Meet the Koresh kids dance Teachers
Lindsey Jaynes has been a teaching artist with Koresh Kids Dance since moving to Philadelphia in 2014. After training under program developer Teresa VanDenend Sorge, Lindsey became the Outreach Director in 2019 and oversees the Koresh Kids Dance program as a whole. A graduate of Oberlin College and The Ailey School, Lindsey has performed and choreographed across the country, and danced with public school students in Chicago, Ohio and Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Philadelphia she teaches creative dance, dance technique and fitness to children and adults, and has taught dance in community settings ranging from pre-schools to senior centers--but teaching Koresh Kids Dance students is her favorite thing in the whole world.
Ms. Lindsey
McCall School
Robert Morris Elementary
F.S. Edmonds Elementary
Fanny Jackson Coppin
Loren Groenendaal (they/she) has been teaching dance and creative movement to children for two decades and in many contexts. She has been a teaching artist for Koresh Kids Dance since 2011. She enjoys the challenge of finding ways to connect dance to her students' other interests, making dance relatable and fun while building other academic and social skills. She loves facilitating opportunities for students to share their individuality and creative selves while also working together in collaborative teams. Loren holds an MFA in Dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a BA in Dance and Visual Art from Oberlin College, and a Certificate in Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals. She has studied dance pedagogy with Betty Jane Dittmar, Sue Stinson, and Ann Dils. She has completed multiple trauma-informed teacher trainings, most recently she completed the 20-hour Trauma-Informed Practice for Teaching Artists with the Bartol Foundation. When not at schools for Koresh, she also teaches creative dance at Philadelphia area after school programs and movement improvisation at Muhlenberg College. She founded and co-facilitates multiple opportunities for both Contact and Compositional Improvisation in Philadelphia including a weekly class and Jam, a monthly Underscore, a monthly lab, and occasional performances. She is an active artist through her own Vervet Dance, a Philly-based contemporary dance company that has delighted audiences from Maine to North Carolina and California and Mexico. She is a founding member, current resident artist, and Board Member of the Mascher Space Cooperative, the Impermanent Society of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Compositional Improvisation Lab, and Dissolving Doors. More details at www.vervetdance.org.
MS. Loren
Sharwood Elementary
G.W. Childs Elementary
Penrose Elementary
Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Julianna Boylan graduated from the University of Illinois with her B.F.A. in Dance. She is currently working as a teaching artist with Koresh Kids Dance and the Kimmel Center. In the evenings, she teaches ballroom and latin dance at Society Hill Dance Academy. She has previously worked with ArtistYear AmeriCorp, YesAnd..Collaborative Arts, Philadelphia Arts in Education Partners, Monarch Dance Academy, and Take the Lead Dance Project. Julianna's passions as an artist include thinking critically about art, manipulating bodies in time and space to create new dance works, and sharing her love of dance with others by performing and teaching.
Ms. Julianna
Penrose Elementary
Cayuga Elementary
Hunter Elementary
Bayard Taylor
Cook-Wissahickon
Cameron Bridgers is a dancer and movement teaching artist from West Orange, New Jersey. She received her B.F.A. in dance from Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance, and has been teaching in the Philadelphia area for close to a year now. Cameron joined Koresh Kids Dance in 2021. She has also worked for organizations such as Yes And…Collaborative Arts and danceLogic, a program from the West Park Cultural Center. Cameron has a strong passion for dance education and looks forward to bringing the art form to more students and communities for years to come.
Ms. Cameron
Robert Morris Elementary
G.W. Childs Elementary
Angelica Spilis is the Artistic Director of Equilibrium Dance Academy. She is a Philadelphia native who studied dance at Temple University in the Boyer College of Music and Dance where she received her BFA (2012) and MA (2015) degrees in dance. Her Masters of Arts degree included many choreographed works and her written thesis called Dancing With Arthritis where she created a Somatics-based dance class for dancers who have arthritis. At Temple University, Angelica concentrated in Modern, Jazz and Improvisational Dance. Along with continuing her dance education, Angelica has taught at many dance studios in the Philadelphia area and performed for numerous dance companies, such as Philly Sirens, ContempraDance Company and Steven Welsh/SWERVE. She has also performed on The Q Show featured on FOX 29. Angelica has showcased her tap skills at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and for the Garden State Festival, and has choreographed dances that were featured at Temple University, Disney World, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Spring UP Dance Festival and the ETC Performance Series. She has also been the Artistic Director for Dance One Studios DO TAP pre-professional tap dance company since 2016.
Ms. Angelica
Schools: Hunter Elementary Sharswood Elementary
Jess has been a teaching artist with Koresh Kids Dance since she graduated from Muhlenberg College in 2019. She is delighted to be in her fourth year with the program. She began as an intern and now is both a lead and assistant teacher in several different elementary schools. She is also currently the administrative assistant for the program. Jess finds great joy in sharing her love of creative dance with her students and watching it evolve and change in each different group of children. While in school, she trained with artists such as Megan Flynn, Heidi Cruz-Austin, Karen Dearborn, Tiffany Mills, Kevin Jenkins, and Trinette Singleton. Jess also taught with the Muhlenberg Community Dance Center throughout her four years of school. Her love of working in elementary schools, however, comes from her participation in the DanceMax Moving Company in college, founded by Teresa VanDenend Sorge. The company developed an interactive dance performance that was shared every Friday in a different elementary school in the Allentown School District during the spring semesters. She is also currently a teaching artist with Delaware Valley Dance Academy, Pennsylvania Academy of the Dance Arts, and Macrina Academy of Dance where she teaches Ballet, Modern, Improvisation, Creative Movement, and more.
Ms. Jess
F.S. Edmonds Elementary
Cayuga Elementary
Cook-Wissahickon
Chanel Holland-Pierre is the Founder and Artistic Director of Chocolate Ballerina Company. Chanel is a traditional ballet master instructor and world premier choreographer. Chanel is a pioneer who devotes her time teaching Vaganova and Balanchine technique to inner-city youth and adults. Chanel is the recipient of the NAACP gold medal and has been featured on PBS, NBC10, ABC, THE TODAY SHOW, TVONE, and more. She’s proud to stand with so many elite teaching artists within the Koresh Kids Dance organization.
Ms. Chanel
Fanny Jackson Coppin
Bayard Taylor Elementary