, jewelry, etc. She also has a cat she loves named Stella!

Kersten is currently majoring in dance at WMU. She has been dancing for 18 years along with gymnastics for about 12 years. She was a competitive dancers for 6 years and an assistant teacher for 2 years. Kersten trained in Cecchetti ballet up to grade 6 and almost every style of dance, but her favorite is contemporary. Kersten is super excited to share all the knowledge and tips she has learned along the way.

Amanda was born and raised in Paw Paw Michigan. She began dancing at her mother’s dance studio (Meeth Dance Studio) as soon as she could walk and started competing at a very young age too. After her mom closed her studio Amanda spent a couple of years focusing on ballet at the Kalamazoo Ballet Company where she was in some amazing ballets including getting the role of Clara in the Nutcracker. She finally ended up at MKSOD in Decatur where she joined the competition team and eventually started her dance teaching career. Her competition dances won many awards including a Teacher’s Choice nomination for a Musical Theatre dance and two Best Choreography Awards. She has studied many styles of dance, but specializes in teaching Acro, Jazz, Lyrical, and Musical Theatre choreography. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her husband Bob and their 5 kids. She also loves to paint and make crafts.

Melissa started dancing in her early teens in California when her parents decided competitive roller skating was too much and it became obvious that softball was not her forte. She danced throughout high school and into college, where she received her BA from Hope with a major in Dance. She then continued her studies at The Ohio State University earning a master’s degree in dance history and labanotation (a symbol form of codifying dance movement and choreography). She taught briefly at Clark State University through the theater department until she returned to Michigan and her hometown of Portage. She continued to teach dance in local studios until the birth of her children when she stepped away until a few years ago when the desire to return to dance and especially tap was too much to resist. She enjoys bringing her love for tap to the adults at BSD dance studio and looks forward to another exciting year.

Nora is a sophomore at Kalamazoo College where she is majoring in psychology and minoring in theater. She’s looking forward to studying abroad next year. Nora started teaching 4 years ago. Her dance career spans 15 years, with 13 of them at BSD Dance Studio. Her favorite style of dance is tap. Nora’s goal is to foster a positive and fun learning environment in the studio, and she looks forward to sharing her love for dance this upcoming season!

Raquel has been dancing, teaching, and choreographing various styles for over two decades. Balancing her love for tap, jazz, hip-hop, and modern dance styles she was a decorated competitive dancer for 10+ years, her biggest accomplishment as a national tap dance soloist and Dancer of the Year finalist for Dance American in 2005. As an adult she has been featured in various publications and podcasts regarding her experience with dance and living with rheumatoid arthritis. Her teaching style focuses on developing young people's confidence through challenging them do their best work and having fun every step of the way.