Our Team
EXPERIENCED & PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTORS
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Morgan Vogtlin
Owner + Director
Morgan has had a love and passion for dance since she was 3 years old, and started at Showcase when she was 11. While she loved all styles of dance, she particularly enjoyed and excelled at tap. A couple years after she joined Showcase, the student intern program was started and ever since then she has had a love like no other for teaching. She has taught all ages and abilities including our 3/4 Year Olds, Creative Movement, Level 1 jazz, tap and ballet, Level 2 lyrical, jazz and tap, our competitive Show Team and competitive Solos, Duets and Trios.
After graduating high school, she went off to college but made sure to stay close enough so she could continue teaching with Showcase. After trying a couple different majors including Nursing and Social Work, she just knew there was something better in her future.
Morgan was offered the position as owner in 2021 and hasn't looked back since. She thoroughly enjoys her role as owner and loves being able to spend time with her dancers each week and watching them learn and grow.
Bre Paulson
Competition Instructor + Account Manager
Bre began dancing at the age of 2. She trained in the disciplines of Ballet, Contemporary, Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, and Kick. Bre danced at the Dance Shoppe and Dance Impressions where she began competing at the age of 9. A member of the Elk River Dance Team during high school, she was a choreographer for 4 years and captain for 2 years. After graduating, Bre came back to coach the Elk River Dance Team for 3 years. Her training also includes classes taken from many nationally renowned master educators. As our lead competition instructor and choreographer here at Showcase, Bre has been awarded many choreography awards and her competition teams have taken numerous high point and judges choice awards.
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Gabriella Donnay
Competition Instructor + Program Manager
Gabriella's love for dance began at the young age of 3. She spent most of her competition years studying at Northland School of Dance where she trained in the areas of Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Lyrical, Ballet, Pointe, Pilates/Yoga and Hip Hop. She continued to grow her love and passion for the art of dance during her competition years, taking numerous master classes and conventions from some of the most knowledgeable and talented instructors in the country. Joining our Showcase family in 2015, Gabriella has worked with some of our top teams, gaining multiple choreography and high point awards along the way. She continues to dedicate her time to our Showcase students by teaching technique classes and choreographing group and solo routines from year to year.
Katie Forrest
Competition Instructor
Katie's love for the art of dance began at the early age of 3. She has trained in the areas of jazz, tap, kick, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, and hip hop. She danced competitively for 13 years and earned numerous awards and dance scholarships including all-conference both her junior and senior years, Dancer of the year and Athlete of the Week by the Star News. Katie was a choreographer for the Elk River Dance Team, choreographing several award winning routines. She was also a captain for the Elk River Dance Team her senior year. Katie has trained under such masters of dance as Sonja Tayeh, Mia Michaels, Travis Wall, Stacey Tookey, Peter Chu, Matt Cady, and David Moore just to name a few. Katie's choreography and work with our competition companies has earned her numerous choreography awards. Her team's have consistently placed top in their respective categories. A passionate dancer, Katie is excited to pass on her knowledge and joy of dance to her students.
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Kacie Bartholomew
Competition Instructor
Kacie grew up dancing at her aunt's studio north of the Twin Cities which is where her love for dance was rooted. She has been trained in Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Ballet, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Musical Theatre, Pom/Kick, and many others. She competed at numerous competitions earning top awards and attended many dance conventions throughout the Midwest. Kacie attended the University of North Dakota and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations and a Minor in Dance. During her college career she was part of the UND Dance Team and the North Dakota Ballet Company- performing at Football and Basketball games, Public Appearances, and Recitals put on by NDBC. After graduation she moved home and has been teaching at various studios throughout the Twin Cities. She has also had the opportunity to be an adjudicator for local dance competitions as well as a Judges' Coordinator. Kacie is excited to become a part of the Showcase family and cannot wait to share her passion of dance with others!
Addi Geiser
Competition + Performance Instructor
My name is Addison and I am proud to say I am a teacher here at Showcase Dance Studio. I have been dancing since the age of 2, but was a competitive dancer for 9 going on 10 years at Showcase Dance Studio. Going into my 10th year of dancing competitively, I unfortunately had to take a step down from what I loved due to a severe leg injury. I had a knee surgery at the age of 14 that took me out of my passion for dancing a lot earlier than expected. During my time of recovery I had the opportunity to Intern some different competition groups and instantly found my love for teaching. Since then I have been teaching at Showcase, and have gotten the opportunity to share my knowledge with my dancers, even after being cut short of my dance career. As a young dancer I loved the style of jazz and tap but was also trained in ballet, lyrical, and hip-hop. As I got older my passion for tap grew immensely. Although I can’t dance these styles anymore, I have found the same amount of passion in choreographing these styles. From starting out on the first ever ‘Wee Company’ team to now teaching it, it all becomes so surreal! I am beyond excited to continue my teaching here at Showcase Dance Studio, and can’t wait to pass on my knowledge each season to my students!
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Sydney Weisenberger
Competition Instructor
I began dancing at the age of 3. My love for dance grew quickly and I began competing at age 10. I have trained in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip-hop, kick, and pointe. While training I attended multiple conventions including Radix, NYCDA, 24/7, and Jump, allowing me to train under the biggest names in the industry. I joined Showcase as a dancer at age 13 and began my teaching journey at age 15. While I enjoy teaching a variety of styles, my favorite is definitely contemporary. I love the different emotions and stories that can be portrayed through contemporary choreography.
Laura Lefebvre
Competition + Performance Instructor
Laura began dancing at the age of 3. She started her competition training at age 7 and became a part of the Showcase family in 2013 where she danced on Senior, Prestige, and Heat Company. Alongside her studio training, she joined the Elk River Dance Team at age 13 and later became the fall captain her senior year. Over the years she has trained in jazz, ballet, tap, pointe, lyrical, kick, hip-hop, and contemporary but she found her niche in hip-hop later in training. Laura continued her passion for dance in college earning a Dance Certificate and became a part of Concert Dance Company her freshman year. She started choreographing in her first year while she continued her training for 4 years in the company. She became a member of the company board and was appointed Technical Liaison her junior year and President her senior year. Throughout college, Laura taught hip-hop winter workshops and summer intensives at Showcase Dance Studio. She is excited to return to Showcase as an instructor and pass on her love of dance.
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Sherise Petersen
Performance Instructor
Sherise was enrolled in her first dance class at 4 years old, yet her love for dance started well before. She began competing at the age of 7. She trained at Daryl's Dance Connection for 8 years, JFK for 1, and was a member of the Elk River Dance Team for 5 years. She has trained in ballet, jazz, tap, kick, hip hop, and contemporary. Sherise began her teaching career at Showcase Dance Studio as an assistant in 2010 and in 2011 re-launched our Daddy & Me class. Since then she has taught a wide variety of classes; including our Competitive Wee & Mini teams, 3 & 4 year olds, Creative Movement, Pom, Level 1/2 Ballet-Jazz-Tap, Level 3/4 Jazz-Tap, Camp Twinkle Toes, assisted with our Competition Production and Boys Hip Hop and in 2012 launched our Mommy & Me class. She is excited to pass on her love of dance with her dancers and looks forward to watching their knowledge of the sport grow throughout the year.
Harley Ross
Performance Instructor
Bio coming soon...
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Kallyn Johnson
Student Competition Instructor
Bio coming soon...
Elizabeth Ensign
Tumbling Program
Elizabeth has been involved in dance and gymnastics her entire life. After doing competitive dance and gymnastics growing up, she continued to fulfill that passion by teaching with a strong focus on tumbling, form, technique, conditioning and flexibility. Elizabeth has coached competitive high school gymnastics as well as coaching for gyms. From 2003-2005 she ran her own gymnastics program on a military post in California where her program grew to over 200 students. Elizabeth finds great joy in working with children and watching them learn and grow in their abilities. Elizabeth and her husband, Mark, of 24 years have six children and one grand-daughter. Several of her children have participated in both competitive dance and gymnastics with her oldest daughter being a competitive gymnastics coach in Kansas City. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and making cakes.
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Gabriella McDonald
Competition + Special Needs Instructor
Hi, my name is Gabriella McDonald. I began dancing at the age of seven, and from then on I knew I wanted to do it for a long time. I have had the best experience with friends, family, and dance at Showcase and encourage others to be a part of the fun!
This last year I decided to teach dancers with special needs, with our team called Showcase Stars. The dancers, of a wide ranging age group, performed an uplifting jazz dance titled “This is Me”.
This next coming year I will be teaching the competition team ShowTeam with two dances, as well as two groups of Showcase Stars (younger and an older group).
When I first joined Showcase, I made ShowTeam. Now as I get ready to teach that same team, I reminisce on how far I’ve come and grown. It is the people you surround yourself with that form you, and luckily I found some amazing ones. I had the honor of accepting Dancer of the Year award my senior year, and truly believe that the teachers I had got me there, as well as shaped me into the best version of myself (dance wise and personally).
It all feels surreal as it comes full circle for me, and I cannot wait to start this next chapter