DEENA FOURNIER
Studio Owner and Director
Deena began dancing at the age of 10 after completing a book report on Maria Tallchief’s autobiography and has loved dance ever since. She studied with the Milwaukee Ballet School and School of Chicago City Ballet under such notable teachers as Francoise Martinet, Paul Sutherland, Basil Thompson, Melissa Hayden, Maria Tallchief, Diana Adams, Homer Bryant, Edward Villella, Allegra Kent and Joel Hall. Upon returning home, Deena enrolled in college and continued to perform for two civic ballet companies, Plymouth-Canton Ballet Company and Livonia Civic Ballet Company. She performed leading and soloist roles in The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Cinderella, Flying Colors, Paquita, Les Sylphides, Swan Lake and Dracula. She also began studying her Cecchetti Teacher’s Certification. She currently holds her Professional Advanced VII certificate with the Cecchetti Council of America to which she has been a member since 1992.
Deena has over 30 years of dance teaching experience and has co-owned Ann Arbor Dance Classics with Lisa Holland since 2000. She is currently sole owner and director of AADC. In those 30+ years, she has had several dancers compete regionally and nationally. She has had students win scholarships as well as competitive awards. Many of her students have gone on to study dance in colleges across the country and have also gone on to perform professionally as well. Her love and knowledge of dance has also inspired many of her former students to become dance teachers. She continues to teach her love of dance to as many young people as she can.
Deena currently resides in Milan, Michigan with her husband and her two daughters. She also enjoys camping, hiking and cooking.
LISA HOLLAND
Founder
Lisa has been teaching dance for more than 30 years. She founded Ann Arbor Dance Classics in 1996 with the objective of creating an environment for dance education which included various styles of dance, but remained centered on a foundation of classical ballet training.
In 2000, Lisa Holland was reunited with Deena Fournier, a friend with whom she had trained in ballet for many years. They became business partners, and in 2004 established the AADC Youth Dance Ensemble (YDE), an in-house performance company for dancers between the ages of 8 and 18. With Deena directing the ballet program, Lisa was able to turn her attention to her passion for musical theater and tap. Having enjoyed performing in numerous shows including A Chorus Line, Pippin, and Jesus Christ Superstar, Lisa enjoys creating production numbers for YDE which focus on the theatrical elements of dance. Outside of AADC, Lisa has choreographed for and directed the CRU National Dance Spectacular, and continues to choreograph the musicals for Saline High School. In December of 2019, Lisa handed over ownership and directorship of Ann Arbor Dance Classics solely to Deena Fournier.
Lisa works full time at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan where she attended graduate school. She currently resides in Saline with her husband Steve.
EMMA GRABARCZYK
Instructor
Emma has been dancing since the age of seven with most of her training focused on ballet, pointe, jazz and modern. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Eastern Michigan University in 2011 with a degree in Dance Studio Management. While at EMU, she performed in numerous faculty and guest artist pieces, multiple full length ballets, and many student choreography pieces. She also served as secretary for EMU Dance Forum. She continues her own training any chance she can with classes and workshops. She has taken class at Chicago's Lou Conte Dance Studio and the Joffrey Ballet School as well as attending the Jazz Dance World Congress in Pittsburgh.
Emma has been teaching at Ann Arbor Dance Classics since 2011 and enjoys working with every age and level. She choreographs for the Youth Dance Ensemble and Competition Team and loves working with a wide range of students in many different styles of dance.
STEPHANIE RONDY
Instructor
Stephanie is a native of the Detroit-Metro area, having received her early training at Noretta Dunworth School of Dance (NDSD) in Dearborn, Michigan. Seeking further education in the art form, she attended Eastern Michigan University (EMU) where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Dance, focused in Studio Management. Throughout her college career, Stephanie had the opportunity to perform in multiple works at the American College Dance Festival (ACDF) and claimed starring roles in the ballets Cinderella and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was during this time that she also gained professional performing experience with Rustic Groove Dance—a modern concert dance company based in Jackson, Michigan.
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Stephanie returned to Michigan after receiving her Master of Arts at New York University with a full certification in the American Ballet Theatre® (ABT) National Training Curriculum (NTC)—a breakthrough eight level program that combines high quality artistic training with the basics of dancer health and child development. While in New York, Stephanie worked in Development at ABT and was a substitute instructor at several area dance academies, including the Joffrey Ballet School. In her spare time, Stephanie fed her love of performance by dancing with theater dance company Aries in Flight, founded by her NYU cohort, Catherine Baggs.
MELANIE SIMPSON
Instructor
Melanie has been dancing for 20+ years and competing since the age of eight. She is trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, gymnastics, tap, musical theatre, hip hop, modern and precision pom. She is a Livonia Churchill High School graduate where she participated in the Creative And Performing Arts program. While in CAPA, she danced in choreographed group and solo numbers for her fellow dancers. It was during her time at Churchill that she discovered her passion for choreography and teaching. She was also a member of the award winning Churchill Chargers Pom Pon team.
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After high school Melanie attended Eastern Michigan University majoring in Dance Performance. She has had the pleasure of studying under many master teachers including Glenn Packard (from the television show "Brooke Knows Best”), Addison O’Day (formerly of the Alabama Ballet), Keith Clifton, Rhonda Miller, and Jamie Trepanier. Melanie was also selected by audition for a small part in the movie “Youth In Revolt”.
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Recently she has been teaching and choreographing for several local dance studios. Her engaging and energetic choreography has helped her students to achieve numerous regional and national awards. Melanie looks forward to sharing her dedication, energy, and creative choreography with her students this year.
GRACE CYRBOK
Instructor
Grace has been dancing since she was three, and the last seven years of that she danced and competed for AADC. Grace is trained in ballet, tap (my favorite style), jazz, modern, and contemporary. She graduated from AADC in 2024 and is so thrilled to continue to be part of the family, now as an instructor.
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Grace is currently in her first year of college at Eastern Michigan University pursuing a double major in dance and environmental science in society.
NATASHA DAVIS
Instructor
Natasha is thrilled to return to AADC for another year. She has danced and competed throughout her life; including ballet, jazz, tap, and lyrical. Currently she specializes in teaching ballet with some lyrical. Natasha studied at the University of Michigan and now works as a mechanical engineer during the day. After long days at work she loves to go to the studio, bond with the students, and share her passion of dance.
NINA EISENMANN
Instructor
Nina has been coaching dance team and teaching dance since college where she was a part of the EMU Dance Team for 4 years. She has coached locally at many schools including Lincoln, Milan, Concordia University, and Saline High School, where she was the Head Coach of the Saline Varsity team for six years. She has been choreographing for schools and teams for almost 20 years!
Currently Nina is the Head Coach of the Junior Hornet Dance Team in Saline, a competitive elementary team. Her favorite thing about teaching and coaching is watching the dancers light up when they hit the football field or stage and when they gain a skill they have been working towards. She is incredibly happy to be back at AADC after ten years away! It definitely feels like coming back home.
CHRISTINE GOLUS
Instructor
Miss Chris received her BFA from the University of Michigan School of Art and is Managing Director and owner of Q LTD – a design, branding, web studio located in Ann Arbor. Chris has had a life-long love of dance and began her training in the Detroit area at a young age at the Dick and Connie Reppa and Bunny Sanford dance studios. She was a long time modern dance student of J. Parker Copley and studied with Noonie (Hamp) Anderson, Whitley (Setrakian) Hill, Peter Sparling, Peter Kentes, Debra Sipos-Roe, and others. Most recently she has studied Latin dance with Laura Geldys. Chris has choreographed and performed her own works as well as performed in works by Noonie Anderson, J. Parker Copley, Pat Plasko, Peter Sparling, and Whitley Setrakian. Miss Chris has taught creative movement since 1993 and Modern Dance since 2004.
Prior to teaching at Ann Arbor Dance Classics she was at a teacher at Arts in Motion and Dance Gallery Studio. She also served as Board Member and Secretary of Dance Gallery Foundation, the umbrella organization for the Peter Sparling Dance Company and Dance Gallery Studio. She loves inspiring young dancers to express their own creativity through improvisation techniques grounded in strong technical training.
MOLLY MCMILLAN
Instructor
Miss Molly grew up learning ballet, Cecchetti, jazz, tap, musical theater, and lyrical at Ann Arbor Dance Classics under the instruction of Deena Fournier and Lisa Holland. Summers were spent continuing her dance training at programs including: Joffrey Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Cecchetti Council of America, and Ballet Met. After graduating from high school, Molly went on to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Wayne State University with a full Presidential Scholarship and talent scholarship.
From there, she spent about two years in Chicago working as a freelance performer in contemporary companies before her six-year career as a Dancer/Singer with Carnival Cruise Lines. During the pause in operations, Molly had the pleasure of teaching hybrid and COVID-safe classes at AADC. She is thrilled to be back teaching the amazing (primarily younger) students of AADC this year.
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PAOLA SOUZA
Instructor
Paola began dancing when she was eleven years old at Ann Arbor Dance Classics. She soon joined the YDE competition team, and spent the next seven years dancing with them. Paola trained in ballet, jazz, pointe, and contemporary. She returned to Ann Arbor Dance Classics as a dance instructor with hopes of sharing her love for dance with other dancers! Paola recently acquired her Acrobatic Dance Arts teaching certification.
She graduated from Milan High School in 2019, and University of Michigan-Dearborn with a degree in International Studies in 2023.
LEAH STROUD
Instructor
Bio coming soon!
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OLIVIA WALTERS
Instructor
Olivia has been dancing her whole life and grew up at Ann Arbor Dance Classics. After graduating in 2018, she went on to get a Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Michigan State University, graduating in May of 2022. She continued dancing throughout college by getting her Minor in Dance and being a part of many performances. She was a member of the Orchesis Dance Company and taught weekly classes; performed and choreographed for Dance Minor Showcases; was a part of MSU Theater Department productions; was a Teaching Assistant for the dance minor program; etc. Olivia has experience in styles across the board.
For the 2024-2025 season, she teaches jazz and hip hop, as well as choreographs/works on competition pieces, production, Nutcracker, and Benefit Show. Outside of AADC, Olivia also works in marketing/branding for a recruiting company based in Denver, CO. Olivia has made lifelong friends at this studio and is so excited to be back and teaching the next generation of AADC dancers!
CAROLINE ZAJAC
Instructor
Caroline is an alumna of Ann Arbor Dance Classics and she has returned to AADC to share her knowledge and love of dance with future generations. Caroline attended Western Michigan University where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. While there she studied under amazing professors and many industry professionals. Caroline has had the opportunity to perform in many dance festivals across the US including Detroit Dance City Festival, Central City Dance Festival in Washington D.C., and Solocorigrafico International Dance Festival in Oklahoma. Caroline has continued her love of performing with Contexture Dance Detroit as a full company member. She joined the company in 2023 and has performed with them all across Michigan.
Caroline has experience in many dance styles and is looking forward to sharing them with her students this season. She teaches ballet, pointe, modern, lyrical, and contemporary, along with choreographing for the Nutcracker and competition team. Caroline also has had choreography showcased in pageants and Milan High School’s spring musicals in 2023 and 2024. Caroline is so excited to be back for another amazing season at AADC alongside the incredible staff and students!
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LISA BARNES
Front Desk Staff
Lisa is a native of the Detroit-Metro area. She has been a part of the Ann Arbor Dance Classics Family, since her daughter Brianna took her first dance class in July 1999. Lisa joined the staff of Ann Arbor Dance Classics in 2007.
Lisa attended Eastern Michigan University and graduated with a Bachelors of Business Administration, specializing in Accounting.
Lisa also works full time for the University of Michigan, Student Financial Services as a Senior Accountant.
TAMMY ZAJAC
Front Desk Staff
Tammy has been part of the AADC family since her oldest daughter, Alli, at age four, decided she wanted to dance like Coffee (Wendy Whelan) in The New York City Nutcracker. That began more than 25 years of dance for the Zajac family. Two other daughters, Sarah and Caroline would join Alli. Soon, Tammy and husband Gary found themselves dancing as parents in the Nutcracker as well. During this time, Tammy worked at the front desk, helped with costumes, sets, props, cleaned, and organized.
Tammy received her Bachelor's (Special Education) and Master's (Early Childhood) in teaching at Eastern Michigan University. She recently retired after 34 years of teaching; 8 years for Monroe ISD and 26 for Milan. While at Milan she was assistant director of many K-8 plays, including Willy Wonka, Annie, and several Christmas plays. She assisted in others, such as, Music Man, The Jungle Book, and The Wizard of Oz. She resides in Milan, with her family.
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