Vanessa Gutierrez, The Studio Founder
At the age of 3, Vanessa enrolled in a dance class purely for entertainment; but, when a preschool tap dance teacher said "this girl was born to dance," a dream was born. Since then, Vanessa has gone on to master tap, jazz, ballet, and especially hip-hop. From Arizona to Florida to New York, she has performed in countless shows and competitions across the country and has placed in the top 3 of numerous national championships. As a young adult, Vanessa's talent was easily recognized by her teachers as she was asked to start teaching classes while yet a student herself. She has held many teaching positions including Dance Director at Florida International University's summer dance program.
Vanessa has now been teaching and choreographing dance for close to ten years. She has taken numerous dance teams to national level championships and recently, her senior competitive group was invited to Germany to represent the United States in a world championship. She has earned the respect of children, their parents, and community leaders for her unique ability to communicate the positive message of health and fitness for kids. Her charismatic personality allows her to serve simultaneously as role model, teacher, and friend.
As an adult, Vanessa's love of dance has driven her to share her passion with others. She is so grateful to the many students and parents along the way who have supported her and helped her realize her dream of opening her own studio. With her energy and creativity she hopes to give back to the community by inspiring other children just as she was inspired.
Anthony"Ready" Rosa
After seeing break dancers in a music video as a kid, Anthony fell in love with dancing and dreamt of a life as a performer. He quickly signed up for numerous dance classes and began practicing with his friends. After only two years he won a break dance competition and gained popularity in his community.
Anthony moved from Waterbury, CT to New York City after completing college to pursue his dream. While auditioning for a music video he met William "Ill Will" Sanchez, they immediately hit it off, and began working and training together.
In the summer of 2007 Ready was asked to join the USA Break Dancers on their Canadian festival tour.
Ryan Sandberg
Ryan began his career on the stage at the clearly versatile age of six. After making his debut as Hansel (of Hansel & Gretel fame) and also a cat, he continued to pursue his dream of working as a professional actor and dancer. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance, and a Bachelor of Arts in Drama, from the University of California at Irvine. He booked his first job out of college after being in New York for only two weeks, with the North American Tour of Evita. He followed this with a job as a swing for Oklahoma! at the Paper Mill Playhouse, earning him his Equity Membership Candidate status. Not one day after closing night he found himself rehearsing for Ivan Jacob's Phantom..., which gave Eastern European audiences a taste of Ryan as the dream Raoul. His latest endeavor has been a triumphant return to the Paper Mill Playhouse in On The Town. Once again swinging, putting his years of ballet training to good use, and receiving his highly sought after Equity Card. Currently he is doing various film projects including dancing on the CW's Gossip Girl, attempting to look important next to Kate Winslet in HBO's miniseries Mildred Pierce, the webseriesTriceratops as Reggie Marris, and this summer will be creating and starring a dance film currently titled Hush.
Jess Sandberg
Jess Sandberg began her dance training as a child in classical ballet in San Diego California. Performing with the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet afforded her the opportunities to perform classical work including: the Snow Queen (as the Snow Queen), the Nutcracker (the Sugar Plum Fairy), Alice in Wonderland (Queen of Hearts), Cinderella (Cinderella), and many other classical works.
In addition to daily training at the SDCYB, she broadened her performance and study by attending Coronado School of Performing Arts, studying modern technique of Martha Graham, Cunningham and Horton. She then continued her training at the University of California Irvine, a university program ranked number two in the nation for its dance department. She was immersed in study both academic and artistic in nature. She performed the renowned work of William Forsythe staged by Douglas Becker as part of UCI’s Etude Ensemble, run by esteemed Alvin Ailey choreographer Donald McKayle. She also was given the chance to work with New York City Ballet Dancer Leslie Peck and perform George Balanchine’s amazing Serenade. She graduated with her Bachelor of Fine arts in Dance and moved out to New York to pursue professional dance and has become a professional and certified Pilates instructor now teaching in the city.
Veronica Day
Veronica grew up in Cincinnati, OH dancing in the competition scene, winning awards and high scores at Showstoppers and Starbound Dance Competitions. She graduated with a degree in dance from Ball State University in Muncie, IN. After college she spent 8 months performing on a cruise ship with Holland America Cruise Line touring Alaska, Panama Canal, and the Caribbean. She moved to New York in February of 2010 and has performed with MJXpressions (A Michael Jackson Tribute Act), Choreographer’s Canvas, and was a swing in the 28th Annual Astaire Awards.