Our Instructors – The Dance Center of Santa Rosa

Our Instructors

Vicki Suemnicht – Owner/Director, Footnotes Tap Company co-director

Vicki has been teaching, choreographing, directing studio operations and producing shows in Sonoma County for more than 40 years. Her background includes tap, jazz, ballet and musical theatre and she’s had the privilege of training with tap greats Gregory Hines, Eddie Brown and Honi Coles. Vicki has choreographed shows for the Sixth Street Playhouse and Santa Rosa Players including The Producers, The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Shop of Horrors, Chorus Line, Urinetown and others. She has also choreographed for Montgomery High School’s musicals including Some Like It Hot, Bye, Bye Birdie, Music Man, Kiss Me Kate, Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Vicki is on the board of the Santa Rosa Sister City Committee student exchange program to Jeju, South Korea. She has brought Dance Center company dancers to perform at the Jeju Fire Festival in Korea for more than 15 years where they always wow the international audience as dance ambassadors extraordinaire! Vicki’s goal is to tap dance in every country and she regularly attends international dance workshops to train with international teachers and to connect with choreographers who she brings to The Dance Center for master classes and workshops.

Danielle Maca -Contemporary Companies Director

Danielle began dancing in 1988 at the age of 3 in Fremont CA. She competed her first tap and jazz solos at the age of 5 and loved the stage ever since. Her training at The Dance Center began at age 11 in jazz, hip hop, tap and modern. She competed for 7 years with jazz, tap, and hip hop companies. Danielle has performed in Jeju South Korea, Washington D.C., South Carolina and at San Francisco’s Hip Hop Fest. She was a member of Shadow Optix and Secret Society hip hop companies and was also in a traveling performance group InnerActions, where she performed for teens with a message of prevention through inspiration. Danielle has been part of The Dance Center faculty since 2008 teaching hip hop, jazz and contemporary dance.

Emily Hartley – Tap, Jazz & Musical Theatre

Emily fell in love with tap dancing at age 9 and grew up dancing at The Dance Center with Nina Raggio and Vicki Suemnicht as her teachers. After discovering musical theatre at age 14, her career path was chosen. She has a BA in Theatre Arts from CSU Fullerton. After college, Emily spent an amazing 8 years dancing in L.A. and worked with choreographers Paula Abdul and Kenny Ortega. Some of her favorite projects include dancing in the film Pearl Harbor and the television show Commander-in-Chief. Emily is thrilled to be celebrating her 15th year teaching tap, jazz and musical theatre at The Dance Center, where it all started. She has enjoyed watching her students grow and flourish as both dancers and people. She has been the director of our tap companies for over 13 years. Emily is the proud mom of eight-year-old twins, Lily and William, who dance at the studio.

Tayla Nielson – Hip-Hop Companies Director

Tayla is a professional Hip Hop dancer, teacher and accomplished competitive performer who has been dancing since the age of 10. She was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia when she moved to Sonora, California at the age of 11. While competing, Tayla is an energetic people-person, successful at developing talent, versed in teaching methods and instructional materials to meet student’s varying needs and interests. Tayla has choreographed group routines, and solos for students of all ages, styles, and levels from beginner to advanced skills. She has worked with industry choreographers at intensives and workshops throughout California, while competing with The JSquared Project, an adult Hip Hop team called. As a dance teacher, Talya advances student’s abilities and provides opportunities for each student to reach their fullest potential through artistic and creative expression while maintaining a fun and entertaining classroom vibe

Alissa Pearce – Tap, Contemporary, Ballet & Jazz

Alissa has been dancing in the Bay Area for over 40 years. At age 4 her passion for movement and teaching was sparked by the late Bay Area tap legend, Bea Blum. She grew up studying tap, ballet, jazz, artistic/rhythmic gymnastics, musical theater, Hawaiian, and Flamenco and began teaching at age 9. In middle school she was a national rhythmic gymnastics champion, and was invited to attend the Olympic Training Camp in Colorado Springs. While still in high school she performed in the first National Tap Tour in Washington, where she shared the stage with Honi Coles, Brenda Bufalino, Eddie Brown, and Mark Mendonca. In college and in her professional career she expanded her studies to include hip hop, Afro-Brazilian, and several styles of modern dance. While studying modern technique with Annie Rosenthal Parr at RoCo in Mill Valley, and also performing with a local hip hop dance company, she met contemporary choreographer, Stacey Printz, and became one of Printz Dance Project’s founding company members in 1997. For 15 years Alissa was lucky enough to dance professionally with PDP utilizing all her dance disciplines and had the opportunity to travel to places like LA, NYC, and Memphis, as well as Russia, Lithuania, and Ireland. She is thrilled to be dancing with Footnotes tap company since 2012 and to be part of the teaching staff at the Dance Center where she can share her dance experience with others.

Lyndsey Johnson – Ballet & Children’s Tap

Lyndsey started dancing when she was 3 years old and hasn’t stopped since. She was in the ballet company at Petaluma School of Ballet and performed in festivals within the Pacific region. Lyndsey performed in principal roles with the company such as Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. She has studied many forms of dance including tap, ballet, jazz and modern. Lyndsey has been teaching tap and ballet at the Dance Center for eight years. She is also the mom of two girls, Kylee and Eliana who also dance at the studio.

Shannon Lee – Ballet

After taking nearly 20 years “off,” Shannon is very happy to be back studying and teaching dance! As a child in San Diego, she fell in love with theater movement, gravitating most to tap and lyric/musical theater jazz. Her long time tap teacher was Pam Thompson-Spinner, of the California Rhythm Project . In her teens she embraced ballet “because it is good for you,” never as a performance art but to evolve as a well-rounded and balanced dancer. In college at UC Santa Cruz, Shannon was involved in the theater/dance program where she had the opportunity to work with Mel Wong, Tandy Beal, Cliff Keuter, and others. While in college, she taught jazz and turns classes at a hip-hop studio in Santa Cruz. In her 30’s she migrated from dance to shaolin chu’an fa, a Chinese martial arts form, in which she earned a black belt in 2012. “I don’t know if dancing

Gabby Thompson – Ballet

Gabby Thompson has over 25 years of teaching and performing experience in classical ballet, modern, and jazz. She has trained extensivley in the US and for a summer in Paris, France. She earned full scholarships from the Sarasota Ballet in Florida, Princeton Ballet in New Jersey, and The Nutmeg Ballet in Connecticut. Gabby has been a highly acclaimed teacher and choreographer at Roco Dance & Fitness in Mill Valley for sixteen years. She taught ballet and jazz at The Dance Center in Santa Rosa and Sonoma State University and has been teaching and directing the dance program at Cardinal Newman High School since 2011. She is the new Visual and Performing Arts Director for the Arts Alive program at Newman. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Performing Arts from St. Mary’s College, California-LEAP program and a Masters of Arts in Dance from California State University, Long Beach. We are thrilled to have her back in the studio this summer.

Mollie Fought – Jazz

Mollie Fought is a returning Dance Center alumni who is a passionate dance instructor dedicated to inspiring movement and self-expression. She has years of teaching experience in Jazz and Contemporary, she draws from a lifelong love of dance. She grew up at the studio as a company dancer, teaching assistant, teacher, and choreographer before going on to college to major in dance. Mollie has trained with top teachers and choreographers while refining her own style. Her teaching philosophy is rooted in the belief that dance strengthens both the body and soul. She pushes her students to challenge themselves while providing the guidance they need to grow. In addition to technique, she emphasizes preparing dancers for auditions and college programs. Mollie has danced, taught and choreographed in California, New York, Louisiana, and Kansas. She is thrilled to return to The Dance Center, where her journey began, and to share her passion with the next generation of dancers. When she’s not in the studio, Mollie enjoys crafting, reading, and spending time with her husband, Ethan, and their three daughters.

Rachel Kazarian – Hip Hop

Rachel started her dance training at the age of 3 in tap and jazz. While growing up, she competed as a tap dancer and in high school, was a member of Windsor High School’s dance team. She was a student at The Dance Center for several years before joining our staff of teachers. Rachel has trained at hip hop conventions as well as being a member of hip hop and contemporary companies at UC Davis. She is currently working on degrees in both business and dance at Sonoma State University. Her dance teachers were her biggest motivation to continue dancing and she is excited to be part of a great community of dancers in Sonoma County.

Bri Holmes – Contemporary and Jazz

Bri is a teacher, choreographer and performer. In 2023, She served as a teaching assistant at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) Conference, solidifying her commitment to dance education and mentorship. Since 2022, she has been a company member with Upside Dance Company and her training includes work with teachers such as Nzinga Woods, Andy Vaka, and Kara Davis in the styles of jazz, African diaspora, professional NBA and NFL styles, contemporary, and modern. Bri also has experience in teaching a variety of styles, including hip hop, tap, and ballet. She plans to continue her journey of creative exploration and academic excellence by pursuing a Master’s degree abroad, deepening both her choreographic practice and global perspective.

Tessa Murray – Contemporary & Ballet

Tessa began dancing at the age of 4, and trained at Jacque’s Dance Expressions in Yuba City, CA. Her dance background includes ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, tap, hip hop, and pointe. She spent 7 years dancing competitively and has been teaching and choreographing for 4 years. Tessa is currently studying Business and Dance at Sonoma State University, and will also be taking on the position of Co-Captain of the Sapphires Dance Team. She is very excited to be continuing her teaching career at the Dance Center.