Our Teachers

Find out about our awesome StudioINC teachers and staff

Michael Anderson
Tap

Michael started dancing right here in Spokane at the Carol Lee Studio of Dance when he was three years old. Growing up, he took classes in tap, jazz, ballet, and clogging. Michael continued dancing through college when he owned and operated the Lilac City Cloggers. He also taught tap at Sandra Olgard’s Studio of Dance and Inland Northwest Ballet. Upon graduating from college, Michael moved to Walla Walla to teach middle school math and science. There, Michael opened the Anderson School of Dance which focused solely on tap. Michael owned and operated this studio of 50 students for five years and was voted Best Dance Studio in Walla Walla in 2014. At that point, Michael chose to move back to Spokane to be closer to family.

Natalie Bentler

I have been a dancer since age nine. Growing up in Renton Wa, I began taking rec classes at a studio and later joined their competition team at age twelve and continued all through high school. I moved to Spokane Valley during middle school and was able to find a welcoming and supportive studio to continue my love for both competing and performing. I began assistant teaching there while in high school, as well as joining my high school cheer team. Now, as a student at Gonzaga University, I am a Declared dance minor and president of Dance Club! I am a major in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resource Management and I will be graduating next May. Outside of dance, you can find me with my dogs and cats, my friends and family or outdoors hiking and walking or studying for school. Dance has helped me to grow and develop as a person and I have found many of my closest friends and mentors through dance. It allows me to express myself, build confidence and brings me joy. I have been presented with so many wonderful opportunities through dance and I am excited to share my love of dance with others. I am so excited to be joining Studio INC!

Paul Grover
Tap

Paul has been dancing from the age of 3 starting in the basement of his home where his mother taught dance. After graduating from high school he started his professional dance career at Opryland USA in Nashville, TN. After becoming assistant choreographer and dancing there for 5 years he moved to Los Angeles and got his first job in Tokyo Japan. He later returned to Tokyo to dance at Tokyo Disney. When he returned from Tokyo he went to work for Disney World in Orlando dancing in Beauty and The Beast at MGM Studios. Paul has worked with such stars as Gregory Hines, Bill Cosby, Brenda Lee, Barbara Mandrell, Lee Greenwood and many more. His stage experience includes Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, industrials for Nike, Levi Strauss, Oakly, The American Television Arts and Science. His tap choreography has earned him top score in many competitions and he has taught tap all over the world.

Training: Gregory Hines, Maurice Hines, Tony Capolla, Brenda Bufalino, Mike Minery.

Choreography: Assistant choreographer Opryland USA, Grease in Winston Salem, NC, Scrooge in Highpoint, NC, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – NYU, Industrial Choreography for Levi Strauss, Oakley, The American Television Arts and Scienc

Jessica Cochran Ballet, Pointe, Modern, Jazz, Progressions

Jessica is a dancer and dance teacher originally from Chewelah WA. She fell in love with dance at the age of two after watching a ballet performance at a local festival. Once old enough, she began her dance training with Ann Marie Benedict at Northern Ballet and Performing Arts, then furthered her education at Company Ballet School, under the direction of Jonna Maule. She has trained in Classical Ballet, Pointe, Modern, Clogging, Acrobatic Arts, and Theater throughout her dance education. Jessica also danced with the State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara for seven years in their touring production of The Nutcracker, as well as at their Summer Intensive in 2020. She has competed in the Youth America Grand Prix, advancing to international finals in the ensemble category, and has taken classes from many notable dancers, teachers, and choreographers including Peter Boal of Pacific Northwest Ballet, Kathryn Morgan (New York City Ballet, Miami Ballet), and Christopher Sellars (Ballet West). Jessica has experience teaching many styles including Ballet, Lyrical, Jazz, Musical Theater, Leap and Turn Technique, and Creative Movement. She adores sharing her love for dance by teaching the next generation of upcoming dancers. When not dancing, you can often find Jessica in nature, surrounded by friends and family, or curled up with a good book.

Pam Erickson
Ballet and Pointe

Originally from Southern California, Pam began her training and performing career with the Santa Barbara Ballet Company. As a professional dancer, Pam performed around the world in Broadway style revues aboard the M. S. Crystal Harmony cruise ship and danced professionally with the San Francisco Dance Theatre, Chamber Dance Ballet Company SF and the Sphinx Jazz-Ballet Company of Vienna, Austria. Pam is a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo alumnus and is currently an adjunct faculty member at both Gonzaga and Whitworth Universities teaching ballet, modern dance and dance history. As a dance educator, Pam has taught master classes for the American College Dance Association at both Western Washington University and The University of Utah. Her teaching career has also taken her to the University of Alaska where she has taught master classes and to the Central PA Youth Ballet where she participated in their 2013 Teacher Training course. She shares her passion for dance at several Spokane Dance Studios, is a national adjudicator for Spotlight Dance Competitions and teaches monthly dance classes for Parkinson’s patients and their caregivers.

Olivia Kraack

Olivia has been dancing since she was three years old. She grew up training in all styles of dance including jazz, lyrical. musical theater, contemporary, ballet, hip hop and acro. She competed regionally and gained many titles including first overall as well as Miss Senior Spotlight. Along with competing, Olivia was ensemble dancer in Aspire Community Theatre’s “Mamma Mia” and “9 to 5”. She has also continued her passion for dance through creating choreography for other dancers. After Olivia graduated high school, she was accepted and continued her training at the CLI Conservatory. While there, training included all styles as well as ballroom, Forsythe Rep, vocal and acting. As well as training, she was able to work with world renowned working choreographers, also learning how to build a social media platform for a professional dancer and dance in a showcase with all of her peers. She is very excited to begin a new journey wherever dance takes her!

Cassie Selle
Jazz, Lyrical, Progressions

I have been dancing since I was 3 year olds where I started at a small studio called Dancemakers NW in Bonney Lake, WA, competing and dancing there until I joined my high school dance team sophomore year. I placed 2nd nationally with my team and gained many state titles for our school. After high school, I moved to Spokane to attend Gonzaga University where in 2019, I became one of the two first dance majors to graduate in the history of the university. While in college, I started teaching jazz, and ballet at Ikonic Dance Academy in 2017 before I moved to New Zealand to study dance performance for a year! After returning to the states, I worked for Kathryn at Dance Arts Academy helping run the studio office and teach classes. During this time, I danced in the grand opening of the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, and traveled to Florence, Italy to perform with Gonzaga. After working for Dance Arts Academy for 3 years, I taught at a few other studios in Spokane, choreographed some competition pieces as well as coached Shadle Park and North Central’s high school dance teams. I am a state certified teacher for social studies and dance education, but for now am living my best life as a pre-school lead teacher. I will be graduating in a few months with a Masters of Education in Instructional Design where I focused on creating a real-life online dance curriculum website that anybody can access! In my small amount of free time, I like to take my puppy Hazelnut Wiggle Butt for hikes with my nephew or take classes at a small local studio called Jubilee Dance! My favorite styles of dance are jazz, lyrical, and contemporary, and you can always find me off on a plane traveling or talking about the dream bus I want to build someday!

Ireland Luiten
Jazz, Progressions, Strength and Conditioning

Bio Coming Soon

Raegan Silbernagel

Raegan’s love of dancing began at age 4 with ballet and quickly grew into a passion for many dance styles. Once in high school, she began competing with and teaching at her studio in Sammamish Washington. After high school, Raegan’s love for dancing led her to continue learning at the Gonzaga Dance Program and even touring with the Gonzaga Dance Program in Florence, Italy in 2023. In addition to these studies, Raegan is part of Gonzaga’s hip hop team, the Bomb Squad, where she has been dancing and choreographing for the past three years.

Lynsy Dimarco

Lynsy comes to us from Kansas City, MO. She began gymnastics at the age of two and transitioned to dance at twelve. She continued to dance at a studio and participated in her high school dance team. Throughout her college years at Missouri State University, she remained active in dance. Since 2021, she has served as an assistant for Dominate Technique. She is eager to return to the studio, meet everyone, and join the Studio INC family.

Neela Kamath

Neela started dancing at the age of four but did not find her true passion for dance until she was nine years old when she joined her home studio and continued there until her senior high school graduation, trying out styles in Modern, Hip hop, Lyrical and Jazz. In high school, Neela danced with her high school dance team for two years, during that time the team made it to 2nd at districts. Her senior year of high school she joined her studios mentee program that has dancers help assistant teach some of the younger dance classes. Neela is now a Dance/PR doble major at Gonzaga University. Neela is also involved with the South Asian Student Union at GU choreographing dances for their events in the Bollywood dance style.