Instructors

Gregory

Born in Oakland, California, Gregory grew up swimming and playing soccer and volleyball. He also learned to figure skate with his father and grandfather.

Originally trained in ballet and many forms of modern dance, particularly Graham and Cunningham, he danced with the San Francisco Ballet, the Milwaukee Ballet, the American Folk Ballet, and many other smaller ballet and modern dance companies. As a French and British citizen, he had the opportunity to live and dance in Paris and in Lyon. While living in the San Francisco Bay Area, he also studied Flamenco and African Dance. In ballet he was trained in both the Ceccheti style and the Vaganova style. Gregory is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, which he attended on scholarship. In college, he studied acting and singing in addition to dance and technical stagecraft.

Gregory Day and Tommye Giacchino started their partnership in 1996 and were almost immediately succesful as two-time United States Champions (defeating the then US & World Champions) and capturing the World Invitational Exhibition title at the British Open (Blackpool).

Book an appointment with Gregory.

Chris

Chris is certified in all styles, and has a background in musical theatre. He has competition students in all styles and levels. Chris and his pro partner currently compete in Smooth.

Chris is a native of Virginia, where he graduated with his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Theatre from Shenandoah Conservatory. He recently relocated to Chicago after performing in a variety of productions all over the country as an Actor, Singer, Dancer and Choreographer. His dance training includes Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Latin and Ballroom. Since working with Chicago Dance, Chris has competed and performed with his students in all styles, as well as competing in the Professional American Smooth Division. He has earned certifications in all styles and strives constantly to better his students through his continued education and experience. He has worked extensively in Virginia Beach City Public School system to instill his love of theatre, dance and music in children of varying ages and experience levels in order to keep art programs alive in Middle and High Schools. He is an active member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, National Men’s Music Fraternity.

Book an appointment with Chris.

John

John Swick has been dancing and performing for over 40 years in many different styles. He has studied ballet, jazz, tap, flamenco, and theatre as well as ballroom. Swick has over eight national dance titles to his credit, and has trained four United States champions. On the faculty of Oklahoma City University's School of Dance, he is also a certified national-level judge, chairman of judges, scrutineer and examiner. Professional organization memberships include: NDCA (National Dance Council of America), North American Dance Teacher's Association, International Dance Council, Actor's Equity Association, Screen Actor's Guild, and American Federation of Radio and Television Artists.

Book an appointment with John.

Eric

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Carlos

Carlos Diaz is a native Chicagoan who has been ballroom dancing for the past 32 years.

He started his dance training with Fred Astaire & Arthur Murray Dance Studios, and has also studied with world-renowned teachers such as Sam Sodano, John Kimmins, Cher Rutherford, Linda Dean, and Toni Redpath. He has won numerous ballroom championships and has also been the recipient of countless Top Teacher Awards. He has been featured as a guest artist/teacher for numerous ballroom dance residencies throughout the United States.

He is excited to be part of Chicago Dance, where he utilizes his expertise in training new, inexperienced students to advanced levels of dance in a fun and relaxed manner.

Book an appointment with Carlos.

Richard

Originally from Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Richard has lived in Illinois for over the past 25 years. He has been a part of the Chicago Dance community since the summer of 2006 and is currently pursuing teacher certification with Ballroom University. He is well versed in all the American Rhythm and Smooth dance styles.

Born into a musical family, Richard while still a student became an accomplished musician on the viola and trumpet. Studying and playing gave him an appreciation for many musical and dance styles. What then started merely as a interest and hobby in ballroom dancing quickly turned into a passion.

Richard believes that everyone can learn to dance. He has an easy, gentle manner that is non-intimidating, yet energetic and fun. For Richard the pleasures of ballroom dancing lead beyond the studio. Dancing is about making social connections, challenging yourself physically, learning through new experiences, and, perhaps, most importantly, feeling confident and good about yourself.

Book an appointment with Richard.

Tommye

On any given day, you can find Tommye training teachers, dance studio managers, and top amateur and professional dancers.

She travels the country as one of the top competing Pro/Am females and as a judge for national dance competitions. She is sought after to train staff and students in other schools throughout the U.S. She is also a DVIDA examiner for amateur students wanting to pass graded examinations and professionals wanting to earn a teacher’s certification.

She has been honored with numerous Top Teacher awards, is a highly recognized Pro/Am teacher at numerous competitions, and holds 5 NADTA championship Certifications. She tirelessly works to make Latin and ballroom dance accessible to everyone in the Chicagoland area by advising schools, festivals, and dance programs on curricula, and by offering expert commentary at public events and on television.

Tommye Giacchino began her career in her mother’s dance studio in Chicago, where taking class every day was a way of life. In her younger years, baton twirling and modeling were Tommye’s serious hobbies; she became a National Twirling Champion at 12 years old, then coached two teams and one individual to State Championships by the ripe age of 15. Tommye’s modeling career also took off with more than 100 television and radio commercials, national print ad placements, professional theatre performance and numerous beauty pageant titles. Tommye’s ballroom dance technique is supported by a foundation of 26 years of training in ballet and other forms of dance.

After seeing a live ballroom dance competition, she was hooked. She soon began competing in Amateur Standard and then, after turning professional, had numerous Rising Star successes in American Smooth. This was followed by a partnership with Gregory Day in 1996. In just three short years, the two were United States Rising Star Champions, US Open Cabaret Champions and winners of the British Open Invitational Exhibition Championship, known to most as Blackpool. Gregory and Tommye have since traveled the world to perform and coach, traveling throughout Asia, Europe and almost every state in the USA. In addition to working for world-renowned jazz and ballet companies such as Gus Giordano, River North Dance Company and the Joffrey Ballet, they have also performed extensively with major orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. They have been featured artists and have provided expert commentary on television programs around the world: PBS’s Championship Ballroom Dancing, “America’s Ballroom Challenge,” Eurosport, ESPN, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and WGN.

Tommye’s business career started in marketing for the Marriott, which turned into traveling the country and covering projects for Hanna-Barbera, Hallmark Cards, United Artists, and special events at the White House. That training gave her an edge to take over and grow a family manufacturing business. The family business was not her passion, but working the company for years and making it grow enabled Tommye to sell the company and follow her passion for ballroom dancing. Eventually she co-created one of the area’s most successful ballroom competitions, Chicago’s Crystal Ball, and then her most rewarding and successful business adventure yet - Chicago’s most popular Latin and Ballroom dance school, Chicago Dance. Now she continues to follow her passion for sharing her love of dance by launching the Ballroom University.

Book an appointment with Tommye.

Heather

Heather started her dance training at age 3, studying Ballet,tap and jazz. During this time she also march with the National Champion marching band for 4 years

Her 10 years of teaching experience is extensive. Heather has training in both the American and International styles as well as Salsa. She is certified in American Style Rhythm and Smooth with DVIDA

Heather has taught children as young as 4 and created and coached a ballroom dance team for teens. She also coached the Ballroom Dance Club at the University of South Florida.

She has successfully used ballroom dance as a form of therapy for people with physical and mental disabilities and has experience teaching dance to large groups.

Book an appointment with Heather.

Kelly

Kelly is the Studio Dance Manager of the River North location. She is certified through DVIDA in both the American and International styles of Ballroom and Latin.

Kelly is from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and has been with Chicago Dance since 2006. She holds a triple undergraduate degree from Iowa State University in Theatre (Acting/Directing), Dance (Movement and Composition) and Broadcast Journalism/Mass Media Studies. She also attended the University of Iowa's graduate program in Theatre and pursued her MFA in Acting Performance. She has performed across the country acting, dancing, and choreographing. In 2002, she was named the United States Top Collegiate Actor and awarded the Irene Ryan National Scholarship from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.

She comes to Chicago Dance with an extensive background in not only Latin and Ballroom, but Modern, Tap, Ballet, Jazz, and Improvisation as well. She competes professionally with her partner Christopher in the American Smooth category. Kelly also competes with her students in Ballroom as well as Country Western competitions all over the US. Most of the time, you can find her teaching her students in private lessons and group classes. Her greatest accomplishment is helping her students find strength and a greater sense of confidence through their dancing.

Book an appointment with Kelly.

Teresa

Teresa has a BFA in Dance from Western Michigan University as well as a BA in Film from Columbia College. She has been teaching ballroom dancing since 1995. Teresa' s encouraging spirit, enthusiasm and passion of dance is what she loves about teaching.

Book an appointment with Teresa.

Uttara

Born and brought up in Pune, India, Uttara has been dancing for more than 20 years. Her family, were a huge fan of fitness and she used to often accompany her father to hikes in The Himalayas.

She started training in North Indian classical dance "Kathak" at the age of 9 under Mr. Mullah. Having a deep interest and passion for different forms of dances, she also pursued Bollywood, Indian Folk, Modern dancing and Rope Malkhamb (Indian sport similar to pole dancing) while continuing to train in Kathak. Uttara continued her classical training for over 12 years until she came to the United States for a Master’s Degree in Computer Science at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.

While studying for her MS degree she continued to promote Indian classical and Bollywood dancing at IIT. She was the primary choreographer for her dances at the Indian Students Association (ISA) cultural nights and International Fests (IFest) and an Alumni Judge for ISA cultural nights.

Having a good classical base, she continued to quench her thirst by exploring different types of dances which led her to Latin and Ballroom dancing. She has been hooked on dancing anytime and anywhere since then which led her to decide to turn this passion for dance into her career.

Her goal is to promote fitness and stress relief in the form of dancing. She currently teaches Bollywood and Bollywood fitness at various studios and is a student at Ballroom University.

Book an appointment with Uttara.

Vaneza

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Alesha

Alesha started dancing at age 3 at a studio in Madison, WI. After high school graduation Alesha attended the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point earning her BA in Public Relations and Web Design. While at the university she participated in the UWSP dance program, taking classes and performing. Before moving to Chicago Alesha taught ballet, jazz, modern and hip hop at a studio in Madison and performed with their professional company Contempo.

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Krystal

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Franny

Franny Streder grew up outside of Chicago in Elmhurst, Illinois. She found her love of dancing at the age of 9 when she began her training in ballet and jazz at a studio in her hometown, Dupage Dance Academy. It became her everything very quickly.

She studied Biology and Spanish in college but never stopped dancing intensely. After graduation she ventured into Chicago to take classes full time at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's studio, Lou Conte Dance Studio, where she quickly progressed to advanced/professional level classes and a spot on the work study program. Her immersion in Ballroom dancing soon took place when she began teaching at Fred Astaire Dance Studio downtown Chicago. Her ballroom dancing continued to shape her into a more well rounded, successful dancer and instructor.

Franny has always had a desire to spend her life dancing, teaching and working with people. She is always anxious to continue pursuing her passions and living to help others pursue theirs.

Book an appointment with Franny.

Brenda

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