STUDIO J ACADEMY OF DANCE
MEET OUR INSTRUCTORS
TALENTED PROFESSIONALS : MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES
Jennifer Chesnes
Jennifer’s dance training started when she was 3 years old and continued with the same studio until she graduated from high school. Rita & Lisa Wilhelm were her teachers and mentors in the dance business world. She started teaching all types of dance forms after receiving her Bachelors of Science in Dance Performance from Kent State University. Jennifer was a member of many Modern Dance Companies along with being accepted in to the Cleveland Ballet when she was still a student in High School. Jennifer is a certified Cecchetti Ballet Instructor along with being a certified Pilates Instructor. She enjoys giving her students the gift of dance because it has brought so much joy in her life over the years.
John Thompson
John is originally from the Cleveland area. He began his dance training from the famous Dee Hillier. He has been working in the entertainment world for 20 years working as a professional dancer, actor, choreographer and director.
John has worked with several Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Winners such as Tommy Tune, Tabitha & Napoleon, Patti Columbo and Barry Manilow.
He has traveled the world teaching Master classes in Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary and audition classes. For the past 15 years John has worked for Stiletto Entertainment based out of Los Angeles in the Cruise Ship division as well as with many artists that Stiletto managed, working on stage shows as well as PBS Specials. John also choreographs for RWS & Associates out of New York.
He has been a part of the Winter Guard and Drum Corp scene working with several different high schools and independent groups as a movement instructor and designer.
Torrance Nowden
Torrance has been a member of Studio J since 2011. He brings a new excitement to the classroom with his energy and unique choreography. He teaches all levels of Jazz, Jazz Funk and Contemporary for Studio J along with many other North East Ohio Communities. Torrance was born and raised in the greater Cleveland area. He began dancing at the early age of 6 years old where he discovered his total happy place. Torrance attended Bowling Green State University in which he discovered competition dance in a major way. While taking dance courses, his professor asked him to work with her and he’s been choreographing for competitions every since. Torrance has done work for several studios throughout Ohio, Indiana and Chicago. When asked why he dances, Torrance says “dance makes me feel alive, dance is probably why I’m alive today”. Torrance is gearing up for another fun season at Studio J!
Marybeth Russo
Marybeth began her dance studies at the Rita Wilhelm Academy of Dance at age three. She has become an extremely confident teacher and continues to study the Cecchetti method of Ballet. She is a certified Cecchetti instructor and brings Hip-Hop to the Academy. She also continues her dance studies at the Broadway Dance Center in New York City. Marybeth is a graduate from Ursuline College holding a B.A. in education and presently teaches kindergarten at Lander Elementary in the Mayfield City School District.
Hannah Hejduk
Hannah began her dance training at the age of three at Maranatha School of Dance in Cape Coral, FL. She then trained under certified Cecchetti instructor Erin Rivera from the ages of twelve to eighteen. Upon graduating high school, Hannah was accepted into Light of the World Ballet’s trainee program in Syracuse, NY, where she trained for three years. While there, Hannah had the opportunity to choreograph for the professional company and tour the choreography in Israel. In 2017, Hannah moved to Ohio and assisted her colleagues in beginning a professional ballet company and studio in Chardon. She became the Artistic Director of Ballet Gloria, where she danced professionally in ballet and contemporary work, taught for the company and school, and was responsible for all choreography for the professional company. Hannah’s first full-length choreographic work premiered in 2019. Hannah is an ABT®️ Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT®️ Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT®️ National Training Curriculum.
McKenzie Beaverson
McKenzie is from Toledo, Ohio where she trained in ballet, contemporary, modern, and improvisation with the Toledo Ballet. There she had the opportunity to work with professionals including Soili Arvola, Tricia Albertson, Olga Pavlova, and Renato Penteado. McKenzie is also a graduate of Toledo School for the Arts with a Dance Major Certificate. She has performed in Bolero with Verb Ballets, and work by Kora Radella, founder of the Boomerang Dance Company. McKenzie danced with The Dancing Wheels Company in 2016-2017 which was her first exposure to physically integrated dance. She then worked with Full Radius Dance, founder of The Modern Atlanta Dance Festival. McKenzie has been an artist with Gotta Dance Contemporary, Dance Canvas, The Big Muddy Dance Company, and performed as a back up dancer for Maya Kodes at Georgia Institute of Technology. McKenzie has returned to The Dancing Wheels Company to continue her work in the physically integrated dance field.
Cody Krause
Cody Krause is a graduate of The Ohio State University, receiving a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance in 2019, where he focused his degree on Composition, Choreography, & Performance. Before OSU, Cody started dancing in the Philadelphia area, attending Miss Cindy’s School of Dance since the age of 3. He also attended the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for Arts, where he graduated from in 2015 as a dance major.
During his time as a performer, he’s been a part of many works, processes, and concerts including pieces by Doug Varone, Donald McKayle, Merce Cunningham, and Ohad Naharin, where he was the featured soloist in BalletMet and OSU’s Collaboration of “Minus 16.” Cody is currently in his second season of performing with Dancing Wheels in Cleveland, OH, where he is a company member, teaching artist, and outreach teacher. He has had the chance to perform all around the Cleveland Area, as well as places like Chicago and Beijing, China throughout his first year with the company.
Cody has also been working on presenting his own choreography throughout 2015-2020, showcasing works in Columbus, Cleveland, and the Lehigh Valley. He has created and performed solo works such as “Desolate” and “Character Zero”, as well as choreographed group works “You Are Welcome to Join” and “The Haze of Connection”, his first integrated dance piece. He is also a Certified Level 1 Teacher in the Dancing Wheels Methodology.
Emma Zordan
Emma currently resides in New York City area but grew up in Cleveland Heights while dancing at Studio J. Her dance training began at age 4 at Studio J where she continued her studies until graduation. At Studio J she trained under the direction of Jennifer Chesnes and a wide variety of staff members in a plethora of dance styles including ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, and hiphop.
She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2020 where she had the opportunity to continue her dance training as the director of several teams and as a ballet assistant in the dance department. Now living NYC, Emma continues her dance training at Broadway Dance Center, Peridance Center, House of Movement and Brickhouse, with Bo Park, Gwen Potter, Kenichi Kasamatsu, and Erika Ratkovicz. She worked for American Ballet Theater in Marketing and continues her ballet training with the company. Emma has been a choreographer and teacher at Studio J for the past 7 years and is thrilled to continue her time at the studio.
Melissa Gruca
Melissa began studying dance at Linda Lee Dance Studio when she was four years old. There she became proficient in the Cecchetti Ballet method along with different tap and jazz styles. While studying with Linda Lee Abbott Melissa passed levels I – IV of the Cecchetti Ballet exams. Melissa graduated from Alma College with a B.A. degree in Dance. There she danced with the Alma College Dance Company and taught college level dance classes. While in college Melissa taught dance privately for DuHadway Dance Dimension (formerly Linda Lee Dance Studio). She taught ballet, pointe, tap and jazz to a variety of ages and levels. She also choreographed for the DDD competition team. While working with DDD Melissa passed her Level I Cecchetti Teachers exam. Melissa moved to Cleveland in 2001 and began dancing and performing with different professional dance companies including Antaeus Dance, Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre and Inlet Dance Theatre. While in Cleveland Melissa Co-Founded the Fairmount Dance Theatre. FDT is a youth based Dance Company that strives to bring the beauty of dance to young professionals. Melissa left FDT in the fall of 2007 and is now very excited to be a part of Studio J. She strives to be a positive influence on her student’s lives and to share with them the joy that dance has brought to her life.
Stephanie Bonham
Stephanie Ruth Roston is a Columbia, Missouri native who began dancing at the age of 13 through local youth musical theater. She later studied at the School of Missouri Contemporary Ballet under the direction of Karen Grundy and received her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. Her recent notable works include her 2021 screendance today could be the day in collaboration with Inlet’s Summer Dance Intensive students and her documentary Halfway There: Stories of Life, Loss, and Love in West Jackson, produced in collaboration with the homeless population of West Jackson. She was also a collaborator for the 2021 documentary entitled Dear Heart of Glass Kids. Roston has taught and performed internationally in Japan, Exuma, Malaysia, and Vietnam, participating in an exchange with Tan Loc’s Arabesque Dance Company. While at Belhaven, she received the Bezalel award for outstanding artistic achievement in 2015 and 2018 for her work in performance and choreography, and she was honored to perform at the Kennedy Center for the 2018 American College Dance Association national convention. Roston has danced professionally with Inlet Dance Theatre in Cleveland, OH since 2018 and also serves as the company’s video production coordinator. In addition to performing throughout the greater Cleveland area, Roston has been an instructor with Studio J Academy of Dance since 2020.
MacKenzie Bennett
MacKenzie is a 21-year-old from Lordstown, Ohio and has been a part of the Studio J family since 2001. Her dance training began at age 4 at Momentum Dance and she continued there until her graduation from high school. MacKenzie trained under Lisa Mark learning technique and teaching methods.
She began teaching all types of dance after graduation including (but not limited to) Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Contemporary, and Hip-Hop. MacKenzie attended Kent State University in Ohio earning a degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology while dancing on the Kent State Dance team focused on Jazz, Hi-Hop, and POM.
Currently, she attends Akron University where she is pursuing a Masters Degree in Speech Pathology.
MacKenzie has taught at several studios throughout northeast Ohio and thinks of dance as her 'happy place' and loves to share her love of the art.