Ann Proudfoot, Owner and Director of DanceWorks Performing Arts Center, received her B.S. degree in Dance and Physical Education from the University of Utah.  Ann was the Dance Director at Arlington High School, Arlington Hts., IL and later transferred to Larson Jr. High School in Elgin, IL where she introduced a dance program which subsequently became part of the school’s physical education curriculum.  After moving to Chicago, she created her own community dance program, but a job transfer for her husband brought her to Minnesota.  She established her own dance school and, during the past 30 years, has seen her program flourish.  Throughout this time, DanceWorks has been the recipient of many awards and much recognition.  

Melanie began dancing for various studios at the age of four, and then went on to win 3 state championships with Eastview High School's Lightning Dance Team. In college, Melanie went on to dance at UW - Madison and coached the student run team, Dance Elite. At DanceWorks, she is an instructor for Jazz, Musical Theatre, Lyrical, Hip Hop, and various other styles. Melanie is our Studio Director, coordinator, and communication point person.

​

Melanie received her undergraduate degrees in Human Development and Social Welfare from UW-Madison, most recently graduated from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota with a Masters of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy. In addition to her roles at DanceWorks, Melanie works for a local counseling agency seeing child, adolescent, and teen therapy clients as well as their families.

Melanie is passionate about helping our dance students not only do their best, but be their best in and out of the classroom.

Jennifer Mack has spent 20 plus years as a professional dancer, choreographer, instructor, adjudicator in Europe & North America working with over 150 plus companies, schools, businesses and other artistic collaborators while earning several awards and grants. She holds a certification in Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT), a BFA in Dance Performance & Pedagogy, and a BS in Arts Management & International Studies including minors in biology, art & music (Magma Cum Laude) from UWSP. Currently, she dances for Christopher Watson Dance Co., Offleash Area and choreographs for Arbeit & MN Opera while residing in north Minneapolis with her fiance' and 8-year old daughter. 

​

Jennifer leads our wonderful ballet program as our Ballet Director. In 2022 her Ballet routine with DanceWorks took 3rd place overall at the KAR Grand Finals in Anaheim, California at the highest level of competition. 

Timothy's dance career began at the age of 3. He studied various styles of dance including Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Contemporary and Hip Hop at Northland School of Dance and throughout the country at various renowned studios including Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway. Additionally, Tim has traveled the country taking from some of the industry’s top instructors. Timothy's  performance achievements include 2004 national teen title at West Coast Dance Explosion, 2005 Tanzsommer Dance Festival in Austria, and top 3 senior male at NYCDA.

Timothy's teaching career began at age15 as an assistance teacher for Northland. Timothy then went on to teach master classes, assist for New York City Dance Alliance and choreograph for various projects.

Tim danced with Odyssey Dance Theater in Salt Lake City, Utah. Performed productions “It’s a Wonderful Life”, “Giselle”, and “Romeo and Juliet,” and toured around Europe for years with Rasta Thomas’ “Bad Boys of Dance”. Timothy Joined DanceWorks as a full time staff member in 2020 and has since won several first place, choreography and entertainment awards. 

Vanessa started her dance training at DanceWorks in 1996, and has continued dancing throughout her life. She’s studied numerous styles of dance including ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and afro-cuban. She danced throughout high school as a part of the Apple Valley High School Advanced Dance Company and AVaire dance team. Vanessa attended Minnesota State University, Mankato after receiving a talent grant from the Theater and Dance department, where she graduated with a BS in journalism and a minor in dance. Vanessa continues to perform and dance recreationally in the Twin Cities and is excited to be back for another season at DanceWorks!

Terry graduated with a BFA in dance from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.  Terry performed professionally in Arizona and Washington, D.C. and was an adjunct faculty member at Northern Virginia Community College.  While residing in Virginia, Terry developed a successful Child Development Creative Arts program.  She brings her experience, professionalism and love of dance to DanceWorks working with our Ballet, KinderMoves, Contemporary and our newest Ballroom classes.

Katy began her life-long love for dance at the age of three.  She trained in Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Musical Theatre, and Lyrical, taking a special interest in Tap.  She spent 14 years competing locally and nationally and won numerous top awards.  Katy has continued with her passion and now holds over 15 years of experience teaching and working with dancers of all ages! Katy has received top choreography and high point awards for her routines. Katy teaches the competition tap groups here at DanceWorks and the Dad's and Daughter's production group.

Katy resides in Lakeville with her family! Katy looks forward to sharing her love of dance with her students at DanceWorks.

Brittany started dancing at age 5, but found a love for gymnastics at age 8. She competed in club gymnastics until she was 14 and then continued her career at Eastview High School as a varsity gymnast until she was 18. After high school, Brittany went on to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography, while coaching high school gymnastics for several years at two schools in the area. Brittany is excited to joined the DanceWorks team in the summer of 2021 and enjoys focusing on the fundamentals and technique of tumbling. She always hopes to help our dancers develop their skill set and hone in on flexibility and strength techniques in order to improve our tumbling. 

Caitlin grew up dancing and assisting for younger students at a local dance studio in Shoreview, Minnesota studying numerous styles of dance including jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, and ballet. Upon high school graduation, Caitlin started her teaching career and continues to choreograph and instruct in the Minneapolis area! Currently, Caitlin attends the University of St. Thomas and dances professionally with the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders. She has been a member of the Kaleena Miller Dance junior company “KMD2,” danced in the Super Bowl, and has performed in several music videos for a local artist. Teaching dance is her biggest passion and she loves to share that with and inspire her students! Caitlin is excited to be returning to DW for her second year on our competition staff.

Whitley was born and raised in Burnsville, Minnesota. She started dancing at the age of 3 and has trained at highly appraised dance studios. She attended Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, where she trained in classical and contemporary ballet, modern, classical jazz, tap, hip hop, improvisation, and more. After graduating in 2017, Whitley joined Crash Dance Productions, a conceptual contemporary dance company based in Minneapolis, MN, as a company member. She has since performed in numerous dance festivals, music videos, and events around the Twin Cities, such as the Superbowl LII halftime show and the Cowles Center Fall 2019 Season. In addition to continuing to train and perform, Whitley is also instructing full time, teaching at intensives and master classes, and setting choreography throughout Minnesota. Whitley is excited to join DW this year as a choreographer and instructor for 2 of our competition specialty groups. 

Malia Craft is from Hartwell, Georgia and began her training at Hot Shots Dance Company, where she trained in ballet, modern, contemporary, hip hop, and jazz and found her love for performing, as well as teaching. Malia attended the University of Georgia and received a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, with a minor in exercise and sports science, and a certificate in K-12 dance education. Malia was also a part of the Georgette’s Dance Team for three years. She is currently an artist with Threads Dance Project. Aside from training and performing, 

Malia has a love of working with dancers and has taught, as well as choreographed, for several studios and high school dance teams throughout North Georgia. Malia is very excited to be apart of DanceWorks as a recreational dance teacher!

Sue has been dancing most of her life. In the 1980’s she was part of Char Weiss’ Super Taps Dance troupe at the Hennepin Center for the Arts. She was referred to Ann Proudfoot in 1985, by Char Weiss, to be a tap dance instructor at Cedar Street DanceWorks in Lakeville.  Sue taught tap classes for all levels until 2010, then she took over the administration duties for the studio.  Sue shares, "joining DanceWorks has been one of the best decisions of my life.”

The start of Stefanie's dance career was at 4 years old in a Ballet Tap combo class at Georgia's Dance Studio in her hometown of Escondido, California, where she studied for 14 years. Her skills took flight at the studio taking Jazz, Point, Lyrical, Acrobatics and many more. Stefanie's dance love language always brought her back to Tap. Stefanie was part of her high school Competition Dance Team for 4 years being an officer junior year and captain senior year. Stefanie was given the opportunity to dance in the Super Bowl XXXVII for the 2002 season at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego California, and be extras in a handful of plays for local productions. Stefanie attended college at California State University - San Marcos, and received a Minor in dance and a Bachelors in Liberal Arts. In college her dance experience included Hula, Tahijan, Bollywood, Afro Cuban, Capoeira and other cultural styles of dance. She danced for the university from 2005-2008, and was captain in 2008. Due to an accident and injury in 2008, her dance career stopped. A life changing move to MN had her think about getting back into dance. In 2019 she started taking the Adult Tap Class with DanceWorks and with encouragement from her family, her love of Tap came flooding back. Stefanie become our adult tap teacher for the 2021-22 season and has happily agreed to keep teaching the class moving forward! We are lucky to have her on staff at DW!